List of things that can kill a brewday

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grathan

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I am always looking at my cheap hardware and thinking,
"if the battery in this $6 scale dies the whole day would be shot. Or
"if my only hand-held digital thermometer were to fall into the hlt..." ,
"If a hole were to appear in the middle of that transfer hose",
"what if I break that bazooka tube off while stirring this mash too aggressively?",
"what if I break the elbow on that autosiphon shoving this tube on..."

I wonder how many potential equipment pitfalls could arise and ruin brew day.:confused:
 
The one that scares me is the split in the immersion chiller - after all the hard work is done, the chiller lets tons of hose water flow into your wort ...
 
grathan said:
I am always looking at my cheap hardware and thinking,
"if the battery in this $6 scale dies the whole day would be shot. Or
"if my only hand-held digital thermometer were to fall into the hlt..." ,
"If a hole were to appear in the middle of that transfer hose",
"what if I break that bazooka tube off while stirring this mash too aggressively?",
"what if I break the elbow on that autosiphon shoving this tube on..."

I wonder how many potential equipment pitfalls could arise and ruin brew day.:confused:
Click to expand...

My scale uses rechargeable AAA's...always a set in the charger.
My digital thermometer is waterproof...sanitize a slotted spoon and fish it out.
I don't have any transfer hoses (BIAB)
I use a mash paddle...unlikely to break...if so, Big Stainless Spoon
Then shove the tubing on the straight part and carry on.

The immersion chiller would suck, but is fed with an RV hose, so if I caught it early, it wouldn't be too bad.

I have two propane tanks (you only make that mistake ONCE)

What can I say?...I grew up watching MacGyver! :rockin:
 
You cant protect yourself from everything but there are things that you can do.

Remember the Boy Scout Motto: "Be prepared"

Have backup equipment.

Two hydrometers
Two thermometers
Two bottles of Oxygen, in case one runs out.
Less gizmos and gadgets.
The more pieces of machinery and electronics you have the greater chance something will go wrong.

Two bottles of CO2, not really for the brew day, but it lets you get a refill on your own schedule.

My system is based off the K.I.S.S. principle.

For 10 gallon batches, do I really need a pump to transfer wort? No, not really. I can easily pick up 3 gallons, four times. And pour that into my boil kettle. (Thats an example of the thought process I use, for my equipment. Less is better.)
 
leaving soap in any of the pots and having a plugged drain on a 15 gallon BK. The plugged drain is fixable, the soap in the wort is not.
 
Broke what I thought was my backup hydrometer yesterday right before taking my reading....and then realized I only had that one...d'oh!
 
Darwin18 said:
Running out of propane is probably the one thing that would ruin a brew day for me.
Click to expand...

Note to self two partial tanks is not one tank hence my 3 tank IPA last week

Who even has three much less three empty?
 
I have 8 LPpropane tanks....U- Haul will often give you the dead ones that they can't fill and then just take them to the Home Depot . I have other stuff like my barbecue grill and my shrimp boiling burner that runs on propane to
 
Nothing in my world will kill a brew day, in the end I made some more beer, unless, of course, the day gets put on hold:D
 
My turkey fryer has a regulator on it that runs on batteries. It requires me to push a button less than every 10 minutes to ensure that I'm paying attention to it when frying a turkey. It's a PITA safety feature that I really need to figure out how to bypass.

Anyway, I have to replace the batteries almost every brewday. So I have to make sure I have two fresh AAAs on hand the night before because its a 15 minute drive to anything.

Mostly, I just make sure the rest of my day is clear. If I have to brew to a schedule, something always goes wrong and makes me an hour late
 
Tinhorn said:
Who even has three much less three empty?
Click to expand...

I've got three (brew/grill/spare grill). I'm pretty good about filling them within a couple days of running them empty, so never hit all three empty. But I have had to pull a tank off the grill to finish a boil.
 
It wasn't a brew day, but I was recently transferring an American Wheat onto some raspberries. I dropped a pint glass and realized that somehow a few shards of glass got into the secondary. So, I had to dump the batch. I learned to use Solo cups while brewing.
 
Beernik said:
I have to replace the batteries almost every brewday.
Click to expand...

That may be the most annoying thing I've ever heard of.

