Don't Do That.

[Cameronl]

I use BruControl but have a step where I check the Fermenter Valves CLOSED BEFORE I transfer the WORT. You can guess why!

SOPs: Know them, Love them. Use them.

 

[ncbrewer]

SOPs: Know them, Love them. Use them.

Absolutely. I still have some issues, but it really helps a lot.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

It's a classic blunder, the most famous of which is to get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less-known than going against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

Inconceivable!!!

 

[day_trippr]

 

[Brew_Dude41]

 

[beren]

When mashing a large (circa 1.080 OG) double IPA in about 7.5 gallons of water (minimal sparge) in a Brewzilla Gen 3.2- you know, the ones with the big stainless steel malt pipe for holding your grain- don't forget to actually put in the big stainless steel malt pipe for holding your grain.

I can confirm that without the malt pipe sparging is really hard and quite time consuming, as is removing the grain from the kettle in preparation for the boil (by hand with a large chinois sieve, if you're interested). And having to do a partial clean halfway through your brew day is no fun either.


Thankfully I had a couple of 5 gallon buckets handy to drain my mash into, but preparing to pull out the grain basket only to realise "hang on, there aren't any holes for the handle to go in" was not a great moment.

Got great conversion, though!

I forgot the false bottom in my mash tun before…

 

[Knightshade]

I've made this mistake numerous times now, and again late last week. I decided to sleep in the day after brew day, so I think it was Sunday?

Wife: Your outdoor fridge is leaking and your dog is loving it.
Me: FFS, again?

Connecting the blowoff jar to the OUT post. How many times have you done this now? Let's ignore the fact that the connector is more than a little stubborn because you're connecting it to the wrong damn post. Yet again, you still manage to screw it up???

<--this guy is a dope...

 

[HM-2]

I forgot the false bottom in my mash tun before…

I've done that too.
Can confirm, forgetting the mash pipe is a much bigger pain in the backside.

 

[Willy]

Well, I made a batch of an expected 6.5% ABV and all was great until it came to the cool down phase after the boil. I wanted to try out the Brewzilla coils in lieu of my usual coils for some reason. Unbeknownst to me... The clamp on the hose had a small pin leak. By the time I noticed - the 11 gal batch was now 12.2 gallons with the slow but sure extra water. It's okay... It is going to end up as a 5.25% ABV (MY GUESS)... So gentlemen... Check the hoses. And don't do that.

 

[Willy]

Here's a new one for me.
Classic Stoopid.

Already have the wort transferred into the fermenter - things are great. Clean up time. Well, I dumped a fat scoop of PBW into about a gallon of water and had the pump running. And ... The pump intake got clogged by little PBW pellets and powder. It was easy fix and won't happen. Again. Dissolve the PBW well before turning on the CIP - otherwise you can clog the intake. (Brewzilla Gen 4 with the oh so small pump that is a little pony. )

 

[seatazzz]

While I did NOT forget the bittering hops during yesterday's brewday, I did forget that the heat lamp in the ferment fridge wasn't turned on when new blonde went in. Did no-chill yesterday, pitched yeast right before bed and went on my merry way. Woke up to controller saying 61° when I had it set to 68°. Yah, don't do that. Also don't leave cleaning to next day, since I have a busy morning planned with the parental, then housework.

 

[Skeeter686]

I picked up a small wet/dry vac that I use during cleanup for pulling residual water out of the CFC and other plumbing. I picked up a ball-lock-to-NPT connector which I attached to a piece of PVC, and I basically plug it into the end of the hose on the vacuum. It works pretty well, and the prior that time I brewed, I even popped it onto the intake for my Spike Flow pump.

This last time I brewed, I tried starting up the pump and it was obviously bound up somehow. I could heard the motor hum, but the impeller wasn't moving. I'd run PBW through everything and then rinsed with water, so I couldn't figure out why it would be stuck... there couldn't possibly be any dried wort in it.

I took the head off, and everything looked OK. Reassembled and had the same result.

