Worst Brew Day attempt ever....

BrewSwag 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Fordzilla

Fordzilla

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
437
Reaction score
26
Location
Rochester
Just about everything went wrong today that possibly could have.

I started off my day by racking my Smoked Porter to my new 5 gallon carboy for secondary. I tried to use the new stopper that I bought last night and realized it is the wrong size. Thus, I had to use my only correct size stopper on the secondary carboy.

So I smack my Wyeast pack and head to the LHBS. Naturally, they didn't have the proper drilled stopper in the size I needed. So I buy a solid stopper and decide to attempt to drill it myself.

When I got home I stuck my new, never used, home-made double-coil immersion chiller into 5 gallons of water to boil. (On my new, never used turkey frier with 32 quart stock pot.) I am boiling it by itself because I read somewhere that you must boil the immersion chiller on it's own prior to your first use. My propane tank runs out after about 10 minutes. UGH! Run out to get some more propane, get everything going again.

Now I try and drill my stopper while the water's coming to a boil. I can't get the hole big enough, and in the process I drill into my finger. I tried to stick the airlock into the too small hole and broke the damn airlock. Now, I'm totally screwed.

So I decided to forge on, and figure out the airlock situation later. By the time the water has reached a boil, there isn't enough daylight left to try to brew. So once the chiller is boiled thoroughly, I run some water through it. I didn't have a hose clamp at the spot where the garden hose adapter hooks up to the vinyl tubing, and the hose shot off, getting me soaked in 35 degree weather.

Now, my Wyeast is no good because I activated it 6 hours ago and can't brew again until tomorrow at the very earliest. I imagine the Orange zest I prepared today will be no good by by tomorrow as well. At this point, I don't even feel like brewing tomorrow.

Is there anything else that could have possibly gone wrong???? Today was a horrible day.
 
Bro - hang in there and get this brew in the fermenter. Your efforts will be worth it when you crack one open with your buds and recount the story - ain't funny now, but will be in time. We all have brew day from hell stories!

Welcome to the hobby!

Cheers!
 
Murphy's law exemplified yet again! That smack pack just proofes the yeast,so it may likely be ok.It's in a sealed package. Just put the zest in the freezer till tomorrow.
 
I find that it's days like that where I end up making the best (and unreproducable) beers ever.

At least it wasn't the output side of the chiller and 200 degree water spraying you.
 
Sorry to hear of the bad luck, look at it this way- Mr Murphy may be through with you for a while, smooth sailing from here on out.

On the yeast- I would defer to the veterans on this, but if you had a little extract then perhaps you could make up a starter, and use it tomorrow?
 
Thanks for the positive words of encouragement guys. Has anyone ever used yeast 24+ hours after activation? I fear it will be well too late at that point. I have never done a starter before. I've got a spare pound of crystal grains....could I steep that on it's own and use it as a starter?
 
Thanks for the post dude. As someone who had a boil over today and a couple other things go wrong, **** happens.

Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright - Bob Marley
 
Just remember: A bad day brewing is still much, much better than a good day working!

And I wouldn't worry about the yeast--it will be fine.... now get to brewin'!!!!!
 
Fordzilla said:
Thanks for the positive words of encouragement guys. Has anyone ever used yeast 24+ hours after activation?
Click to expand...

sure have. I made a starter the next day which took right off, then used that when I brewed two days later. I seriously doubt your yeast is unusable.
 
Yeah,like I said,as long as it's still sealed it'll be fine. Just get to brewin tomorrow for sure. Can't possibly have two bad brew days in a row...:drunk:
 
Well today was my first time brewing by myself. Left the grains in until the water boiled so we shall see what happens. Thought I would give it a shot and keep it anyways.
 
Yeah,always try to save a brew. But next time,maintain a constant steeping temp between 150-160F for 30 minutes or so.
 
if you have a latin tienda (or a grocery store with a decent international section), you could use malta goya to make starter with. you also use some grains, as you mentioned, to make a starter. you wouldn't need much, a quart at most of 1.030-1.040.

if you can't make a starter today, at least put the smack pack in the fridge overnight. i'm sure it'll still be good tomorrow.

and i'm sure tomorrow will work out great. can't be any worse than today, right? :mug:
 
The yeast is fine. You should have made a starter but that is another story. Just put the yeast and the zest in the refrigerator and wait until tomorrow. At the start of the brew take the yeast out and let it warm up while brewing.

