My bottling bucket failed me

[Thecakepounder]

I was about to bottle a nice centennial blonde and my nozzle blew off. I frantically tried to stuff it back in, then paused as i watched my 5 gallons of pride go down the drain. *Single tear*

 

[IslandLizard]

Ouch, damn!
So sorry to hear that.

Nozzle?
Did the spigot break off (the plastic bucket)?

 

[Transamguy77]

Sorry for your loss, that’s terrible, I hope you have more beers in the pipeline.

 

[Thecakepounder]

Ouch, damn!
So sorry to hear that.

Nozzle?
Did the spigot break off (the plastic bucket)?

Yerp, i usually leave it turned at a 45 while i siphon (carboy up high, bottling bucket on floor), turned it back to attach my bottling wand and it shot out. Would've been funny to see, but yeah a little tramatic. Changes will be made.

 

[Thecakepounder]

Sorry for your loss, that’s terrible, I hope you have more beers in the pipeline.

Nothing too soon. Have 2 russian imperials that'll be ready to bottle at the end of October and November. Looks like I'll be brewing again sooner than later

 

[hout17]

Sorry to hear that sucks.

 

[MON5TER]

Similar happened to me with the wort from an imperial stout. Lost a few litres before I got a good seal around my thumb in the spigot hole.

That was a few months ago.

Another week or two and I’ll take my digit out and bottle it.

 

[Mr. Vern]

Gravity sample... You're doing it wrong.

Seriously though, that really sucks!

 

[passedpawn]

I was about to bottle a nice centennial blonde and my nozzle blew off. I frantically tried to stuff it back in, then paused as i watched my 5 gallons of pride go down the drain. *Single tear*

Is your spigot all white, or red/white?

 

[Golddiggie]

Good reason to get into kegging instead.

 

[madscientist451]

When I started out, when I got to my second or third brew I had a revelation: Why not use the bottling bucket for fermenting? (I had two bottling buckets) then I could just drain the beer to the second bottling bucket to mix in the priming sugar and bottle from there. I'd save the hassle of using a siphon. Well it went OK for a few brews, then the spigot blew out and I had 5 gallons of stout on the wood floor in the closet I used for fermenting.

 

[smurfjuicebrew]

A moment of silence please.

 

[hout17]

An unfortunate case of alcohol abuse lol.

 

[mlfarrell]

That suuuuucks. I’m about to bottle in a few weeks myself.

how the heck did it blow off? Don’t they screw on both sides with a nut on the beer-side?

 

[madscientist451]

I dunno, I bought a bunch of used brewing gear so who knows how old it was? Live and learn, these days when I bottle, I bottle from primary and use the domino dot method.

 

[mlfarrell]

I dunno, I bought a bunch of used brewing gear so who knows how old it was? Live and learn, these days when I bottle, I bottle from primary and use the domino dot method.

ahh. I’ve been using the northern brewer ones and sofar they seem pretty solid. Def will keep an eye on em though.

 

[shoengine]

Similar happened to me with the wort from an imperial stout. Lost a few litres before I got a good seal around my thumb in the spigot hole.

That was a few months ago.

Another week or two and I’ll take my digit out and bottle it.

Do it for the ones you love.

 

[bwible]

All the ones I’ve seen have a screw in faucet with a retainer ring that screws on the back inside the bucket. Its a good idea to check that before each use. You can’t really get inside and tighten that down once you have beer in it to bottle. I also take mine apart when its not in use and soak the faucet in pbw to clean and star san to sanitize. Those faucets often get overlooked and can be a source of contamination.

My brew kettle is the same way, has a faucet with a retainer ring inside. That has gotten a small drip on me once during a brew that was fortunately no big deal. I just had to clean a little black stuff off the stove when I was done. I now check and tighten before each use because again, I can’t really stick my hands and tools in there to tighten anything once I have wort in the kettle.

 

[smurfjuicebrew]

My rule of thump. change out them plastic valves and gaskets once a year.

 

[JAReeves]

A moment of silence please.

I had to go out into my backyard and pour one out for the fallen comrades.

 

[Thecakepounder]

Is your spigot all white, or red/white?

I believe it was all white. Ive been MIA since the incident. Come for redemption and gonna bottle 10 gallons of russian imperial.

 

[Thecakepounder]

That suuuuucks. I’m about to bottle in a few weeks myself.

how the heck did it blow off? Don’t they screw on both sides with a nut on the beer-side?

Yeah they screw on and have gaskets. Im guessing it loosened up from a quarter turn. I turn it so i can fill it while its on the ground and i have my car boy above. Guess when i turned it back it, it loosened a little off the thread with the pressure pushing out on the bucket and it just popped off. Was gonna thumb it, but figured it was all contaminated. Live and learn. The incident made me take a hiatus though lol.

 

[Thecakepounder]

When I started out, when I got to my second or third brew I had a revelation: Why not use the bottling bucket for fermenting? (I had two bottling buckets) then I could just drain the beer to the second bottling bucket to mix in the priming sugar and bottle from there. I'd save the hassle of using a siphon. Well it went OK for a few brews, then the spigot blew out and I had 5 gallons of stout on the wood floor in the closet I used for fermenting.

Yikes. I thought about doing the same and was afraid that would happen. Sorry for your loss, that's a biggin