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

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I was moving my kettle to a bucket of ice for cooling and my dial thermometer popped off the rim and fell into the wort.
Without really thinking I sprayed my arm with StarSan and fish it out. I continued the process normally
but was pissed that I let that happen. It's been about 7 weeks now and the beer tastes excellent, and getting better each day.
 
I've accidentally added 2lbs of extra pale malt to an Irish Red; it turned out to be an "Imperial" Irish red (don't drink and weigh grain). Pretty good stuff! I call it Blarney Stone because at 9% if you have more than a couple you'll be babbling.

After 10 minutes of chilling a an ESB I noticed that the connection from the garden hose into my chiller was dripping. Into my warm wort. So far, so yummy.

I've forgotten ingredients, like dark malts and sugars and yeast (yes, it wasn't bubbling after 3 days. I wonder why not?) and they all turned out great.

I've burned the heck out of a decoction for a scotch ale and it was malty and caramelized and delicious; however, the pot was difficult to get clean.

My glasses have slipped off of my face on a hot day straight into the fermenter. Good hefe, though.

I brew in the garage and I am a fly ninja with my electric fly swatter. Gotta watch where they fall after you kill them near the brew pot.

I'm always learning. Some days the process works, and some days it doesn't. I haven't had to dump one yet, and it's always beer.

Cheers! :mug:
 
I filled my grain bill for a golden ale with carapils, victory, and vienna at the LHBS. When I got home, I only had 8 ounces of steeping grains - should have been 12.

Figured out that all I had gotten was the carapils, and double what I'd wanted at that - 8 ounces. If it had been a 5 gallon batch, that's 1 pound of carapils!

Some of the best brews come out of mistakes, so I went with it to see what it would turn out as.

Drinking the result now, turned out to be a nice, simple blonde ale with a head that just will not go away!
 
Okay, let's see... My first AG batch and first time using BIAB. I didn't think before starting the mash about burning my bag on the bottom of the pot and ended up with an 8 gallon pot full to within a half-inch of the brim in which I was trying to maneuver my bag so as not to burn it. Spent the entirety of what turned into a 2+ hour mash slowly raising the temperature so as to not burn it (which was probably completely unnecessary) and chewing my nails off. Then I had to face the fact that my bag was too fine and clogged and wouldn't drain, so a frantic hour was spent trying to get the sweet wort out of the bag.

Finally, I got my volume out and started boil and added my bittering hops. This was my first time using whole-leaf hops, so I just threw them in, figuring they'd make a nice filter when it came time to transfer to the fermenter. The boil was uneventful until I put my IC in in the last 5 minutes, when of course the pot that I've been watching closely for the last hour boils over. Well, not the end of the world, so I cooled the wort and got my yeast rehydrating.

Time to sanitize the fermenter and first time using Star San, so mountains of foam, but that's no big deal. Don't fear the foam and all, so I'm finally (this is already a very long brew day) ready to transfer to the fermenter and pitch. I take out my brand new autosiphon and try to start a siphon, and it won't pull. Some leaf from the 4 oz of leaf hops had gotten stuck in the valve, so I had to fiddle with that I try to get it out to no avail. So I figured I'd do things the old-fashioned way and filled the siphon with sanitizer to start one that way. I forgot, however, that part of my wort was already in the fermenter and I shouldn't exactly dump the sanitizer in the siphon in there. Too late, added a good quart of Star San right into the fermenter, and the siphon ended up clogging again almost immediately. Finally giving up on siphoning, I poured the rest of the contents of the kettle through a strainer into the fermenter (with much touching of the wort with unsanitized hands along the way), which meant that essentially all of my trub ended up in the fermenter, and there was a lot, this being the first batch I had added Whirlfloc to. In the process, the kettle got set down on my hydrometer, snapping it and preventing me from taking any OG; it's nowhere near my desired volume anyways. Finally I manage to pitch my yeast (which has been sitting around for two hours now) and shove the carboy unceremoniously in the closet.