If that is the worst day you have you are a LOT luckier than most.
:mug:
 
kh54s10 said:
If that is the worst day you have you are a LOT luckier than most.
:mug:
Click to expand...

+1. Last summer about 45 minutes into a boil I got my finger caught in my husband's weight bench and nearly severed the tip. Right through the nail, bone and all - bled like a stuck pig. We cut the flame, threw in the finishing hops, and headed to the ER. 5 hours and multiple stitches later we finished chilling and pitched. To this day that remains one of the best beers we ever made.
:drunk:
 
sweetcell said:
if you have a latin tienda (or a grocery store with a decent international section), you could use malta goya to make starter with. you also use some grains, as you mentioned, to make a starter. you wouldn't need much, a quart at most of 1.030-1.040.

if you can't make a starter today, at least put the smack pack in the fridge overnight.
Click to expand...
Great advice. I was going to say that making a simple starter was the way to go. That way, you not only ensure your yeast remains viable until you pitch it but it your yeast will multiply and get stronger.
 
Im in the process of brewing now. 30 minutes into the boil and everythings going really smooth so far.

This American wheat smells delicious. I cobbled the recipe together on my own out of a couple different recipes, so I hope it turns out well. This is my first time being creative and not just using the kit as it came.

I've got high hopes for this beer after the fiasco it has been!
 
I thought my brew was bad last night. I spilled half of my spent grains and an entire gallon of star san solution all over the kitchen floor.
 
Just finished cleaning up after the brew. Everything went very smooth.

I decided to buy another packet of Wyeast today instead of using yesterdays. I didn't want to try my first time with a starter on the fly. I read that a started should be made 1-3 days before use, and I didn't think I had ample time.
 
My OG was 1.053 which is a little on the high side, so I pitched about 1/4 of it with the other packet and just threw the rest away. Is there anything else I could have done with it? I would have liked to not wasted it.
 
Well the beer is in the primary and fermenting a decent amount. Probably about 2.5 inches of krausen right now.

I have two concerns, and I was hoping that you guys could help me out.

  1. I forgot to turn off the burner when adding the Malt Extract and Honey. Realized after I was done that I should have so I googled around and discovered that this can "burn" the extract. I didn't have any extract literally burnt stuck to my kettle. Am I safe from getting burnt sugar taste in my brew?
  2. I didn't get as much Orange Zest as I had hoped for out of the 4 oranges, so I added 1 cup of actual Orange Juice with 7 minutes left in the boil. Reading around today, I noticed that a lot of people say OJ is a no-no in beer and tastes like vomit once fermented. Has anyone ever had success with OJ? I hope that 1 cup will not be enough to destroy my 5 gallon batch. The smell coming from my airlock right now is certainly delicious.

I also put together my recipe from reading other recipes and a little bit of creativity. This is my first time getting creative, and any critiquing would be appreciated. Here's my recipe.

Specialty Grains, steeped 30 min
1 lb Flaked Wheat
3/4 lb 20L Crushed Crystal

Other Fermentables
6 lb Northern Brewer LME (65% wheat, 35% malt)
1 lb Clover Honey

Hops
1 oz Willamette hops - Boiled 60 min
1 oz Cascade hops - Boiled 15 min

Other
1 cup Orange Juice - Boiled 10 min
4 oranges Orange Zest - Added at flameout

Yeast
1 1/4 packets of Wyeast 1010
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and say delicious is not usually how the smell of vomit is described.

Your first brews are like your children... They are always adorable and smart... to their parents. Otherwise they'd never survive.

My first 3 batches were delicious. Now not so much. Hmmm.....
 
