It's a sad, sad day

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ebstauffer

ebstauffer

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Today I'm going to do what I thought was the unthinkable -- tipping out my first ever batch of beer.

Few weeks ago made EdWort's Haus Pale, a wonderful simple ale that is a serious crowd pleaser. Day was moving along just fine then I broke the cardinal rule of all grain brewing -- never ever open your first beer until the wort is in the fermenter. I was brewing in my semi-heated garage (it was about 40°F) and my neighbor came over right as I doughed in to "help" toting a bottle of Templeton Rye... Big mistake.

Needless to say after more than a few drams my mental efficiency matched my mashing efficiency. I burned my hand transferring from MLT to BK; during boil the silicon return came out of the BK and pumped about a gallon on the floor, I couldnt find hop strainer bags so just thought it would be OK to dump them directly in the BK which, as somewhere in my psyche I knew it would, clogged my plate chiller. I also dropped my chiller and one of the hose fitting bent and a horrible angle. Friggin terrible brew session and all my fault / 100% preventable if I just adhered to the Golden Rule of Brewing.

Ended up with about three gallons (yes, I should have had about 5.5 in the carboy -- I have NO idea where it all went) in the fermenter. Pitched my US-05. After two week I racked to my corny for carbing. Pulled off a little sample: "Hmm, that's a bit odd". After a week of forcing a drew off a small glass last night: tasted somewhere something like bandaids and two day old bong water.

When I sampled as I racked to the corny I knew it was bad but told myself, "it will clean itself up. It'll all be OK". Seriously, wtf.

Having a brief ceremony tonight as I tip it in the slop sink. Never forget that Golden Rule...
 
ebstauffer said:
Today I'm going to do what I thought was the unthinkable -- tipping out my first ever batch of beer.

Few weeks ago made EdWort's Haus Pale, a wonderful simple ale that is a serious crowd pleaser. Day was moving along just fine then I broke the cardinal rule of all grain brewing -- never ever open your first beer until the wort is in the fermenter. I was brewing in my semi-heated garage (it was about 40°F) and my neighbor came over right as I doughed in to "help" toting a bottle of Templeton Rye... Big mistake.

Needless to say after more than a few drams my mental efficiency matched my mashing efficiency. I burned my hand transferring from MLT to BK; during boil the silicon return came out of the BK and pumped about a gallon on the floor, I couldnt find hop strainer bags so just thought it would be OK to dump them directly in the BK which, as somewhere in my psyche I knew it would, clogged my plate chiller. I also dropped my chiller and one of the hose fitting bent and a horrible angle. Friggin terrible brew session and all my fault / 100% preventable if I just adhered to the Golden Rule of Brewing.

Ended up with about three gallons (yes, I should have had about 5.5 in the carboy -- I have NO idea where it all went) in the fermenter. Pitched my US-05. After two week I racked to my corny for carbing. Pulled off a little sample: "Hmm, that's a bit odd". After a week of forcing a drew off a small glass last night: tasted somewhere something like bandaids and two day old bong water.

When I sampled as I racked to the corny I knew it was bad but told myself, "it will clean itself up. It'll all be OK". Seriously, wtf.

Having a brief ceremony tonight as I tip it in the slop sink. Never forget that Golden Rule...
Click to expand...

Condolences.

YOU HAVE DRUNK BONG WATER???????
 
ebstauffer said:
...I broke the cardinal rule of all grain brewing -- never ever open your first beer until the wort is in the fermenter.

... Never forget that Golden Rule...
Click to expand...

Quoted for absolute truth.

Fastest way I've ever screwed up a batch (or two :eek: ).
 
I usually brew in the morning so I usually don't drink, But when I do prefer a couple of homebrews.

I have never gotten so wasted that I didn't know what was going on. Any problems would not have been caused by the alcohol.
Luckily all my brewing problems have been minor and have not hurt a batch.
 
