I hate mice....

[r8rphan]

Man, no matter what I try in the way of trying to get an early start on brew day, something 'always' happens to push it off to noon....

So I ran into some problems in transferring the beer currently in my carboys to the cornys for secondary (too full when I added the dry hops, and causing beer to go up into the airlocks)...

Finally got that all dealt with and the carboys cleaned.. finally started heating some water for preheating the mash tun...

Opened up the tun, which I cleaned thoroughly after the last use, and what do I find? A dead mouse and mouse crap all over the inside.. So now I'm cleaning out the tun, soaking it in PBW and sanitizing it...

I crushed all my grain last night, moved the carboys to where they would need to be for the transfer, cleaned and sanitized the cornys, and got all the transfer goods out, so I'd be ready to hit the ground running this morning..

Was planning to start brewing no later than 9am... It's a quarter till eleven, and I'm looking at another hour yet for the mash tun to be ready...

<Insert string of bad words here>

 

[IrregularPulse]

Whats wrong with the mash tun? I thought you cleaned it last night?

 

[mlyday]

I guess add clean out the tun to the previous days checklist.

 

[bob1852]

Whats wrong with the mash tun? I thought you cleaned it last night?

IP has reading comprehension problems sometimes.

Opened up the tun, which I cleaned thoroughly after the last use

 

[r8rphan]

Whats wrong with the mash tun? I thought you cleaned it last night?

No, I thoroughly cleaned it after the last use (weekend before last).. Like I always do... so it's ready to go for the next one...

 

[r8rphan]

IP has reading comprehension problems sometimes.

LOL....

Man that picture in your avatar looks like a genuinely nice brewday experience!....

 

[r8rphan]

Since I didn't have enough Vienna Malt to stick to Ed's recipe, and thus it is varied a bit..

Maybe if this turns out good I'll call it Dead Mouse HPA from here on...

 

[jacobmarley]

I had mice get into my dme about a year ago.

 

[Teromous]

That sucks, mice are crafty little buggers. A cat is always a good solution Do you put a lid or anything on your mash tun?

 

[rico567]

If you don't have a lid for your mash tun, cover a big enough piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and tape it. Cover your MLT with that. Mice will not touch aluminum foil.

 

[r8rphan]

If you don't have a lid for your mash tun, cover a big enough piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and tape it. Cover your MLT with that. Mice will not touch aluminum foil.

I have a lit, but there are two 3/4" holes in the top.. It used to be used as part of a redneck A/C system.. and the holes were where I had the cooling water pumped from and back to..

I didn't know that about aluminum foil.. that be interesting... and useful...

I'll be bringing the thing indoors now.. at least until I can get the back patio screened in and my brew operation moved out there.. as in a month or so, the bees and wasps will be in full swing.. and the thought of all that hot wort and yellow jackets is not something I'm looking forward to...

Too many things to do, and a very long snow/rain season has left very little time and money to do it all...

 

[JRems]

The aluminum foil is a myth. I tried crumpling up aluminum foil and cramming it in a mouse hole to plug it up. They chewed right through it.

 

[Zamial]

nuf said...

 

[rico567]

The aluminum foil is a myth. I tried crumpling up aluminum foil and cramming it in a mouse hole to plug it up. They chewed right through it.

Hmmm.....I've never used foil to plug a hole, I use steel wool for that. I can only relate that they've never tried the stuff I've used to cover various containers.

When we grew popcorn, they would go right through the lids of the ice cream buckets we used to store it to get at the corn. When I put aluminum foil over the bucket, then snapped the poly lid on over that, they were never touched.

 

[lylo]

Leave your MT on its side so the mice can get out.

 

[ChuckO]

Toast some corn meal, mix it 50/50 with dry Portland Cement and feed the mice near your brewery. The small quantity involved won't harm dogs or cats but works on mice.

 

[mlyday]

I never add the mouse to the mash. Youll get more flavor from it in the secondary.

 

[r8rphan]

I've been searching high and low, but can't find any info on what temp to mash a mouse...

However, I know from personal experience that they can be stomped at any temp...

 

[Homercidal]

Am I missing something? What's to clean? You're going to boil that for an hour, right?