I got some clementine juice in the Bloo Muen beer I just did...sure hope it doesn't turn out horrid. Was only a few tablespoons
 
Answers:
1 - No, you won't get any burnt sugar taste. That only happens when the extract scorches on the bottom of the pot. It's visibly noticeable.
2 - You'll be fine and shouldn't have any vomit taste. Juice doesn't really add much flavor compared to zest though.

Regarding the yeast - never through it away again! Check out www.mrmalty.com for a good yeast pitching calculator. Chances are you probably needed both packs, but at the end of the day it won't cause any serious problems.

Recipe looks great!
 
Fordzilla said:
Just about everything went wrong today that possibly could have.

I started off my day by racking my Smoked Porter to my new 5 gallon carboy for secondary. I tried to use the new stopper that I bought last night and realized it is the wrong size. Thus, I had to use my only correct size stopper on the secondary carboy.

So I smack my Wyeast pack and head to the LHBS. Naturally, they didn't have the proper drilled stopper in the size I needed. So I buy a solid stopper and decide to attempt to drill it myself.

When I got home I stuck my new, never used, home-made double-coil immersion chiller into 5 gallons of water to boil. (On my new, never used turkey frier with 32 quart stock pot.) I am boiling it by itself because I read somewhere that you must boil the immersion chiller on it's own prior to your first use. My propane tank runs out after about 10 minutes. UGH! Run out to get some more propane, get everything going again.

Now I try and drill my stopper while the water's coming to a boil. I can't get the hole big enough, and in the process I drill into my finger. I tried to stick the airlock into the too small hole and broke the damn airlock. Now, I'm totally screwed.

So I decided to forge on, and figure out the airlock situation later. By the time the water has reached a boil, there isn't enough daylight left to try to brew. So once the chiller is boiled thoroughly, I run some water through it. I didn't have a hose clamp at the spot where the garden hose adapter hooks up to the vinyl tubing, and the hose shot off, getting me soaked in 35 degree weather.

Now, my Wyeast is no good because I activated it 6 hours ago and can't brew again until tomorrow at the very earliest. I imagine the Orange zest I prepared today will be no good by by tomorrow as well. At this point, I don't even feel like brewing tomorrow.

Is there anything else that could have possibly gone wrong???? Today was a horrible day.
Click to expand...

Just remember, even on the worst of days you can look back and say "Hey, at least I didn't sink a 578 million dollar cruise ship."
 
william_shakes_beer said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say delicious is not usually how the smell of vomit is described.

Your first brews are like your children... They are always adorable and smart... to their parents. Otherwise they'd never survive.

My first 3 batches were delicious. Now not so much. Hmmm.....
Click to expand...

Well when you put it like that it makes it hard for me to worry about my beer! You're right about our brews...although my second brew is somewhat of a bastard child, my first and third taste awesome to me. I guess it's because I know I made it.

HokieBrewer said:
Answers:
1 - No, you won't get any burnt sugar taste. That only happens when the extract scorches on the bottom of the pot. It's visibly noticeable.
2 - You'll be fine and shouldn't have any vomit taste. Juice doesn't really add much flavor compared to zest though.

Regarding the yeast - never through it away again! Check out www.mrmalty.com for a good yeast pitching calculator. Chances are you probably needed both packs, but at the end of the day it won't cause any serious problems.

Recipe looks great!
Click to expand...
When it will be 6 weeks or more before I drink the stuff, it's hard not to worry about it. Though a bad brews not devastating, I like to try and learn from my mistakes. Thanks for the link to MrMalty, looks like it's a great site to know.

BigRob90 said:
Just remember, even on the worst of days you can look back and say "Hey, at least I didn't sink a 578 million dollar cruise ship."
Click to expand...
Amen to that! :mug:
 
Well I thought I should update this thread today after taking a SG reading.

After 15 days in the fermenter, with most of that time in the 60-62 range (I started out at 68-70 for the first few days) my SG is now 1.018. That gives me an ABV of 4.7% right now. Hopefully that will still come down quite a bit. I'm thinking that sometime late next week or weekend it will be ready to be bottled, and I can brew an Amber Ale to put in that fermenter.

