A Homebrewing Riddle - The damaged Glass Carboy

Here's a homebrewing riddle. Let's see what the BA Homebrewing community conjures up in terms of remedies....

I had an unusual accident yesterday with a full 6.5 gallon glass carboy. Here's the background...looking for advice (besides switching to buckets, ) .

I brewed a RIS on Sunday afternoon and had the carboy in the chest freezer to keep ferm temps steady around 65 (WL002). Yesterday, I was moving a few of my nicer commercial beers into the chest freezer as it's a more stable environment than the kitchen cabinet in terms of storage (& there's extra space available as only 1 carboy is in there right now).

Well, I was moving a little too fast, must have been a little clumsy, because one of the bottles lightly dinged the carboy full of fermenting RIS. The ding between the bottle and carboy busted some glass, but only chipped out a 1"x2" piece of glass (just below the 'shoulder' of the carboy). The glass chip fell right beside the carboy and because the glass was colored brown (covered in trub/yeast), I immediately thought, shit, this bottle of nice beer just broke. Nope. No beer runneth from the bottle. It took a moment for me to realize that I just took a chunk of glass right out of the carboy, but the carboy didn't shatter completely (the hole is above the wort). So, with a gaping hole in the carboy, I went into emergency mode and grabbed some saran wrap to cover the hole.

I'm concerned about a few things, and this is where I need assistance:

A) Oxidation - Saran wrap won't serve much purpose besides keeping most bacteria/dust/etc. out. Oxygen is going to get in.

B) Figuring out how & when to transfer the wort from the damaged carboy to a new carboy.

Here's where my head is at right now:

Problem #1
The carboy does not have a brew hauler on it. I'm afraid that if I try and lift it out of the chest freezer, the carboy will crack under stress, explode, seriously cut me up & least importantly, cover the chamber in 10% RIS and make a 'bloody' mess. (pun intended).

Resolution #1​

I'm thinking I can wrap copious amounts of tape around the carboy as I've heard people do this anyway to protect against shattering glass. Since this carboy is being disposed of anyway, I'll use some heavy duty duct tape. Once the carboy is out of the freezer, I can siphon into a new carboy. Sound legit?​

Resolution #2​

Use my March pump to move the beer from the damaged carboy into a new carboy. This eliminates the need to move the full, heavy & damaged carboy. Should lessen the risk of injury.​

Resolution #2 carries with it a complication, though: without lifting the carboy out of the freezer, I won't have gravity on my side for priming the pump or siphoning. I'd have to figure a way to fill the hose with liquid, lower the hose into the carboy and start the pump without losing that priming potential.​

Problem #2
Moving the beer too early.

I'm afraid of oxidation, but I'm also concerned about moving the beer too early. I want the yeasties to have a chance to clean up after themselves. We've only been visibly fermenting for about 60 hours (pitched about 72 hours ago). I think there should still be enough yeast in suspension, so maybe this is less of a concern.

How & when would you recommend moving this fermenting beer from the damaged carboy to a new carboy?

 

I'd get all geared up, you know, kitchen mitts, prison-style protective vest using my wife's fashion magazines (would never use my back issues of Zymurgy!), sunglasses, etc.

 

From a safety standpoint, you're absolutely right. Why doesn't it have a brew-hauler - well, my blow-off tube blew off since I forgot to remove the cross hatches on the airlock. You know the rest of this story...trub blocked up the airlock, airlock went soaring...

I spent an hour Monday morning cleanning the chest freezer. I took the brewhauler off and threw it in the washer as it was caked up with trub/yeast/wort. I didn't have an extra brewhauler, so I lifted and lowered the carboy back into the freezer very carefully.

I'll be taking a gravity reading tonight. Still hesitant to leave it in the carboy with only the saran wrap guarding it.

I usually adhere to the KISS mentality. I guess I didn't consider this as I thought it would oxygenate the hell out of the beer. You think this will move the beer without over-oxygenating it? I like it as it eliminates any risk of injury & gets the beer/wort to new carboy. It requires a ton of pumping, but I don't have to toy with trying to prime my pump without gravity. Might give this a go tonight. Stirring up the yeast with the racking cane should get enough yeast into the new carboy.

 

Now we are really thinking outside the box. I fuckin' love you guys!

 

By the end of tonight we will all know how many pumps it takes to get to the end of a 6 gallon carboy. Wish me luck. Will have to come up with an appropriate name for this beer.

 

To limit my liability, I'll drink the whole batch myself.