Don't Do That.

[JAReeves]

Don't upgrade equipment and change your process without writing down all of the new steps. Like needing to use the O2 stone to aerate the beer since it no longer splashes into the fermenter. And then waking up in a cold sweat at midnight because you forgot to aerate the wort! It'll still beer, but...

Don't do that.

 

[JAReeves]

Don't drink home-brew in great quantities while deep cleaning AND reassembling kegs.

You might put your beer float on the gas in instead of the beer out. You might spend a week confused why beer keeps creeping up the CO2 line, the pressures keep bouncing around, and it makes this weird bubbling sound whenever you open up the line to add gas to the keg. You might lose a 5# tank of CO2 thinking there is a leak somewhere in the system (causing you to change the O-rings on every keg, which probably should have been done anyway), while it's really because of the crazy pressure vacillations and keg purging you have done all week.

Don't do that.

 

[marc1]

Don't drink home-brew in great quantities while deep cleaning AND reassembling kegs.

You might put your beer float on the gas in instead of the beer out. You might spend a week confused why beer keeps creeping up the CO2 line, the pressures keep bouncing around, and it makes this weird bubbling sound whenever you open up the line to add gas to the keg. You might lose a 5# tank of CO2 thinking there is a leak somewhere in the system (causing you to change the O-rings on every keg, which probably should have been done anyway), while it's really because of the crazy pressure vacillations and keg purging you have done all week.

Don't do that.

LOL I've put the floating dip tube on the gas before too! Made for a very interesting transfer into the keg through the short stub of the liquid post!

 

[OldDogBrewing]

Don't drink home-brew in great quantities while deep cleaning AND reassembling kegs.

You might put your beer float on the gas in instead of the beer out. You might spend a week confused why beer keeps creeping up the CO2 line, the pressures keep bouncing around, and it makes this weird bubbling sound whenever you open up the line to add gas to the keg. You might lose a 5# tank of CO2 thinking there is a leak somewhere in the system (causing you to change the O-rings on every keg, which probably should have been done anyway), while it's really because of the crazy pressure vacillations and keg purging you have done all week.

Don't do that.

I learnt that it's better to not drink while brewing or doing anything homebrew related hahahaha

 

[duncan.brown]

I learnt that it's better to not drink while brewing or doing anything homebrew related hahahaha

+1 to that! I even wait until I'm done cleaning up before having my first beer. Hot PBW + eyes = bad.

Which does, however, mean I can only blame my disasters on my own incompetence...

The Kölsch that went into the fermenter with 1/3 of the 5 gal batch at 212F turned out great. I guess that's why they say RDWHAHB..

 

[Nate R]

I dunno.... i feel like there is a magical Mendoza line with brewing & drinking...

Just like drinking and golfing, or drinking and playing darts, or drinking and bowling, or drinking and playing pool, or drinking and having dinner at the in-laws house.....

The right amount and i become amazing. Too much, and it's disaster!

 

[Dland]

Don't do this:

I have quick connects for both water and wort on plate cooler, different type of fitting for the two, but apparently the water one will go on the wort one, (but not vice versa). Anyway, I opened the water valve and saw the flow going the wrong way. Stopped it pretty quick, but not before adding a couple gallons water to fresh wort. I had a hydro sample from post boil, it was 1.062, diluted it down to 1.050, barely fits in 12.5 gallon fermentor.

It should be OK, some would even say better at lower ABV. But to me it is a screw up to an otherwise smooth brew day. Batch #104 in 2 1/2 years, still finding ways to fail!

 

[day_trippr]

Woof. What kinda "different" fittings would allow that?
fwiw, I have GHT QDs on the water side and 1/2" male camlocks on the wort side. On my dumbest day I couldn't defeat it

Cheers!

 

[Dland]

^^^Half inch SS quick connects for wort, old style fancy brass garden hose quick connects on water side. Don't worry, I won't do it again, even on off day.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

When working with a re-circulation pump for the first time, assume the QD ball lock on the exit port of the pump has engaged fully because it looks engaged. Don't do that.

At least it didn't fly off, just dumped half a pint of hot, sweet wort all over the chair the pump was resting on. Hit my targets spot on today and got a BIAB mash efficiency of 81% for a change.

