Demijohn disaster

[matty]

thought i'd share my sunday morning horror with you all.

bought a couple of demijohns from a 'leading supermarket'. not naming names but you can probably guess which, as most dont sell homebrew stuff.

filled one with a barolo kit from california connoiseur on saturday. went downstairs sunday morning and the wine was bubbling away nicely. must have filled the DJ up too high as the liquid was bubbling out of the top and on to the dining room table. 'better clean up and put some newspaper underneath before the wife gets up' i thought.

so I picked up the handles, only to hear a gushing noise, and dark liquid spilling all over the table, onto the floor and wallpaper. the bottom of the DJ had completely broken off all the way round!

i can only assume it was a faulty DJ. i know that glass is weakened by extreme temperatures so i never use boiling water when cleaning them.

this sort of thing always happens to me! it would have to be the first red wine kit i tried too!

anyone else had experience of faulty DJs? its putting me right off brewing now

[lockwood1956]

See here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4622

12 gallon spillage (thankfully mine wasn't indoors)

keep the faith

I feel your pain

[goldseal]

Matt, you don't use boiling water, but how hot was the water you used?

[matty]

blimey, thought mine was bad!

lesson number one learned though. I'll use the dining room for drinking wine, not making it in future!

goldseal - lukewarm. from the hot tap not kettle.

[cpfan]

Matty:

Sounds like you started the wine in the DJ. It is possible that the pressure of CO2 generated could not escape the air lock fast enough, and the DJ cracked due to that pressure build-up. Personally I always do my primary ferment in a large vessel such as a pail. I use 45 litre primaries for 23 litre kits, and 11 litre ice cream store pails for 1 gallon batches.

Steve

[matty]

hi steve

yes i started the wine in the DJ. i have used a 1 gallon bucket for primary fermentations in the past but thought a dj would be ok. the DJ was quite full too, hence the liquid plopping out of the airlock. so you reckon this was the cause, rather than a faulty DJ? it does sound plausible. i thought the airlock would have been blown out though, rather than the dj cracking?

[Jan]

I have always started kits in demi-johns and have never had a problem. Maybe you are right and it was the demi-john.

[koomber]

Generally the problem with glass and high temperature isn't the high temperature but rather the rate of temperature change. If you pour boiling/hot water into a glass item the glass will expand but it can't do it fast enough and it cracks.

Once the ferment starts going, it is possible that the yeast and other sludge gets bubbled into the airlock. This will eventually block up the airlock and then you have a pressure vessel, and a DJ does not make a good pressure vessel.

If your lucky you get a blow out and a fine spray of wine.

IF your REALLY lucky you'll video the airlock turning into a missile as it gets fired out the DJ.

You were unlucky and I think the DJ might have been faulty to boot.

[lockwood1956]

I think the DJ may well have been faulty.....it only takes a small knock to create a weakness

[matty]

Letter has gone off to customer services with gory photos attached. We shall see what happens.....

Thanks all for your input

[Cellar_Rat]

Must have been the weekend for it!!

Just a thought, but I find these quite handy (just to save on the clean up if something does go wrong)

http://www.hg-hydroponics.co.uk/ekmps/shops/hydrogrow/images/giant-sqaure-plant-pot-tray-1m-912-p.jpg

[matty]

i was thinking of something similar actually. i've got a plastic tray for a growbag for tomatoes, so should get about 5 DJs in that.

[Cellar_Rat]

That the ones. They are particularly cheap for a lump of plastic but they do save a LOT of mess.

[koomber]

I'm currently doing up the spare room and I'm probably going to caulk up the floor so it is water tight. Already flooded the downstairs flat with the dishwasher!

[matty]

UPDATE:

been given a £50 voucher for the inconvience. they have asked for an estimate for new carpet, and cost of papering whole room. so fingers crossed, looks like they may be making an offer!