Thought I’d write everybody about my exploits today and illustrate how all brewers make mistakes, and recovery is possible in many cases...even if it means redoing everything.
I’ve brewed for many years with a GE Smartwater filter. I like the results, but reconnecting all the hoses and lugging it around is a pain. So my LHBS recommended I try out campden tabs to take out the chloramine. After all, the Washington, DC area has moderately hard water, so it doesn’t take too much more to treat it for things like IPAs.
So I followed the instructions on the bottle of campden tabs: 1 tablet per gallon.
So with a no-sparge profile, I added NINE tablets to the brewing water. I should have suspected something when I saw a peculiar foam on the strike water—something I hadn’t seen with mere gypsum or 5.2 additives. I shrugged and added all the grain for my NE IPA. Carapils, a little acid malt, honey malt, 2# flaked oats, 2# flaked wheat, and 10# Maris Otter.
I took my daughter out for a bike ride and pondered on the chilly holiday about the campden tabs. Then I looked it up and realized that for removing chloramine, it was about 1/2 - 1 tab depending on whom you ask and the amt of chloramine (and qty of water). But 9 tabs was just plain kooky.
90 minutes go by in the mash while I brood and hatch a plan. I was certain that the sulfate I introduced to the wort would at worst kill the yeast, and at best smell funny.
I took a sample from the mash tun, summarily concluding two indisputable facts:
1) I achieved and outstanding BH efficiency, like 83%
2) The wort smelled/tasted like someone farted in it for ninety minutes.
I wanted to relax, not worry, and have a homebrew, but I had decided to do Dry January as a New Years Resolution, so I just just opened the ball valve on the mash tun and sang a song as I dumped my perfect “bathtub fart” wort. The song comprised mainly of both impious and/or excretory curses, but hey whatever.
I scavenged for replacement grains—specialty I had covered with some honey malt, acid malt, and pretty-darn-old carapils. For adjunct, I only had 1# of flaked oats. And it’s a holiday (MLK) day in the US. So all homebrew shops are closed. Eyeing my starter and work calendar, it was now or never. I then went to the grocery store and got three more pounds of quick oats (even Brad Smith said you can do this!)
So now I am re-mashing with a tiny fraction of my campden tabs.
A close friend down the street I called for advice told me some great things to remember:
1) At least I didn’t sacrifice yeast, hops, or more time.
2) I learned something from this experience.
So let’s take time as brewers to reflect more and know that even a complete mash disaster is recoverable. Cheers!
I’ve brewed for many years with a GE Smartwater filter. I like the results, but reconnecting all the hoses and lugging it around is a pain. So my LHBS recommended I try out campden tabs to take out the chloramine. After all, the Washington, DC area has moderately hard water, so it doesn’t take too much more to treat it for things like IPAs.
So I followed the instructions on the bottle of campden tabs: 1 tablet per gallon.
So with a no-sparge profile, I added NINE tablets to the brewing water. I should have suspected something when I saw a peculiar foam on the strike water—something I hadn’t seen with mere gypsum or 5.2 additives. I shrugged and added all the grain for my NE IPA. Carapils, a little acid malt, honey malt, 2# flaked oats, 2# flaked wheat, and 10# Maris Otter.
I took my daughter out for a bike ride and pondered on the chilly holiday about the campden tabs. Then I looked it up and realized that for removing chloramine, it was about 1/2 - 1 tab depending on whom you ask and the amt of chloramine (and qty of water). But 9 tabs was just plain kooky.
90 minutes go by in the mash while I brood and hatch a plan. I was certain that the sulfate I introduced to the wort would at worst kill the yeast, and at best smell funny.
I took a sample from the mash tun, summarily concluding two indisputable facts:
1) I achieved and outstanding BH efficiency, like 83%
2) The wort smelled/tasted like someone farted in it for ninety minutes.
I wanted to relax, not worry, and have a homebrew, but I had decided to do Dry January as a New Years Resolution, so I just just opened the ball valve on the mash tun and sang a song as I dumped my perfect “bathtub fart” wort. The song comprised mainly of both impious and/or excretory curses, but hey whatever.
I scavenged for replacement grains—specialty I had covered with some honey malt, acid malt, and pretty-darn-old carapils. For adjunct, I only had 1# of flaked oats. And it’s a holiday (MLK) day in the US. So all homebrew shops are closed. Eyeing my starter and work calendar, it was now or never. I then went to the grocery store and got three more pounds of quick oats (even Brad Smith said you can do this!)
So now I am re-mashing with a tiny fraction of my campden tabs.
A close friend down the street I called for advice told me some great things to remember:
1) At least I didn’t sacrifice yeast, hops, or more time.
2) I learned something from this experience.
So let’s take time as brewers to reflect more and know that even a complete mash disaster is recoverable. Cheers!
