What are some of the mistakes you made...where your beer still turned out great!

I covered the stove, counter, and kitchen floor with hot wort while trying to strain out hops after the bag opened. Clogged the strainer and splashed everywhere. I dont know how much wort was lost, panicked and topped off with water. Took two hours to clean the kitchen and give the dog a bath after she got it all over her paws and muzzle. The beer (brown ale) came out great.

i tried brewing an apa 1.5 months ago... i messed up with the hop additions (i used EKG instead of Perle... and then i used some more Perle... only to found out it was chinook actually). Fast forward three weeks and i'm ready to bottle, i wash my bucket, get my priming sugar, sanitize my autosiphon and start transfering... mother!#%T!" forgot to sanitize my bucket!

it's a pretty good APA to this day and no signs of infection

A few weeks ago I was brewing a smoked porter (with 25% cherry wood smoked malt!) and when I was putting my immersion chiller into the boil I somehow managed to let the braided vinyl tubing slip into the keggle for (I hope only) a few seconds. When I noticed it, I pulled out the tubing and noticed it had turned yellow, but otherwise seemed to be in good shape.

In any case, the beer tastes great and I don't feel like I've been poisoned, so it's all good!

The first batch I ever made was a one gallon all grain wheat beer. the instructions were horrible. I assumed since I had a one gallon pot that I would be good to go, not thinking that there was 4 pounds of grain to go in that pot. I had a boil-over and I ended up splitting the liquid into three pots, I had no strainer so I was pouring it through coffee filters into the carboy. after a day or two in the carboy I siphoned (with my mouth) the beer into a pot so that I could clean the carboy and filter out the sediment. I then syphoned it back into the carboy to finish fermentation. out of one gallon I got only 6 beers. I was nervous that I would kill somebody with this stuff, so I checked to make sure nothing harmful could live in beer. I felt for sure this stuff was going to be horrible so I took it to work and shared it with my co-workers. It actually was pretty good.

One of my other batches, my grain bag caught on fire and the burning part fell into the beer, I quickly scooped it out with my paddle. That beer was also fine.

Just before bottling a Raspberry Wheat (for SWMBO), I poured some raspberry flavoring (I know artificial flavoring... but raspberries out of season and she really wanted some) into the bottling bucket. As I was pouring, SWMBO bumped my arm and waaaaaaay too much went it.

Let it sit for six months in the bottle and it did not turn out too bad. A lot of the artificial chemical taste went away. SWMBO had to wait, but she did bump my arm.

My cat pissed in it and I told everyone I dry hopped with Simcoe. Nobody knew the difference

Back when doing extract my bro-in-law forgot to buy a muslin bag so we steeped our grains in a 'clean' gym sock from his drawer... beer turned out great nonetheless.

Trying to sink a hopbag for a dryhop (just toss 'em in now) I placed multiple unsanitized 'clean' objects on top of the bag to try to sink in... they all fell in and I reached to the bottom of the primary with my entire arm each time to pull each failed attempt out. Needless to say I'm somewhat impulsive and stubborn but that batch turned out very good as well.

Bottom line is exactly what Revvy said a few years ago: it takes a whole hell of a lot to mess up a batch of beer beyond a drinkable state.

And yes, we used a gym sock. +1 to AG mashing lol

scoundrel said:

My cat pissed in it and I told everyone I dry hopped with Simcoe. Nobody knew the difference

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Its because you didnt offer a black light.

I thought I brewed a bad batch when I jammed my head into the fermenter for a big wiff and BAM!!! the CO2 burnt the heck out of my nose. Poured it out, then read on here that it's normal. That could have been the best batch of beer I have ever made....now I will never know

Pretty much all of those issues were on the first AG batch except for the bubblegum off flavor and the lighter lol.

I added to this batch when it was down around a gallon in the corny keg by just dumping a 2.5 gallon batch I had in a MR Beer fermenter.

In the corny was a decent guinness clone, and what I added to it was an experiment added using the MR Beer spigot and an unsanitized hop sock.

It was a 7% abv, black rye thing, fermented at 59* with T-58 I had laying around and the hop bill was 4 oz of Amarillo and Columbus lol

I was moving and there was no way I was putting that sticky fermenter in the car.

It was so good, but then again I have never met a beer I haven't liked.

deepcdan99 said:

I thought I brewed a bad batch when I jammed my head into the fermenter for a big wiff and BAM!!! the CO2 burnt the heck out of my nose. Poured it out, then read on here that it's normal. That could have been the best batch of beer I have ever made....now I will never know

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And that's why new brewers need to stop making "dump beer" their knee jerk reaction when confronted with something that freaks them out. They need to understand that young/fermenting beer, is often ugly, stinky and tastes like crap and it's usually perfectly normal.....If green beer tasting good during fermentation, then more than likely we'd be drinking it right out of the fermentor...but we're not making Koolaid, this is an organic process, that you usually need to see to it's entirety. Or at least stop on here and look to see if anyone else has experienced that. There's hundreds of co2 breathign threads on here.

