Huge "brewery" disaster, need some advice

[BlueSunshine]

Well, when I came home today my whole town house kind of smelled. I went to my back kitchen where I always brew and witnessed a gigantic disaster. The woman in the apartment above me let her tub overflow and my entire ceiling came down!

Unfortunately sewage water and plaster got all over my equipment. My auto siphon, thermometer, grain mill, 2 five gallon carboys, some ingredients (still in the bag), and 2 ale pales are covered in sh*t water. One of my ale pales was literally filled to the top with this disgusting water and the whole place stinks to high hell.

I planned on brewing this weekend but I don't know if I'll be able to now. My question is, how should I clean my equipment? A water and bleach solution? Should I throw any of it out now? Here's some pics of the incident:

As you can see in the second picture, my ale pale is filled to the brim with sewage water. Kinda lucky it was there to fill some of it up though instead of getting even more on my floor.

 

[Crazytwoknobs]

Eww bleach it bleach it now!!!!

 

[Sacdan]

You should get the neighbor to buy you new equipment. Make sure you get their Insurance Company's name & number.

 

[slomo]

I would go mid evil on all of your equipment. I would soak in oxiclean, wash, soak in bleach, wash, soak in that starstan, and wash. If it were me I would do all this twice.

 

[Netflyer]

So sorry man, you did really make me laugh though 'I planned on brewing this weekend but I don't know if I'll be able to now.' ... dude you are a true brewer with Ninja warrior brewer spirit +100 :rockin:

I'd follow the advice of the last post (go medieval) as far as cleaning. Best of luck and keep up the warrior brewer spirit!

 

[android]

yeah, just clean and sanitize the **** out of it (no pun intended). i would also pursue them getting you some compensation for your equipment. i might be a little suspect about that ale pale, but you should be able to clean and sanitize the carboys without too much problem.

 

[TipsyDragon]

maybe its just me... but i would toss all the plastic and make the upstairs neighbor buy you new stuff.

 

[BillyBeer]

All sound advice and correct........but I just couldn't do it. I think I would have to toss it and buy new.

That really sucks man - sorry.

 

[mikebiewer]

I would go mid evil on all of your equipment. I would soak in oxiclean, wash, soak in bleach, wash, soak in that starstan, and wash. If it were me I would do all this twice.

Agree with this statement!

AND

I'd get her insurance or whoever's to pay for it. Then you can have two sets or if you get the cash you can spend it on something else if your gear is still ok after cleaning.

It could provide you recipes for 6 months easy or a new pot or something you've been eyein up!

 

[dougf]

Bleach, bleach, and more bleach! Rinse, repeat, should be good! Good luck on the cleanup man, looks horrible!

 

[adx]

I'd toss anything that is plastic.

 

[Bensiff]

Their insurance should cover the replacement of everything, it is not reasonable to expect someone to use equipment that has been covered in sewage. If you have the money go out and replace everything and send the bill to the insurance company...probably take a few months to get it covered.

 

[uechikid]

Just clean it real good. I'm a fan of the bleach idea. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. What a mess.

 

[RedGlass]

So sorry man, you did really make me laugh though 'I planned on brewing this weekend but I don't know if I'll be able to now.' ... dude you are a true brewer with Ninja warrior brewer spirit +100 :rockin:

+100 indeed. I'm impressed that you're even thinking about how to clean an ale pail with your apartment caving in on you. That's devotion!

 

[maxamuus]

Just guessing but since all of the equipment is used to prepare food i would imagine the insurance would be liable to replace it all.

 

[Pommy]

Id clean it up and get their insurance to cover a new set too. Then can sell one of if your anything like me, just double your brewing. Im guessing you are like me in that the ceiling has caved in and all you can worry about is the brewing gear. :rockin:

 

[wyzazz]

Pitch everything that's not glass/stainless, and replace everything else. The insurance company/idiot in the apartment above, should cover this.

 

[earwig]

Pitch some yeast in that bucket and see what happens.

