First All Grain Disaster (storytime)

[bjartar]

I was working on my first All Grain batch yesterday. Big stuff. Jumping into decoction, outfitted my own mash tun, made my own wort chiller. Super excited.

At about hour 3 I move the mash tun slightly to check on the gravity. Aaaaand the bulkhead pulls out. Completely. I shove it back in to stop the hole and just stand there covered in wort.

It goofed up the rest of my process as I couldn't figure out how to recirculate under those conditions and my sparging technique was questionable.

All in all, I ended up with just under 5 gallons instead of 5.5 and an OG of 1.042 instead of 1.054. We'll see how it all turns out but I have to say when I saw my precious wort exploding in my kitchen my heart broke a little. It didn't exactly go as planned.

 

[JohnSand]

Sorry friend.
Everyone has spills, mistakes, breakage. This will seem funny in retrospect. And if you brew long enough, the process will become a comfortable routine.
You could boil, cool and add some extract to increase gravity.

 

[kristiismean]

it happens, the good thing is you will have beer.

delicious drinkable beer. Except this will be a session beer. might not be the one you wanted to make, maybe it's the one you should be making


The bulkhead pulling out is the part that scares me. That should not happen. self built? details? false bottom or bag?

 

[bjartar]

it happens, the good thing is you will have beer.

delicious drinkable beer. Except this will be a session beer. might not be the one you wanted to make, maybe it's the one you should be making


The bulkhead pulling out is the part that scares me. That should not happen. self built? details? false bottom or bag?

Self built and bazooka screen. I just didn't have it attched appropriately. Worked fine in a test but with 10 lbs of grain and the water it haf problems. I have a gameplan to fix it.

 

[bjartar]

it happens, the good thing is you will have beer.

delicious drinkable beer. Except this will be a session beer. might not be the one you wanted to make, maybe it's the one you should be making


The bulkhead pulling out is the part that scares me. That should not happen. self built? details? false bottom or bag?

Self built and bazooka screen. I just didn't have it attched appropriately. Worked fine in a test but with 10 lbs of grain and the water it had problems. I have a gameplan to fix it.

 

[Lefou]

If the result of this "disaster" turns out a better beer than you expected the problems will be small beans.
Two years ago I had no idea about the basics of beer and what methods should be used or discarded for my particular situation. After a while you'll work out the problems and laugh about it.

 

[bjartar]

it happens, the good thing is you will have beer.

delicious drinkable beer. Except this will be a session beer. might not be the one you wanted to make, maybe it's the one you should be making


The bulkhead pulling out is the part that scares me. That should not happen. self built? details? false bottom or bag?

Self built and bazooka screen. I just didn't have it attched appropriately. Worked fine in a test but with 10 lbs of grain and the water it had problems. I have a gameplan to fix it.

 

[bajaedition]

Bummer

I have also experience malfunctions of home engineered equipment so I feel your pain. I used them as a learning experience. It only makes you better.

Good luck next time