Not really a mistake, but rather the norm around here...

I ferment in a room that's usually ~76 degrees. Maybe a touch cooler at night and I'm positive has gotten a little higher than that during the day. I live in FL alone and it costs me an arm and a leg to air condition my entire house 24/7 (even when I'm at work or out of town). So the A/C has been set very high as a compromise. I'm not large enough scale yet to really warrant a fridge and the swamp cooler is just a PITA IMO. Especially when I go out of town for a few days.

Despite the high fermentation temps I've been getting some pretty tasty brews.

mikeysab said:

Turkey bacon is the wave of the future, and the future is where it's at. (I"m not even convinced, but if I repeat it enough, it'll make sense)

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Is this an Aviator quote haha? Pissin' in milk bottles the Howard Hughes way...

I'm fairly new to brewing (four months), but this thread is great reassurance that in the end, the brew will kick ass barring major mistakes. Haven't had a bad batch yet, although, the first batch fermented at 80 during the day (Texas) and I forgot to aerate the wort before pitching the yeast and decided to aerate after... Still drinkable, just a slight sour aftertaste (six plus weeks later).

My first brew was fermented in a #7 water carboy before I came on here and learned it was a big no-no. I haven't repeated that mistake, but that first beer still tastes great.

Not really a success story yet but about 2 years ago I brewed a three grain ale with barley, corn, and rice. Trying to make a light bud light ale for the friends that don't drink good beer yet. Got some nasty bubblegum aftertaste to it. No idea to this day what went wrong. I've been bringing a few up every now and then and the last couple, at almost exactly 2 years out, didn't taste too bad. I figure by 3 years this should be some decent stuff. Just goes to show - NEVER THROW OUT BEER!

urbanmyth said:

My first brew was fermented in a #7 water carboy before I came on here and learned it was a big no-no. I haven't repeated that mistake, but that first beer still tastes great.

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A 7 gallon glass carboy? Why wouldnt you use that?

mikeysab said:

turkey bacon, of course. yes, it sounds effed up, but life is better with turkey bacon. Pig bacon is great, but turkey bacon is the wave of the future, and the future is where it's at. (I"m not even convinced, but if I repeat it enough, it'll make sense)

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Some one ban this guy please

Only have four brews under my belt but on my first batch ever I was using a siphon to bottle my beer and could not keep a good flow going so I used mouth suction to suck some beer and get a good suction going and got a mouthful of uncarbed IPA. I didn't know that you could drink it in that state and didnt know what else to do and just spit it back into the bottling bucket and bottled as normal and the beer came out great my friends loved it. Now I use a auto siphon no more spit beer .

JeepDiver said:

Some one ban this guy please

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Suck it

deepcdan99 said:

I thought I brewed a bad batch when I jammed my head into the fermenter for a big wiff and BAM!!! the CO2 burnt the heck out of my nose. Poured it out, then read on here that it's normal. That could have been the best batch of beer I have ever made....now I will never know

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I don't know how many times I've burnt my nose, and the smell seeps into my throat, leaving me just about gasping for air.. ginger beer was the worst for it actually, probably doesn't help that I'm a smoker too

deepcdan99 said:

A 7 gallon glass carboy? Why wouldnt you use that?

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#7 plastic carboy, pardon me.

urbanmyth said:

#7 plastic carboy, pardon me.

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why would that be a bad thing? Better Bottles are plastic.

Better bottles are not #7 Plastic.

jonmohno said:

Better bottles are not #7 Plastic.

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Better Bottles are #1. #2 and #7 are fine to ferment in too. Alhambra isn't going to put their over priced water in toxic bottles. The major complaint concerning #7 plastics is that they may contain BPA. In some studies, BPA may have an affect on children and pregnant mothers, however, those studies used levels of BPA that have never been extracted from plastic under normal use. After numerous studies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"); European Food Safety Authority ("EFSA"); German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment ("BfR"); Health Canada; Food Standards Australia New Zealand ("FSANZ") and the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology ("NIAIST") have all ruled that #7 plastic poses no threat. That won't keep them from spending more money on more studies though.

http://www.alhambrawater.com/bisphenol-a.jsf

This weekend, second batch ever. Chilling my wort in the kitchen sink. My wife put her hands in the ice water to see the temp. Picked her hand up - and moved it across the brew pot. Saw a drip in slow motion come off her hand and into the wort. It was like a nightmare, virus spreading, zombie movie! In primary and bubbling away fine. Hope it turns out ok! Does not sound as bad as the arm in the bucket stories!

it'll be fine. have done the same before

bellery said:

This weekend, second batch ever. Chilling my wort in the kitchen sink. My wife put her hands in the ice water to see the temp. Picked her hand up - and moved it across the brew pot. Saw a drip in slow motion come off her hand and into the wort. It was like a nightmare, virus spreading, zombie movie! In primary and bubbling away fine. Hope it turns out ok! Does not sound as bad as the arm in the bucket stories!