A day and a half later, there isn't really any activity in the beer. It had gotten very cold sitting outside for so long and had only warmed up to ~63 F inside. So I put it on a hotpad, intending to bring it up to maybe 68 F. Which I succeeded in. At which point fermentation really took off in a major way and my temperatures shot up far too hot (to about 75 F) without control. At this point, I was beyond caring and let it sit for two weeks before unceremoniously dumping in the dry hops.

Finally it was ready to bottle, so time for round 2 of racking off the massive cake of yeast, hops, and trub. Once more the autosiphon is repeatedly non-functional and jams on hops, so there is much stopping and clearing along the way. After about a quarter has been transferred and the autosiphon clogs enough that it starts pulling air, essentially aerating the entirety of the beer. Welp, time for oxidation. Finally got everything bottled and threw it in the closet with zero expectations at this point, no idea of the ABV or anything.

Just cracked open a bottle yesterday, and it's an amazing fractional IPA. Wonderful malt balance and almost indistinguishable in taste from DayTime by Lagunitas (which I love). Best (and clearest) beer I've made.
 
Awesome... not exactly one of those stories where you think "Hmm, a mistake was made, but it's worth replicating" because hell, that was a lousy brew day, but your recipe must be bulletproof. Care to share?

Haha, certainly, but it's nothing amazing by any means. Was going for a Belgian/Cascade fusion pale ale, but I didn't end up getting much Belgian funk out of the yeast (not impressed with T-58), so it ended up as a really nice fractional IPA/hoppy pale ale. Not my place to decide which to call it; I just get to drink it. :mug: FG is predicted given the hydrometer breaking, but the efficiency was known. Since this is BIAB, mash volumes are appropriate for that (and as constrained by my kettle size).

The only thing I'd change in making it again is significantly increasing the dryhop. This was also the first beer I've dryhopped, so I didn't know just how much aroma it was going to contribute. I didn't want it to compete with the Belgian-ness, but seeing as this yeast didn't give much Belgian-ness for me (may be a function of the temperature wackiness), I'd go to probably 3 oz's in the dryhop. But I like hoppy beers, so YMMV.

The Super Galenas are in no way relevant to the recipe; I just have pounds of them sitting in the freezer from a friend who grows them and they're a nice neutral bittering hop. Regardless, they could be subbed out for whatever would be more at home the style, but they did give it a really nice bitterness that was definitely "there" but not overpoweringly dominant.

================================================================================
Batch Size: 5.000 gal
Boil Size: 6.057 gal
Boil Time: 60.000 min
Efficiency: 78%
OG: 1.052 (predicted)
FG: 1.011
ABV: 5.4% (predicted)
Bitterness: 38.8 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 6 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
================================================================================
Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Belgian Caravienne Malt Grain 16.000 oz Yes No 74% 24 L
Great Western 2 Row Pale Malt Grain 8.000 lb Yes No 81% 2 L
Total grain: 9.000 lb

Hops
================================================================================
Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Super Galena 12.0% 0.500 oz Boil 60.000 min Leaf 19.1 (AA% is an estimate, since they've been sitting sealed in my freezer, but they have good storage properties, so it may be a bit higher)
Cascade 8.9% 1.000 oz Boil 15.000 min Leaf 14.1
Cascade 8.9% 1.000 oz Boil 5.000 min Leaf 5.6
Cascade 8.9% 1.000 oz Boil 0.000 s Leaf 0.0
Cascade 8.9% 1.000 oz Dry Hop 14.000 day Leaf 0.0 (I don't rack to a secondary, so I dryhopped directly in the primary 1 week before bottling. Obviously, rack off if you so desire.)

