SticksBrewer
Member
Lesson learned: Get a kettle with a valve! Or at least use a racking cane!
Here goes my story.
I was brewing up my fifth brew this last sunday. I was all excited to finally brew outside and try out my new 10 gallon stockpot over my old outdoor propane burner. I brewed a Ferocious IPA extract kit (Surly Furious IPA clone) from midwest. This was my first higher gravity brew attempt as well as my first full boil. :rockin:
I brought the water level up to 6.25 gallons after steeping the specialty grains. Kicked it into high gear, got it boiling, all was going well... (jump ahead in time)... After cooling down the wort, it was time to transfer to the primary.
Here is where things go tremendously wrong. Instead of buying a kettle with ball valve, I had decided to save some money to see how things go with this one first. If needed I would install one later or buy a larger kettle with one attached...
Well, it seems that my lower back handles pouring 5 gallons of wort into a pail much different than just carrying the pail. I felt a tweak while I was trying to keep it slow and steady while I transferring the wort. But I finished the transfer, stretched a little, opened another beer and assumed I dodged a bullet.
My only other mistake was adding a little too much top off water (I was trying to get the pail to 5.25 gal, but had closer to 5.5 gal. So my SG was slightly off mark at 1.063.) I felt good about this one. Cleaned up, had another beer to loosen things up and celebrate a successful day
Next morning, my back was little sore. Stretched it out, went downstairs and checked on things, and it was already bubbling away, airlock smelled really nice.
Tuesday, my back was all tight and getting worse, but nothing a hot shower wouldn't fix.
Wednesday, this is when trouble hit. My back was so tight and sore, I couldn't stand up straight. But I pushed through it, got ready for work, and headed on in. Figured it would loosen up on my to work. It did not. It only got worse and I had to leave earlier. Went to the chiro, snap-crackle-pop, and started to ice it.
Thursday, I was laid out all day icing it on and off. Had to cancel the family camping trip this weekend. Finally today, I am able to move again. Still not able to stand up straight, but finally able to apply heat and can move again.
Needless to say, I will be installing a valve on my stockpot very soon. In the meantime, I will be using a racking cane to transfer the wort.
So I blew out my back, but the brew is doing fine!
Here goes my story.
I was brewing up my fifth brew this last sunday. I was all excited to finally brew outside and try out my new 10 gallon stockpot over my old outdoor propane burner. I brewed a Ferocious IPA extract kit (Surly Furious IPA clone) from midwest. This was my first higher gravity brew attempt as well as my first full boil. :rockin:
I brought the water level up to 6.25 gallons after steeping the specialty grains. Kicked it into high gear, got it boiling, all was going well... (jump ahead in time)... After cooling down the wort, it was time to transfer to the primary.
Here is where things go tremendously wrong. Instead of buying a kettle with ball valve, I had decided to save some money to see how things go with this one first. If needed I would install one later or buy a larger kettle with one attached...
Well, it seems that my lower back handles pouring 5 gallons of wort into a pail much different than just carrying the pail. I felt a tweak while I was trying to keep it slow and steady while I transferring the wort. But I finished the transfer, stretched a little, opened another beer and assumed I dodged a bullet.
My only other mistake was adding a little too much top off water (I was trying to get the pail to 5.25 gal, but had closer to 5.5 gal. So my SG was slightly off mark at 1.063.) I felt good about this one. Cleaned up, had another beer to loosen things up and celebrate a successful day
Next morning, my back was little sore. Stretched it out, went downstairs and checked on things, and it was already bubbling away, airlock smelled really nice.
Tuesday, my back was all tight and getting worse, but nothing a hot shower wouldn't fix.
Wednesday, this is when trouble hit. My back was so tight and sore, I couldn't stand up straight. But I pushed through it, got ready for work, and headed on in. Figured it would loosen up on my to work. It did not. It only got worse and I had to leave earlier. Went to the chiro, snap-crackle-pop, and started to ice it.
Thursday, I was laid out all day icing it on and off. Had to cancel the family camping trip this weekend. Finally today, I am able to move again. Still not able to stand up straight, but finally able to apply heat and can move again.
Needless to say, I will be installing a valve on my stockpot very soon. In the meantime, I will be using a racking cane to transfer the wort.
So I blew out my back, but the brew is doing fine!
