Confession Time

[SnakeRidge]

I have a Belgian triple mashed at 143 that finished at 1.002 that would say otherwise.

I've got bottles of a bier de guarde mashed at 158 that finished at 1.038. Of course I thought it was just stuck so I pitched more yeast and rousted it, so it's oxidized pancake syrup.

 

[cyanmonkey]

I've got bottles of a bier de guarde mashed at 158 that finished at 1.038. Of course I thought it was just stuck so I pitched more yeast and rousted it, so it's oxidized pancake syrup.

Throw some sugar in it?

 

[philipCT]

Pouring my starter into the carboy, not stopping at just enough, tipped the flask so much that the stir bar slipped out into the fermenter. Left it there.

 

[balrog]

I've got a Cream Ale with US-05 fermenting at 59* right now and I couldn't be happier about it. I pitched it at about 50*.

Good to hear! I expect it to start a little slowly, but work out just fine...I'll let it come up naturally on it's own while fermenting in my currently 65*F basement bar area...

I'm interested to know whether the finished product(s) have any hints of "peach" as I've read cold 05 can have stone fruit-ish-ness when fermented colder.

I've done a "StarSan Stout" on about 1.5L of forgotten StarSan left in Bottling Bucket. Didn't realize till I counted bottles and realized volumes grew from fermentor to bottles.

And, yes, the beer was fine. And had a nice clean finish taste. Ar ar ar.

 

[Kirkwooder]

I'm interested to know whether the finished product(s) have any hints of "peach" as I've read cold 05 can have stone fruit-ish-ness when fermented colder.

I've done a "StarSan Stout" on about 1.5L of forgotten StarSan left in Bottling Bucket. Didn't realize till I counted bottles and realized volumes grew from fermentor to bottles.

And, yes, the beer was fine. And had a nice clean finish taste. Ar ar ar.

I have fermented a pale ale with 05 in the upper 50's with no off flavors detected. It took forever to finish out, 5 weeks if I remember right, but it came out real good.

 

[bobsstory182]

On one of my first few batches I had a fly get into my airlock which just had water in it. I had never hears of homebrewtalk or thought about looking up brewing stuff on the internet, so I figured it had got infected and dumped it without even trying it.

Also, I haven't brewed any beer in about 4 years. Working on a new HERMS though and should be brewing this month!

 

[wi_brewer]

I'm addicted to craigslist.

My brew partner and I have 19 kegs between the 2 of us. I don't NEED any more, but just made a deal to pick up 3 for $100. Can't pass up a deal.

 

[slym2none]

I never "wash" my fermentors or kegs or keg lines. I just rise with really hot water and shake my fermentors. For the really stuck on stuff I might use a hot wash cloth. I just push hot water threw my lines and call it good. Never had an infection.

I always sanitize though.

Yeah, I learned quickly not to let krausen dry completely in my fermenter. That stuff is like super-glue!

(God, I love the groundwater temps here in western PA! Used to fight to get my beers down to 70*F in the dead of winter when I was in NC...)

What part of NC were you in? Here in Durham, the water out of the tap is so cold it hurts in the wintertime.

 

[slym2none]

Wait.....you're telling me I shouldn't be pooping in my beer? How else am I going to get such a unique house strain

If you're straining to poop, you might need more fiber.

:cross:

 

[Baja_Brewer]

I find that it is incredibly hard to ruin a beer. especially to the point of not being drinkable.

I have a Belgian triple mashed at 143 that finished at 1.002 that would say otherwise.

I have a few batches that I bottled after force carbing in the keg with a crud filled CO2 block that would agree with you, cyanmonkey.

 

[biochemedic]

Yeah, I learned quickly not to let krausen dry completely in my fermenter. That stuff is like super-glue!

What part of NC were you in? Here in Durham, the water out of the tap is so cold it hurts in the wintertime.

Just outside of Charlotte...

