First of all, SWMBO hates beer. So I have no where to vent when things go bad, so sorry fellow HBTers, but you have to hear my vent. On a good note, if you dont want to hear me vent you can just click back on your browser and i wont event know. Now, on to my story....
It has been a while since I have brewed. Almost a year to be exact. Not because I didn't want to, but for some reason the Air Force doesnt want us brewing/drinking in the desert. Something about being culturaly sensitive I guess. Any who, today was going to break my streak of no brewing. The last time I brewed, I added a valve to my kettle so I could use my new plate chiller but when i put it in there was a really small leak (like 1 drop every 5 minutes). Not too bad, but I wanted it fixed. So I was looking at Kal's electric brewery and used his examples of how to install the valves and figured I could make it water tight. This is what started the bad brew day. While tightening the valve, I broke the O-ring. And of course, my small town doesnt sell them anywhere. I was able to find one at lowes, but it wasnt high temp. I bought it anyways and decided to take the one off my round cooler HLT and swap it to the brew kettle and put the low temp one on the HLT. Sweet, it worked and I can continue brewing.
Mashing/Sparging go uneventful, but when I start the boil and getting my hops ready, I bust the bag open like I was Hercules and they go all over the place. I didnt lose a whole lot, so I figure I will be ok. During the boil, I have 2 HUGE boil overs so I know I am going to have a big cleanup afterwards. After the boil, I set the plate chiller up and have the hose running to the yard since it needs to be watered anyways. About 3/4 of the way into the chill I decide to move the hose so I can water another area. Bad move! As I move the hose, it pulls the chiller off the shelf, which pulls the boil kettle off the rack boiling wort goes everywhere. I lost about 1.5-2 gallons! Thats was far worst that having that boiling wort splash on my legs (I have nice burn marks down my legs, but the loss of beer is far worse). To top it off, I have no idea where my thermometer is. To be honest, im sure its in my fermenter because its the only place it could be.
Ok, I have some wort cooled and ready to be pitched. I go to get my starter out...wait, I forgot to do one. I guess its been to long since I brewed!
The only really good thing that came out of this was that SWMBO said that I really need to upgrade my setup so that I dont fling boiling wort all over the place. I think that means that I can get some march pumps instead of using gravity like I have been.
The End.
It has been a while since I have brewed. Almost a year to be exact. Not because I didn't want to, but for some reason the Air Force doesnt want us brewing/drinking in the desert. Something about being culturaly sensitive I guess. Any who, today was going to break my streak of no brewing. The last time I brewed, I added a valve to my kettle so I could use my new plate chiller but when i put it in there was a really small leak (like 1 drop every 5 minutes). Not too bad, but I wanted it fixed. So I was looking at Kal's electric brewery and used his examples of how to install the valves and figured I could make it water tight. This is what started the bad brew day. While tightening the valve, I broke the O-ring. And of course, my small town doesnt sell them anywhere. I was able to find one at lowes, but it wasnt high temp. I bought it anyways and decided to take the one off my round cooler HLT and swap it to the brew kettle and put the low temp one on the HLT. Sweet, it worked and I can continue brewing.
Mashing/Sparging go uneventful, but when I start the boil and getting my hops ready, I bust the bag open like I was Hercules and they go all over the place. I didnt lose a whole lot, so I figure I will be ok. During the boil, I have 2 HUGE boil overs so I know I am going to have a big cleanup afterwards. After the boil, I set the plate chiller up and have the hose running to the yard since it needs to be watered anyways. About 3/4 of the way into the chill I decide to move the hose so I can water another area. Bad move! As I move the hose, it pulls the chiller off the shelf, which pulls the boil kettle off the rack boiling wort goes everywhere. I lost about 1.5-2 gallons! Thats was far worst that having that boiling wort splash on my legs (I have nice burn marks down my legs, but the loss of beer is far worse). To top it off, I have no idea where my thermometer is. To be honest, im sure its in my fermenter because its the only place it could be.
Ok, I have some wort cooled and ready to be pitched. I go to get my starter out...wait, I forgot to do one. I guess its been to long since I brewed!
The only really good thing that came out of this was that SWMBO said that I really need to upgrade my setup so that I dont fling boiling wort all over the place. I think that means that I can get some march pumps instead of using gravity like I have been.
The End.
