Homebrew facepalms

[ktblunden]

I haven't used a blowoff in the past dozen or so batches and haven't needed one, so I basically got complacent. I forgot that WLP530 is a monster. I spent an hour last night cleaning my fermentation freezer. Luckily it all came through the airlock and didn't blow the lid to the bucket off, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Also, that was at 68° wort temperature. I can't even imagine what a disaster it would have been if I didn't have temperature control.

 

[JonM]

Went to start the IC on a brisk fall morning and quickly realized that the garden hose was blocked with ice. I guess I should have thought of that ahead of time. Took a while to unclog it, but I had a trickle running through there.

Worst case scenario is my 20 minute addition acts more like a 30 minute, and my 5 minute acts like a 15.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Made a Gumballhead clone for my wife's bday, per her request. I put half the batch in a Party Pig in the refrigerator (second time using the Pig).

Once the beer was carbed up and ready I pushed the dispensing button, and as soon as the inflating piece (which pushes the beer out) inside the Pig started to fill, a screw on the dispensing cover popped out and I had highly-pressurized homebrew spraying ALL over my refrigerator.

So I frantically grabbed the pig (and made a huge mess) and pulled it out of the fridge and pointed the spray into the sink, as my wife started grabbing pint glasses and lining them up on the countertop. She'd put the glass next to the spray, and I'd direct the spray to fill each glass. By the time the Party Pig was empty, we'd filled about 15 glasses. It was a Sunday night, so we figured we may as well try to knock as many of them out as we could so they wouldn't be wasted. Well, they were all flat because the Pig never did have a good seal and they didn't carb up.

Half a batch of beer down the drain; haven't used the Pig since. Refrigerator still has places with beer in it which we haven't made an effort to clean...and this was back in July '13.

 

[Happywanderer]

Forgetting to add the priming sugar.

It was early.

 

[Zepth]

Here's one that I actually facepalmed. Wondered why my e-kettle is screwing up so far from set temp for my strike water. Upon further investigation I had it set to manual % mode from the previous boil. That'll do it every time.

 

[sputnam]

using foamboard in mash tun for the first time, I put the writing side down. i sure hope it doesn't mess the beer up. has anyone else pulled this boneheaded blunder?

 

[mikeprooo]

I have a couple to add:

- I was making my first batch of all-grain using BIAB; I heated up a metal pot of 2 gal sparge water to put through my grain. I poured a small bit of water through the grain and then set it down to let it drain; and picked the hot pot up the second time without the oven mitts...Hello 2nd degree burns on the first and second fingers of my left hand! Spent the boil with my fingers dipped in ice water; it hurt!!

- The second issue happened during clean-up. I was done and yeast was pitched; busy with pots and pans in the sink and stuff so water was flying everywhere. Picked up my phone and tried to surf or something; completely dead!! Apparently I set my phone on the counter in a puddle of water; pulled the back cover off and water all over the battery compartment! A few months later and I have a new phone...

mike

 

[BrianMac]

The spousal unit called me to pick my daughter up from school. 30 min into a 90 minute boil, I had 45 minutes to get into the fermenter. Brewing a Kolsch, so I think I'll be okay with a 75 boil with a 45 minute hop and a 15 min hop, my fear is a 75 min boils using 85% Pilsner malt.
Oh, she was delayed at the mall....
So she may have cost me a batch, a brew day as well as tapping my wallet, good thing she's pretty.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

This weekend, I finally figured out how to move my grain bags (BIAB) from the mash kettle to the sparge kettle and strain everything without spilling a drop.

It only took me one year to do it.

 

[Melana]

My hose was frozen solid yesterday at 7am when I went out to fill the kettle. Thanks to BigJohn for suggesting I fill buckets of water from the sink and carry them out over the icy deck (I almost slipped twice). Then my IC hose was frozen almost solid.

 

[JonM]

using foamboard in mash tun for the first time, I put the writing side down. i sure hope it doesn't mess the beer up. has anyone else pulled this boneheaded blunder?

Put it in a crock-pot liner bag. Food safe and heat resistant.

 

[thadeus_d3]

Went to start the IC on a brisk fall morning and quickly realized that the garden hose was blocked with ice. I guess I should have thought of that ahead of time. Took a while to unclog it, but I had a trickle running through there.

Worst case scenario is my 20 minute addition acts more like a 30 minute, and my 5 minute acts like a 15.

Had that happen to me this weekend. Oh well, at least I discovered the beauty of an ice bath. Took 8 minutes to get the wort down to 65, when my IC takes around the same time to get the wort down to 75. I used less water and have an icemaker in my fridge, so I may use that method going forward.

 

[rainmanak44]

My hoses and filter were frozen solid last saturday. I went and bought bottled water. Then I noticed my IC was cracked seconds before it dropped into to boil! Close one!

 

[RmikeVT]

not a huge face palm, but I dry hopped both batches of my beer, but I only have room to keg one of them. So, I'll probably move to secondary and just dry hop again before its time to drink. Or who knows maybe I will keg and take to a party.

 

[willy_mugobeer]

Multiple bomber crash this evening. Got a new fridge last week for the basement, excited to try a lager soon. Put an empty bucket in there just as a placeholder...so when I decided to chill a dozen bombers, I put them in the deep door cavity - you know, the one that can hold a couple gallons of milk- instead of the main area of the fridge. Pulled the door open, the railing holding the bottles in gave way, and my bombers headed for the concrete. Check that railing before you trust it to hold a beer in. Better yet don't put your beer in the door at all.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[godsmulligan]

Adding white grapes to my dandelion wine, misread the recipe and left the grapes in for two weeks not two days. Not a huge deal but when you spend that much time picking dandelions you want it perfect

 

[hautlle]

Was brewing a Belgian Pale as a starter for a Wheat Wine this past weekend and had a friend hanging out while I brewed (I normally brew alone). Was gonna do a third of an ounce FWH/10/whirlpool. I got my scale out, changed it from oz to grams and promptly weighed out 33 grams for each addition.

Didn't realize my mistake until AFTER dumping in the FWH addition....

Ended up doing a 25 min boil so I wouldn't have a crazy bitter beer.

 

[Bathtubbrewer]

Brewed a great ESB. Decided to cold crash it, so dropped the fermentation chamber temp down to 36. Forgot to take the blowoff tube off of the airlock, so I ended up sucking the 2 qt bucket of starsan back into the carboy. That batch is now referred to as Extra Starsan Bitter.

 

[ColoHox]

Brewed a great ESB. Decided to cold crash it, so dropped the fermentation chamber temp down to 36. Forgot to take the blowoff tube off of the airlock, so I ended up sucking the 2 qt bucket of starsan back into the carboy. That batch is now referred to as Extra Starsan Bitter.

Just pulled this one myself.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Brewed a great ESB. Decided to cold crash it, so dropped the fermentation chamber temp down to 36. Forgot to take the blowoff tube off of the airlock, so I ended up sucking the 2 qt bucket of starsan back into the carboy. That batch is now referred to as Extra Starsan Bitter.

Just took a second place in the fruit beer category for an Apricot Cream Ale with 2 cups of sucked back Star San...

 

[Thirdthorpe]

Was racking from my carboy into my keg in the kitchen and when I pumped down on the racking cane the pressure blew the end of the hose out of the mouth of the keg like an unmanned firehose. I managed to shoot a stream of porter ten feet across the kitchen. Generally I could just laugh this off and mop it up....this time my wife happened to be standing right next to me and immeduately shot rage lasers out of her eyes in my direction.