Oh I almost forgot! I also took a taste test. Even flat, this beer tastes awesome! It was definitely worth the hassle.
 
In terms of the airlock, stick foil over the top of the carboy until you can get yourself a new airlock.
 
I had a disappoint brew day yesterday - nothing went wrong causing damage just a really low OG (1.024!!!). Thanks for sharing your tale, it made me laugh and appreciate how important it is to relax and not do everything so precise and be ready to adapt and be ready.

I'm looking forward to hearing how the beer tastes.
 
i have made 8 all grain batches so far :) The first was perfect by the numbers. and it made a very drinkable beer. something happened during some part of the next 7 brews nothing went by a time schedual on time, temps were off mashing,stoped mid boil to get something for SWMBO .even no gas and stores closed, did the boil on 2nd day. and it all made beer so far and was drinkable. some were even good and will never be duplicated. So i say never admit defeat or that all the nasty black stuff you tracked into the house from the brew kettle. and the rest will take care of it's self
 
**** happens!

I had my worst brew day yesterday so far. I bottled a Wit beer and while bottling, didn't discover the about 8-10 bottles that were being filled were screw tops! That was a pain in the ass transfering to new bottles.

Then, I was working on my second all grain, and ended up mashing high (156-158). i was looking more for 154, so we will see how this thing turns out.

But the worst part was 3 stuck sparges. FML! I might have finally got my false bottom fixed and ready for next time, but holy hell, I was ready to just pour everything out and give up.

After all of this, I ended up with a boil over (about 7 gals in a keggle and still managed a boil over).

Thank god that brew day from hell is over, but the good news, this morning the S-04 was working like a champ on this FML ESB.
 
D_Ranged_Eskimo said:
**** happens!

I had my worst brew day yesterday so far. I bottled a Wit beer and while bottling, didn't discover the about 8-10 bottles that were being filled were screw tops! That was a pain in the ass transfering to new bottles.

Then, I was working on my second all grain, and ended up mashing high (156-158). i was looking more for 154, so we will see how this thing turns out.

But the worst part was 3 stuck sparges. FML! I might have finally got my false bottom fixed and ready for next time, but holy hell, I was ready to just pour everything out and give up.

After all of this, I ended up with a boil over (about 7 gals in a keggle and still managed a boil over).

Thank god that brew day from hell is over, but the good news, this morning the S-04 was working like a champ on this FML ESB.
Click to expand...

156-158 is still conversion temp...you should be fine.
 
You may get more dextrinous wort which won't ferment as much but will provide more mouthfeel. What temp did the mash finish at?
 
tre9er said:
You may get more dextrinous wort which won't ferment as much but will provide more mouthfeel. What temp did the mash finish at?
Click to expand...

156, I was impressed that it retained heat as well as it did. I stirred like crazy half way through to try and drop temp (although I know this really doesn't help as most conversion is done within the first 15 minutes.)
 
Yeah, next time just stir it down at first, maybe have some cool water on hand and stir it in a cup at a time. The enzymes wont be denatured instantly, so you have some time.
 
tre9er said:
Yeah, next time just stir it down at first, maybe have some cool water on hand and stir it in a cup at a time. The enzymes wont be denatured instantly, so you have some time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. Going to try this all grain thing again in about 3 weeks after my primaries clear up.
 
malevolent said:
In terms of the airlock, stick foil over the top of the carboy until you can get yourself a new airlock.
Click to expand...

Yep - don't know why all the hassle over the airlock. Not really super important for primary - just cap with foil and call it done. I rarely airlock primaries unless it's summer and the fruit flies are about.
 

Similar threads

N
Wort chilling and brew pot water volume
Replies
7
Views
535
Bobby_M
Bobby_M
Vladimir Kim
Low OG
Replies
6
Views
558
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
V
Whirlpooling and chilling
Replies
15
Views
1K
JohnDBrewer
J
PashMaddle
First brew day is on the books.
Replies
39
Views
2K
GoodTruble
G
D
not really new but I sort of am
Replies
2
Views
456
RM-MN
R
InkBird 300

Latest posts

Back
Top