Worst brewday in a while

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DonRikkles

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
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Location
Arlington
Ugh...

I had the day off today so I thought I'd brew up a hefeweizen I've had in the lineup for a while. It's also my birthday so my lovely wife made me a nice breakfast and I was responding to texts and calls all day. That, really, explains everything.

First, I couldn't hit my mash temps. This is never a problem for me. Today, I didn't account for the pound of rice hulls (I know they don't absorb water) and how they would push the top portion of the grain bed above the water line. Plus, the temp was well below the intended 152. I added water to submerge the grains, but the temp was still too cool. I added more boiling water, and it didn't adjust the temp as needed. Then I performed a mashout thick decoction before batch sparging. Thankfully, my pre-boil OG was right on.

Then the boil. I was getting a LOT of foam during the boil. I never get foam during the boil. Afterward, I lost about a gallon more than I had intended. The OG confirmed it. I was aiming for 1.52 and I got 1.070. I added 16 cups of water (per beersmith) to get my intended volume and OG.

Then, the color was way off. It's sitting in the fermenter (pitched at 62, thankfully that went right) but it looks like it veered into dunkleweizen territory. I added .5 oz of carafa Speical I for a slight color adjustment, but I think it was too much ( or perhaps the 90 min boil).

Oh well, I think it'll be tasty after all. A day brewing, even one that goes slightly awry, is better than being in the office.

Just wanted to vent. That is all.
 
First off, Happy Birthday!

Second, there must be something in the Arlington air this week because I have been having mishaps as well. I brewed a Centennial Blonde yesterday and wasn't paying attention when I printed off the adjusted instructions (I brew 2 gallon batches) and I ended up adding my hops at the rate for a 5 gallon batch..not to mention they were stronger AA than the original recipe called for...oh well, it's still beer!
 
Speaking of Arlington, the nasty storms knocked out power for a few hours last night. When I checked the fermenter this morning, the hefe was still fermenting strongly at 62. Phew...
 
The curse must not have been limited to Arlington. I had a pretty big mishap while brewing on Sunday up here in MD.

Brew was going along great, no major issues. Got the wort cooled outside and carried kettle down into the basement. I usually set it on top of my washing machine, which is next to a wash basin and let it settle, and then drain to fermentor. I typically also make sure path is clear to washing machine, nothing is on top, etc before carrying 6+ gallons of wort down the stairs, but by this time I was tired and was not paying attention to details and had not clered the top of the washing machine(there was some already cleaned equipment used during the brew that was sitting there drying)

Well on Sunday I was pretty tired and ready to be done, and I heaved the pot up onto the washing machine. There was some stuff on top so I could not get it all the way on, but thought it was stable enough to let go for a few seconds to clear the stuff of the washing machine. Next thing I know the pot of wort fell off the washer and landed half in / half out of the wash basin. 4 gallons of sticky wort dumped onto the floor before I could grab the pot and get it upright.

My 5 year old son witnessed all this and said -- "Dad -- you know you should be more careful!"

What a mess to clean up and I ended up with just 2.5 gallons in the fermenter.

Oh well -- will never make that mistake again.
 
Think of it this way: at least you took good notes, so that when it turns out to be spectacular beer you can recreate it. Nothing worse than an experiment that you give up on partway through and then wish you could remember what happened :-D
It's beer, it won't kill you so you might as well just go with the flow. Maybe those yeast will be nice guys and surprise you and kick their game up a notch to help compensate for you :)
 
Next year send a FB announcement thanking everyone in advance for their well wishes, then proceed to ignore those well wishes until after the brewday is done.
 
Are you a member of GRiST or DC Homebrewers?

Neither. Just joined BURP about two months ago, but haven't yet made it to a meeting. Are you a member of any?

@popquizkid - that's rough. I hope that 2.5 gal of wort turns into some great tasting beer. At least your son will know not to do that when he's old enough to appreciate the hobby.
 
"Next thing I know the pot of wort fell off the washer and landed half in / half out of the wash basin. 4 gallons of sticky wort dumped onto the floor before I could grab the pot and get it upright."


Man dumping wort on the floor sucks! I have forgotten to close the valve on my brew kettle while draining the mash tun into it, thankfully I noticed the error before too much was on the floor, sticky stuff to clean up.
 
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