What are some of the mistakes you made...where your beer still turned out great!

[DirtyPolock]

This is a great thread for all the beginners, like myself, to read everything that happened to the veteran brewers while still ending up with great beer. Here are my mistakes with my first and only batch, so far, that has gone to completion.

1) Vodka from the airlock went into the fermenter 2) When transferring beer into the bottling bucket I wanted to speed it up a bit and move the bucket lower, but i forgot that I already had the bottling attachment on the spigot. Beer poured on my shoe and throw carpet. I wasted an ounce after finishing the transfer and dipped the bottling attachment in some sanitizer. 3) I couldn't get the spigot to seal correctly on the bottling bucket so it dripped the entire time, I probably lost about 30-50 ml's of beer

My first batch is good (I cracked it open early since it is my first batch). I can't wait until it ages even more in the bottle.

Primary: Dunkel Wiezen, Apfelwein (both pitched today)
Bottle: Nut Brown Ale

 

[3 Dog Brew]

Spent two weeks trying to think of people I didn't like to give it away to.

LMAO - -Not that I've ever done that...

 

[boneshb]

Sneezed over the brewpot and in went the Oakleys... took 15 mins to dig em out with some tongs and they were ruined, but added that little something extra to the brew. Behold "Polarized Pale Ale"!

 

[Revvy]

Sneezed over the brewpot and in went the Oakleys... took 15 mins to dig em out with some tongs and they were ruined, but added that little something extra to the brew. Behold "Polarized Pale Ale"!

LOL!!!!!

 

[Beernik]

Pitched the yeast in my first beer at 100F. The beer tasted like green apples for 10 weeks after bottling. But it eventually conditioned out.

 

[JoeMama]

Pitched the yeast in my first beer at 100F. The beer tasted like green apples for 10 weeks after bottling. But it eventually conditioned out.

Green apples? I thought it tasted more like band-aids.
I love how forgiving beer can be

 

[Stuntman]

SWMBO hates brew day, so I do a lot of after hour brewing/drinking...Waking up the next morning, still buzzed, everything is put away so SWMBO aint mad. I do the check, "Did I do this...I don't remember doing that....Shoot I know I forgot that! Then the magical sound of the blow off, bloop,bloop. All is good.

No blow off lesson. The primary has shot the fermenter lock into the attic, and primary was open to atmosphere for several hours (sad to say I did this one twice) beer turned out fine.

Bottle bombs - put honey in and kegged, didn't realize that bottling said honey injected kegged beer and putting into closet would be grenades. Back in the fridge minus two bottles, beer just fine.

Wine, the last bag was sweetener, only one to have replacable cap. Dumped whole bag in...Waffle syrup! 6 months later the wine was FINE!

Edit 2-7-10 added priming sugar, didn't wait long enough in keg, put it on CO2 30 psi for two days instead of one (no shaking). Tried it, thought I bruised it. Now that it has been two days, it is getting to a good carb point. Little sweet from the unfermented priming sugar (not bad) beers OK, drinking it up!

 

[subtlephilo]

I'm definitely a noob. . . I have my 5th batch in the primary right now (it's thr Elbro Nerkte Brown from JOHB, so no secondary), and I've alrady learned a ton from my mistakes.

In my second batch, I used about 50% corn sugar. Turned out really sour, never cleared up, and the one night I had a few of them, the acetaldehyde causes temporary amnesia.

My second batch, and IPA, I dry hopped by just dropping cascade pellets into the beer, then couldn't get them out, so they went into the bottles. The first few bottles had a grassy flavour, but then got really beautifully hopped. I'll have to use some cheesecloth next time.

 

[jdp]

My biggest was rushing into the keg after only 1 week of primary. The ones in the past would have been fine I think, but this was the first time I used liquid yeast. It was pretty bad. Fortunately, after bringing back up to the low 70's for 2 weeks and adding finings, the beer doesn't taste too bad. It's NOT my favorite, but absolutely drinkable.


oh, and thanks for the input here, otherwise it would have been down the drain.

 

[surferdrew]

Back to back mistakes for my last 2 batches (can you tell I'm a noob).

First, I forgot to crush the grains at my LBHS so we'll see how the body/color/etc. turn out (its an Amber Ale partial-mash that's in the primary).

Second, in the rush of putting supplies away, I accidentally put my liquid yeast into the freezer and didn't realize until my brew buddies showed up the next day (which happened to be when my LBHS was closed). So, back to the store for more yeast and rescheduling brew day.

As John Daume (Maltose Falcons co-founder and owner of LBHS) told me, "every brew is its own adventure!"

 

[PhelanKA7]

On bottling day for my first brew I still hadn't realized how the auto-siphon was supposed to work, and like Revvy mentioned in the first post of this thread I proceeded to use it like a pump. My fiance was holding the end of the hose above the water line while I proceedee to spray the beer into the bucket. Talk about oxidation!