Misc
================================================================================
Name Type Use Amount Time
Wyeast Yeast Nutrient Other Boil 0.500 tsp 10.000 min
Whirlfloc Fining Boil 0.5 tablets 5.000 min

Yeast
================================================================================
Name Type Form Amount Stage
Safbrew T-58 Ale Dry 11.5 g Primary

Mash
================================================================================
Name Type Amount Temp Target Time
Dough In Infusion 6.475 gal 107.187 F 104.000 F 20.000 min
Saccharification Rest Temperature --- --- 152.000 F 60.000 min
Mash Out Temperature --- --- 170.000 F 10.000 min
Infusion 1.348 qt 32.000 F 32.000 F 0.000 s

Water Corrections
================================================================================
Salt Amount
CaSO4 4 g
CaCl2 5 g
MgSO4 1 g
88% Lactic Acid 2 ml

Ion Final Concentration
Ca2+ 113 ppm
Mg2+ 12 ppm
Na+ 9 ppm
Cl- 102 ppm
SO42- 108 ppm

Est. Room Temp Mash pH: 5.45
 
Interesting you didn't get much Belgian "funk" from the T-58. It's my go-to Belgian yeast with lots if character. Matbe the hops just overpower it. I never get the "funk" I'm looking for in Belgian IPA's
 
Interesting you didn't get much Belgian "funk" from the T-58. It's my go-to Belgian yeast with lots if character. Matbe the hops just overpower it. I never get the "funk" I'm looking for in Belgian IPA's

It's possible the hops are covering it, but I'm blaming it on the brewing process on this one. :D Definitely gonna go for another try at the Belgian-Cascade pale ale, but I'll probably use WY3522. This beer was very much a "hm, I have stuff in the fridge, let's throw it all together and see what happens" experiment.
 
No lie, this all happened in one batch just finished bottling what should have been an American stout, but instead I misread the label at the LHBS and got Special Roast instead of roasted barley. I brewed it, my hop spider partially melted and took a quick dip in the wort. The connection on the wort chiller blew off and sprayed water into my mostly chilled wort. Was studying for the GMAT for the last 3 months, so this just sat down in my basement, with a blowout tube attached. When I went to move it finally to bottle it, nasty ass gym sock smelling water sucked up through sed blowout tube, directly into my finished product. Still have no idea how that happened. I set it aside for another few days and bottled just now. Tasted pretty good, albeit more like a hoppy Scottish ale than a stout.
 
wife got me a copy of beercraft-six packs from scratch. Read it cover to cover and decided to start with the first recipe since they were supposed to go from easiest to hardest. I poured over this first page of the recipes trying to decide what grains, hops and yeast to use and how much. For an easy recipe, it seemed like it had a lot of options that could be used and ranges of amounts to include. Brew day came and I wrote down a recipe, best I could, worked my way through my first batch. After it went to fermentation, I decided to turn the page to the second recipe, which could be slightly more difficult only to realize the VERY first page was a description of how to READ the recipe and not actually instructions to be followed. The pale ale that followed was much easier to navigate. Have to say that first batch was horrible, but over a year now and I still crack one open every now and then just to make sure...
 
I brewed a brown ale, intending to use 3lbs of munich, 2 lbs of dark munich and 6 lbs of 2 row in a 6.5 gallon batch (along with other specialty grains). Got my sacks of grain mixed up and ended up using 6 lbs of munich, 2 lbs dark munich and only 3lbs of 2 row. It was great. To this day I brew my brown ale this way.
 
I brewed a brown ale, intending to use 3lbs of munich, 2 lbs of dark munich and 6 lbs of 2 row in a 6.5 gallon batch (along with other specialty grains). Got my sacks of grain mixed up and ended up using 6 lbs of munich, 2 lbs dark munich and only 3lbs of 2 row. It was great. To this day I brew my brown ale this way.

That sounds kind of good. What are the characteristics of "dark munich"?
 
This is the description from Northern Brewer site (I think regular munich is 7-10 L):

15.5° L. Darker than regular Munich malt, this will add color and a strong malt flavor to beer. Great for dark lagers. Mix this base malt with other base malts for a complex malt flavor and deeper color.
 
I also use smaller additions of maybe a half pound or so each chocolate, coffee kiln, brown malt, flaked oats, and wheat. Not positive, but it is something like that. Anyway, the high percentage of munich turned out surprisingly well for this "mistake."
 
Maybe one way to sum up some patterns in this thread:

1. Ingredient substitutions and changes to amounts are seldom a problem; in fact this may be a great way to discover a new style.

