Mishaps you are embarrassed to admit...but can here, we're all friends.

[anotherbeerplease]

In my earlier days of brewing I figured I like both Lucky Charms and saison, why not make a Lucky Charms sasion! Well let me tell you the mystery dark green beer that came out of it was pretty nasty stuff.... not everything goes well together, as it turns out

 

[jcfontario]

My duh moment,

On my first batch using a partial mash, I added my grain to my kettle, mashed it at the suggested temperature, boiled with hops for an hour, topped to 5 gallons with water. When I checked my SG, it was very low, like about 1.03 instead of over 1.050. I added a lot of DME to bring it close to the desired OG, but couldnt figure out how I missed by so much.

A little research uncovered my problem.....what do you mean you have to grind the grain?!?! Nobody told me that part.....Doh!...

 

[JAReeves]

When I started out, I was brewing on the stovetop. My 1st or 2nd BIAB AG batch was a DIPA, and when I went to take the grain bag out, given the height of the stove, the weight of the wet grains, etc., I dropped it back into the wort at least twice before I was able to lift it high enough to get the strainer in between the bag and the lip of the kettle so it could drain. There are still spots of wort on the ceiling and I have no idea what the space between the stove and the counter looks like. SWMBO decided I needed an outdoor propane burner after that mess.

 

[Beerstein]

Just last night I brewed a chocolate stout where I threw my toasted cocoa nibs right into my spike brew pot. I didn't think about the fact they would get sucked into my recirc/cooling loop and gum up the works. I mean really gum up the works. Next time I'm going to use the SS hop balls I have.

 

[bracconiere]

i drank a michelob ultra at the diner for lunch...


and i tried to look cool doing it, by getting big head on the glass. couldn't pull it off

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I just got some throw up in the back of my throat.

i drank a michelob ultra at the diner for lunch...

 

[bracconiere]

I just got some throw up in the back of my throat.

i thought we wern't suppose to judge in this thread?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

i thought we wern't suppose to judge in this thread?

Who's judging?

 

[bracconiere]

Who's judging?

well at least you kept it in the back of your throat. i was impressed it was easier to drink then the glass of water with 'ice' in it?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

well at least you kept it in the back of your throat. i was impressed it was easier to drink then the glass of water with 'ice' in it?

Brac, I will come clean, I drank a couple of Budweiser at a fund raiser several weeks back and thought, "This isn't as bad as I expected it to be". lol

 

[bracconiere]

Brac, I will come clean, I drank a couple of Budweiser at a fund raiser several weeks back and thought, "This isn't as bad as I expected it to be". lol

i'll come clean too, the only reason i ordered it is because i asked what beers do you have. and the waitress started naming the usuals. bud lite, couple of macro lites, then there was michelob ultra... honestly it was my first time! i'm not sure if there will ever be a second, but it WAS better then ice water. i mean now if they served the glass of water without the ice, and a lemon wedge, i'd go for the water!

 

[Sam_92]

At least you know the beer was free of harmful organisms, the same could not be said about the water or especially the ice.

 

[hotbeer]

New 3 gallon FastFermenter. Several weeks ago I was ready to bottle and when unscrewing the mason jar collection adapter from the valve body the core of the valve also unscrewed letting the ball fall out and my 2+ gallons of ready to bottle beer with it.

Yesterday was another brew day and I had sense enough to play around with it prior to play around with the valve and adapter to see how to avoid having that happen again.

Fast Ferment says to be sure to tighten it enough so the core doesn't unscrew. However elsewhere they say not to tighten the core too much. There is no guidance on what is the proper amount to tighten it.

So from what I found, if you tighten the core too much, the o-ring on the core won't seal to the mason jar adapter and it leaks. If you leave the core loose enough then no leak between the valve body and the adapter. But when you try to unscrew the mason jar adapter which also unscrews the valve core you get a leak. And the valve core has less threads. So it's completely unscrewed before the adapter is.

Which leaves me screwed... so to speak!

Perhaps they should have made their hose barb work with the mason jar adapter instead of requiring the adapter to be removed to install the hose barb.

Sadly FastFerment isn't responding to my inquiry. I guess I'll send them another.

Also not sure if the topic of this thread applies to me or FastFerment!

 

[bracconiere]

Fast Ferment says to be sure to tighten it enough so the core doesn't unscrew. However elsewhere they say not to tighten the core too much. There is no guidance on what is the proper amount to tighten it.

if you need to use a tension wrench for a fermenter, beer doesn't belong anywhere near it!

 

[bwible]

i drank a michelob ultra at the diner for lunch...


and i tried to look cool doing it, by getting big head on the glass. couldn't pull it off

No shame in counting carbs and calories.

“Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

 

[bracconiere]

No shame in counting carbs and calories.

“Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

i just try to make sure the bills get paid without having a mountain of debt....or in this case, not weighing 300lbs, and not even meeting my basic nutrition needs....

 

[SFC Rudy]

I was stationed in Germany from 2001-2010. I was home on leave at a restaurant and saw Michelob Ultra on the menu. I thought "Michelob used to be kinda tasty. I'll try one of those. After years of drinking German bier I thought I was drinking water!

 

[bracconiere]

I thought I was drinking water!

glad someone agrees, but at least you didn't have to fight for a sip through ice cubes, huh?

 

[thomer]

I set up my new BIAB electric kettle with topsflow pump and loc-line coming out under the lid. I was very proud of myself. I was cleaning the system with PBW. I hung the lid on the kettle handle while I was doing other stuff. I switched the pump on to recirculate the PBW through the system and immediately went into the garage to do other stuff. I suddenly look round and there was a flood of water coming from under the door. The pump was pumping all the PBW through the loc-line all over the floor...... another night in the doghouse.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

another night in the doghouse.

Seems like it is a familiar place, lol

 

[Drewch]

New 3 gallon FastFermenter. Several weeks ago I was ready to bottle and when unscrewing the mason jar collection adapter from the valve body the core of the valve also unscrewed letting the ball fall out and my 2+ gallons of ready to bottle beer with it.

Yesterday was another brew day and I had sense enough to play around with it prior to play around with the valve and adapter to see how to avoid having that happen again.

Fast Ferment says to be sure to tighten it enough so the core doesn't unscrew. However elsewhere they say not to tighten the core too much. There is no guidance on what is the proper amount to tighten it.

So from what I found, if you tighten the core too much, the o-ring on the core won't seal to the mason jar adapter and it leaks. If you leave the core loose enough then no leak between the valve body and the adapter. But when you try to unscrew the mason jar adapter which also unscrews the valve core you get a leak. And the valve core has less threads. So it's completely unscrewed before the adapter is.

Which leaves me screwed... so to speak!

Perhaps they should have made their hose barb work with the mason jar adapter instead of requiring the adapter to be removed to install the hose barb.

Sadly FastFerment isn't responding to my inquiry. I guess I'll send them another.

Also not sure if the topic of this thread applies to me or FastFerment!

I just tighten until the red handle is flush with the valve body. Kind of a built-in stopping point.

I only had that issue once: when I had removed the mason jar adapter to dump rather than just the jar. As long as I stick to just removing the jar, I don't have that prob.

 

[wsmith1625]

i drank a michelob ultra at the diner for lunch...


and i tried to look cool doing it, by getting big head on the glass. couldn't pull it off

Please don't make me laugh so hard while I'm at work. Hahahaha!

 

[Spartan1979]

I set up my new BIAB electric kettle with topsflow pump and loc-line coming out under the lid. I was very proud of myself. I was cleaning the system with PBW. I hung the lid on the kettle handle while I was doing other stuff. I switched the pump on to recirculate the PBW through the system and immediately went into the garage to do other stuff. I suddenly look round and there was a flood of water coming from under the door. The pump was pumping all the PBW through the loc-line all over the floor...... another night in the doghouse.

I've done something similar. I run my RO water directly into my HLT with a float valve to shut it off. I learned that the float valve won't shut off the water if I forget to close the valve at the bottom of the tank. My wife was the one who found the water all over the floor!

 

[McMullan]

Well, about a week ago, I brewed a full batch of lager and forgot to attach a floating dip tube to the kegmenter lid. It's been fermenting quite nicely under pressure with freshly harvested yeast. But I can't get the f*cking lid off, to attach the dip tube, without major foaming spraying out of the PRV. I had to re-pressurise and walk away. I'm just going to leave it in there for another week then cold crash down to 0°C and hope for the best

 

[hotbeer]

I just tighten until the red handle is flush with the valve body. Kind of a built-in stopping point

I will have thought so too. However that's not the case with mine. If I want to unscrew the adapter to put the hose barb attachment on for bottling direct from the FV, then I'm SOL as the core will unscrew itself too.

Maybe I got a bad valve.

 

[c.r.martin1227]

So, years ago when I initially started brewing beer, I decided that I needed a wort chiller, because you know, faster chill and everything. I made my own, and it turned out pretty impressive, wish I took pictures. I don't remember exactly what I was making, but I know it was my first stout and I was stoked. So I put my chiller into a bunch of ice and used it like a siphon. The beer melted that ice so fast and when it got into my carboy it was ready to pitch. So, a couple months later when I try my stout it had this yucky metal flavor to it. See, the chiller I made was an insertion chiller, but misunderstood how it was supposed to be used. I was pretty disappointed

 

[friarsmith]

I got a Blichmann Bottling gun soon after they first came out. Maybe 2010 or 2011? I don’t recall.

