I started brewing in the early 90's and then took about 20 years off. I'm now a little over 2 years back into it. Brew days usually go fairly smoothly for me with the occasional mistake (e.g. forgetting to put the Whirfloc tablet in, spilling the dry yeast all over the floor when trying to rehydrate it, etc.) However, my last brew has been an absolute nightmare.
I decided to make an IPA to clear out my stockpile of hops, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. I made a yeast starter with San Diego Super the day before; I hit my mash temp. perfectly; the boil and hops additions were uneventful; and, I succesfully chilled the wort and tranferred it to my conical fermenter. I have a 7 gallon SS Brewtech Chronical fermenter with the FTS temperature control system. My wort chiller got the wort down to about 68 degrees, so I turned on the FTS system to chill the wort down to 62 degrees for pitching. I had the FTS system connected to a cooler with 5 galons of ice water. I then went inside the house to get my yeast starter and when I went back outside, I saw a stream of water flowing out my garage door. Somehow the FTS water out hose came out of the cooler and the entire 5 gallons of ice water was pumped all over the garage floor -- the carpeted garage floor. Oh well, I thought, it could have been worse; it is only water. I pulled out my shop vac and started to vacuum, but all it did was shoot the water out the back of the vacuum like a jet engine. That's when I learned that you have to take the filter out of the vacuum when sucking up liquids. Good to know.
45 minutes later, the floor was damp but clean, the wort was down to 62 degrees and I was ready to pitch. I put a sanitized funnel in the blow off hole in the fermenter lid and started to pour the yeast starter in. Just as it dawned on me that the stir bar was still in the starter, it poured right out, down the funnel and into the fermenter. Oh well, I'll just have to remember to fish it out when the beer is done, I thought.
2 weeks later, I went to dump some trub and yeast out of the bottom dump valve. Because I waited this long, I knew it would take some time for the trub/yeast to ooze out. So, I opened the dump valve and sat there on the garage floor (now dry) waiting. After about 5 minutes, I went to close the dump valve so I could put on some music for the wait. The dump valve would not close all the way. I then realized that the stir bar had oozed with the trub/yeast and was now lodged in the ball valve! Now what? If I couldn't figure out something quick, the trub/yeast dam would eventually ooze out and 5 gallons of beer would pour all over my garage floor -- the carpeted floor! Luckily, I remembered that I had a spare tri-clover ball valve and quickly attached it to the end of the stuck valve. So much for dumping trub/yeast on this batch.
When I started this batch, I was trying to think of a good name for it. After the FTS/ice water debacle, I thought I would call it "shop vac IPA." However, after the stir bar and stuck ball valve, I think I am going to simiply call it "Murphy's Law IPA." Live and learn I guess.
I decided to make an IPA to clear out my stockpile of hops, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. I made a yeast starter with San Diego Super the day before; I hit my mash temp. perfectly; the boil and hops additions were uneventful; and, I succesfully chilled the wort and tranferred it to my conical fermenter. I have a 7 gallon SS Brewtech Chronical fermenter with the FTS temperature control system. My wort chiller got the wort down to about 68 degrees, so I turned on the FTS system to chill the wort down to 62 degrees for pitching. I had the FTS system connected to a cooler with 5 galons of ice water. I then went inside the house to get my yeast starter and when I went back outside, I saw a stream of water flowing out my garage door. Somehow the FTS water out hose came out of the cooler and the entire 5 gallons of ice water was pumped all over the garage floor -- the carpeted garage floor. Oh well, I thought, it could have been worse; it is only water. I pulled out my shop vac and started to vacuum, but all it did was shoot the water out the back of the vacuum like a jet engine. That's when I learned that you have to take the filter out of the vacuum when sucking up liquids. Good to know.
45 minutes later, the floor was damp but clean, the wort was down to 62 degrees and I was ready to pitch. I put a sanitized funnel in the blow off hole in the fermenter lid and started to pour the yeast starter in. Just as it dawned on me that the stir bar was still in the starter, it poured right out, down the funnel and into the fermenter. Oh well, I'll just have to remember to fish it out when the beer is done, I thought.
2 weeks later, I went to dump some trub and yeast out of the bottom dump valve. Because I waited this long, I knew it would take some time for the trub/yeast to ooze out. So, I opened the dump valve and sat there on the garage floor (now dry) waiting. After about 5 minutes, I went to close the dump valve so I could put on some music for the wait. The dump valve would not close all the way. I then realized that the stir bar had oozed with the trub/yeast and was now lodged in the ball valve! Now what? If I couldn't figure out something quick, the trub/yeast dam would eventually ooze out and 5 gallons of beer would pour all over my garage floor -- the carpeted floor! Luckily, I remembered that I had a spare tri-clover ball valve and quickly attached it to the end of the stuck valve. So much for dumping trub/yeast on this batch.
When I started this batch, I was trying to think of a good name for it. After the FTS/ice water debacle, I thought I would call it "shop vac IPA." However, after the stir bar and stuck ball valve, I think I am going to simiply call it "Murphy's Law IPA." Live and learn I guess.