2. Sanitation mistakes almost never matter for most of us who keep our beer cold and drink it fresh.

3. Similarly, oxidation doesn't seem to be a huge problem, especially on the hot side.

4. If there's one thing that does seem to affect the beer when it's a little off, it's yeast pitching rate and fermentation temperature.

What do you guys think? Additions/Changes?
 
3. Similarly, oxidation doesn't seem to be a huge problem, especially on the hot side.

Not sure I agree with that. I completely ruined a witbier (almost to the point of undrinkability; I'm considering just dumping it) by oxidation post-fermentation. I think it can be a definite issue in lighter, more subtle styles. That being said, this was extreme oxidation (e.g. cascading it through a strainer into a carboy), since it was before I knew to be careful to avoid it. The bubble or two in your racking cane isn't an issue. :D
 
The bubble or two in your racking cane isn't an issue. :D

Right, oxidation only matters if it's an extreme case, either beer you want to age for a year or more, or beer you sent through a strainer post-ferment.

In extreme cases, all the things we've been discussing matter. It won't be a good beer if you substitute roast barley for your base malt, or if you spill a container of yogurt in before pitching yeast.

I think the point of the thread is to identify things that can go a little wrong and not matter, to ease all of our minds.
 
Of course. I just always have to insert that caveat, because I don't want anyone else to suffer my mistakes.

On a happier note, I've had my crappy auto-siphon wannabe aerate my last two batches fairly severely post-ferment, and they've both come out tasty. Needless to say the siphon has gone in the trash, but some bubbles won't ruin your beer.
 
I think the point of the thread is to identify things that can go a little wrong and not matter, to ease all of our minds.

This. Basically beer is reasonably forgiving. Most newcomers to brewing are understandably anxious and treat their beers like a firstborn. Then once they experience the effects of different mistakes, or other accidents that happen in the process they learn that it will still become beer, and usually with the mistakes turn out rather impressive and be un-recreatable. Though, then again occasionally there will be an undrinkable batch, which we need to realize happens, and learn from our mistakes to improve on our process and nor repeat.

It will be beer. It will not always be great beer. But it will not kill you. Unless you do something incredibly stupid like brew with cyanide adjuncts. What would you call that other than a bad idea?

It all boils down to the age old RDWHAC(raft)B until you have a finished product then RDWHAHB.
 
This. Basically beer is reasonably forgiving. Most newcomers to brewing are understandably anxious and treat their beers like a firstborn. Then once they experience the effects of different mistakes, or other accidents that happen in the process they learn that it will still become beer, and usually with the mistakes turn out rather impressive and be un-recreatable. Though, then again occasionally there will be an undrinkable batch, which we need to realize happens, and learn from our mistakes to improve on our process and nor repeat.

It will be beer. It will not always be great beer. But it will not kill you. Unless you do something incredibly stupid like brew with cyanide adjuncts. What would you call that other than a bad idea?

It all boils down to the age old RDWHAC(raft)B until you have a finished product then RDWHAHB.

THIS is exactly the message and the reason I created this thread. New brewers have a tendency to think their beer is something weak, and that every little mistake or perceived mistake means our beer is ruined. When the truth is, we're human, and we are all going to make mistakes at any given time, and making a mistake or 5 is not a guarantee that the batch is ruined.....
 
When the truth is, we're human, and we are all going to make mistakes at any given time, and making a mistake or 5 is not a guarantee that the batch is ruined.....

When I was a beginner, I knew that I didn't have time to perfect everything in my process at once, and RDWHAHB did have some palliative effect on my psyche. But I also didn't want to just "relax", and I sure as heck wasn't drinking while I was brewing. It's at least 4 hours of your life and $40, so I wanted to get it right, or at least I wanted to get something right.

I could have benefited from somebody sitting me down and saying, "Look, don't worry about wort production. Just focus on yeast health and fermentation temperature."

Instead, I was inundated with RDWHAHB-ism, and when I did try to improve my beers after a few medium-quality batches, I wasted time on the wrong things: sanitation, HSA, hop bags vs. free hops, cold-break in the fermenter...on and on.