 

[JAReeves]

When getting used kegs, don't assume that the parts are still standard.

You might find yourself making a specialized tap system with a gas post, because whoever reassembled the keg put the wrong post in the beer out. And your keg was already full of beer that you can't open and expose to oxygen just to change it to a standard QD size.

Don't do that.

 

[MarkEastover]

Well, since it isn't all brew related...

Filling up a 2 liter soda bottle with gasoline, placing it on a bench in front of a bonfire, then standing about 30 yards away and shooting it with a .45acp. Don't do that.


[Edit to add- and I was old enough to know better]

Sorry, but that sounds kind of cool, any video?

 

[mcmeador]

Connect a hose to your dump valve on your conical for clean-in-place but open your racking port instead. Don’t do that.

Also...

Finish CIP and disconnect hose from dump valve without closing the valve first. Don’t do that.

 

[mcmeador]

Got a new one. Fill your fermenter and turn the glycol pump on. Then get frustrated for 20 minutes because you can’t figure out why the temperature isn’t going down, only to realize you never inserted the temperature probe into the thermowell and the temp is actually 10 degrees too low now. Don’t do that...

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Got a new one. Fill your fermenter and turn the glycol pump on. Then get frustrated for 20 minutes because you can’t figure out why the temperature isn’t going down, only to realize you never inserted the temperature probe into the thermowell and the temp is actually 10 degrees too low now. Don’t do that...

Two posts in under two weeks, You need to go Santa on this before something serious goes wrong and you accidentally brew a batch of Coors Lite.

You've gotta be making a list, checkin' it twice, otherwise your beer won't be fruity and nice. Or go full lock-out-tag-out on your valves.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

While hiking and you live in a country that can have quick changes in weather, decide that you don't need the tarp over your hammock since altough cloudy, it had been dry and there will definitely not be rain in the middle of the night.

Don't do that.

 

[mcmeador]

Two posts in under two weeks, You need to go Santa on this before something serious goes wrong and you accidentally brew a batch of Coors Lite.

You've gotta be making a list, checkin' it twice, otherwise your beer won't be fruity and nice. Or go full lock-out-tag-out on your valves.

Haha, well the first two scenarios I posted didn’t involve wort/beer, so no danger to the product. Those were just stupid mistakes working with new equipment and not thinking through what I was doing.

On my temp probe mistake yesterday, luckily I hadn’t pitched the yeast yet. I was cooling my wort down to lager fermentation temps first, so my mistake just meant the yeast ended up rehydrating longer until I could get the wort temp back up.

I have been using a checklist for my brew days, though, but there’s only so much detail I will go into.

 

[gonefishin2]

Ferment in a keg, and somehow get the gas disconnect that your using with your blowoff tube to connect to the liquid post without realizing it. Half of my first mead attempt on the floor...

Don’t do that.

silver lining: my room smelled divine

 

[andrewmaixner]

Don't: set fermentation chamber to 80F with heater plugged in but temperature reducer unplugged, while leaving it fully insulated (figured it was winter and 65F ambient so wouldn't need the refrigerator part powered.)

Do: use WLP644/OYL200, so it doesn't really even matter when it hits 90F! The NEIPAs were ready to drink on day 10. It's my go-to yeast for anything in which tropical fruit aroma is desirable (IPA, NEIPA, PA). The only currently known POF- and STA+ (minimally diastatic, not nearly like WLP3711 / Belle Saison) strain available, and highly tolerant of high temperatures.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The only currently known POF- and STA+ (minimally diastatic, not nearly like WLP3711 / Belle Saison) strain available, and highly tolerant of high temperatures.

Not quite - Omega have Gulo, a hybrid of their Irish yeast and French Saison which is diastatic and non-phenolic.

More recently Escarpment have just released Jotunn, which is a hybrid between a kveik and saison - it's not clear whether it's phenolic or not, looks like it may be a bit "Fruit Salad, light spice... A rare combination of diastatic and flocculent, making it a Saison yeast that is easy to crop and repitch. Expressive fruitiness but low banana ester."