I think it was the third time I removed the head, I noticed that the impeller shaft wasn't screwed in tightly. After fixing that, everything ran perfectly again.

It seems that if you run the impeller backwards at high speed (which might happen if you hook up a vacuum to the inlet), then you can unscrew the shaft until it binds the impeller. Don't do that!

 

[oakbarn]

I run water backwards
To prime. Fortunately never had this problem (yet)! But if i do, i will remember this.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

I picked up a small wet/dry vac that I use during cleanup for pulling residual water out of the CFC and other plumbing. I picked up a ball-lock-to-NPT connector which I attached to a piece of PVC, and I basically plug it into the end of the hose on the vacuum. It works pretty well, and the prior that time I brewed, I even popped it onto the intake for my Spike Flow pump.

This last time I brewed, I tried starting up the pump and it was obviously bound up somehow. I could heard the motor hum, but the impeller wasn't moving. I'd run PBW through everything and then rinsed with water, so I couldn't figure out why it would be stuck... there couldn't possibly be any dried wort in it.

I took the head off, and everything looked OK. Reassembled and had the same result.

I think it was the third time I removed the head, I noticed that the impeller shaft wasn't screwed in tightly. After fixing that, everything ran perfectly again.

It seems that if you run the impeller backwards at high speed (which might happen if you hook up a vacuum to the inlet), then you can unscrew the shaft until it binds the impeller. Don't do that!

Air can move impellers way faster than water sometimes. There have been many reports of water meters registering tens of kiloliters when the pipes were being refilled after repairs and someone left a tap open.

 

[Skeeter686]

Air can move impellers way faster than water sometimes. There have been many reports of water meters registering tens of kiloliters when the pipes were being refilled after repairs and someone left a tap open.

I totally get that. I just hadn't considered that by running it backwards, I'd unscrew the shaft and induce a jammed impeller!

 

[Knightshade]

It is amazing how much of a mess a little bit of impatience can make. Just because you've had success smashing the ziplock bag of salt in there before, doesn't mean that you'll have success every single time. If it decides to open while you're smushing stuff around, it is your own damn fault. And this is the mess that was easily captured in a photo (the other half of this container is usually full of various bags of DME which I already took out). The countertop is also white and let's just say there isn't much left in that bag.....

 

[hilljack13]

After not having brewed in several years AND going all grain first time around. I got so flustered I added my first hops during the mash...oops! Don't do that.

 

[doug293cz]

After not having brewed in several years AND going all grain first time around. I got so flustered I added my first hops during the mash...oops! Don't do that.

It will still be beer. You might even like it.

Brew on

 

[Brew_Dude41]

After not having brewed in several years AND going all grain first time around. I got so flustered I added my first hops during the mash...oops! Don't do that.

Better than forgetting the bittering hops altogether...

 

[hilljack13]

It will still be beer. You might even like it.

I ended up dumping most of it....that was about this time last year. Hopefully I have learned a few things...funny I almost did the same thing a few weeks ago..

Better than forgetting the bittering hops altogether...

True. Probably added a tad more bitterness.

 

[ncbrewer]

After not having brewed in several years AND going all grain first time around. I got so flustered I added my first hops during the mash...oops! Don't do that.

Just five minutes ago I read a newsletter from Beersmith that included mash hopping. The beer gods are watching us.
https://app.getresponse.com/view.html?x=a62b&co=I0FCK&m=BLsVz0&mc=CW&s=Muz53&u=Won&z=EFpqyJV&

 

[Broothru]

After not having brewed in several years AND going all grain first time around. I got so flustered I added my first hops during the mash...oops! Don't do that.

But hey, mash hopping is an actual thing.