I was probably ten batches in before I finally made a yeast starter and fermented in my cold basement with an electric blanket and a temperature controller. I couldn't believe the difference it made in my beer! Strange flavors disappeared, and my beer was never again underattenuated. If somebody had told me, I could have done this on my 2nd or 3rd batch. Now that would have really saved some worrying.

So, for our newbies, I suggest: ROWAYHAT (Relax, Only Worry about Yeast Health and Temperature)
 
When I was a beginner, I knew that I didn't have time to perfect everything in my process at once, and RDWHAHB did have some palliative effect on my psyche. But I also didn't want to just "relax", and I sure as heck wasn't drinking while I was brewing. It's at least 4 hours of your life and $40, so I wanted to get it right, or at least I wanted to get something right.

I could have benefited from somebody sitting me down and saying, "Look, don't worry about wort production. Just focus on yeast health and fermentation temperature."

Instead, I was inundated with RDWHAHB-ism, and when I did try to improve my beers after a few medium-quality batches, I wasted time on the wrong things: sanitation, HSA, hop bags vs. free hops, cold-break in the fermenter...on and on.

I was probably ten batches in before I finally made a yeast starter and fermented in my cold basement with an electric blanket and a temperature controller. I couldn't believe the difference it made in my beer! Strange flavors disappeared, and my beer was never again underattenuated. If somebody had told me, I could have done this on my 2nd or 3rd batch. Now that would have really saved some worrying.

So, for our newbies, I suggest: ROWAYHAT (Relax, Only Worry about Yeast Health and Temperature)

Really a good post. Although I believe that you need to be diligent with sanitation, I really think alot of peoples problems arise from yeast/fermentation issues. Just like you said, pitch enough healthy yeast and keep ferm. temps under control and see how much better your end product will be.
 
I have never made a mistake. And I'll save you the 'you have to brew more than once a year to make a mistake' jokes.:D

No, really, my second batch, an IPA, almost became a disaster. I couldn't keep the siphon going when transferring to the bottling bucket. I got extremely pissed after probably 15 tries to keep it going. Said screw it and left behind about a gallon of beer. My mood was not helped by having literally just finished painting my kitchen.

Whole transfer process took probably 90 minutes with me aerating the crap out of the beer. It turned out pretty well, in retrospect.

I believe it was that day I discovered this place and was also the day I ordered an auto siphon, so I guess the disaster had its benefits.

I just had almost the same experience with my current batch of beer. I had not brewed in a few years and just started back up. I made a cranberry wheat. When I went to siphon to the bottling bucket I could not keep the siphon going to save my life. I finally had my daughter hold the bottling bucket at an angle and I just picked up the carboy and poured the beer down the side of the bucket. I was afraid of aeration but the beer tastes great. I only have 8 bottles left.

I have also had other incidents but the beer always turns out great. You new brewers need to take Charlie's advice, "Relax and have a homebrew!".
 
First extract brew I did, I asked my wife for a bit of help. She was actually interested in the brewing process (or at least she's a great actor). She asked if she could add some of the DME to the boiling wort. I begrudgingly agreed, knowing the size of the pot and amount of liquid inside of it. I wish I had this on film. She screamed so loud, I thought the cops were going to show up. Even though I was standing right next to her when it happened, the wort boiled over (about 1/4 of the batch) all over our BRAND NEW range and stove that were delivered 3 days earlier.

2 points to take away here. 1. My wife doesn't brew beer with me anymore. 2. I now know why there are so many ants in my house.

The beer turned out very nice, though. Ended up bottling 37 bottles.
 
My second brew and I did a DIPA recipe from a friend (slightly modified)

Had no Idea how much volume the whole hops would use up of my puny un-manly kettle. I ended up straining out the whole hops in the last 15 minutes and putting them in my top off boil to finish them and in order to be able to get my last 3# of LME in the boil.

Aside for having to stand there, watch and stir to avoid boil overs the whole time, at the end the wort was within 3/4 inch of the rim, everything went fine.

Got it all mixed together in the primary, sans whole hops which I strained out, and pitched.

