McCall St. Brewer
Well-Known Member
Well, my first three AG batches went off very smoothly, so I suppose it was time for me to become overconfident. I was cruising along this afternoon, making a slightly modified batch of EdWort's Haus Pale Ale. Everything was going great, hit my mash and sparge temps almost on the head. My setup had always worked flawlessly before. Today, though, I got ready to start recycling my wort, turned the spigot and ... nothing. Turned it off and back on again. Still nothing. Stuck sparge? No way. Something should have come out, maybe even just a little? No, zip. Nada.
So. Dump out all the mash into a big kettle and here's the problem: the little hose from the false bottom to the spiggot had come loose. I put it back on and carefully, very carefully, put everything back in. Turned the handle and... STILL nothing!
Okay... remaining calm. Everything back out and into the kettle again. This time, I did what I should have done before I even started. I inspected more closely and found the the spiggot was clogged with some old grain. Cleared it out and put everything back in one more time. In the clear now? No way. Forgot to turn the doggone valve off before putting everything back. Hot wort all over the kitchen floor! (Dog had a nice treat licking it up).
Okay, STILL calm. Mop the floor. Finally start sparging. Everything seemed to go well from that point. Got the wort in the carboy, pitched the yeast and had everything cleaned up 5 hours after I started. Hopefully tomorrow a.m. we'll have a nice ferment going.
So. Dump out all the mash into a big kettle and here's the problem: the little hose from the false bottom to the spiggot had come loose. I put it back on and carefully, very carefully, put everything back in. Turned the handle and... STILL nothing!
Okay... remaining calm. Everything back out and into the kettle again. This time, I did what I should have done before I even started. I inspected more closely and found the the spiggot was clogged with some old grain. Cleared it out and put everything back in one more time. In the clear now? No way. Forgot to turn the doggone valve off before putting everything back. Hot wort all over the kitchen floor! (Dog had a nice treat licking it up).
Okay, STILL calm. Mop the floor. Finally start sparging. Everything seemed to go well from that point. Got the wort in the carboy, pitched the yeast and had everything cleaned up 5 hours after I started. Hopefully tomorrow a.m. we'll have a nice ferment going.