What is your strangest brew day mishap?

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ilikeguns

ilikeguns

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Curious to see what is the strangest/worst event that interrupted your brew day. I had mine tonight...

Tonight I had a Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA clone on the burner and I was approaching the 25 minute additions (most of the hops are in the last 25 minutes), when my 2yr old daughter started crying. She was eating raisins and we concluded she may have stuck one up her nose. She calmed down and let us inspect up her nose with a flashlight but we couldnt see anything. We interrogated her for a bit and finally realized that there WAS a raisin up there so we were about to take her to the 24hr medical center.

Now, I didn't want to rush my flameout hops and wanted to make sure I pitched at the proper time so a trip to the doctor would throw a wrench into my plans. I took a closer look and saw "something" so my wife and I tried a few things to dislodge the raisin (getting her to blow out, reverse CPR etc) but nothing was successful. Finally I took a flexi-straw and stuck it up her nose and sucked it out. Love is sucking a snotty raisin out of your daughter's nose with a flexi straw then spitting it out.

As for the beer, it didn't get the full attention that I wanted, but my girls come first. Hopefully it turns out okay!

so that's my story.. what's yours?
 
Nothing like that yet but props to you sir, for making your daughter first. I'm sure ill have stories like this in the future with my kids.
 
So it looks like the beer is bubbling away in my new ferm chamber.. wound up missing my SG by a few points. Should have been 1.079, was 1.076.

As far as the topic goes, my brother in law once threw a floating thermometer into a stout and it shattered.. all that work down the drain...
 
I use a garden hose attached to my chiller out line to drain water away from house. Turn water on to chill my dopplebock and i see my tubing from chiller to hose start to grow before my eyes. I know immiedately the hose has a kink in it some where and as i turn to run and shut off water, blam, boiling hot water blows all over me, the garage and my precious dopplebock. I got the water off, reattached the hose and chilled it down. Morale of the story, check hoses when it is dark and you have had a few homebrews.
Also, swmbo looked out at me after hose blew and just shook her head at me, but i thought it was funny as hell.
 
So I am brewing a pliny the elder the other day and at the flameout just before I begin to use the chiller, my niece comes in and drops a pendant into the wort. It was not a new pendant, and I am not sure how old it was, My sister then comes in and proceeds to fish it out with a slotted spatula before I begin to protest it was already in the wort.......WTF??????? So, I thought the patch was ruined from infection. Its heavy beer, but then again the slapac did not go off like I had expected. I have never used on before and I just set it on the counter with out bursting the inside. On the inside there is the packet of nutrient that should have been broken. However, the fermentation went off as expected. I was really nervous about it for a day or so, when I pitched the yeast. I will know if its sour in a few days, but I think it will be alright.
 
My first home brew. A brown IPA Extract clone. My first 12 bottles were perfect. My second 12 bottles, ummm. I had to run to the bathroom #1 and told my wife just use the wand and fill the bottles to about an inch below the cap line. The bottling wand hit some sediment and made it into the bottles. My second batch tasted ok but you have clumps of settlement that was like gobs of wet oatmeal cookie dough. Mistake noted and won't happen again.
 
I found a dead chipmunk in my boil at flame out once. We live in a wooded area, and i boil on the front patio a few steps from the kitchen door. Critters are a common thing. The door is a half light and you can see the boil really well so very handy on the winter to limit the cold exposure. Anyway, this was summer, the door was open and I was in and out. There was only a bittering addition at 60 and all was fine then. I added the chiller at 20 or so left and did not notice anything then. But at flame out I kicked on the chiller and a few minutes later I started to agitate the chiller a bit and there he was bobbing to the top! Can't figure exactly HOW he got up into the pot, nor why or when either. Nonetheless. I suppose I could have treated it as another bit of floating protein, and it WAS sterile by then . . . . But there were witnesses so I just started over.
 
Nothing that comes close to OP's story.

This past fall I was brewing a 10 gallon Kolsch in the garage. I noticed a small, dark lump of something rolling in the boil. I fished it out with a strainer. It was a yellowjacket that decided to find out what all that sweet stuff was, and paid the price for its curiosity.

I decided a custom label was warranted.
YellowjacketKolsch.jpg
 
A few years back I was GOING TO brew an Irish Red. Completed the mash- exactly where I was predicting, great color, just everything perfect. So I lift the 7 gallons of wort to walk the kettle over to the burner, just like I've down a hundred times before. Except this time I tripped. And spilled it all on the concrete floor of my garage. Did I cry? No, I'm a real man. But I did sniffle a bit. Fortunately, I had enough ingredients to mash again the following day. Called that batch 'Oooops Irish Red'. I think I posted a picture on the forum somewhere, but I'm not going to look for it. Too painful.
 
Worst brew day in 11 years, had 5 gallons of barley wine boiling in the backyard. After hours of intensive work to get all the goodness from 22 lbs of marris otter, the entire burner and kettle disappeared into a sink hole... I invented some new word combinations that day!
 
brewdude88 said:
Worst brew day in 11 years, had 5 gallons of barley wine boiling in the backyard. After hours of intensive work to get all the goodness from 22 lbs of marris otter, the entire burner and kettle disappeared into a sink hole... I invented some new word combinations that day!
Click to expand...
Your wort smelt so good the earth decided to eat it!
 
ilikeguns said:
Curious to see what is the strangest/worst event that interrupted your brew day. I had mine tonight...

Tonight I had a Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA clone on the burner and I was approaching the 25 minute additions (most of the hops are in the last 25 minutes), when my 2yr old daughter started crying. She was eating raisins and we concluded she may have stuck one up her nose. She calmed down and let us inspect up her nose with a flashlight but we couldnt see anything. We interrogated her for a bit and finally realized that there WAS a raisin up there so we were about to take her to the 24hr medical center.

Now, I didn't want to rush my flameout hops and wanted to make sure I pitched at the proper time so a trip to the doctor would throw a wrench into my plans. I took a closer look and saw "something" so my wife and I tried a few things to dislodge the raisin (getting her to blow out, reverse CPR etc) but nothing was successful. Finally I took a flexi-straw and stuck it up her nose and sucked it out. Love is sucking a snotty raisin out of your daughter's nose with a flexi straw then spitting it out.

As for the beer, it didn't get the full attention that I wanted, but my girls come first. Hopefully it turns out okay!

so that's my story.. what's yours?
Click to expand...
Was it called a Hazy IPA? :)
 
brewdude88 said:
Worst brew day in 11 years, had 5 gallons of barley wine boiling in the backyard. After hours of intensive work to get all the goodness from 22 lbs of marris otter, the entire burner and kettle disappeared into a sink hole... I invented some new word combinations that day!
Click to expand...
Wow. It's gonna be hard to top this one
 

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