Mistakes. Read one, leave one.

[woknblues]

So I throw this party on Saturday for some of my work friends. I talk up the spread, get everyone excited, etc. BBQ'ed brisket, homebrew and whatnot. People start coming over and I get my Caribbean Punch going to loosen things up (one of sour two of sweet, three of hard, four of weak)... Unfortunately by this time, I am a bit on the tipsy side, someone brought a bottle of something and a few shots were had.

A bunch of them request some homebrew, and I go to get them pints of BM's blonde ale. It seems to come out just a bit dark, but the head is good and I attribute it to the smaller/thicker glassware and the glaze starting to creep over my eyesight.

I give them all their pints and they take some sips, smile politely and filter back to the party. Nobody comes back for seconds.

Today I poured myself one to go with a leftover bbq sandwich and quickly discover that I poured them young Graff.

Three lessons learned. Trust my instincts, label the damn picnic taps, get someone else to pour if I am half cut on punch.

Anyone else screw the pooch this weekend?

 

[woknblues]

In all honesty, I was headed back to the keezer to pull and dump the batch, thinking that the blonde had gone bad somehow... It's funny how when you are ready to taste "a", and you get "b", no matter how good "b" is, it tastes like S@#&..

 

[bellmtbbq]

Doubling the priming sugar on my second batch. I think I launched a few into orbit. Whoops!

 

[GrantH]

Hadn't brewed in forever and tried cooling in the carboy, not the kettle. Carboy go boom.

 

[woknblues]

Hadn't brewed in forever and tried cooling in the carboy, not the kettle. Carboy go boom.

I am about to get a glass carboy for some secondary use, but after all the stories, I will never primary, nor will I do anything but siphon cold fermenting liquid into one. I hate the idea of even moving them around.

 

[kombat]

I accidentally dumped my stir bar down the drain. But I think the exploding carboy guy wins.

 

[GrantH]

I am about to get a glass carboy for some secondary use, but after all the stories, I will never primary, nor will I do anything but siphon cold fermenting liquid into one. I hate the idea of even moving them around.

They are not dangerous, we just had a ******* moment. We weren't paying attention and we were rewarded with the loss of gear for not doing so. It happens, we won't ever let it happen again though. Stupid mistake. Glass is awesome and I move it regularly with no issues.

 

[BucknerBrauhaus]

Got a new thermometer. Heated the HLT to 170. Stewed the grains and then sparged. During the boil, I noticed that the thermometer was only reading 182 I adjusted the thermometeer for the boil. During cooling, I noticed that ice cold water was a chilly 80 degrees. Anybody want a paperweight?

With a 30 degree difference, I figure I mashed and sparged at what -- 180?
OG at about 1.044 and FG at about 1.022 -- sounds like a desert beer! Kegged and carbing for the next two weeks.

 

[ktblunden]

Made a 1 liter starter in my 3 liter flask. I thought there was no way it could boil over with that much headspace. It can and it did. Lesson learned, I'll keep a watchful eye on it next time.

 

[woknblues]

They are not dangerous, we just had a ******* moment. We weren't paying attention and we were rewarded with the loss of gear for not doing so. It happens, we won't ever let it happen again though. Stupid mistake. Glass is awesome and I move it regularly with no issues.

I guess I should say that they may not be inherently dangerous, but I am a huge klutz, and can easily see maiming myself after running into something while carrying one, etc. My fermentation schedule requires that I mose my carboys all over the house at certain times of day, when the weather changes or when I start the heater or airconditioning.

Got a new thermometer. Heated the HLT to 170. Stewed the grains and then sparged. During the boil, I noticed that the thermometer was only reading 182 I adjusted the thermometeer for the boil. During cooling, I noticed that ice cold water was a chilly 80 degrees. Anybody want a paperweight?

With a 30 degree difference, I figure I mashed and sparged at what -- 180?
OG at about 1.044 and FG at about 1.022 -- sounds like a desert beer! Kegged and carbing for the next two weeks.

Hehe.. Hope it was a cheap recipe!

Made a 1 liter starter in my 3 liter flask. I thought there was no way it could boil over with that much headspace. It can and it did. Lesson learned, I'll keep a watchful eye on it next time.

I am looking into ferm cap. I have had boil overs in the house until I moved everything outside, of course..

 

[Toga]

3 minutes left in the boil I set my timer down that I normally keep in my pocket and walked away far enough I could not hear it. Boiled the wort an extra 3-20 minutes

 

[jmendez29]

Made a 1 liter starter in my 3 liter flask. I thought there was no way it could boil over with that much headspace. It can and it did. Lesson learned, I'll keep a watchful eye on it next time.

Yeah, I never really believed that seven gallons of wort could boil over in a 15.5 gallon keggle. I'm glad I didn't put money on that. I was also surprised how long a cooked oatmeal stout stain can stay on the driveway pavement.

I can't say I have any big screw ups. I've forgotten to take OG readings and whatnot, but I think the worst I ever did was think that I needed to collect 5 gallons of wort from my mash for a 5 gallon beer. Yeah, I had a few, maybe more (cough cough) at that point. But I still felt like a ******* when I realized what I did. Of course it was right after I dumped the grains in the trash.... No going back on that one.

 

[arborman]

I used a 5 gallons paint strainer to strain my wort out of the kettle, like I usually do in buckets... Although, this time I did it in my new Speidel fermentor. Well, after I poured most of the kettle thru the strainer, the weight of the gunk pulled it into the fermentor. I was able to grab it, but the load of stuff was bigger then the opening of my fermentor... So, I had to wring it out like a sponge. Hope I didn't contaminate my beer! I had my paws all over that strainer bag inside my FV!