 

[Broothru]

Just five minutes ago I read a newsletter from Beersmith that included mash hopping. The beer gods are watching us.
https://app.getresponse.com/view.html?x=a62b&co=I0FCK&m=BLsVz0&mc=CW&s=Muz53&u=Won&z=EFpqyJV&

I wonder if it was me that motivated Brad to blog about mash hopping. I'd dashed off an email last week asking him about how I could account for the bittering IBU addition of mash hops. He wrote back that it was already in the BeerSmith program. "Duh" on me. I use his program at least several times per week, and I never noticed that the 'Use' window in the Hop Utilization pull-down menu has "Mash" as a selection, right along with "FWH, Boil, Steep/Whirlpool." For at least the next week I shall be referred to as "Captain Obvious," just as did innumerable First Officers in my aviation career.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Don't brew when your guy instinct tells you not to... let me expand..
I had planned a brewday yesterday, some other weekend plans changed but I kept my schedule for the brew day. Got up, made breakfast, and I wasn't quite feeling it, went to the basement thinking, ok I'll fill the kettles and see if I get in my groove, hook the hose up the hlt, but I didn't open the valve, blew the hose off the quick connect fitting... uhhh maybe I should stop here, nope keep going, fill it, start heating, ok cool chugging along now, wife says did you add salts.. facepalm.. nope, quick add some salts before underletting. We'll I didn't add acid, ughhh whatever, I brewed a lot of good beer before adjusting my water, it'll be fine.. moving on, acidity sparge water at least.. check.. follow beersmith for water volume, it's a 15 gallon batch my volume to boil kettle came in a gallon short of estimated pre boil, wth, double checked everything, no idea what happened there, ok whatever I'm not gonna run anymore sparge water, just move on. It's a 90 min boil, boil starts, I add 60 min addition, didn't want to forget the bittering hops ya know .. well I added them at 90min facepalm.. ok it's fine, move on, next issue, the pid on my setup, Eherms, starts acting funny, probably 30 minutes into 90 min boil it goes from 212f to all the sudden reading 207f but the boil is ripping, wth is going on, I switched a few things around to no avail, set pid to 209f and boils like normal so now I gotta figure that out for next brewday. Ok finish out the boil adding hops on time, chill, and fill fermenter, was able to scrounge enough to get a full batch in there even being short at the beginning of boil, take gravity reading.. a full 10 points short, estimated was 1.050 came in at 1.040, omg, wth, .. pitch yeast close it up set the temp and walk away. This did not go well. No real disaster and it'll make a good beer but damn, what a frustrating brew day and I knew it right from go, so next time your gut says, hey let's skip this brew day and knock it out another time, listen.

Don't ignore your gut instinct, don't do that.

I got some things to work on before my next batch haha..

 

[Spartan1979]

Don't brew when your guy instinct tells you not to... let me expand..
I had planned a brewday yesterday, some other weekend plans changed but I kept my schedule for the brew day. Got up, made breakfast, and I wasn't quite feeling it, went to the basement thinking, ok I'll fill the kettles and see if I get in my groove, hook the hose up the hlt, but I didn't open the valve, blew the hose off the quick connect fitting... uhhh maybe I should stop here, nope keep going, fill it, start heating, ok cool chugging along now, wife says did you add salts.. facepalm.. nope, quick add some salts before underletting. We'll I didn't add acid, ughhh whatever, I brewed a lot of good beer before adjusting my water, it'll be fine.. moving on, acidity sparge water at least.. check.. follow beersmith for water volume, it's a 15 gallon batch my volume to boil kettle came in a gallon short of estimated pre boil, wth, double checked everything, no idea what happened there, ok whatever I'm not gonna run anymore sparge water, just move on. It's a 90 min boil, boil starts, I add 60 min addition, didn't want to forget the bittering hops ya know .. well I added them at 90min facepalm.. ok it's fine, move on, next issue, the pid on my setup, Eherms, starts acting funny, probably 30 minutes into 90 min boil it goes from 212f to all the sudden reading 207f but the boil is ripping, wth is going on, I switched a few things around to no avail, set pid to 209f and boils like normal so now I gotta figure that out for next brewday. Ok finish out the boil adding hops on time, chill, and fill fermenter, was able to scrounge enough to get a full batch in there even being short at the beginning of boil, take gravity reading.. a full 10 points short, estimated was 1.050 came in at 1.040, omg, wth, .. pitch yeast close it up set the temp and walk away. This did not go well. No real disaster and it'll make a good beer but damn, what a frustrating brew day and I knew it right from go, so next time your gut says, hey let's skip this brew day and knock it out another time, listen.

