How to begin the story?....let's see...thought I could squeeze in brewing a quick extract ale while my 2 year old boy napped today.
Put him down for nap. Santizied equipment, boiled water etc. When I went to add the syrup to the water I realized there was MOLD all over the surface of the extract...this is the first time I've had to deal with mold; though I've read about it before and basically learned that you can scoop out the mold and your beer will probably be OK. So I came to this forum just to double check that assumption; and was reassured: "Go ahead and use the extract" (sans mold of course.....)
OK, so I add the syrup. At pretty much that exact moment, my boy wakes up crying unexpectedly after only about 30 mins...I had counted on a 2+ hour nap...so I go to deal with him for a couple of minutes and come back to learn that I have SCORCHED the extract to the bottom of the pot because I did not get the chance to stir the mixture and turn down the heat like I normally would....
So I take a strainer and sift off all the floating chunks of scorched crud....
Now it is time to add hops....as I am adding vacuum sealed hops to their straining bags, my child falls off a chair straight to his head with a sickening "thump" and he immediately screams bloody murder....I literally drop the hops and bag and go to comfort my child.... when I come back most of the hops have landed on the counter....which I figure..."Oh well, I cleaned the counters this morning, it's probably fine." and I proceed to sweep the hops (and whatever else) from the counter into the straining bags....
I add the hops to the wort...
Then, of course, the phone rings....when I am in the middle of a conversation with one of my husband's customers I realize the wort is boiling over and I am losing precious liquid gold!!!!!!!!!
If it were anyone else but a customer on the phone, I could abruptly end the converstaion...but I have to keep my cool and quietly attend to the boil-over whilst not seeming rude....so I sacrified precious ounces of sugars for the greater goal of having a successful business....
That was basically it....after that everything seemed to go pretty normally. I just pitched the yeast about an hour ago...curious to see how this baby turns out....
Considering that the recipe for which I was most excited turned out to be one of the biggest turds I have ever drank....maybe this will turn out to be spectacular?
keeping my fingers crossed.......:rockin:
Little ones can be like a hyperactive EF5!!
