Watch out for critters!

This past Saturday I got all set up on my back porch to brew my new Belgian Dubbel extract kit. I had everything sanitized and was ready to boil the water when I decided to check my smack pack one last time. It was steadfastly refusing to swell so I decided to wait one more day just to be safe. I tidied everything up, but left it all outside overnight.

Next day my smack pack wasn't all that, but I decided to go ahead anyway with the boil. I got the water on the burner and went to put my specialty grains in the grain sack. I found the grain sack on the ground, but no grains. I looked EVERYWHERE but couldn't find 'em. That's when I remembered that we occasionally get visited by raccoons in the night. I looked more closely at the kit box and saw the remains of a packet of priming sugar. I had no choice but to believe that the 'coons had overlooked the DME, Belgian candi sugar, and liquid malt extract and only chose to eat the grains and priming sugar.

Fortunately my LHBS is open on Sundays so I was able to get replacement grains in time to finish the brew (and I picked up more yeast since I was there). Moral to the story? Never leave your stuff outside overnight. And support your LHBS! Thank goodness mine was open and well-stocked - I need to stop buying mail order kits.

I've just been pulling smaller critters from my last batch.

Extra proteins.

orfy said:

I've just been pulling smaller critters from my last batch.

Extra proteins.

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It's good for head retention, or so I've heard.

Make a starter with your yeast - you'll want it for a Dubbel anyway. No reason to wait for the pack to swell when you're making a starter.

And here all I was worried about were wild yeast and bacteria. Live and learn.

Repeat post (but on subject):

^^^^ those glue traps work great!

david_42 said:

Repeat post (but on subject):

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Hilarious!