We all know Murphy's law. Whatever can go wrong will. Today I decided to take advantage of the snow to brew up a batch of whiskey barrel stout from brewers best. Started out with my big pot, 4 or five gallon wide topped pot, on the burner on my stove. I had to use a smaller burner because I hadn't replaced the 8" burner yet but didn't think it would affect anything. I steep the grains with no problem, turn the burner to high and start waiting for the wort to boil. An hour later I come to the horrible realization that the burner doesn't have the power to get 2.5 gallons of wort boiling in the pot I'm using.
I tear out into the snow to get a new burner, I get back plug it in and it turns out that the outlet for the burner was burnt out. I am faced with a huge problem now. The second largest pot I have cannot hold the amount of wort I have. My options were go build a fire in my fire pit outside in the snow or pour half of my wort out, cool it, and get it into a fermentor. I went with the later option and was able to get the wort to boil, my hops in and finished.
What can I expect from this pain in the ass experience and have any of you had similar breakdowns?
I tear out into the snow to get a new burner, I get back plug it in and it turns out that the outlet for the burner was burnt out. I am faced with a huge problem now. The second largest pot I have cannot hold the amount of wort I have. My options were go build a fire in my fire pit outside in the snow or pour half of my wort out, cool it, and get it into a fermentor. I went with the later option and was able to get the wort to boil, my hops in and finished.
What can I expect from this pain in the ass experience and have any of you had similar breakdowns?
