Empty Keg Blues

[November]

Coincidence sucks. I asked SWMBO to get a beer for me. She returns with 3/4 of a pint and announces that my keg of Dan's Blue Ribbon CAP is dead. 9 days after carbing, how I barely knew thee. After I clean the keg out, I pour a glass of coffee stout. Oh, the gurgle of agony! I want to pour a glass of Alt, but I know that is on life support too. I have 3 beers in the pipeline but the closest one is at least two weeks out.

 

[lumpher]

i think either the swmbo or the dog are drinking them while you're at work it does suck, and we all hit that stage every now and then. i hit it recently, when i didn't brew for a while, and contributed to parties. that's when it's time to buy craft beers and get ideas for new beers to brew

 

[Thundercougarfalconbird]

I had the worst happen about a month ago. Built my shiney new kegerator, and had a new castle clone ready to pour. I pull the handle and get gas. It turns out I clipped a line and 5 gallons of beer are now in my carpet(I split beer installing the tower, I assumed it was residual from the mop up)
Had to wait 3 weeks before I got to pull my first pint.Had to replace a tower line before even getting to use it, thing was such a btch to get off, dented my wall throwing the wrench in frustration,had to rent a carpet cleaner to get the beer up...all and all terrible experience

 

[pm5k00]

You could try what I do, I almost always make a batch from the second runnings, 2.5 - 5 gal depending on the strength of the original brew. If the og is real low ill add up to a pound of cane or brown sugar to bump it up. The lower abv means you need less hops to get the right amont of bitterness, and I usually use washed yeast to further cut costs. I've found parti-gyle brews need longer to condition, but if you have to kick a keg from the first runnings your second batch should be good to go by then!

 

[November]

Man, losing a batch and not getting to try out a new toy. that sucks. I felt better till I went out to get a pint of Alt. Conspiracy. At least I got a full pint when it spit at me.

 

[November]

The partigyle is brilliant. I did it twice but it didn't turn out very good. They both ended up sour. What kind of gravity do you typically start with on the primary brew? Also, do you wait to boil after your first brew (what I did, and I think why they soured) or do you have two burners going at once?

 

[pm5k00]

Most of my brews start with 1.050 or higher, and what i do is use a second pot on my stove to prepare the strike water for the second runnings while the first runnings are boiling on my propane burner. I just leave the 2nd runnings in the mash tun until ive racked the wort (1st runnings) to the fermenter, then transfer 2nd runnings to the propane boiler. I haven't personally had anything turn out sour, but like i said in my earlier post, the conditioning for beer made with second runnings has been alot longer than first runnings, typically 4 - 6 weeks, sometimes longer in my case.