Don't you hate it when...

[Hamaki]

Don't you hate it when you're tasting the FG sample on a batch, decide it's probably your best effort to date, check on your notes about the recipe and find NOTHING! I brewed an APA two weeks ago and the only thing in my notebook is 5 oz Munich and 1 lb Vienna. No other malts, not hops, no other details of any kind. DAMMIT! Drinking a SNPA now after the FG sample and it seems lacking by comparison even though my sample was warm, flat and fresh out of the fermenter.

 

[mtnagel]

LOL stop drinking so much during brewing

I guess you're just winging it on brewday without a recipe? I also have my recipe in beer smith and print out the recipe and then take notes right on it. I then scan that in so I have all the notes for my brews.

 

[Hamaki]

I did enjoy a couple but I do every time I brew. I generally work out my recipes on Brewer's Friend but I didn't save it there or make good notes. This kind of thing usually happens when I'm distracted but since there was no-one else around I got nobody to blame but myself.

 

[Brewmex41]

I write my recipes multiple times before I brew and use BrewR for my recipe development lol

I have had the app crash and delete some recipes before, but I keep hard copies in a brew binder. I made a brew log on Excel and keep vital notes like brew date and OG on the front page.

I'm so indecisive when it comes to recipes I have to see them on paper before I can brew it.

 

[Hamaki]

Found my recipe & brew notes - in my binder after all. Just not where it should have been. Not totally brain dead after all.

 

[SteveWPG]

Once I was looking for empty kegs to clean and refill when I found one that was not labeled. I almost opened it and poured it out but thought better of it. I hooked it up and started drinking once it was cold. It was pretty good, sort of porter like. I don't remember making it and I don't have a recipe that would result in that beer. I save all my recipes in BeerTools. I even went through my calendar and there was do day I could have brewed it. To this day I have no idea where it came from.

 

[AgentHubcap]

How do you not even have the recipe written down?

 

[SteveWPG]

How do you not even have the recipe written down?

It is a mystery

 

[Zepth]

I had a similar but not quite as extreme incident occur recently. LHBS sells hops in 2 oz vacuum bags, the other brew store about a half hour away sells by the pound as well as smaller portions. Once I get a feel for what hops are good for what I'll start buying the lb bags. Anyways...
Recent results have been pleasing. Looking back through brew logs to see how things have been going, get the impression something is awry. Look closer: between 2 batches that shared one hop type 0.5 oz is missing. Completely unaccounted for. What batch, what time, who know.

 

[day_trippr]

[Applying the paddles to this thread...]

...you're topping up a full pour - and the keg kicks and blows a hole in your beer

 

[grampamark]

[Applying the paddles to this thread...]

Uhh...I think it’s still flatlining.

 

[camonick]

...you're topping up a full pour - and the keg kicks and blows a hole in your beer

Had that happen to me twice tonight... time to fire up the brewery.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

That awkward moment when you 'like' a 6 year old post

I had a similar experience to OP one day when brewing a brown ale. Spur of the moment brew day (just got my first immersion chiller and wanted to try it out!). I was borderline blackout while heating my strike water, full blackout during boil, wrote all my notes with a slur, messed up every single imaginable boil addition and times. It was fantastic and can never reproduce it. It has forever been dubbed the 'Bob Ross Brown' because it was a happy little accident.

No more drinking on brew day until my chiller is running...maybe one brew during the boil to celebrate a successful mash

 

[Jayjay1976]

No more drinking on brew day until my chiller is running...maybe one brew during the boil to celebrate a successful mash

I have the same rule for a very similar reason, only my unicorn beer wasnt anything worth repeating.

 

[Sammy86]

Don't you hate it when you're tasting the FG sample on a batch, decide it's probably your best effort to date, check on your notes about the recipe and find NOTHING! I brewed an APA two weeks ago and the only thing in my notebook is 5 oz Munich and 1 lb Vienna. No other malts, not hops, no other details of any kind. DAMMIT! Drinking a SNPA now after the FG sample and it seems lacking by comparison even though my sample was warm, flat and fresh out of the fermenter.

I was recently going through my brew log and found the recipe I did for one of my holiday gifts for my people at work...literally it's just the recipe and the brew date...no other information...it's like the lone wolf on the whole bloody book!

I can't remember anything go about it either...

 

[JAReeves]

When you have an imperial stout just get hung up halfway done for over a year, no matter what you do or add to it (at least 4 varieties of yeast including champagne).

Then use it as a base for the next imperial stout and it ferments completely and is one of the best beers you’ve ever tasted-and it’s a complete unicorn.

 

[day_trippr]

hahahahaha! That's awesome!

 

[Jayjay1976]

When you have an imperial stout just get hung up halfway done for over a year, no matter what you do or add to it (at least 4 varieties of yeast including champagne).

Then use it as a base for the next imperial stout and it ferments completely and is one of the best beers you’ve ever tasted-and it’s a complete unicorn.

Cherish it my friend. Beers like that come along once in a lifetime.

Some brew buddies of mine did a group brew a few years ago, they each brewed a 10 gallon batch of imperial stout following the same recipe, then aged them all together in a barrel for a year. One of the five apparently got infected so the resulting beer was nearly undrinkable. Fast forward 4 years, the flavors have smoothed and mellowed resulting in a very characterful and drinkable imperial stout. They're all still a bit sour over the massive delay, but all agree it is a glorious triumph of patience. IMHO, one of the best beers they've ever poured me.

 

[julzlit]

Don't you hate it when you're tasting the FG sample on a batch, decide it's probably your best effort to date, check on your notes about the recipe and find NOTHING! I brewed an APA two weeks ago and the only thing in my notebook is 5 oz Munich and 1 lb Vienna. No other malts, not hops, no other details of any kind. DAMMIT! Drinking a SNPA now after the FG sample and it seems lacking by comparison even though my sample was warm, flat and fresh out of the fermenter.

About 25 years ago we did beer and I wrote copious notes. I'm doing cider now, prepacked recipes are nearly fail proof. I broke hydrometer first week and haven't bothered replacing. Once bubbler has been still three days I bottle it up. People ask percentage, I don't know or care, it tastes good and gives a kick I love just winging it and and not taking it too seriously with notes Happy Brewing Brewers!

 

[bracconiere]

i hate it when after years of brewing, you ACTUALLY have all kinds of new cool stuff to try out, but your kegs are are full, and for some reason, you start drinking less beer!

(one new thing is now with the same amount of grain i get 10% ABV instead of 8%.....not so fun after all i guess)

 

[bracconiere]

i found out HBT tips work sometimes too good....i get 95% effec beer with too MUCH alcohol now, and whoever that s.o.b. was that told me to drill holes in my freezer, because my beer wasn't cold enough....well guess what, it's f'n 30f now and not pouring! lol and i'd give it a :MUG: but it be fridgide around here!

edit: in fairness though, they did give me forwarning i might need a temp controller.....

 

[bracconiere]

here's another one, you have a wall tap behind two fridges, and frozen beer....so decide to hook up your temp controller, wedge yourself behind the fridges to plug it into the controller....then find out you plugged the wrong fridge in! have to wedge yourself back behind to damn things to unplug the fridge, to plug the other one in, but it's 10:30 at night, have to use a flash light with half dead batteries to see which power cord actually goes to the fridge with the kegs....


but on a happy note! the kegs warmed up and poured me a glass to sweetly doze me off tonight!