 

[jaydog2314]

I went to make a starter a few weeks back, boiled and got the wort into the flask(can't boil in my flask b/c of an electric stove) and instead of coiling it down in the icey water I had waiting in the sink...I put it next to the sink and sanitized and pitched the yeast! D'OH! Needless to say I was driving to the LHBS shortly there after. And that same batch took my pre-boil OG and didn't adjust for temp so I added about 2-3 pounds of unneeded DME! Beer just got bottled tastes good just a bit high on the ABV for the style I was brewing! I'm sure there will be more to come over the years!

I am looking into ferm cap. I have had boil overs in the house until I moved everything outside, of course..

I've used fermcap in all my 1.5 to 2L starters in my 2L flask and never had any issues with it bubbling out.

 

[fergyrock]

Didn't make sure the valve on my BK was closed all the way before starting to drain MLT and left to put kid to bed, 2+ gallons of first running on the Floor

 

[diodeart]

I drank my yeast starter.

 

[msherretz]

Used my picnic taps from a well known homebrew store only to see the picnic tap flying off the end of the tube (see no clamps included in this setup) and dumped a full keg of great beer all over spectators and a pizza shop crew in the booth next to me. Then knocked over my table and broke three bottles of fine wine trying to get to it while slipping on the slippery floor from the errant brew. I advise everyone to be sure to install a clamp on their picnic taps!

 

[drksky]

Making a starter in the flask on the stove. Got the water boiling and dumped in the DME.

Think Diet Coke and Mentos...

 

[TheBrewWarrior]

Primed a porter with Disaronno using grams of sugar per oz of Disaronno. Added about 2 cups to 2.5 gallons for bottling. Waited 4 weeks.

Fountains galore.

 

[boydster]

OK so last weekend, I brewed up an IPA. Brew went fine, have my auto siphon and hydrometer sitting in my bucket of starsan while I cooled the wort. Got it down to 70° and went to take a hydrometer reading... Grabbed the hydrometer from the bucket and tried to flick the excess water off (I don't fear the foam, it was a completely mindless action) and the hydrometer snapped, shattering in little pieces all over the kitchen floor. Luckily, my LHBS is only a few minutes away so I could grab a replacement quickly.

 

[whitehause]

Making a starter in the flask on the stove. Got the water boiling and dumped in the DME.

Think Diet Coke and Mentos...

Threw the stirbar in to boiling starter(in flask) to sanitize it....same result.

When I kegged my first sixtel, went to transfer my 6 gal of IPA into it. Well they should call them 5.16stels.

 

[hunter_le five]

When I kegged my first sixtel, went to transfer my 6 gal of IPA into it. Well they should call them 5.16stels.

I thought they were called sixtels because they were 1/6 of a barrel (5.25 gal), not because they are 6 gallons?

 

[homebrewdad]

The very last partial mash I did (have new gear, do full AG now), I wrapped my brewpot/mash tun in blankets, set the timer, and walked away.

My three year old apparently objected to his blanket being included in this process, so he removed it. Along with the rest of the blankets and towels I had wrapped around the pot for insulation.

That 152 mash was already down to 140 when I happened to walk by fifteen minutes later. Blarg.

Beer did end up fine, however. Yay for extract saving me.

 

[catdaddy66]

Had placed the bottling bucket on the floor and added the priming sugar in solution. Noticed my valve hadn't leaked (had been an issue before) so I let the beer flow and soon I stepped on a wet towel under the bucket. WTH?! In my rush I forgot to realize that the priming solution didn't fill up to the level of the valve.

Ended up only losing a couple of bottles worth of porter, but now I check for leaks in the tub with water past valve level!

 

[tjharlow]

Used a digital thermometer for BIAB Mash of 60mins at 152. Setup worked great, only lost 1.5 degrees over the hour.

Was using a round analog thermometer to bring pot up to 168 for Mash Out and noticed that thermometer wasn't going past 160. Double checked with digital and it was 195+

Rest of brewday went fine. OG was 1.069 It's still in Primary so not sure how this is going to effect end product.

Also on same day I left a hydrometer in sanitizer container and and something else in the container must have broken it. Luckily my cousin who I was brewing with had an extra. Now I keep extra of almost everything in my kit.... just in case.

 

[NewJersey]

forgot to take a hydrometer reading after brewing on saturday.
i dont even care. i know my usual efficiency and will check when its done fermenting.
ugh, haha.
itll still be good as everything else was spot on temp-wise/etc

 

[rico567]

I left off the braid in the mash tun until after I'd dumped the grist & strike water in, and only then noticed it sitting on the bench.

Exploding carboy still wins......

 

[dieden187]

Didn't take FG before priming and bottling my first Saison. I remembered just in time to have just enough left in the bottling bucket to measure.... 1.040!!! Luckily no bombs, but I did condition them in ice coolers just in case they blew.

 

[whitehause]

I thought they were called sixtels because they were 1/6 of a barrel (5.25 gal), not because they are 6 gallons?

Umm....yea, I figured that out.
I always used slim sankey's so it was never an issue.

At least you didn't say "Well actually"

 

[Billy-Klubb]

about 10 years ago, I went to my LHBS wanting a Porter kit. I looked at the Porter kit while I picked up a Scottish Ale kit. but it turned out good.