shildebr
Well-Known Member
Well, after more than 3 years of brewing and probably 30 or so batches, I have finally ruined one.
I made Biermunchers Cream of Three Crops, and after a couple of days (at 68F) it almost blew the airlock off the fermenter, so I put a blowoff tube on and ran the blowoff to a pitcher of iodophor solution.
The beer fermented for an unusually long time, but was I worried? No. For I know by now to just RDWHAHB. I've stressed plenty of times over a batch I was sure was ruined, which turned out to be fantastic. I knew this beer would be great.
Three weeks went by, and I had picked up some gelatin from the grocery store. To prepare for the gelatin, I crash cooled to 35 F.
When I grabbed the carboy yesterday, I noticed the pitcher was empty, and thought it was odd. Then I noticed that the level in the fermenter was about 1/2" - 3/4" higher than before. I put two and two together and CRAP!
I haven't dumped the beer yet, its a hard thing to do. But I am 99.99% certain that even if the batch tastes fine, I don't want to drink or serve this beer to anyone.
Lesson learned:
1) When the blowoff tube is no longer needed, put the airlock back on.
2) When cooling, do not have anything in the airlock that you don't want in your beer.
I made Biermunchers Cream of Three Crops, and after a couple of days (at 68F) it almost blew the airlock off the fermenter, so I put a blowoff tube on and ran the blowoff to a pitcher of iodophor solution.
The beer fermented for an unusually long time, but was I worried? No. For I know by now to just RDWHAHB. I've stressed plenty of times over a batch I was sure was ruined, which turned out to be fantastic. I knew this beer would be great.
Three weeks went by, and I had picked up some gelatin from the grocery store. To prepare for the gelatin, I crash cooled to 35 F.
When I grabbed the carboy yesterday, I noticed the pitcher was empty, and thought it was odd. Then I noticed that the level in the fermenter was about 1/2" - 3/4" higher than before. I put two and two together and CRAP!
I haven't dumped the beer yet, its a hard thing to do. But I am 99.99% certain that even if the batch tastes fine, I don't want to drink or serve this beer to anyone.
Lesson learned:
1) When the blowoff tube is no longer needed, put the airlock back on.
2) When cooling, do not have anything in the airlock that you don't want in your beer.