cmmcdonn
Active Member
Evening all, As I sit here with no tv due to the weather, I thought I'd share my (almost) tragic story of my second go at homebrewing.
I decided to brew a big ol RIS (OG came in right around 1.1) monday night. I decided to up my boil to 4 gal in a 5 gallon pot b/c I was worried about hop utilization with such a big beer. Mistake #1. After about 6# of DME I saw the foam starting to rise. I was watching the pot like a hawk so I moved it to a different burner immediately, but that didn't matter. The overflow that covered my electric stove instantly evaporated and burned, turning my kitchen into a big smokey mess.
After I recomposed myself the rest of the boil went without problem. Now time for the icebath in the sink... Ice maker was off, so no ice. Mistake #2. It must have taken me over an hour to cool to 75F. I then pitch my 2 packets of rehydrated yeast, give it a good stir, put the lid on and attached the airlock.
As I got into bed after storing it in the closet, I was thinking about some posts Ive read on here about blowing lids. I thought I would be fine b/c I had a 6.5 gal primary and only 5 gal of wort (and b/c its my second batch and of course I think I know everything). I then thought of how pissed my girlfriend would be if I covered all of our work clothes in beer, so I got up and used my racking hose to make a blowoff tube. I put the end of the tube into a half gallon milk jug filled about 1/4 way with starsan. BOY WAS I LUCKY! I came home after work yesterday and found that not only has it filled and overflowed the rest of the half gallon, but it is still going! I ended up putting the milk jug into my brew kettle to catch the runoff.
I can't imagine the tragedy that would be my closet had I left the airlock on. Whew.
Just thought I'd share my (almost) tragic experience.
=Chad
I decided to brew a big ol RIS (OG came in right around 1.1) monday night. I decided to up my boil to 4 gal in a 5 gallon pot b/c I was worried about hop utilization with such a big beer. Mistake #1. After about 6# of DME I saw the foam starting to rise. I was watching the pot like a hawk so I moved it to a different burner immediately, but that didn't matter. The overflow that covered my electric stove instantly evaporated and burned, turning my kitchen into a big smokey mess.
After I recomposed myself the rest of the boil went without problem. Now time for the icebath in the sink... Ice maker was off, so no ice. Mistake #2. It must have taken me over an hour to cool to 75F. I then pitch my 2 packets of rehydrated yeast, give it a good stir, put the lid on and attached the airlock.
As I got into bed after storing it in the closet, I was thinking about some posts Ive read on here about blowing lids. I thought I would be fine b/c I had a 6.5 gal primary and only 5 gal of wort (and b/c its my second batch and of course I think I know everything). I then thought of how pissed my girlfriend would be if I covered all of our work clothes in beer, so I got up and used my racking hose to make a blowoff tube. I put the end of the tube into a half gallon milk jug filled about 1/4 way with starsan. BOY WAS I LUCKY! I came home after work yesterday and found that not only has it filled and overflowed the rest of the half gallon, but it is still going! I ended up putting the milk jug into my brew kettle to catch the runoff.
I can't imagine the tragedy that would be my closet had I left the airlock on. Whew.
Just thought I'd share my (almost) tragic experience.
=Chad
