Don't Do That.

[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.

 

[seatazzz]

This is going to be the most embarrassing thing I've posted in this thread by far. I'm so ashamed of myself.

So I have a 40-plate chiller (the kind you can't take apart to clean). After every brewday it gets flushed both ways with hot water, then drained, then put away. Usually I leave it upside down to drain and dry overnight, but the last brewday (almost three weeks ago) I did NOT. And now I'm paying the price. Brewed two batches last Saturday, both were chilled with the plate chiller. PF lager got kegged first, because it was done and I wanted some. (Do you see where this is going yet?) HORRIBLE flavor, just.....MOLD. Like when you bite into a mold spot on bread that you thought was okay but didn't look at all of it. Me being me, decided that instead of my equipment it had to be the aged DME I used for the yeast starter. The NEIPA I brewed next, was kegged yesterday. This one had to be okay, right? WRONG. The huge dry hop addition covers some of it, but that mold is STILL there. This one didn't get a yeast starter, so the DME is out. Decided it had to be the valve on the BK, so when I got home tonight took that apart. Some gunk, but no mold. WTF? Found my little round brush to clean it better, and saw the plate chiller where it lives on the table. Stuck that brush inside, and OMG it came out NASTY. I almost hurled. Everything set up for a good long boilout with oxyclean right now. Once again, I really should have known better. DON'T DO THAT.

 

[BongoYodeler]

 

[day_trippr]

 

[firerat]

I ferment in kegs. After each round I disassemble the connections as they can get funky.

So I'm ready to transfer the dunkleweizen i have in there to the serving keg. I attach the disconnect and slowly start adding gas. And nothing is moving. I then notice a beautiful 19ish SRM puddle forming on the floor. It's coming from the out connection.

Apparently when I reassembled the out fitting I somehow failed to put the spring in it. I have no idea how. It makes sense i got no bubbles in my blow of setup. I assumed i just didn't have a great seal as the kegs I use for fermenting are not in great shape. It happens and who cares. But no. It's because I didn't check my work.

So what do I do? Aha, I modified a disconnect and took out it's spring and little depression nipple thing. Genius right? No. Why? Because in my frantic oh crap state, I didn't put the little o ring back on the screw top to the disconnect. So, more beer on the floor. I didn't lose much luckily but did make a mess. So....

Don't do that....

 

[InspectorJon]

Does the 10 second rule apply to beer?

 

[Broothru]

This is going to be the most embarrassing thing I've posted in this thread by far. I'm so ashamed of myself.

So I have a 40-plate chiller (the kind you can't take apart to clean). After every brewday it gets flushed both ways with hot water, then drained, then put away. Usually I leave it upside down to drain and dry overnight, but the last brewday (almost three weeks ago) I did NOT. And now I'm paying the price. Brewed two batches last Saturday, both were chilled with the plate chiller. PF lager got kegged first, because it was done and I wanted some. (Do you see where this is going yet?) HORRIBLE flavor, just.....MOLD. Like when you bite into a mold spot on bread that you thought was okay but didn't look at all of it. Me being me, decided that instead of my equipment it had to be the aged DME I used for the yeast starter. The NEIPA I brewed next, was kegged yesterday. This one had to be okay, right? WRONG. The huge dry hop addition covers some of it, but that mold is STILL there. This one didn't get a yeast starter, so the DME is out. Decided it had to be the valve on the BK, so when I got home tonight took that apart. Some gunk, but no mold. WTF? Found my little round brush to clean it better, and saw the plate chiller where it lives on the table. Stuck that brush inside, and OMG it came out NASTY. I almost hurled. Everything set up for a good long boilout with oxyclean right now. Once again, I really should have known better. DON'T DO THAT.

If it's truly mold, you can knock it down with about :30 seconds of contact time with Clorox bleach, followed by a thorough rinsing, boiling (in fresh water), soaking in PBW, another thorough rinse, capped off with a StarSan soak.

It works wonders. So I'm told. Don't ask.

 

[Broothru]

Does the 10 second rule apply to beer?

I thought it was 30 seconds! No wait, :30 minutes???

 

[seatazzz]

Just finished a 2 hour soak with LA's Totally Awesome yellow cleaner stuff solution, followed by fresh boiling solution flushed both ways for 15 minutes (after running off the first gallon, lots of brown flakes), followed by a long forceful rinse with clean water. Still seeing some brown gunk down the holes but much better. Letting it dry completely then will see what I see. Bleach may follow but I try to use as little of that as possible.

 

[firerat]

Does the 10 second rule apply to beer?

Not in the bathroom.

 

[balrog]

Just finished a 2 hour soak with LA's Totally Awesome yellow cleaner stuff solution, followed by fresh boiling solution flushed both ways for 15 minutes (after running off the first gallon, lots of brown flakes), followed by a long forceful rinse with clean water. Still seeing some brown gunk down the holes but much better. Letting it dry completely then will see what I see. Bleach may follow but I try to use as little of that as possible.

Man, I feel your pain. As OCD as I often am, I hate to, but cannot help but ask, is there really no way to disassemble in order to flambe the interior?

 

[seatazzz]

Man, I feel your pain. As OCD as I often am, I hate to, but cannot help but ask, is there really no way to disassemble in order to flambe the interior?

Nope. I did get it from my LHBS but it's the cheaper kind that doesn't come apart. Kicking myself that I didn't buy my buddy's big huge 80-plate take-apartable chiller when I had the chance but it was out of my budget.