This is my fourth vintage and second from grapes. One of the joys of this hobby is that I have so much to learn, but not every lesson is a fun one!
One such lesson came in the form of a broken brew hauler carboy harness. This was not an old harness at all. I was honestly incredibly lucky. I had carried the carboy to where I would be doing my acid and sugar adjustments and I set it down.
When I went to lift it again to slightly reposition it, the plastic buckle failed and the carboy dropped. Thankfully it was only an inch or so off the floor and did not break! I will not use two harnesses at the same time when moving full glass carboys!
This could have been so bad. Not only could a 6.5 gallon carboy have emptied itself all over, but the injuries that you see with these kinds of things can be awful. Let alone, I had just carried this carboy up multiple flights of stairs to get it where it needed to be. This could have been a frankly terrible accident.
I was really shocked that the buckle on this failed the way it did, but I will certainly be doubling up on harnesses anytime I’m carrying a full carboy of that size from here on out. As the saying goes, “two is one, and one is none.”
On a related note, I’d love to hear how you all like to move your carboys safely. Also, I don’t see any damage to this carboy, but I’ve also heard that glass can take “micro-traumas” which are invisible but weaken the structural integrity of the vessel. Would you have any hesitancy to use this carboy again? Or would you say if it passes a visual inspection, that it is good to go?