And as someone who is a chronic procrastinator with carboy washing...the answer, my friend, is a good long soak in hot OxyClean. I bought a few non drilled bungs so I could cap off the carboy and invert it so the krausen ring is fully immersed

 

[slym2none]

Thanks for the tip! I def. need to get some of that OxyClean.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I'm addicted to craigslist.

My brew partner and I have 19 kegs between the 2 of us. I don't NEED any more, but just made a deal to pick up 3 for $100. Can't pass up a deal.

19 was my peak back when they were $15-25 each. It is a good number.

If you have to many, you can always send them my way.

 

[cyanmonkey]

19 was my peak back when they were $15-25 each. It is a good number.



If you have to many, you can always send them my way.

I also peaked at 19...I'll never get those years back, again...

 

[cyanmonkey]

.

 

[Frame125]

So I'm back into all grain. Thought I had it all figured out. Strike temp, water to grain ratio, etc. put in the strike water and bam I am 12 degrees F low . WTF!! So desperately try to heat remaining water and add..... Still to low I'm at 149 better. Decant and bring to 212 one gallon of wort to re add to bring up temp . Finally at 155. Hopefully I had enough base malts to compensate for the enzymes I deactivated. But no iodine so no way to test. So I mash for 75 min to compensate . But it was happily bubbling away 8 hours after I pitched, so fingers crossed. Many even bad beer is pretty good. Or so I tell myself

 

[azscoob]

I once took a hydrometer reading of my cottage house saison, after the reading I drank the sample... To be sure I was reading the hydrometer correctly I took another reading, annnnnd..... after 5 more I was getting pretty buzzed off flat hydrometer samples. Damn that beer is good!

 

[brewtus-maximus]

Had no idea that DME was more potent than LME and tried using it as a one for one substitute in my Blue Moon Clone (I'm making it for my wife not myself). End result... My intended 1060 OG was actually 1080. Gonna be one big Blue Moon!

 

[C-Rider]

One of the covers for my fermenter had a small crack going out from the hole that the air lock goes in. Some little bugs can get into my freezer/fermenter where the temp control sensor gos thru the rubber seal.

Well once time there was some krausen that came up thru the crack and the "flies" laid eggs there. When I was ready to bottle I noticed little maggots crawling around the crack.

I scraped them away and cold crashed the batch. 5 days later I opened the bucket, no maggots inside and it smelled and tasted good so I bottled it. I'm keeping which brew it is a secret. Don't want to scare any of my friends w/this story. LOL

 

[Kharnynb]

Had no idea that DME was more potent than LME and tried using it as a one for one substitute in my Blue Moon Clone (I'm making it for my wife not myself). End result... My intended 1060 OG was actually 1080. Gonna be one big Blue Moon!

That's no moon......

 

[Barley_Bob]

I brewed and bottled a batch for a bachelor party. The beer should be great, but I was too lazy to take the labels off before I bottled. So now, before I can put on the new party themes labels... you see where this is going.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

One of the covers for my fermenter had a small crack going out from the hole that the air lock goes in. Some little bugs can get into my freezer/fermenter where the temp control sensor gos thru the rubber seal.

Well once time there was some krausen that came up thru the crack and the "flies" laid eggs there. When I was ready to bottle I noticed little maggots crawling around the crack.

I scraped them away and cold crashed the batch. 5 days later I opened the bucket, no maggots inside and it smelled and tasted good so I bottled it. I'm keeping which brew it is a secret. Don't want to scare any of my friends w/this story. LOL

THIS is a confession! Holy CR@P!!

Yet another reason I won't judge homebrew competitions. Oh,wait, I just realized I've never seen the brewing conditions of the guys in my club....I may have to quit...:cross:

 

[Pyg]

I realized last night, while looking over the directions on line to a brewers best kit.
I dont do 2 things I should:

1-I dump the trub into the bucket
2- I just add water, take SG and dump yeast, IE: I dont mix!

I have not had any issues yet, so......