Lesson Learned: Big beer = big kettle or its a pain and maybe won't come out well. Hopefully this one does, OG of 1.088 and 5.5 oz of hops, pre 2 oz of DH. :drunk: my kind of brew :rockin:

Looks like I am spending some more dough because this is really a lot of fun. And the wifey is stoked I found another hobby that doesn't involve ER visits, at least likeley ER Visits :ban:
 
I froze my beer trying to lager and the yeast stopped very premature. I added a crapload of dry hops to the keg and the guys at the homebrew clue loved it.
 
Very first batch of beer I ever made, was a 1-gallon Cranberry Cream Ale kit that my wife bought for me at a local cranberry festival. She thought it was a good idea that I had a hobby that didn't involve electronics or saws (little did she know I'd use BeerSmith AND use power tools to make my brewing area & accessories!). I wasn't expecting much from this batch. In fact, I was wondering if I'd be able to stomach enough of it so as not to hurt her feelings...

- I sanitized NOTHING. In fact, I used Palmolive to wash everything before hand.
- I used tap water
- I left the brew bucket uncovered & exposed
- I poured the finished beer into a jug, then from a jug into a measuring cup, then from a measuring cup into the bottles.

Despite all that, it was one of the most delicious beers I've ever had.
 
Very early Saturday morning... Pre-coffee... Don't know what I was thinking... but I added enough yeast nutrients for a 5gal batch into the starter. Didn't realize it until I pitched the yeast. :confused:

The batch at large is currently in the fermenter. A sampling today shows the makings for a very good batch

Toy4rick
 
How much room do i get to post my screw ups ?
Dropped towels in wort when transferring .
Siphon the beer by sucking on tube . Hey if it is good enough for your gasoline ...
dumped in a quart of extra wort to my primary that I forgot to boil first .
pitched yeast while wort was about 83 degrees .

things I do not do : Sterilize like crazy .
I use no rinse on my bottles and buckets and paddles .. but I do not get crazy . I simply wash anything else off with hot then cold water while brewing . measuring cups etc. Ever wonder if this stuff is actually doing anything ? Rinsing something off and then immediately using it sure can not be sterilizing it . Surely it must sit a while .

Boiling with lid on .
The list goes on ......
 
I accidentally made an imperial Two Hearted clone. I did not check the equipment profile when loading the recipe to Beersmith. The profile was set at extract rather than all grain. I ended up with a 1.076 OG and 83 IBUs. (I skipped the 30 minute addition after realizing my mistake or IBUs would have been 100 plus).

Finished at 1.018 and tasted good going into bottles. I named it "Two-Hearted Imperial Mistake."
 
OK, I'll throw one more on the pile, my first all-grain batch.

The screw-ups start on brew day, as we're transferring the cooled wort to the fermentation bucket. I'm so excited/nervous about using the fancy ball valve on my brand new brew kettle that I completely forget I need a hydrometer sample for an OG reading until I've already drained half the wort.

My brewing partner and girlfriend is here helping, so, no worries, right? I ask her to grab a little glass to hold the sample while I keep an eye on things at the kettle, she brings it back, holds it over the fermentation bucket near the stream of wort... then, we completely fail to communicate who is supposed to be holding the glass, and, *SPLASH!* into the fermentation bucket it goes.

At this point, I figure, what's done is done -- any bugs on the glass will have floated off into the wort in the first second or two, and I can only introduce even more contamination by reaching in there after it. So, we leave the glass, get another one under the wort stream in time to pull the hydrometer sample, pitch our yeast, and call it a day.

Fast forward a couple of days, fermentation is proceeding well -- a little too well, in fact, there's krausen goop starting to get into the airlock. I'm sure you all know where this is heading... I pull the airlock and rubber bung, clean 'em, sanitize 'em, and make that popular mistake of putting the bung into the bucket lid and then trying to insert the airlock. *PLOP!* in goes my only bucket-lid-airlock-hole-sized bung, to keep that sample glass company.

Did I mention that it's the afternoon of Christmas eve?

So, yeah, here I am, holding my now-useless airlock in my hand, LHBS is already closed, won't be open on Christmas Day, 36 hours before I can possibly get a replacement bung. I throw a little glass bowl over the airlock hole in the hopes of at least making it harder for the nasties to drift into my beer, then it's off to the folks' place for Christmas Eve dinner.

