awful brew day

Man, today sucked. I brewed, but almost from the start it was just a mess.

I use a RIMS system here. But it's from the States and requires 110 v electricity, so I use a step down transformer to get our 230 v electricity down to the right level. The plug was a touch loose and I bumped it with my foot while brewing and it fried the transformer. When I say I bumped it lightly, I mean really lightly. But it was enough to cause the circuit to be broken and then back or something. Don't know exactly. But the area around the plug melted a bit and off went the RIMS.

With no back up transformer that could handle the 1600 watts required (the heater requires a lot), I was at a loss at first. I have a 100 watt one too and the pump only requires 80 watts, so I could use the pump to get a siphon going for recirculation and such. And luckily, I had mashed in thick, around 1.25 qts/pound. So, heated some water up and got the mash up to where I wanted. Worked it out.

But even after that, it was just one of those brew days where one thing after the other goes wrong. Lots of little things. Lots of frustration throughout the day.

But ultimately it's all okay. I have an American Dark Amber in the fermenter. And I repitched rinsed yeast from the last batch (thanks to the yeast washing thread!) and after about 3.5 hours it was very active. Going gangbusters now. So, all's well that ends well. Live and learn. Batch 93 is up next!

I brought a couple of bottles of Fuller's Vintage Ale back from London so think I'll pop one and relax and reward myself. Not being too negative about it all as I've had horrible brew days before. But it's a bummer as this one will cost me a lot of money. I don't know where to buy a transformer like that around here, so it might be mail order for something that weighs 30 pounds. So I'm screwed on that.

Anyway, time for me to relax, don't worry and have a commercial beer as my first two batches in Croatia are still in their fermenters.

If the pump is the only other thing that needs 110, you might look for a large blocking diode for the heater. That would cut off half of the power cycle and give you 115 volts effective. It would have to be less expensive than a 2KVA transformer.

Naw, the whole thing needs 110 as far as I know. But the language on half of what you said makes no sense to me. I'm not into electronics at all.

BUT, the transformer seems to not actually be fried. It melted the plastic around the plug housing on one prong of the plug. But I tested it tonight with a cheaper piece of electronics and it's just that the plug has to be held in a certain way to work. Sure, that's a pain in the ass. But it's working. And it worked repeatedly. We'll see. Next batch I'll give it a go and set it up so it's isolated and not touched but I'll have to be prepared in case it doesn't work at all.