JohnnyNeurotic
Member
I'm sure many of you have had them, but in almost 7 years of homebrewing, last Saturday was my first bad day.
It started with the spillage of hop pellets - down a heater grate in the kitchen, no less - by a curious party who was "helping me." And seeing as how I was making an Oatmeal Stout the addition of my only in-house hops, 2oz of Citra, was definitely NOT an option. Insert trip to LHBS here.
Shortly after that, with my frustration already mounting, I missed my target temp and was forced to scoop 4qts at a time out of my MLT, heat quickly and add back in to get up to temp.
Then the first pitcher at vorlauf ended up on the kitchen floor.
Luckily for me, the boil went well... and then my cooling system failed miserably. Kinks in the line and all.
Attempting to cool via the "ice bath" system took an eternity and I ended up throwing my yeast starter in an 88 degrees and going to bed with a "f___ it" kind of attitude.
Ok! Venting done.
Anyone else familiar with bad brew days? I'm usually so organized and anal from restaurant years in my youth; setting up my sautee station perfectly 6 days a week... last weekend was just a disaster. I much prefer brewing alone. It's like a Zen thing, I think.
FWIW, when I returned home from Easter brunch with the fam my fermenter was bubbling away happily, ignorant to the hell the brew inside it had caused me the day before!
It started with the spillage of hop pellets - down a heater grate in the kitchen, no less - by a curious party who was "helping me." And seeing as how I was making an Oatmeal Stout the addition of my only in-house hops, 2oz of Citra, was definitely NOT an option. Insert trip to LHBS here.
Shortly after that, with my frustration already mounting, I missed my target temp and was forced to scoop 4qts at a time out of my MLT, heat quickly and add back in to get up to temp.
Then the first pitcher at vorlauf ended up on the kitchen floor.
Luckily for me, the boil went well... and then my cooling system failed miserably. Kinks in the line and all.
Attempting to cool via the "ice bath" system took an eternity and I ended up throwing my yeast starter in an 88 degrees and going to bed with a "f___ it" kind of attitude.
Ok! Venting done.
Anyone else familiar with bad brew days? I'm usually so organized and anal from restaurant years in my youth; setting up my sautee station perfectly 6 days a week... last weekend was just a disaster. I much prefer brewing alone. It's like a Zen thing, I think.
FWIW, when I returned home from Easter brunch with the fam my fermenter was bubbling away happily, ignorant to the hell the brew inside it had caused me the day before!