Rookie mistake

I wonder about the wisdom of admitting such a mistake in an open forum but I deserve the criticism. I made a batch of light Belgian golden ale last night and everything went smoothly. I quickly cooled down the wort and pitched it on top of a yeast cake from a Tripel I had just racked to the secondary.

I woke this morning expecting to hear the air lock bubbling away but was greeted with silence. I was using a new bucket and checked to see if the lid was tight and felt movement so I lifted the bucket (now empty) from the laundry room sink. WTF?? The spigot wasn't tight, but not so loose as to be obvious, and the entire 6 gallons dripped down the drain during the night.

I've been doing this for the better part of ten years and this is a first but I was surprisingly philosophical over the whole thing - what else can you do? It could have been worse and the bucket placed somewhere else besides the sink.

I made an order with Northern Brewer this morning and I'm making a new batch Friday night.

Wow, way to look on the bright side. A vision such as this has always kept me from fermenting in a "bottling" bucket. I'm not going to lie, I probably would have cried a little...

Great way to make up for it though!

I made an order with Northern Brewer this morning and I'm making a new batch Friday night.

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Yikes!! I hope that order included a non-ported bucket or carboy.

I made a similar mistake once, only lost a quart though. But it was the last time I fermented in a bottling bucket.

Wow, it's a really good thing it was over the sink. Would have really sucked if there was a giant mess to clean up as well.

Great outlook and way to move forward. R.I.P. to the wort that never was (beer)

Sorry for your loss. You should be good to go for another 10 years!

Wow! No ported fermenters for me unless it is a SS conical - far in the future.

I would have had a much more painful experience. I would probably have had a visit to the ER for a broken foot after I kicked something!

Im trying to look on the brighter side here by thinking that you were fortunate enough that it happened to be in a sink and went down the drain instead of waking up to 6 gallons of a sticky floor mess. Sucks about the beer but it can be remade

oh man. Having just done my first couple batches racked on top of an existing yeast cake, I am griveing your loss of a good, active yeast cake! HOnestly, you're looking at it the right way. You now have another reason to brew this Friday night...and the room to store it. Better luck next time!

I'm sure it's a mistake you'll only make once.

That sucks... sorry.

I have this odd vision of this happening to me. In this nightmare, my dachshund is sitting near the bucket, licking the drops as they leak out - hour after hour after hour.

Drip
Lick
Drip
Lick
Drip
Lick
Drip
Lick

If there's a dog heaven, that's hers.

that's a pretty heavy leak through a gasket - are you sure the spigot wasn't open? i did that running out my chiller into a bucket (using a bottler for a primary) and came into the kitchen to find a lovely layer of sticky wort five minutes later. I also once blew the door off my oven cooking a cobbler of pears that had soaked in vodka for about three months- so i'm pretty blase over danger and loss...
way to man up and share, and way to move on into positivity.

You're definitely dealing with that better than I would...I'd be and angry elf about that! At least you can get back on the horse and brew right away again to "make up" for it!