Share us your DUMBEST brewing experience...

[TheJasonT]

Hmm, mine would probably be similar. I had just bought the grains at the LHBS and I hefted the bag on to my shoulder to carry it out. Well, that worked out until the bag fell and about 60% of the grains went all over the floor. No worries though, we just swept it up, put it back in the bag, and called the beer "Off The Floor Porter".

It tasted jussssst fine!

 

[AerationStation]

I've run off most of my strike water for a Barleywine because I was dumb enough to leave the mash run valve open. Turned in to more of a big brown ale but it was alright haha

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[Eighty2Fifty1]

Finally found the picture of it.


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[Conman13]

ughhhh!!!!

 

[Eighty2Fifty1]

I think that's the only batch I've ever lost.


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[rnm410]

I forgot to sanitize my US05 pack!?!

I guess I haven't been around long enough :/

 

[Safa]

Man that bathtub full of wort hits you right where it hurts


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[Teromous]

I write "Check Valves" into all my recipes now. I have a bad habit of leaving them open to dry after cleaning, and not shutting them before I pour strike water into my mash tun or draining wort into my brew kettle.

 

[Malty_Dog]

I'm only about 1.5 years into my brewing career but failing to notice that the mercury (or whatever it is) inside my thermometer had separated. By my estimation I had actually mashed Centennial Blonde around 170, lol. Wasn't exactly my best batch.

And then there was the time I was on my second batch of a very full brew day, everything had gone great, and I was pouring the last addition of Pilsner LME...only it was actually Munich . The beer still tastes great - gotta love that Belgian yeast.

 

[binkleybloom]

I forgot to sanitize my US05 pack!?!

I guess I haven't been around long enough :/

I'm in the same boat - only 3 brews under my belt and the worst thing that's happen was cycling above and below mash temp by adding too much hot/cold water.

But, when I finally get around to royally f-ing something up, I will remember this thread fondly with the realization that you probably can't call yourself a homebrewer until you lose a batch to a stupid mistake.

Plus, misery does love company.

(edited for typos)

 

[andvari7]

I forgot two pounds of grist in my last batch. I still have it, milled and mixed, in my freezer.

 

[grathan]

I got a few from last year, not sure which is dumbest.

Grabbing the bottom of a scorching hot keggle while dumping it out.
Leaving the mash tun balancing off the counter edge while mashing standing over a pump with no gfci.
Pulling the pressure release on a keg filled to the top while force carbing at 45 psi.
Leaving a full keg in the garage a little too late into the winter season. It blew the pressure release and coated my car and half the garage in beer.

 

[masteraviator]

I forgot two pounds of grist in my last batch. I still have it, milled and mixed, in my freezer.

I almost did this yesterday. I have a 55 gallon plastic barrel for my horse feed in the garage. I dropped the bags from the LHBS in the barrel on Friday afternoon. Pulled them out to mash my Russian Imperial Stout. Looking in the mash tun, something didn't look right; way too light on poundage and color. Hmm.. where's the black malt and roasted barley? Daughter had fed the horses Friday night and placed the beer grain on the floor and didn't replace them all and I missed a bag still sitting on the floor of the garage. Thank goodness, the one with the dark grains was the one she left out or I likely wouldn't have noticed.

 

[BreezyBrew]

I accidentally had both pumps plugged in, and it was still submerged... I turn the swith on, there was this whoosh like splash mountain, water shot to the freaking ceiling and splashed me. It was like gd splash mountain.

 

[MichaelBD]

I got a few from last year, not sure which is dumbest.

Grabbing the bottom of a scorching hot keggle while dumping it out.
Leaving the mash tun balancing off the counter edge while mashing standing over a pump with no gfci.
Pulling the pressure release on a keg filled to the top while force carbing at 45 psi.
Leaving a full keg in the garage a little too late into the winter season. It blew the pressure release and coated my car and half the garage in beer.

What's GFCI?


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[Zepth]

What's GFCI?


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Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter. My understanding is that whenever something actually sends current to the ground plug the breaker in the mechanism kills power completely. I believe they also make Arc Fault CI as well.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

What's GFCI?