Also WLP026 is a member of the saison family that has a STA1 (but crippled like a lot of them are) and is meant to be POF- (but opinions seem a bit mixed on that, I've not used it)

 

[Toxxyc]

Don't cash in on the whole COVID pandemic and start selling fresh wort kits to people without booze and then make too many cubes and have so many left over that you've been drinking the same pale ale you have in the cubes for 6 months and then when you want to brew a different beer again you've kinda forgotten the process because just pouring out a cube and adding some S-04 takes 2 minutes.

Don't do that.

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

Opening an email announcing a sale at Adventures In Homebrewing, when you're pretty much broke from holiday shopping. Don't do that!

 

[danimal92sport]

Opening an email announcing a sale at Adventures In Homebrewing, when you're pretty much broke from holiday shopping. Don't do that!

Wow, you nailed me on that one. Did my wife put you up to this?

Dan

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

Wow, you nailed me on that one. Did my wife put you up to this?

Dan

Nah, I did it to myself yesterday. Everything on sale, and no $$$.

 

[Jayjay1976]

My 6 gallon sugar wash with 10 lbs of white sugar seemed be fermenting a bit slow compared to previous batches, so on day 3 I decided to add 2 tablespoons of fresh dry yeast. I grabbed my drill-powered mixing spoon to mix it up and within 2 seconds it started foaming up violently, erupting about a half gallon of sticky sugar water and foam all over the washer and dryer, running down the sides and flooding the floor.

Oh yeah, it was 11:00 last night and I had enjoyed a few beers before deciding to add the yeast. I had it mostly cleaned up by 1:00 when I finally called it quits. All night long the sheets were sticking to my feet, and this morning my wife discovered the floor in the hallway and laundry room were sticky. I'm stalling now, but I have orders to clean the floors all over again.


Don't do that.

 

[brewgar]

My 6 gallon sugar wash with 10 lbs of white sugar seemed be fermenting a bit slow compared to previous batches, so on day 3 I decided to add 2 tablespoons of fresh dry yeast. I grabbed my drill-powered mixing spoon to mix it up and within 2 seconds it started foaming up violently, erupting about a half gallon of sticky sugar water and foam all over the washer and dryer, running down the sides and flooding the floor.

Oh yeah, it was 11:00 last night and I had enjoyed a few beers before deciding to add the yeast. I had it mostly cleaned up by 1:00 when I finally called it quits. All night long the sheets were sticking to my feet, and this morning my wife discovered the floor in the hallway and laundry room were sticky. I'm stalling now, but I have orders to clean the floors all over again.


Don't do that.

Jayjay - Yet one more reason not to fraternize with Satan.

 

[Nate R]

this morning my wife discovered the floor in the hallway and laundry room were sticky. I'm stalling now, but I have orders to clean the floors all over again.


Don't do that.

Don't do what: Add extra yeast after some beers at 1:00am... or get married???

 

[ferm.adventures]

Attempt to do a closed transfer from a Spike Flex+ to a keg via quick disconnects, and have your keg pressurized to a much higher pressure than you fermenter. Congrats, all your cold crashed trub, yeast and dry hops are roused and you’ll package about 4oz of beer before your connections are clogged, and you’ll realize you’ll have to crash again and package later.

Don’t do that.

 

[JAReeves]

After fighting with the fishing line breaking the seal in the keg lid for 15 minutes, don't lose your patience and not tie off your dry hop bag inside the keg. Find something, somewhere inside the keg that you can tie the fishing line to, because that bag full of wet hops will sink; like a stone, a rock, a brick, or Hitler's soul. It's not rising to the surface for love or money.

 

[Jayjay1976]

After fighting with the fishing line breaking the seal in the keg lid for 15 minutes, don't lose your patience and not tie off your dry hop bag inside the keg. Find something, somewhere inside the keg that you can tie the fishing line to, because that bag full of wet hops will sink; like a stone, a rock, a brick, or Hitler's soul. It's not rising to the surface for love or money.

I haven't done this yet, but when I do I plan to zip tie the hop bag to the dip tube, purge the keg thoroughly and then do a closed transfer to fill it up.