Don't ignore your gut instinct, don't do that.

I got some things to work on before my next batch haha..

I had a brew day like that once. I was more interested in watching a football game than brewing and everything went wrong. It was a Dopplebock so I ended up calling it Exasperator.

 

[SaisonMan]

Today I had the bright idea of pouring three 1-oz packages of hops into the fermenter at once for dry hopping, rather than, you know, doing the smart thing and pouring them into a bowl first and then into the FV. Why, yes, I did lose my grip and, yes, one of the unsanitized packages fell into the fermenter. Cursed and pulled the thing out quickly. And now I wait to see if I introduced a bug. Call me Lord of the Idiots.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Today I had the bright idea of pouring three 1-oz packages of hops into the fermenter at once for dry hopping, rather than, you know, doing the smart thing and pouring them into a bowl first and then into the FV. Why, yes, I did lose my grip and, yes, one of the unsanitized packages fell into the fermenter. Cursed and pulled the thing out quickly. And now I wait to see if I introduced a bug. Call me Lord of the Idiots.

One of my first homebrews I once dropped something, (I forget what it was now), into the fermenter just prior to pitching the yeast. I sprayed my hand and arm with Starsan and went elbow-deep into the fermenter to retrieve said object. After I pulled it out I pitched the yeast and closed up the fermenter. The beer turned out fine. I bet yours will too.

 

[SaisonMan]

One of my first homebrews I once dropped something, (I forget what it was now), into the fermenter just prior to pitching the yeast. I sprayed my hand and arm with Starsan and went elbow-deep into the fermenter to retrieve said object. After I pulled it out I pitched the yeast and closed up the fermenter. The beer turned out fine. I bet yours will too.

Thanks. In three years of doing this now, I have found that beer is generally forgiving. I'll pray for more forgiveness.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I really don’t know what happened here, but maybe one of you can enlighten me.
Awhile back, I bought a “refill” package of PBW. It’s just a bag that the LHBS repackaged into larger quantity bags to refill the smaller containers with all the instructions. It was convenient due to better pricing and the fact that the store is over an hour away; good to have plenty on hand.

I refilled my small container and put it on the shelf with other typical brewing supplies. I took the now opened plastic bag and poured the contents into a half-gallon mason jar and put a lid and ring on it and put it outside in the utility room. I don’t recall exactly when this was, but within the past year.
This past Saturday, I had a few kicked kegs to cleanup and used the last of the small container. After everything else was put away, I decided to go ahead and refill the container. I retrieved the mason jar of PBW from the utility room. I noticed that the lid was humped upwards a little, and decided that this must have happened back in the summer when it was hot. It was now quite cool.
So, when I tried to loosen the ring, it seemed stuck. My grip isn’t what it used to be, so I went into the kitchen and grabbed the strap wrench I keep in the drawer for removing tight lids/jar rings and went back outside. figured that this would easily loosen and set it on a little table and applied the wrench. No go; the half gallon jar is a little too big for me to grip tightly, so as usual when I have a stubborn lid, I placed it down between my legs just above my knees; top directed forward away from me.
Then, I loosened the top…
There was an audible POP! as the lid and ring broke seal and expelled about a quarter of the jar of PBW. I felt the breeze on my face and narrowly missed getting it in my eyes.

I was so glad that I decided to take the wrench outside rather than bring the jar inside, which was where I had planned to do the refill. It was a mess to clean up; even outside!

Anyone have a clue why this happened?

In any case; don’t do that!

 

[doug293cz]

Sounds like some of the sodium percarbonate (major ingredient in PBW) decomposed into sodium carbonate and oxygen. The free oxygen increased the gas pressure in the jar. Was it humid when you first filled the jar, or was there any residual moisture in the jar prior to filling?

