Mistakes. Read one, leave one.

[BuddyWeiser]

I made a blackberry extract, for using in a flavored beer recipe, by stuffing an empty Corona Extra bottle full of blackberries and topping it off with vodka. The advice I got (on HBT) for making extracts said to shake well multiple times a day for the first week or so. In hindsight, I can see this was to ensure alcohol from the vodka kills any chance for infections. Well.... One day, right as my dinner guest were parking outside and I was busy straightening up my brew room to show off my stuff, I noticed the blackberry extract bottle had slowly leaked and made a sticky mess. Puzzled, I decided I'd pop the top and recap it. BANG! Worst of all, my brew room = laundry room, and there was four loads of clean laundry waiting to be folded. Instant drying blackberry stains in every corner of the room.

 

[Kelpdog]

you bottled at 1.040 and the bottles didn't explode?

Probably @ 1.040 with the priming sugar, but still very high!

 

[elkshadow]

The first time I used an immersion chiller. I hooked up one end of the hose to my bathroom sink, the copper coil in the brew pot sitting on my toilet and the outlet hose laying in the bathtub. Well I thought when I turned the water on the outlet would just lay in the tub and drain nice and easy. What actually happened was the pressure was way higher than I thought it would be and the outlet hose started whipping around like one of those dancing blown air things at a car dealership and spraying me and my entire bathroom with near boiling water. I wish I would have been taking videos for the lulz.

 

[stvo]

You are eatin' a beer s@#t sandwich there bro. Sounds maddening.

For sure.....only good out if it, it's less than half the batch....

 

[JohnSand]

On my recent first hop boil, I put 1/2oz of pellets into a 2" tea ball. Very little exposure to the wort, very dense stuff to scrape out of tea ball.

 

[D_Nyholm]

On my recent first hop boil, I put 1/2oz of pellets into a 2" tea ball. Very little exposure to the wort, very dense stuff to scrape out of tea ball.

I tried to dry hop in a tea ball and ran into the same problem as you. Those hops can really expand and then become compacted. No wonder the beer didn't turn out well. I dry hop in muslin bags now

 

[hunter_le five]

Just got home from a long horrible day at work only to discover that one of my keezer taps sprang a leak. There was hard cider everywhere. All over the top of the bar, underneath it, inside the freezer box and coffin box, all over the floor in two different rooms... Everything is a sticky mess, and now I'm out ~4 gallons of delicious cider. I just want to cry. Oh well, guess I'd better start the disaster cleanup....

After several hours of cleaning, I tore apart my keezer to look for the source of the leak. Couldn't find anything at all. Then after I put it back together, my brew-cat jumped up on top of the coffin box and started playing with the tap handles.

I'd better go dig a hole in the back yard to bury the little SOB...

 

[catdaddy66]

After several hours of cleaning, I tore apart my keezer to look for the source of the leak. Couldn't find anything at all. Then after I put it back together, my brew-cat jumped up on top of the coffin box and started playing with the tap handles.

I'd better go dig a hole in the back yard to bury the little SOB...

He just loves the product you made! Is that so wrong?? Lol

 

[m3n00b]

After several hours of cleaning, I tore apart my keezer to look for the source of the leak. Couldn't find anything at all. Then after I put it back together, my brew-cat jumped up on top of the coffin box and started playing with the tap handles.

I'd better go dig a hole in the back yard to bury the little SOB...

He keeps rats away from your grain. Keep him around.

 

[hunter_le five]

He keeps rats away from your grain. Keep him around.

This is the face of Evil...

 

[Nova5]

This is the face of Evil...

Nah, just the face of Dominance.

 

[MindenMan]

After repeatedly failing to close the spigot after iodine washing, I told myself I wasn't going to do that again.,I was fine until the liquid level of the ferementer came up to the level of the valve, and I soon stepped into a puddle... Better luck next time.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I CAN HAZ BEER!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

I constructed my new bottling bucket and was just having a blast bottling. I had so much fun that I inadvertently bottled a small batch that was *way* too early. It was at FG but had buttloads of suspended yeast and hops. Nearly 1/2" of trub and hop gunk at the bottom of each bottle, bitterness that would make your lips pucker so bad that you'd swallow your face.

After 2 months of trying to age that swill into submission I pulled out the opener today and put it out of its misery and down the drain. Nasty to clean all that hop matter out of the bottom of the bottles.

 

[stvo]

My brain fart: Bottling 10 gal using one bottling bucket, pulled the wand off didn't shut spigot, and proceeded to rack the second half of batch on the priming sugar... wasn't paying attention till my socks got wet, I lost about 1-1/2 gal. I tasted it off the floor ( I know I know ) wasn't sweet at all. So I ended up with 3-1/2 gal of beer primed at 2.7vol for 5gals so far I've lost 7 in my large Rubbermaid container it's an amazing sound when they go off!!!!

Moved everything to the fridge today gonna wait a week to open a few see what happens.... the damage below

 

[whitehause]

Moved everything to the fridge today gonna wait a week to open a few see what happens.... the damage below

Last pic.....I found the seam!

 

[stvo]

Last pic.....I found the seam!

Yep more than a few spit at the seam... leason learned for sure

 

[tikiwargod]

I have not once, not twice, but three times forgotten to add my bazooka filter to the mash tun before adding the grains and water... 153F water and I have to stick my hand in and screw in the filter, I fear it may be becoming a habit. Since it's preboil I just use a rubber glove and a bucket of cold water to chill my hand and then jump back in but damn is it ever hard to find that port when your hand is heating up.

