First Time For Everything

[grampamark]

TL;DR-Trying to put 10 lbs of poo in a 5 lb bag doesn’t end well.

I brought a recipe kit for an American Wheat Ale to the city house so I could get a brew day in while we were here babysitting grandkids for a few days. I’ve been brewing here for the last 5 years using a turkey fryer to do 2.5 gal BIAB batches. Last summer, I scored some kegs from my neighbor, the scrounger, who lives across the street. My setup wasn’t conducive to brewing larger batches to keg, so I thought I would experiment with this batch.

I brought my 10 gal BK for the farm so I could do a full volume 4.5 gal (to the fermenter) batch, using the turkey fryer burner. I heated the strike water and noticed that the stand which holds the burner was a bit flexible with the added weight but didn’t think too much of it. After shutting off the burner and doughing in I went to get something off my workbench. I heard a loud crash and turned around to find that one of the supports for the ring which holds the burner had folded up under the extra weight, dumping the kettle, water, and grain on the garage floor.

After 2 1/2 hours of cleaning up I realized 2 things. 1) It wouldn’t take much to reinforce the burner stand and, 2) A lot of conversion takes place in the first 5 minutes because what I cleaned up was already pretty sticky.

 

[rburrelli]

TL;DR-Trying to put 10 lbs of poo in a 5 lb bag doesn’t end well.
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I brought a recipe kit for an American Wheat Ale to the city house so I could get a brew day in while we were here babysitting grandkids for a few days. I’ve been brewing here for the last 5 years using a turkey fryer to do 2.5 gal BIAB batches. Last summer, I scored some kegs from my neighbor, the scrounger, who lives across the street. My setup wasn’t conducive to brewing larger batches to keg, so I thought I would experiment with this batch.

I brought my 10 gal BK for the farm so I could do a full volume 4.5 gal (to the fermenter) batch, using the turkey fryer burner. I heated the strike water and noticed that the stand which holds the burner was a bit flexible with the added weight but didn’t think too much of it. After shutting off the burner and doughing in I went to get something off my workbench. I heard a loud crash and turned around to find that one of the supports for the ring which holds the burner had folded up under the extra weight, dumping the kettle, water, and grain on the garage floor.

After 2 1/2 hours of cleaning up I realized 2 things. 1) It wouldn’t take much to reinforce the burner stand and, 2) A lot of conversion takes place in the first 5 minutes because what I cleaned up was already pretty sticky.

Wow! That’s a shame. you seem to be taking it well though.

 

[day_trippr]

"Thoughts and prayers"

 

[camonick]

That really sucks!

 

[grampamark]

Almost 12 years in, 200+ batches, and this is the first wreck, ever. I guess good fortune stops smiling without notice…

 

[day_trippr]

Let's all acknowledge the bottom line: nobody got hurt, even though someone could've.

Cheers! ("Let's be careful out there")

 

[ba-brewer]

Always sucks to lose a batch, but at least you had minimal time invested and nobody got hurt.

 

[RM-MN]

After 2 1/2 hours of cleaning up I realized 2 things. 1) It wouldn’t take much to reinforce the burner stand and, 2) A lot of conversion takes place in the first 5 minutes because what I cleaned up was already pretty sticky.

My condolences on losing the batch. Glad that you weren't personally involved, burns are bad. Now that you know that you need something stronger to support the weight you can go ahead with that.

You really need to do an iodine test sometime to see when conversion is complete. Start by testing a batch at 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes. With BIAB that may be as far as you need to go with the testing. Once you know when conversion is complete, you know how long you need to keep the mash temp steady. Extraction of color and flavor take longer than conversion but can occur and cooler temps.

 

[BrewZer]

The good news -- it wasn't a fry pot full of boiling oil!

 

[hotbeer]

And that might have been a great batch of beer! Now you'll never know.

 

[skunkape]

Dude. That's brutal. Maybe it's time for an electric system instead of flame.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

@RM-MN I decided one day that I wanted to iodine tests (6 or 7 years ago), just to be able to see, I couldn't find regular iodine in CVS, Publix or Wal-Mart in the area where I live, they had something that they called clear iodine, but wasn't sure exactly what it was and passed. I was like WTF, seriously no iodine?

 

[BrewZer]

@RM-MN I decided one day that I wanted to iodine tests (6 or 7 years ago), just to be able to see, I couldn't find regular iodine in CVS, Publix or Wal-Mart in the area where I live, they had something that they called clear iodine, but wasn't sure exactly what it was and passed. I was like WTF, seriously no iodine?

Seriously. That clear stuff doesn't react with starch. Ask me how I know this...

You can still use it on cuts for disinfection, though, and it doesn't stain like Lugol's or other red iodine does.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Seriously. That clear stuff doesn't react with starch. Ask me how I know this...

You can still use it on cuts for disinfection, though, and it doesn't stain like Lugol's or other red iodine does.

I suspected as much, glad to know for sure.

 

[day_trippr]

So called "clear iodine" is not chemically the same as the classic colored tincture your mom used to swab boo boos with. It's potassium iodine, as opposed to the pure iodine and sodium iodine combination found in the classic staining stuff...

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

So called "clear iodine" is not chemically the same as the classic colored tincture your mom used to swab boo boos with. It's potassium iodine, as opposed to the pure iodine and sodium iodine combination found in the classic staining stuff...

My emphasis^
It's Potassium (or Sodium) Iodide (with a "d").

Iodides are chemically "salts:"
A salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions [WikiPedia].

Iodine (with an "n") is a chemical element (appears as I2 in pure form), and is used in Iodine tinctures (dissolved in alcohol), an antiseptic.
That's what reacts with the starch, coloring them blue.

 

[day_trippr]

My bad! Got a bit sloppy, but still, I think the point was made?

Cheers!

 

[skunkape]

Anybody remember mercurochrome?

 

[ba-brewer]

That's a Paul Simon song.

 

[grampamark]

That's a Paul Simon song.

It gives us that briiight red color…