Umpteenth starter, 1st starter fail!!!

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TANSTAAFB

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Here's a new one on me...helped my FIL build his first starter last night for his first all grain brew this weekend. Had to convince him one smack was DEFINITELY not enough for a 10gal batch, even with a starter. Goes fine...boil, cool, pitch, stick on my stir plate, spinning away. I've made dozens of starters. Even woke up at about 1 and checked it...spinning away.

Woke up this morning and heard that noise. You know the one. The grinding rattle of a thrown stir bar. I walk into the kitchen to reset it and find a toppled (but thankfully not broken) 2L Erlenmyer flask and a huge mess in my kitchen. Apparently when it threw the bar it vibrated itself off the stir plate and dumped all the yeasty beasties (and insanely sticky wort) on the counter, stove, floor...AAAHHHRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Started my day off bad, FIL was a dick when I called him to tell him about it, was late to work, had to skip the gym and go to the LHBS to replace the yeast this afternoon then come home and build another starter...and my damn Spurs lost to Boston. Pop's hobby is strokin out fans then pullin it off and actin like he meant to do it all along!!!

So I taped the damn flask to the stir plate and put a bucket of StarSan in front of it :tank:

So Noobs, sometimes even experience doesn't make things go perfectly...Murphy lurks in all breweries sometimes :D
 
This maybe a stupid question and I apologize if it is. I have never used a stir plate. Could a flask be attached with velcro to the plate ?
 
This maybe a stupid question and I apologize if it is. I have never used a stir plate. Could a flask be attached with velcro to the plate ?

Could be...the flask usually has to be adjusted a little left, right, back, and forth to get it in just the right spot, so velcro might make it a little hard to move. And you are constantly washing, sanitizing, and even boiling in your flask so you would be putting a new piece of velcro on every time you brew. Packing tape seems to be working fine...and much cheaper :mug:
 
Starter rebrew was a success!!! The packing tape held the flask in place and the bucket of StarSan, coffee maker, and crock I stacked around it didn't hurt either! Cold crashing now for tomorrow's brew day.

I got in the habit of putting a thin towel under my flask/ over my stir plate as I have had several overflows from ale starters. Apparently this was a bad idea in this case as it greased the skids for the big dump!

Lesson learned :tank:
 
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