 

[Teromous]

I agree with the others about pitching the plastic. That's pretty messed up man, I feel for you. I hope her insurance pays for new brewing supplies. Honestly I saw the pictures first and when I saw the bucket I was thinking "what was he doing, brewing with the lid off in the first place?" ...I don't think I'd ever use that bucket again.

 

[Teromous]

Pitch some yeast in that bucket and see what happens.

Haha true brewer at heart. I think he'd win the "strangest ingredient" thread...

 

[BlueSunshine]

Thanks guys for all your suggestions and support, I appreciate it.

After cleaning up the mess, I picked up a ton of cleaning supplies. I decided that I'm going to be tossing all the plastic as recommended in this thread. Looks like I'll need to pick up a new bottling bucket, ale pale, and auto siphon. Also, the lady above me doesn't have insurance however my family own my place and hers. Our insurance will cover all of my damage and if we can't get anything from her we'll just take it out of her security deposit. She got quite the earful too.

I'm still going to brew this weekend though! I have another kitchen that I'll use. It's not as big and I'm not used to the setup but it'll be more than adequate. Even though some of my stuff wasn't affected by the ceiling collapse, I'm still going to zap the hell out of it with oxi clean, bleach, and starsan just in case. Also, I'm STILL shocked that my bucket was actually able to pick up all that water, that's 5 less gallons I'd be cleaning off my floor. What were the chances of that happening? What a crazy day!

 

[McCuckerson]

Well, when I came home today my whole town house kind of smelled. I went to my back kitchen where I always brew and witnessed a gigantic disaster. The woman in the apartment above me let her tub overflow and my entire ceiling came down!

Unfortunately sewage water and plaster got all over my equipment. My auto siphon, thermometer, grain mill, 2 five gallon carboys, some ingredients (still in the bag), and 2 ale pales are covered in sh*t water. One of my ale pales was literally filled to the top with this disgusting water and the whole place stinks to high hell.

I planned on brewing this weekend but I don't know if I'll be able to now. My question is, how should I clean my equipment? A water and bleach solution? Should I throw any of it out now? Here's some pics of the incident:

As you can see in the second picture, my ale pale is filled to the brim with sewage water. Kinda lucky it was there to fill some of it up though instead of getting even more on my floor.

Hose it off and brew brother! Infection is a myth propagated by the sanitizer manufacturers and the Illuminati!

 

[mattd2]

Our insurance will cover all of my damage and if we can't get anything from her we'll just take it out of her security deposit. She got quite the earful too.

Just make sure if the insurance company want an estimate from you that you go to the most expensive place you can find
Also I would think that the insurance company would be chasing the lady upstairs to recoup the cost of the payout, deffinatelly use her security bond to pay for the excess and other items required. Are your parents evicting her?

 

[IrregularPulse]

My god. Best thread ever! Sorry man. I'd toss all plastic and make her insurance replace. Bleach and set off a small nuke in the glass.
Again, this is awesome.

 

[BlueSunshine]

Just make sure if the insurance company want an estimate from you that you go to the most expensive place you can find
Also I would think that the insurance company would be chasing the lady upstairs to recoup the cost of the payout, deffinatelly use her security bond to pay for the excess and other items required. Are your parents evicting her?

Yeah, they might give her the old heave ho. She has been overflowing her sink for months and neglected to tell anyone. Then this happened. I could see if this had been a one time mistake, but it had gone on for months at a time.

My god. Best thread ever! Sorry man. I'd toss all plastic and make her insurance replace. Bleach and set off a small nuke in the glass.
Again, this is awesome.

Haha thanks! I knew some pics would help put the whole thing into perspective. What's funny is that 10 minutes after this happened I was literally on here posting pics and asking how I could save my equipment. That's dedication. :rockin:

 

[indeedproceed]

Renter's insurance should be required of tenants.

I got it. Like $70 a year, 100k liability. 10,000 on my property. Coupler discount on my car insurance. People are silly for never thinking stuff could go wrong just because they don't own the place they live in. Good thing your parents owned the place.

