Murphy's Law brew session

[beernutz]

Early last Saturday I packed up my trusty 2000 Yukon with all my BIAB gear including big ladder and headed to my LHBS which was hosting a brew day for my homebrew club. I got there earliest and so got the choice spot in his backyard but from there on pretty much everything that could go wrong did. Examples include:

• I completely zoned on treating my water by adding minerals and diluted phosphoic acid to my mash water even though I had them with me and I had included them on the Beersmith brewing steps sheet I'd printed out.
  
  
• I was using a BIAB nylon bag which after using it numerous times in the same kettle with the same burner I managed to burn a large hole in the bottom during the mash. When I hoisted it up all 25 lbs of grain fell back into the kettle.
  
  
• I then had to scoop all the grain out of the mash kettle into large pastic buckets. Clean the bottom of the kettle where it has scorched, add another BIAB bag to kettle (thank goodness for spares) and scoop all the grain back into it before hoisting it out of kettle successfully. If HSA is a thing I've pretty much maximized it at this point.
  
  
• The recipe called for 3oz of 10AA Centennial hops for 60 minutes. Somehow my small scale was not set up correctly so I actually measured out 9oz of Centennial and added them at the beginning of the boil. I realized my mistake about 20 minutes later and pulled the boiling bag out but Beersmith tells me I probably added over 100 IBU of Centennial in that time. So Rye IPA became a Rye Double IPA.
  
  
• Again, even though I had them with me and had included them on my Beersmith printout I forgot to add Whirlfloc tablets to my boil.
  
  
• When I was using my immersion chiller and pumping ice water through it I had left my propane burner on. I was sitting around a table chatting and drinking homebrew with some other members when our fearless leader pointed out that I was working at cross purposes by heating and cooling at the same time. Doh! Thankfully the LHBS owner had plenty of ice I could use.

I did manage to get the wort into my fermenters so there's that but it will interesting to see if this batch is even drinkable or not much less a decent beer. Hopefully the brew gods take pity.

 

[Anyhowe]

And Murphy was an optimist....

 

[wepeeler]

Wow. At least you got it all out of your system! Next batch should be flawless

I find that if I'm not in my own element or have other distractions going on that aren't the usual distractions, I can make mistakes during brew day. It's funny how it's basically heat water, add treatment, mash, boil, add hops, chill, add yeast every time, yet we ALL screw something up at some point during the day. Comes with the territory.

 

[murphyslaw]

yep

 

[FleEsq]

please at least tell me you were drinking too much during this process. It would explain much and would tell me you still had fun.

 

[catdaddy66]

Been there, done that... It sucks and I feel for you. It was the new environment I'll bet. It tends to throw me out of my rhythm. I am so used to solitary brew sessions with minimal interruptions.

 

[beernutz]

please at least tell me you were drinking too much during this process. It would explain much and would tell me you still had fun.

I am not going to lie there was homebrew however I started brewing at 9 am and several of these things happened before I had a sip of it.

That said, I believe I was homebrew-challenged during the last event where I was running my propane burner and immersion chiller at the same time. We ate and cleaned up for a long time before I left at which point I felt fine.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I have seen several events people are trying to organize events that involve trucking your equipment somewhere for a group brew-day. I must admit my first thought is how much I would screw up in a different environment or due to being nervous brewing next to people who are intimidatingly comfortable taking their rig on the road. I'll brew at home and share but not a brew jedi enough yet to take up a road-trip brew day.

 

[Still Brewn]

Murphy an optimist...... no Murphy is a bi+(# .
12 years of brewing no infections, no accidents, no major mistakes. Then in December with my second brew day almost completed using my new brewery I proceed to dump a gallon or so on the floor and don't notice the dripping until my socks are soaked. Then when transferring the remaining to the secondary I forget to test the new bucket for leaks and dump another gallon on the floor but this time it is on a huge area rug in my dining room and I don't notice until the next day. Once again I fail to notice until my socks are soaked. Something I didn't tell anyone was that I also grabbed the wrong hose and stuck it in the fermenter the correct hose was in the sink, so when I pressed the drain button I'd dumped several quarts into the sewer.

 

[stansoid]

Hopefully it turns out well... Really bitter... but well