Brew on

 

[Deadalus]

Canning jar lids will seal up on their own due to temperature fluctuations. If I buy a case but don't plan on using them I take the lids and rings off and store separately. They make plastic screw on lids for canning jars, I use these once I open a jar. Plus you screwed the ring down tight most likely. After that, what @doug293cz is saying about decomposing. Homemade recipes use oxiclean which also releases oxygen (hence the name).

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Sounds like some of the sodium percarbonate (major ingredient in PBW) decomposed into sodium carbonate and oxygen. The free oxygen increased the gas pressure in the jar. Was it humid when you first filled the jar, or was there any residual moisture in the jar prior to filling?

Brew on

It’s quite possible that it was humid; I am in the South. I am sure that I made sure that the jar was dry before filling. I was wondering if something like this had happened, but had no clue as to what, or by what process. This makes sense.
Afterwards, I brought the jar inside, placed it with the other supplies, and only just barely snugged the lid. I will periodically check it to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
Thanks!

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Canning jar lids will seal up on their own due to temperature fluctuations. If I buy a case but don't plan on using them I take the lids and rings off and store separately. They make plastic screw on lids for canning jars, I use these once I open a jar. Plus you screwed the ring down tight most likely. After that, what @doug293cz is saying about decomposing. Homemade recipes use oxiclean which also releases oxygen (hence the name).

Absolutely correct. Since I know that we are humid here, I am positive that I would have secured the lid tightly to exclude additional moisture and turn it into a brick. It didn’t occur to me that I was just sealing in enough of the ambient humidity to create an issue.

Man! Has brewing gotten complicated since my first batch nearly 40 years ago when I just bought a case of pre-hopped malt syrup, added water, and sugar, boiled, dumped it into a bucket, and added “BEER YEAST”!

 

[Snuffy]

One of my first homebrews I once dropped something, (I forget what it was now), into the fermenter just prior to pitching the yeast. I sprayed my hand and arm with Starsan and went elbow-deep into the fermenter to retrieve said object. After I pulled it out I pitched the yeast and closed up the fermenter. The beer turned out fine. I bet yours will too.

I had a bucket fermenter leak at the spigot because I forgot to tighten it and had to insert my unsanitized arm in to fix it. Beer turned out fine. Arm smelled funny for a few days tho.

 

[Flushot22]

Started brewing a nice pale ale in my Anvil Foundry last week end. Dropped the malt pipe in, started adding the grain and about halfway through looked over to see the false bottom still sitting there in my sani bucket. Panic ensued. Emptied the contents into a couple 5 gal buckets. Scorched the bottom. I have no idea what to expect from what I salvaged.

Don't do that.

 

[Broothru]

Started brewing a nice pale ale in my Anvil Foundry last week end. Dropped the malt pipe in, started adding the grain and about halfway through looked over to see the false bottom still sitting there in my sani bucket. Panic ensued. Emptied the contents into a couple 5 gal buckets. Scorched the bottom. I have no idea what to expect from what I salvaged.

Don't do that.

Been there, done that. I survived, beer did too.

 

[balrog]

They make plastic screw on lids for canning jars,

+∞

@Closet Fermenter , my homemade pbw (tsp90+sodium percarbonate) gets lumpy due to humidity, I store a couple those sili-gel-thingys in with it (have your wife buy tennis sneakers all the time, they come with the dryer pack thingies).

 

[Broothru]

+∞

@Closet Fermenter , my homemade pbw (tsp90+sodium percarbonate) gets lumpy due to humidity, I store a couple those sili-gel-thingys in with it (have your wife buy tennis sneakers all the time, they come with the dryer pack thingies).

Good idea for recycling those dissectant packets.

 

[balrog]

Good idea for recycling those dissectant packets.

Sometimes I have ideas.
Sometimes some of them aren't awful.
Don't tell my wife.