My $40 Walmart jobber only has a 15-min dial, but that was an easy fix with packing tape. Sounds like you'd come out cheaper just buying a new fryer without that particular "safety feature".
 
toledoBrewer said:
It wasn't a brew day, but I was recently transferring an American Wheat onto some raspberries. I dropped a pint glass and realized that somehow a few shards of glass got into the secondary. So, I had to dump the batch. I learned to use Solo cups while brewing.
Click to expand...

Mesh bag over racking cane - problem solved, no beer wasted. I shed a tear for your beer.
 
Grossy said:
Two hydrometers
Two thermometers
Two bottles of Oxygen, in case one runs out.

Two bottles of CO2, not really for the brew day, but it lets you get a refill on your own schedule.
Click to expand...
Disagree.

A hydrometer isn't necessary. It's nice to have, but lacking one wouldn't ruin my brew day. It doesn't make beer.

I don't use oxygen anymore. I let the wort drop into the fermenter from some distance and sort of self-aerate. Then I pitch LOTS of healthy yeast. I found no difference between well-oxygenated wort and moderately aerated wort when enough yeast is pitched. You are welcome to disagree, and I certainly encourage aeration, but lacking an oxygen bottle shouldn't ruin anyone's brew day.

I have one 20 lb CO2 tank. If I think it's running low, I get it refilled. It doesn't have to be empty in order to get a refill. I only pay for what they put in the tank. I've yet to have CO2 or the lack thereof ruin my brew day (or any other day).

Lastly, lacking a thermometer would indeed hamper my all grain brew day. If I were desperate to brew without one, I'd do some math on adding room temperature water to boiling water in order to achieve my strike temp, but that would suck. Lacking a thermometer on an extract brew day wouldn't slow me down one bit.

Here's what ruins brew day for me:
Rescheduling due to unforeseen circumstances.

A little ingenuity can overcome most anything else. It's always an adventure.
 
I think a meteorite crashing through the roof of my porch and taking out my entire rig would ruin my brewday.

Or an alien attack on Independence Day would ruin my brewday.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Disagree.

A hydrometer isn't necessary. It's nice to have, but lacking one wouldn't ruin my brew day. It doesn't make beer.

I don't use oxygen anymore. I let the wort drop into the fermenter from some distance and sort of self-aerate. Then I pitch LOTS of healthy yeast. I found no difference between well-oxygenated wort and moderately aerated wort when enough yeast is pitched. You are welcome to disagree, and I certainly encourage aeration, but lacking an oxygen bottle shouldn't ruin anyone's brew day.

I have one 20 lb CO2 tank. If I think it's running low, I get it refilled. It doesn't have to be empty in order to get a refill. I only pay for what they put in the tank. I've yet to have CO2 or the lack thereof ruin my brew day (or any other day).

Lastly, lacking a thermometer would indeed hamper my all grain brew day. If I were desperate to brew without one, I'd do some math on adding room temperature water to boiling water in order to achieve my strike temp, but that would suck. Lacking a thermometer on an extract brew day wouldn't slow me down one bit.

Here's what ruins brew day for me:
Rescheduling due to unforeseen circumstances.

A little ingenuity can overcome most anything else. It's always an adventure.
Click to expand...

I completely agree on the hydrometer...There's been a few times when brewing BM's Centenial Blonde that I've forgotten to take readings...tasted exactly the same! :D

Our aeration technique is also the same. :tank:

I do have a backup CO2 tank, but only because it's the one I started with. When we moved out here, I decided it was too far to drive for a refill to only have a 4lb tank. Besides...you don't use CO2 to brew...you use it to drink! Before getting the 20lb tank, I was known to pull a pint or two after the CO2 had run out...just pours a bit slower. :mug:

A broken thermometer would definitely cause me problems. I wouldn't trust the math to get my strike temp correct. I have yet to find a calculator that gives me correct strike temp for my equipment. I have better luck going with gut instinct. :rockin:

The thing that most frequently screws up my brew days is forgetting to do the yeast starter because I was too distracted by the beer on tap. :drunk:
 
Beernik said:
My turkey fryer has a regulator on it that runs on batteries. It requires me to push a button less than every 10 minutes to ensure that I'm paying attention to it when frying a turkey. It's a PITA safety feature that I really need to figure out how to bypass.

Anyway, I have to replace the batteries almost every brewday. So I have to make sure I have two fresh AAAs on hand the night before because its a 15 minute drive to anything.

Mostly, I just make sure the rest of my day is clear. If I have to brew to a schedule, something always goes wrong and makes me an hour late
Click to expand...

I'm curious of the model that you have. If anything as a warning of what to not get.
 

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