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I've done that a few times, if you haven't put away your burner just bring it back up to a boil for a minute or 2. If your fermentation started right away you'll probably be fine without that.

I was chilling my wort in a laundry sink and had a large block of ice under the pot. I checked the pot after 10 minutes to find the ice under the pot had melted and the pot sunk under the chilled water. I had a lid on the pot and I didn't look like the volume in the pot was any higher so I think the lid sealed it. This is the same sink I wash my baby's butt over when she does a #2 by the way. Beer turned out perfect.:rockin:

strongarm said:

I was chilling my wort in a laundry sink and had a large block of ice under the pot. I checked the pot after 10 minutes to find the ice under the pot had melted and the pot sunk under the chilled water. I had a lid on the pot and I didn't look like the volume in the pot was any higher so I think the lid sealed it. This is the same sink I wash my baby's butt over when she does a #2 by the way. Beer turned out perfect.:rockin:

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dirty diaper pale ale?

gbx said:

I've done that a few times, if you haven't put away your burner just bring it back up to a boil for a minute or 2. If your fermentation started right away you'll probably be fine without that.

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Thanks for both of your feedback. Fermentation started strong so I suspect I am fine. To me I am not worried about losing a batch. Sounds like it happens to the best.

Cheers

During bottling racking cane fell out of bottling bucket from counter onto the floor. Without thought picked it up and chucked it right back into bucket. This in turn made some air bubbles from air trapped in cane. Beer turned out great best ipa I ever had, although swmbo was not to impressed with the beer all over her new kitchen.

Spilled steeping grains all over the (previously unswept) garage floor. Swept it up, scooped it into the nylon bag, and proceeded as normal. Just bottled it today; tastes great.

pitched us05 at 90 F into my blue moon clone - fermented like crazy at 2 hours
This beer did not carb after 4 weeks in bottle so I opened bottles and dumped in keg
got it carbonated and it tasted fine. No oxidation, smelled the orange and coriander.
Still finishing the keg

Brewed on a Saturday in the suburbs of Philadelphia PA. Didn't pitch yeast until I returned home to north east Connecticut Monday night. Kept it in a fermenting plastic bucket with an airlock and then just opened the lid and pitched Monday night. Left it in the primary for 4 weeks and dry hopped in the secondary for over a week. Kegged it tonight. Doesn't look infected and smells great. Two weeks will tell the tale for my "bootleggers run red ipa"

My beginner's brew kit came with b-brite which I used diligently. I used up all the b-brite on my second batch. So, I upgraded to Star San. I was so proud of myself. The Star San bottle just looked more professional than the b-brite. Obviously my beer would just be better all around.

Except Star San, as you all know, is a sanitizer and not a cleaner. I sanitized dirty equipment on my third batch.

I didn't realize my mistake until I was getting ready for my next batch and my equipment just didn't look or even feel right.

And the beer came out fine.

Funny. I did the exact opposite. I spent my first year "sanitizing" with b-brite. Once the difference was explained, I was shocked how my beer improved.

Mysticmead said:

dirty diaper pale ale?

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Dirty Diaper Pail Ale ?

(Sorry this is old, but I'm catching up on my reading.)

strongarm said:

I was chilling my wort in a laundry sink and had a large block of ice under the pot. I checked the pot after 10 minutes to find the ice under the pot had melted and the pot sunk under the chilled water. I had a lid on the pot and I didn't look like the volume in the pot was any higher so I think the lid sealed it. This is the same sink I wash my baby's butt over when she does a #2 by the way. Beer turned out perfect.:rockin:

Mysticmead said:

dirty diaper pale ale?

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smyrnaquince said:

Dirty Diaper Pail Ale ?

(Sorry this is old, but I'm catching up on my reading.)

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it helps with the original text quoted... but since he had his brew kettle in the same sink he washes his baby's butt in after she goes #2... thought it would be an appropriate (and punny) name ... Dirty Diaper Pale Ale

I got two
I forgot to add 1/2 pound of flaked oats and a half pound of specialty grain to a porter recipe but still mashed as though they were in there. Beer came out "O K", it was a little thin but it was still beer.
Recently brewed a 10 gallon batch of a Cream Ale and tried to use a starter from washed Wyeast 1056. The starter didn't seem like it took off but I pitched it anyway. It took 3 days until it showed any signs of fermentation. I almost went to the LHBS to pick up more yeast. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out, it started fermenting just this past Wednesday.

Here's what I did wrong today
Forgot to add Irish moss (was wondering why had so much crap in fermentor then I saw it on the counter)
Forgot to add yeast nutrient
Got water from garden hose into wort

At least I got a name for my beer. "hose water ipa"