 

[Rick500]

What on earth was she doing up there? Yikes.

 

[BlueSunshine]

Renter's insurance should be required of tenants.

I got it. Like $70 a year, 100k liability. 10,000 on my property. Coupler discount on my car insurance. People are silly for never thinking stuff could go wrong just because they don't own the place they live in. Good thing your parents owned the place.

Yeah, I really need to go out and get it. I mean, I'm part of the business too so I have some say so in things like this. So if things go wrong with my place I'm covered, but the stuff in my place isn't. I need to change that.

 

[mattd2]

Renter's insurance should be required of tenants.

I got it. Like $70 a year, 100k liability. 10,000 on my property. Coupler discount on my car insurance. People are silly for never thinking stuff could go wrong just because they don't own the place they live in. Good thing your parents owned the place.

Damn that is some cheap piece of mind, less than $6 a month!
As I understand the way insurance companies work is they take your monay and if something goes wrong they pay for it (up to some value that was pre decided) and if that something that went wrong was somebodies fault other than yours they will then chase them to get their money back.

 

[bob1852]

I'd change your brewery name from brain damage brewery to **** house brewery

 

[osagedr]

As you can see in the second picture, my ale pale is filled to the brim with sewage water. Kinda lucky it was there to fill some of it up though instead of getting even more on my floor.

Drop some yeast in that mo'fo and see what happens...

...nah, it would probably be $hittttttttty.

 

[paulczak]

Just make sure if the insurance company want an estimate from you that you go to the most expensive place you can find
Also I would think that the insurance company would be chasing the lady upstairs to recoup the cost of the payout, deffinatelly use her security bond to pay for the excess and other items required. Are your parents evicting her?

Holy Smokes!!! - That awesome blickman conical/kettle you had totally dissolved in that putrid sewage. Dang.. it's good you go insurance

 

[mattd2]

Holy Smokes!!! - That awesome blickman conical/kettle you had totally dissolved in that putrid sewage. Dang.. it's good you go insurance

Man I didn't even realise it was a blickman, yeah you definatly have to get that replaced
It doesn't matter if it desolved or not, still got covered in **** . I don't think mr insurance will know the difference between a blingman and a stock pot if you called them both a homebrew boiling kettle, you could pull if off.......... maybe. If they are going to chase the lady for the money they might not care much what you claim anyway, you can always dream

 

[Zen_Brew]

Pitch some yeast in that bucket and see what happens.

Pooh Bear American Brown :rockin:

Man that is just a damn skrewed up situation. I can't imagine, well almost. Many years ago we found a main drain pipe had broken in the basement in a place I lived in back east. We didn't notice of course till laundry day when we went in the basement to do laundry, and it had been broken for several days. Whole floor coverred in waste. Brings back those memories of rubber gloves, hot water, squeegies, and bleach. Lots of bleach. Blech!

I feel for you. And mega cudos if you find a way to pull off a brew day this weekend.

 

[EoinMag]

It's a clear insurance case, I'd make sure to get nice equipment too....

 

[iron_city_ap]

I think a GOOD soaking in some bleach followed by a GOOD soaking in a heavy duty sanitizer should do the trick. Heck, soak it twice in bleach and twice in sanitizer. Unless you go out and buy all new equipment, you probably aren't brewing this weekend.

That still sucks to hear. I feel for you.

 

[Special Hops]

Toss it and have their insurance buy you all brand new, state of the art equipment.

 

[Neonsilver]

I'd change your brewery name from brain damage brewery to **** house brewery

And his name to brown sunshine.

Good luck getting it all cleaned up and replaced.

 

[IndyMatt]

I would clean and sanitize everything until you are comfortable with it all. Then claim everything that you had to clean, you just doubled your brewing capacity! I would get the top shelf stuff as well, then claim it.

 

[BlueSunshine]

I also had some sewage water land near my empty bottles, and I planned on bottling my current batch this weekend. Nothing actually got into the bottles but they were in the vicinity. I'm going to have to nuke those things clean.