 

[Katahdin]

I was bottling a saison and Belgian dark strong the same day. I used my auto-siphon to take a sample of the saison and then transferred the siphon directly into the BDS to to do the same. Yup, I transferred some 3711 yeast into the BDS. Fermentation restarted in the bottles....... boom!

 

[Brewmech]

My buddy came over to help me brew. We started drinking a lot of different beers. Next thing you know I forgot that I was filling/heating the HLT and another buddy comes over and says, "Hey that's an awesome waterfall you got in the garage! Is is supposed to smell like gas in there?"

Oops.

 

[TangoHotel]

Mid boil, the propane tank emptied and I didn't have a replacement...and had no ability to drive to the gas station for a refill. SWMBO was less then pleased.


In another brew, I started "sampling" the previous batch too early and completely jazzed up the recipe. Things went in at the wrong times, steeped grains for too long, and temps were all over the place. That batch rurned out far less than stellar. Its the only one I tell people who want to try it that it was an experiment that went awry. Lesson learned.

 

[RacingRam]

I have not once, not twice, but three times forgotten to add my bazooka filter to the mash tun before adding the grains and water... 153F water and I have to stick my hand in and screw in the filter, I fear it may be becoming a habit. Since it's preboil I just use a rubber glove and a bucket of cold water to chill my hand and then jump back in but damn is it ever hard to find that port when your hand is heating up.

LOL, this is how I imagine your reactions...

First time: Aw man! I forgot to add the filter!

Second time: Dammit! Did I really do that AGAIN?

Third time: F@&king s%#t mother *+#^|%'s&euro;}!}^#&euro;%+~£{%>]^}¥<¥}&euro;^\&euro;]£{¥|£|&euro;{*]¥=[&euro;]>^|!|&euro;&:$-@/$;!?$(

Maybe just keep the filter in the mash tun?

 

[OkashiiBrew]

Making the Oktoberfast but had to sub grains and change amounts to make the gravity and color work using BeerSmith. Looked great so I measured all the grain to crush the next morning. Laptop died overnight (was not plugged in) and looks like I did not save the data. Had to weigh the grain bucket to get strike and sparge info. Bet this turns out to be my best beer ever and I won't have a clue how to make more.

 

[aphid_rancher]

I bottled a few from a near empty keg using the "We no need no shinking beer gun" method. (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/ ). I was still learning how to gently let pressure out of the bottle (while using too much pressure in the keg) so I created a few beer volcanos and made a huge mess. I got the kitchen all cleaned up and shortly after my wife came home and pointed to the ceiling and said "You missed a spot".

 

[JustBrewinAround]

I just hauled a quart jar of washed yeast (my first one) to the LHBS to see if I was on the right track. A few miles of agitation and some warming and I was haulin' a$$ home with a mason jar bomb with the fuse lit. I had to crack the lid every so often to let the pressure out. Luckily I had one of the kids' blankets in the car to catch all the frothy yeasties that were foaming out of the lid. One thing for sure, I have a good starter for tomorrow's batch.

 

[m3n00b]

Haha...sounds like you're on the right track for sure.

 

[JustBrewinAround]

Haha...sounds like you're on the right track for sure.

yup. I did make it to the LHBS, weighed and milled my grains, and was about to check out when the guy that works there saw the lid starting to dome..

While I'm here, I once sanitized and prepped a corny keg then reached all the way to the bottom of it to adjust the draw tube into the the dimple. I raked my nasty, sweaty skin all over the lid area (where I almost got my elbow hung up) and handled the tube to boot! I realized just what I had done moments before racking the beer. Disaster averted, but a mistake either way..

 

[jbguzzi]

I have so many it not even funny. Two quick ones. Just took delivery on my shiny conical. It has a thermowell in the cylindrical portion and a racking arm/valve in the conical section. I switched them. So after filling the beast to 12 gallons from the conical part i had a predicament, i had no valve to close the conical when i disconnect. Lost about one-two gallons trying to swap fittings and close the fermentor. Wort spewing everywhere.. Second was using my inline o2 set up. Turned out over oxygenating IS bad.. Had to dump a 10 gal 80 dollar Evil Twin clone batch.. Sucked..

 

[gometz]

Some small mistakes I have made:

1. Open all valves while cleaning and make sure they are nicely flushed and left open to dry! I apparently did not do this with the valve on my kettle and when I was cleaning it pre-boil I noticed a strange smell. When I opened the valve there was a hiss and a vinegar smell.

2. Floating thermometers suck for mashing. Their response time is too slow and you end up all over the place on temperature.

3. Cover every single detail that could come up. I spend probably about an hour the day before and/or right before brewing going over every single step and what I will need at that time and put my hands on those items. That way you don't end up messing something up because something wasn't cleaned and ready. Since I only have a kettle and a bunch of smaller pots, for me this includes ensuring I keep track of what water needs to be heated when and in what.

4. Recipe formulation: make a beer that you like, then use that recipe as the backbone for similar styles. Ex: like your pale ale recipe? Use that as the basis for your blondes, IPA's, IIPA's, ESB, hell even porters could come from this. I learned this very recently when I made a pale ale I was happy with.

 

[firestem4]

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!

I had a very similar experience on my first boil. I had a stretchy paint strainer wrapped around my bucket. At first I was slowly pouring in the wort using a siphon. After I emptied half of my boil I started pouring directly from the kettle. With all of the hop gunk and everything else, i poured a little too much and the weight pulled the strainer in. I didn't manage to catch it like you did though, and most of the gunk fell in to the fermenter. I had to rack everything to another bucket. Clean out my primary fermenter, and then rack back too it. I'll use some of those really strong binder clips next time rather than rely on the elastic.