 

[cyanmonkey]

I realized last night, while looking over the directions on line to a brewers best kit.
I dont do 2 things I should:

1-I dump the trub into the bucket
2- I just add water, take SG and dump yeast, IE: I dont mix!

I have not had any issues yet, so......

I don't see any negative to dumping the cold break in the bucket and I don't think you'd have issues with not mixing water. As long as it's the proper amount you're going to hit your OG!

 

[C-Rider]

THIS is a confession! Holy CR@P!!

Yet another reason I won't judge homebrew competitions. Oh,wait, I just realized I've never seen the brewing conditions of the guys in my club....I may have to quit...:cross:

LOL When I first saw this topic I began to read it and thought to myself "these are confessions?? These are just mistakes". LOL

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

I brewed a double batch and split it with a brand new brewer. Same yeast, roughly same temp. Somehow his came out much better than mine

Is that a confession? It hurt me to type it

 

[MysteryHaus]

Somehow his came out much better than mine

Is that a confession? It hurt me to type it

Way she goes man. I just hope he doesn't get cocky about it

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

He was pretty humble. Just wish I could figure it out. I think I might have kegged it too early, right around 2 weeks. His say for a week longer. Mine never seemed to get rid of the green taste. I actually pulled the keg out of the keezer and let it warm up for a week to see if it would condition quicker, but it didn't make a difference.

 

[CthulhuDreaming]

I don't even own a carboy. Buckets FTW!

 

[A2HB]

I'm drunk as **** right now lol

 

[1977Brewer]

I'm drunk as **** right now lol

Now go brew something so you'll have a real confession.

 

[slym2none]

As I said in another thread - I have never shotgunned a beer, done a beer-bong, or even done a keg-stand.

In other words, I never went to college.

 

[1977Brewer]

As I said in another thread - I have never shotgunned a beer, done a beer-bong, or even done a keg-stand.



In other words, I never went to college.

I barely went to college and cleared all three of those, plus some, in High School.

 

[slym2none]

I have no regrets. I turned out ****ed up enough as it is.

 

[brewmesomewater]

As I said in another thread - I have never shotgunned a beer, done a beer-bong, or even done a keg-stand.

In other words, I never went to college.

Pretty sure I had 2 of the 3 knocked out by pre-k. I did enough for the two of us so don't worry, just a bunch of nights you can't remember but the thought of how much fun you must have had is enough.

 

[Rockit]

Rarely make starters because I forget.

Usually float the keggle in my pool to cool the wort because I'm lazy.

Only drink about 2/3 of the beer I brew because I get board and want to free up a keg for something else. Having drinking age kids seems to have solved that issue though.

Between my guns, 4x4's, fishing, brewing, knives, cycling, motorcycles, boat, bbq(s).....etc. I have WAY too many hobbies and an EXTREMELY tolerate wife

 

[Brew_G]

I barely went to college and cleared all three of those, plus some, in High School.

I went to college, but I got that all out of the way early enough that it was passe by the time I got there. Not really proud of it, though - I probably shouldn't have made it past 18 (hell...16) with some of the stupid s**t I did!

 

[poorboy5]

Don't worry about it. There are a lot of people who like getting punched there.

Funnier.Than.Hell.

 

[Zekk]

I use dish soap to wash everything. Never seen any problems.

I also run my pint glasses through the dishwasher. If the labels wear off, my wife even agreed, then its time to go back and get a new glass!

 

[poorboy5]

From the "Oh, Crap!" department...

When buying grains for a batch, I generally use a leftover 55lb grain sack from the LHBS instead of the plastic garbage bags they have- I just don't trust a garbage bag to hold up with 12 - 15 lbs of grain and not break.

One day on my way to the brew store I get my grain sack out of the garage and open it up to shake it out- I'd been using it for a while and didn't want any old grain in there. To my horror, there were several mouse turds in it! Needless to say, I chucked it and got a new one. From now on, it gets rolled up and put in a bucket with the lid on tight! I also check it first to make sure there's only air & grain dust in it before use.