After spending the next 36 hours periodically cleaning copious amounts of krausen goop off the top of my fermentor, hooray, the LHBS is open, I can pick up another bung, rig up a blow-off tube, and RDWHAHB. If there's a silver lining to cleaning up sticky, drippy krausen goo, it's that doing it in a room that smells half like porter and half like rising bread ain't all bad.

Well, it's a few weeks later, and I just racked it to secondary last night. I don't think this beer will every be "great" -- some unrelated growing pains in my all-grain process and some overzealous temperature control have kept this batch from fulfilling its full potential. But none of my hydrometer samples had any trace of funk or sourness, and there wasn't any sign of pellicle formation, in spite of my multiple poorly-timed attempts at infecting the batch, so, I'm confident this beer has a bright future ahead of it.

Cheers! :mug:
 
My second batch was a partial boil recipe that recommended using two frozen milk jugs of water to cool/top off the boil. Just cut the plastic and throw these two hunks of ice in the wort and your done. Sounds easy, right?

Had the first jug cut and was trying to get the ice out, when it slipped and the plastic cut my hand. Bled all over the ice, then that slipped and fell in. With all hopes of sanitation gone, just cleaned my hand, put the other ice in and called it a batch.

That bloody ale tasted just fine.
 
Ran out of time and had to pitch yeast at 80 degrees (us05). I threw it in the fermentation fridge and three weeks later it tasted great. No off flavors that I could taste.
 
I've only recently started brewing. 1st batch was a one gallon pale ale I ordered from Homebrew Exchange. Anyways, I got it and realized it was all grain, had NO idea what to do, I have no equipment for all grain, so I just winged it (got a lot of help on here btw). Just cracked one the other day and it's great. Great head, lacing, taste is still a little green, so I'll let the rest bottle condition for another month or so. OH, sucked up a lot of hops when transferring to bottling bucket, so I put a grain bag over the end of my autosiphon with a rubber band, neither the bag or the rubber band was sanitized! Oh well, they have a lot of sediment, but no infamous (and maybe mythical?) bottle bombs!

On my most recent batch, a chocolate lavender stout I was pushing the airlock into the lid hole and the gromit fell in and I reached my arm in to fish it out. Fermented fine (I think). Just went to bottles today, so we'll see in a little while how that turns out, tastes fine now though.

Let's see, I have NB Kiwi Express fermenting (just about to add dry hops) and I added the LME at the beginning of the boil instead of at thee last 15 min like the instructions say, so we'll see. Seems OK though.

That's three mistakes in my first three batches and (so far) no one has died or gotten sick, and the beer hasn't tasted that bad either!!!!:D
 
I reached into my primary bucket to get out the airlock seal. The Oktoberfest brew still tasted great! I am still new to brewing and I am sure I will have more stories. It is nice to read that others mess up too!
 
kingogames ;
Put a spigot in the bottle bucket about 1 inch or so from the bottom and that will allow things room to settle in and you will not have so much suck up into the bottle .
Use a 5 gallon nylon paint strainer instead of a grain bag for a filter when there is a lot of stuff like hops floating around in the wort. I also use this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/filter-siphon-tube-leave-trub-behind-380879/ to filter my wort when siphoning into bottle bucket and it works great .

Mistake ... I dropped a towel that I was using to prop up my bucket into my bottle bucket . the towel was clean until I used it to prop up the bucket which had been sitting on the floor . No problem how ever . I guess that alcohol is enough to kill off small amounts of germs . Now people know why I served them a beer with a label that said " dirty towel brown ale "
 
I was probably ten batches in before I finally made a yeast starter and fermented in my cold basement with an electric blanket and a temperature controller. I couldn't believe the difference it made in my beer! Strange flavors disappeared, and my beer was never again underattenuated. If somebody had told me, I could have done this on my 2nd or 3rd batch. Now that would have really saved some worrying.

Yes, two big things. The yeast starter can be low tech too, IMHO.
 
Back
Top