First Brew Disaster

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McKraken

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So today was my first ever brew day, a partial mash IPA kit from hopdawgs.ca.

I started out with my mash "teabag" for an hour at 155*-160*. Once that was complete, I turned up the temperature and slowly added my DME, mixing with my spatula as I went. I started to feel something grainy on the bottom of my pot. I thought "wow, this malt extract really sticks to the bottom". That's about the time my floating thermometer jumped up in temperature very quickly, and became positively buoyant. I tried to keep it upright, but it just floated horizontally again. I pulled it out to take a look, and the bottom was missing off of it. I realized the grainy feeling on the bottom of the pot was the weight material from the bottom of the thermometer.

So I naturally begin to panic.

First I grabbed my spare 5 gal paint strainer bag and put it over the top of my kettle. I didn't envision that going well.

I took a step back (with the burner off) to see what gadget I could whip together to fix it. I don't know what's in the thermometer, and I definitely didn't want to boil it into my wort.

It was probably an obvious choice, but I felt pretty smart when I was racking my wort into my fermenter. I cleaned out my kettle, and poured my wort back in. Crisis averted. Good thing I bought that back up thermometer at Canadian Tire (yeah, I know, we have a store called Canadian Tire in Canada).

After that, the rest of the brew day went pretty well, aside from the fact I obviously don't have a system yet. I kept jumping back and forth between different parts of my kitchen, trying to stay one step ahead, stopping at the Star San bin every chance I got.

I actually built a CFC to chill with as well, and I was surprised at how well it worked, with my tap barely flowing. I know, my first homebrew and I built a CFC for it, I just like to build things. That's why I think I'll be brewing for a long time. There are so many DIY's.

To be honest, with the information I gathered from this site, I was never too worried. After the initial panic, I fell right into RDWHACraftB.
Thanks everybody.

Pre boil gravity: 1.059
Post boil gravity: 1.069
That's after adjustments; my hydrometer read 0.989 in room temp water

Safale S-04

I'm leaving it in my primary bucket for 2 weeks at 66*, then racking into a secondary for 2-3 more weeks, then I'll be bottling.
 
Do you know what the thermometer's ballast was made of?

Otherwise, you'll find it getting less hectic every time you brew. For me, it got easier and easier. Nowadays I just run on autopilot, even with new recipes.
 
I looked it up, and all I could find was that the ballast "does not contain lead or similar alloys". If anyone could help me out, it was made by Alla France.
 
Damn, that sucks. You will have more rough days going forward, but I assure you it gets much easier every time you brew.
 
Mine is the one that came with the turkey fryer. Works great. I would be reluctant to use any glass products around my brew. It just seems as if this is a regular occurance for somebody. Breakable stuff tends to break, especially in the boil.
 

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