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Ground fault current interrupt so you don't electrocute yourself should you spill water into a live electrical outlet like the one his pump was running on.


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[mlakota]

Leaving a starter flask balancing on the sink while it filled with water. Loud crash and a broken flask are a good sign you did something dumb.

 

[insanim8er]

View attachment 184404
Finally found the picture of it.


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a picture is worth a thousand words... haha

You should've collected it and boiled it until you got it back to the OG.

My worst was forgetting to double the hops when I doubled a recipe, then I had my thermometer go tits up on me during my mash, and of course I always leave my ball locks open when swapping my hoses. Oh... and I left my fermenter (a sankey keg) full of about a gallon of starsan when I transferred the wort in...

 

[Natdavis777]

I was having a rough week, and a good brew day was needed. I was brewing my annual imperial milk stout and had a few high gravity beers that day. After cooling and filling the two carboys, I realized I still had 5# of lactose.... I was intoxicated enough to just split it and dump it in both carboys. Beer turned out awesome still! Honestly the only time I've ever tied one on while brewing though


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[seabass07]

First dumbest thing I did was have kids. My oldest son decided that he didn't like the outlet the chest freezer was plugged into in the temp controller, so he moved it to the "heat" side. The next morning I happened to look at the controller and saw -24C. I had about 3" of beer slushy and broken glass on the floor of the freezer.

Second was when I was already drunk by the time I reached infusion temp for the mash. I then forgot to add 2lbs of flaked oats to an oatmeal stout. I realized it during mashout and decided it would be a good idea to add them then. They turned my mash into gummy oatmeal. I had to use mesh bags to strain out the liquid for the first runnings and the sparge. Now I wait til I pitch the yeast to get drunk.

 

[chadbert1977]

Last night, after having a rough day working on the motorcycle (broke an easy out inside the engine case, eventually got it out) I decided to mix up a new soda and rack a beer into a keg at the same time. I was boiling my sugar for the soda, got water into one keg and the second keg had star San in it. I grabbed my funnel and set it in a keg to pour the sugar water in to it.
I decided to dump the extract into the water and then mix everything in the keg. So I dumped the orange soda extract into a keg of starsan. Oops, I dumped the starsan and rinsed the keg with fresh starsan. Hopefully my IPA doesn't have an orange flavor, the dry hopping should kill any residual orange flavor. And I now have a keg of sugar water carbonating until I get another bottle of extract.


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[insanim8er]

Well... Last night I realized I froze my corny kegs and made beer flavored slurpees.

Apparently the lowest setting on a sanyo 4911 is VERY cold.

 

[BeerGrylls]

Last night, after having a rough day working on the motorcycle (broke an easy out inside the engine case, eventually got it out) I decided to mix up a new soda and rack a beer into a keg at the same time. I was boiling my sugar for the soda, got water into one keg and the second keg had star San in it. I grabbed my funnel and set it in a keg to pour the sugar water in to it.
I decided to dump the extract into the water and then mix everything in the keg. So I dumped the orange soda extract into a keg of starsan. Oops, I dumped the starsan and rinsed the keg with fresh starsan. Hopefully my IPA doesn't have an orange flavor, the dry hopping should kill any residual orange flavor. And I now have a keg of sugar water carbonating until I get another bottle of extract.


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Hey a hint of orange flavor might not be too bad!

 

[VladOfTrub]

Drinking a bunch of brew, then seeing the picture of the pots that the guy decided to give a bath. Laughing so hard I passed about five or nine ounces of foam from my nose. Now I have a nasal buzz going on.

 

[chadbert1977]

Hey a hint of orange flavor might not be too bad!

That's what I was thinking, plus I was too tired and ticked with myself to properly clean all the orange flavor out of the keg


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[finsfan]

I think I topped my previous stupidest thing of leaving ball valves open. I attempted a Moo-Hoo clone today and had planned to add the lactose at the beginning of the boil. Well I completely forgot until I was chilling and realized my OG was way too low. I ended up boiling it again for 10 extra minutes with the lactose and then hit my numbers perfect. I know it will still turn out but it will be a little more bitter then it should. I felt like an idiot.