The first few years of use (Maybe 10 uses) the darned black tip on the end of the barrel wouldn't seal completely when I released the trigger to stop flow. So it was always an overflowing mess and a race to cap each bottle. I watched so many how-to vids and NOTHING worked. So I quit using it.

Fast fwd a few years. A buddy was helping me cap several beers I had to submit for a competition, and he uttered five life-changing words

“Dude, your tip is backwards”

Edit: In my defense, I am positive the tip was backwards/upside-down when I bought it.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

Experiments with different flavours has led to some of my best beers... and some of the worst:
- Garlic pale ale (horrific)
- way too much fresh mint in a stout (drinkable, barely)
- jalapeño dark ale (burned on the way out)
- 30% crystal malt with high mash temp and tons of Citra. (Dumped, couldn't give it away)

 

[Drewch]

I will have thought so too. However that's not the case with mine. If I want to unscrew the adapter to put the hose barb attachment on for bottling direct from the FV, then I'm SOL as the core will unscrew itself too.

Maybe I got a bad valve.

Maybe put food-safe keg lube on the face between the valve core and the mason adapter?

 

[DuncB]

Putting a shiny new ball lock connector on the spunding valve.
Not appreciating the role of the non return ball lock connector I'd just fitted until I returned three days later to find a very tense fermentasaurus gently venting thru the PRV. Pressure was at least 35psi but still chugging away, not such an expressive wheat beer that one.

Further note to self asking the brewers assistant ( wife ) to check the above fermenter whilst I was away and not appreciating she couldn't notice the spunding valve needle had gone all the way round to rest against the gauge stop, so it looked like no pressure at all.

Open a pressurised fermenter and put the hops in and turning away whilst the nucleation ensued and then trying desperately to get the lid back on and repressurise the volcano.

Otherwise all going well.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

Open a pressurised fermenter and put the hops in and turning away whilst the nucleation ensued and then trying desperately to get the lid back on and repressurise the volcano.

I did that once... I was like a sticky volcano.

 

[robertkerr79]

I once innocently turned on my electric 35L kettle before adding any water. That was the day I learned that the heating element will immediately start smoldering if not fully submersed. It imparted a smokiness to the Belgian Blonde that people were very polite and encouraging about. It wasn't terrible, but it was unplanned and it took a lot of scrubbing to get the element clean.

 

[CanaHomebrew]

The amount of times that I've tried to hook up new kegs to my kegerator and forgotten to turn off the CO2, depressurize the kegs, or not had the beer and gas line both connected when I turned on the gas is just embarrassing.

So much good beer on my brew room floor, and consequently, all over me.

 

[passedpawn]

I once innocently turned on my electric 35L kettle before adding any water. That was the day I learned that the heating element will immediately start smoldering if not fully submersed. It imparted a smokiness to the Belgian Blonde that people were very polite and encouraging about. It wasn't terrible, but it was unplanned and it took a lot of scrubbing to get the element clean.

Ironically, that's exactly how I clean my elements.

 

[Heinz]

I had dead mice in the well water. Made beer with it. The beer went bad. So the "I have had no infections" badge got dumped with the beer.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I had dead mice in the well water.

Ewww

 

[JaggersBrewingCo]

On a couple occasionss I've gone and dumped the 60 minute hop addition at the start of the boil…. On 90 minute boils…. I know they say bitterness pretty much maxes out after 60, but it still makes me feel stupid when I do it! I've also found I am far more likely to miss steps when I have a brewing assistant, I am far more slow paced and methodical when brewing on my own…

Ain't that the truth... anytime I have someone over it doesn't look like I know nearly as much as I do. One time someone that is far more experienced then I came over and all he said well that's a nice boil... only brewing comment he made the whole time.

 

[JaggersBrewingCo]

I chased lower then expected ABV problems for about 6 months. I was about to give up brewing - My 5% Beer tasted like 5% not 3 after all... Someone finally asked if I was using my 6 month old refractometer... I was in deed using said item to find my final gravity... I have sense wised up!

 

[Callacave]

Don't hold an Imperial Yeast pouch by the top, and cut below your fingers. gravity did the rest!

 

[passedpawn]

Man, stainless steel seems SO impervious to everything. Bleach, not so much.

I had a sour beer in a keg, and wanted to go nuclear on cleaning so the next contents didn't go south. Put some bleach in there, shook it up good, then walked away for a few days.

About a month later, I noticed that one of my kegged beers was leaking. Man I could not find the leak. Turns out that there was a pinhole leak in the bottom of the keg and it was leaking into the rubber bottom of the keg. The dip tube was also eaten away.

Below, you can see the view into the keg, with bright light behind it. Holes down there.