I'm sorry for your loss, but I doubt the problem is "opening the first beer before the wort is in the fermenter." The problem is opening the other ones after it. I always have a beer while brewing. I pour half a glass after mash in. Then I might have another half a glass during the boil. Usually I am too busy getting things set up for the next step or cleaned up from the previous one, so a beer just sits. If friends come over, they get half a glass as well--one can get all the qualities and pleasure of a beer from half a glass as well as a whole glass. Besides, after a few you are no longer really tasting them, so you are simply pouring beer down a different kind of drain. Then after the brew day is over and everything is cleaned and put away, I can relax with as much as I feel like having and if the friend stayed long enough they can as well.
 
I have made some of my best brews drunk... matter 'o fact.. I always drink when I brew. takes long enough, might as well have a few homebrews while I homebrew :drunk:
 
Typically I dont start til mash in. Only ever had a problem once and that time I was drinking before I even started heating strike water. Not my best performance
 
I thought it was a rule that you have to have at least one homebrew when you are brewing.

When I brew by myself (most of the time), that's all I usually have. If someone else is around it's usually a couple more.

I usually wait until the boil is going.
 
Usually I brew between things when the family is busy... Since I have to pick up my kids from school in a couple hours getting them after a few beers isn't too smart ha... My helles is really looking nice though.

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Home Brew mobile app
 
>> I usually wait until the boil is going.

I'll try that next time. Not sure it would be healthy to go cold turkey!
 
my golden rule is to not have any alcohol until im into the boil.
i have pretty average alcohol tolerance, so 2-3 beers by the time i'm done doesnt really affect anything for me.
ive had to dump 2 batches in 1.5 years. its such a waste. money is the least of my concern when dumping a beer.
the bigger waste was the fermentation space and EFFORT. both the brewday and then cleaning up the keg, lines, etc with nothing to show for it.
 
I used to have a few when i brewed as well until I had a day like this. Brew sober now... (well at least not drinking) and havent regretted it
 
Usually I'll have a drink poured but like others have said I'm too busy setting up for the next step. Once I get to the boil I'll drink a little more but the BIL and I are usually either cleaning, setting up for the next step or just BS'ing.

Now that we're moving to all grain though I might have to start worrying. Once we get mashed in it might be time to have a drink or two. I don't want the term SMaSH to be my state of being.
 
When I brew alone I have one but with my brother it gets a bit more aggressive... I'm moving to all grain now so I plan to wait until the boil for at least the first couple of batches while I learn.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Home Brew mobile app
 
tjmac5071 said:
When I brew alone I have one but with my brother it gets a bit more aggressive... I'm moving to all grain now so I plan to wait until the boil for at least the first couple of batches while I learn.
Click to expand...

Problem with all grain is that there's not a whole lot to do for that 60 min period but drink ha... cept for getting your sparge water up to temp your mostly watching the clock tick.
 
When I brew alone I start with coffee and wait for the first sign of a boil before I crack a beer. Sometimes I don't even drink.

When I'm brewing with someone else all bets are off. It usually gets pretty ugly.

Bottling night gets even worse.
 
theck said:
Problem with all grain is that there's not a whole lot to do for that 60 min period but drink ha... cept for getting your sparge water up to temp your mostly watching the clock tick.
Click to expand...

YES!! And now that I'm only doing no sparge I dont even have to wait for that. I blame methodology.
 
If I don't drink before it's in the fermenter, something went horribly wrong. That golden rule is more like a golden guideline for a few.
 
My worst brew sessions have been when drinking, too. A buddy of mine and I brewed up a Belgian Stout (which has an odd flavor profile to begin with if you aren't used to it) and thought it would be a good idea to add some absinthe to it. The real deal absinthe, Suisse Le Bleu #4, tasted like liquorice ouzo. What could go wrong... Stout... liquorice.... yum right?

After bottle conditioning, we cracked open our first bottle and it went from being this drinkable Stout to this horrid nasty bitter liquorice fluid with Belgian funk. It was the grossest thing either of us had ever drank without tasting infection. We named it the "Belgian Strong Weird" and proceeded to dare other brewers to drink it. It tasted like Belgian tire water flavored with anise mosquitoes. Dank and disgusting.
 

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