It was bound to happen eventually, but I finally had a total disaster.
It was a dark and stormy evening... okay, not really. I was headed to my folks' place for the weekend, and I had been yearning to brew so I took my gear and all the ingredients with me. I usually brew indoors on my electric range (I'm lucky like that). But my dad suggested using his 56,000 BTU gas grill, which seemed reasonable. I do full volume BIAB, so I put my 9 gallon pot on his grill and filled it with 7.5 gallons of store-bought spring water (since their water has way too much iron to be usable).
After 1.5 hours on high, we had reached about 95F. I should have just pulled the plug right there. But my dad really wanted to make it to work, so he got a bunch of kiln bricks from his shop and we insulated the kettle better, which worked alright. After another hour we were at strike temp. We killed the heat, mash in, and gave it a good stir then did our best to insulate with blankets. But the temperature was dropping pretty fast, so we spent the next half hour occasionally firing up the burner to keep the temp at the proper mash temp.
After half an hour, I unwrapped everything in order to give it another good stir. Wouldn't you know, I give it a good stir, and the temperature jumps to 185F. Apparently the temperature probe had been sitting in a cool spot and we have been overheating the hell out of this thing for the last half hour. I don't think my parents understood, but I basically said "Okay! We're done here. Who wants oatmeal?"
I think they were more disappointed than me, probably because my only strike so far was on their watch. But what's brewing without the occasional failure?
It was a dark and stormy evening... okay, not really. I was headed to my folks' place for the weekend, and I had been yearning to brew so I took my gear and all the ingredients with me. I usually brew indoors on my electric range (I'm lucky like that). But my dad suggested using his 56,000 BTU gas grill, which seemed reasonable. I do full volume BIAB, so I put my 9 gallon pot on his grill and filled it with 7.5 gallons of store-bought spring water (since their water has way too much iron to be usable).
After 1.5 hours on high, we had reached about 95F. I should have just pulled the plug right there. But my dad really wanted to make it to work, so he got a bunch of kiln bricks from his shop and we insulated the kettle better, which worked alright. After another hour we were at strike temp. We killed the heat, mash in, and gave it a good stir then did our best to insulate with blankets. But the temperature was dropping pretty fast, so we spent the next half hour occasionally firing up the burner to keep the temp at the proper mash temp.
After half an hour, I unwrapped everything in order to give it another good stir. Wouldn't you know, I give it a good stir, and the temperature jumps to 185F. Apparently the temperature probe had been sitting in a cool spot and we have been overheating the hell out of this thing for the last half hour. I don't think my parents understood, but I basically said "Okay! We're done here. Who wants oatmeal?"
I think they were more disappointed than me, probably because my only strike so far was on their watch. But what's brewing without the occasional failure?
