Ever have one of those nights where nothing goes right??

Last night was my second BIAB brew and sixth brew so far... It was a disaster! First, my Taylor digital thermometer seemed to be skewed about 12F high causing me to most likely be low on my mash in temp. I caught it when I checked the with the regular and increased temp ASAP. Next, the water level didn't seem to be quite enough at 1.25 quarts/lb, so I dropped the bag just a hair, which caused one of the corners to hit the bottom and burn a tiny whole... Causing about a quarter sized clump of grain to get free. Finally, I forgot to put the keeper magnet on the flask before dumping the starter and realized it as soon as I heard the plop into the bucket!! I missed my OG due to temp issues most likely (1.044 vs target 1.052) from the thermo issue too. All in all a fun bit frustrating evening. Then to top if off, today I came home from work and the weihenstephan yeast is releasing a furious sulfur smell. The whole basement smells like rotten eggs! My wife is loving me right now.

Sounds like a learning experience!

Yeah 3068 puts off a ton of rhino farts!

Yea... my first all grain brew I realized i installed my thermometer too high. It was just checking the temp of the air. Missed my temps, couldn't get a pump to prime. This meant that I a lot of hot spilled water that should have been sparging. Instead it was all over the place, and we had to lift the HLT and hold it an annoying long time.

Next time went much better.. just one of those when "it rains.. it pours" deals

Yup, I think we've all been there. My first time making an all-grain batch my floating glass thermometer just barely slipped out of my hands when I was checking to see how quickly the strike water was heating up at the current setting, and it hit the bottom of the pot a bit too quickly. Broken glass and non-mercury liquid and those little black balls all in the pot. >_<

I was home alone with no access to a car, so I had to wait about an hour for my wife to come home; thankfully she was nice enough to stop at the LHBS on the way home to pick up a new thermometer.