A small zip tie is pretty easy to install one handed with a bit of practice, I imagine the easiest way is using two ties; one to close the bag tight and a second to attach it to the dip tube. Slip the second tie through the first and make it into into a loop a bit bigger than the tube, then reach in the keg holding the bag by the neck and pull the dip tube up enough to slip the loop over the bottom end of the tube, then push it back down. Position the bag about halfway up the tube and cinch it tight.

 

[JAReeves]

I haven't done this yet, but when I do I plan to zip tie the hop bag to the dip tube, purge the keg thoroughly and then do a closed transfer to fill it up.

A small zip tie is pretty easy to install one handed with a bit of practice, I imagine the easiest way is using two ties; one to close the bag tight and a second to attach it to the dip tube. Slip the second tie through the first and make it into into a loop a bit bigger than the tube, then reach in the keg holding the bag by the neck and pull the dip tube up enough to slip the loop over the bottom end of the tube, then push it back down. Position the bag about halfway up the tube and cinch it tight.

Shmart!

 

[ferm.adventures]

After fighting with the fishing line breaking the seal in the keg lid for 15 minutes, don't lose your patience and not tie off your dry hop bag inside the keg. Find something, somewhere inside the keg that you can tie the fishing line to, because that bag full of wet hops will sink; like a stone, a rock, a brick, or Hitler's soul. It's not rising to the surface for love or money.

Unflavored dental floss, the glide stuff, works great for that… no issues with the seal.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I haven't done this yet, but when I do I plan to zip tie the hop bag to the dip tube, purge the keg thoroughly and then do a closed transfer to fill it up.

What method will you use to "purge the keg thoroughly.." with hops already in the keg?
I ask because I recently kegged an ipa where I had hops in the keg in one of these then purged the keg with fermentation CO2. Smelled great while fermenting, but the resulting beer tasted only mildly hopped. I'm wondering how much of the hop essence (both aroma and taste) get blown off with this method.

 

[Elmo Peach]

Don"t shut down Brewzill with out shutting off pump while full of hot wort then remove the pump arm then plug it in again. DO! mop floor several time befor wife gets home.

 

[Jayjay1976]

What method will you use to "purge the keg thoroughly.." with hops already in the keg?
I ask because I recently kegged an ipa where I had hops in the keg in one of these then purged the keg with fermentation CO2. Smelled great while fermenting, but the resulting beer tasted only mildly hopped. I'm wondering how much of the hop essence (both aroma and taste) get blown off with this method.

I would think the long, slow purge using fermentation CO2 would scrub out a lot of the more volatile aromatics, I'm talking about pressurizing the keg to serving pressure and then pull the prv to slowly vent it back down to zero, though this has to be repeated a number of times to get the residual O2 ppm down low enough to avoid oxidation. Somebody posted a bunch of calculations on this a while back, but I just do it 3-6 times depending on how hoppy the beer is and my patience that particular day.

 

[Staticsouls]

Using hops from 2017 in a nice neipa with a bunch of fresh hops. Dammit I should know better than that.

 

[grampamark]

If you mash in a bag, don’t take the bag out of the MLT and put it in a trash bag without dumping the grain bag before taking the trash bag to the dump. Don’t do that.

Wilserbrewer, pick up a white paging telephone…

 

[JAReeves]

Don't buy a chest freezer to convert into a keezer that only holds 3 kegs + assorted beers, hops, yeasts, etc., because you think, "I'll never need more than three kegs on tap, right?"

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

If you mash in a bag, don’t take the bag out of the MLT and put it in a trash bag without dumping the grain bag before taking the trash bag to the dump. Don’t do that.

Wilserbrewer, pick up a white paging telephone…

That's definitely one of those....

moments.

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

So...I'm attempting to lager my first ever batch of Pilsner, and I set my external temperature controller to 45 F to gradually start dropping the temperature. After about an hour, the temperature is still sitting at 50F. I double check the settings on the controller, everything looks good. Temperature still won't drop below 50F. Check the temperature setting INSIDE the fridge and discover that the dial's set at 1, causing the fridge's internal thermostat to shut the fridge off before the set point of the external temperature controller was even reached. DON'T DO THAT!