 

[BeerGrylls]

I think I topped my previous stupidest thing of leaving ball valves open. I attempted a Moo-Hoo clone today and had planned to add the lactose at the beginning of the boil. Well I completely forgot until I was chilling and realized my OG was way too low. I ended up boiling it again for 10 extra minutes with the lactose and then hit my numbers perfect. I know it will still turn out but it will be a little more bitter then it should. I felt like an idiot.

Wow how do you live with yourself?? No but really if that's the worst you've got, you're doing ok.

 

[sawbossFogg]

As a dirt poor college kid making my most expensive beer in winter I busted a 6.5 glass carbuoy attempting to chill it in a snow drift. I was accustomed to lab wear. As it gushed my heart was crushed!

 

[sawbossFogg]

I think I topped my previous stupidest thing of leaving ball valves open. I attempted a Moo-Hoo clone today and had planned to add the lactose at the beginning of the boil. Well I completely forgot until I was chilling and realized my OG was way too low. I ended up boiling it again for 10 extra minutes with the lactose and then hit my numbers perfect. I know it will still turn out but it will be a little more bitter then it should. I felt like an idiot.

Plus adding bacteria at the beginning of the boil, ha!

 

[Facinerous]

I've decided that whatever my most current brewing experience is, is my dumbest. I swear the more I learn the more mistakes I make.

 

[seabass07]

Plus adding bacteria at the beginning of the boil, ha!

Waaat?

 

[Zepth]

I've decided that whatever my most current brewing experience is, is my dumbest. I swear the more I learn the more mistakes I make.

Perhaps you're not making any more mistakes but rather you're now wise enough to notice them?

 

[Talonracer67]

Just had one. Like Facinerous I seem to find a new way to screw up every brew cycle. Anyway I just started fly sparging and love it. Its a ghetto setup but works great. So after my mashing session is over I take my drill mounted stirring rod and give the mash a good stir before setting my grain bed and vorlouf . Only yesterday I wasn't paying attention and I hit my false bottom with the stir rod, specifically the fitting that sticks up in the middle. This tilted up the false bottom and let grain get underneath. Oh what a fun time sparging that was!! The beer never got real clear but surprisingly only a little grain got thru. Boil went ok and I always filter with a grain bag into the fermenter so I got all the stuff out. Amazingly hit my OG even went over a few points. You live and learn. This irish red ale might be the best tasting beer ever!! Did I mention I actually thought I knocked the false bottom hose off? So I took the super hot wort and dumped it from my mash tun cooler to my boil pot then back after I checked it. yes some spilled the floor is sticky now. I need a beer

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

You live and learn. This irish red ale might be the best tasting beer ever!!

And the off kilter Irish red was born Lololol


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[amfukuda]

Perhaps you're not making any more mistakes but rather you're now wise enough to notice them?

That Is brilliant


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[finsfan]

Plus adding bacteria at the beginning of the boil, ha!

Haha I hope I didnt add lacto to a chocolate milk stout! Although, a spoiled chocolate milk stout could be interesting to market, not sure about the taste

 

[Texconsinite]

We once had the rubber ring from the gromit hole of a fermenter fall into the primary right after we pitched yeast. It stayed in there for 2 wks, then we fished it out when racked to secondary. The beer didnt seems to have a rubber flavor, thankfully.

Biggest mistake: The orange extract incident. Had a batch of "Dirty Stallis Malt Liquor" (NB kit with our own spin). After having Leinies Orange Shandy, I thoght it would be a great idea to add a bottle of imitation Orange extract into the secondary. The beer never bottle carbed, probably due to something in the cheap imitation extract, thus i still have 5 gallons of 5% beer that tastes like flat orange soda/beer. Not my proudest moment. Moral of story, pay a few $$ more for the real extracts, not imitation ones w preservatives.

 

[BreezyBrew]

So I was pouring out my yeast/trub from a Carboy on my lawn. Apparently I must be a creature of habit. Lying there in the dirt was one of my stir bars! I had been missing for a few weeks. What a lucky find.

 

[TimFarAway]

Broke my hydrometer, and left the spigot open as i went from the kettle to the fermenter. Lost at least 2 bottles worth of beer. St St St Stoooopid