The beer of course came out terrific though. One of my fiance's coworkers offered me $20 for a 6pk. I had to turn down the offer though. My fiance, my parents, some of my friends, and I have gone thru almost all 46 bottles in a week
Luckily I put away about 5 bottles to save and age over a year's time. I'm told this is a good practice that will only lead to regret over not aging more.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I boiled over and lost maybe 1/2 the wort (I had to leave it unattended). In exasperation, I topped it back up and added a bag of brown sugar.

It ended up delicious, lol.

 

[chef90]

Ok, I have forgotten priming sugar, santize siphoning lines, Forgot lots of timing for boils ex. hops! always forget to make yeast starter. Also dropped toothpick into fermenter (yes, its was in mouth), forgot to strain hops. cooled wort in garage overnight!
and still I brew and like it. Soo, does my wife.

 

[MrInternet]

Luckily I put away about 5 bottles to save and age over a year's time. I'm told this is a good practice that will only lead to regret over not aging more.

It depends entirely on style, actually. I can guarantee you that you won't be crazy about how a year-old Blonde, Amber, or Ordinary Bitters tastes. IPAs basically become malt-forward pale ales, and stouts, porters, etc can age well if they are complex enough to start, and have enough bitterness initially to fade to style over time.

This is one of those things I'm finding has sprouted in a bubble on this and other brew boards... aging isn't always good. It's not always automatically the most proper way to enjoy your beer, and it certainly isn't something that brewers should consider a "goal" unless, again, they're brewing a style that sort of requires it. Aging MELLOWS harsh/strong/hot beers, and age will USUALLY FIX or at least GLOSS OVER mistakes that were made that resulted in a "bleh" beer. There are a hundred threads here that bear witness to time HEALING bad beer, but there's not much evidence to indicate that all beers should be "aged". Give them a month in primary and a month in the bottle, sure, but when they're ready, go for it.

I bought into this and put most of my first batch of Red IPA in the cellar... I would try a bottle every other week or so, and think "MAN, this is going to be awesome in another 6 months!". Well, now it tastes like cardboard and malt... hops are mostly gone except for the bittering. Of course now I'm wishing I had drunk them all in the sweet spot, but that's how you learn.

 

[BgThang]

wort chiller hose clamp broke spraying water from a dirty hose attached to the wort chiller directly into my beer after the beer came down in temp to about 90. Was afraid I contaiminated the beer. best ipa I ever did.

Also didn't turn off the heat completely when I did an american red from AHS. The liquid extract hit the bottom and scroched a little. The beer came out as a red with a nice roasty flavor. Wasn't bad at all an added a nice twist to the recipe.

 

[PhelanKA7]

It depends entirely on style, actually. I can guarantee you that you won't be crazy about how a year-old Blonde, Amber, or Ordinary Bitters tastes. IPAs basically become malt-forward pale ales, and stouts, porters, etc can age well if they are complex enough to start, and have enough bitterness initially to fade to style over time.

It was a Belgian Tripel so I think it will probably hit it's peak after 6-8 months. Right now it's very malt heavy, but still delicious. It's just not as subtle as I think it will be after a few months aging and mellowing out.

 

[MrInternet]

It was a Belgian Tripel so I think it will probably hit it's peak after 6-8 months. Right now it's very malt heavy, but still delicious. It's just not as subtle as I think it will be after a few months aging and mellowing out.

Sounds like a perfect candidate then

 

[TheBeerNerd]

I'm really enjoying this thread. It makes me feel better about the dumb stuff that i've done.

My first couple batches I washed all my equipment and bottles with normal dish soap. Didn't realize this was a no-no. Beer still turned out fine.

Second AG batch I ever did (american wheat) had a stuck sparge. Beer turned out a bit lighter than expected, but still drinkable.

Have an extract Pale Ale in secondary right now, where I added the LME before steeping... oops. I think it will be ok, we'll see.

 

[kjjohns5]

On my first brew (which happened to only be like 3 months ago, lol), I had NO IDEA that I had to shake and slap around my Wyeast packet. All I read when I got home was "keep refrigerated," so that's where I put it! I had cooled the wort, pulled out the Wyeast, and was like... crap. I smacked it around for a couple minutes, and just pitched it. The beer however, came out very well. It was an extract West Coast IPA recipe that I got from my local homebrew shop.

On my 3rd beer I did my first starter and my 4th will actually be my first all-grain.

 

[Dave11980]

Ok, I'll confess... My first batch a few weeks ago, light on the reading I tried all grain first without the proper equipment. I didn't have properly milled grain so I crushed it with a rolling pin. Obviously my conversion was a little on the low side so my gravities were low after the boil. I added some boiled sugar and corn syrup (not much) to get my gravities up a bit. Maybe getting me from 3.5 to 4.0 on final ABV. I DID sanitize everything with bleach and rinse well. My first time bottling was a mess, not sure how I managed without infecting everything. One of the best beers I've ever had, and my buddy just had one of the last today and agreed. I really must say, everyone here is right. As long as you sanitize it's hard to mess up, and time heals all wounds. I'm sure future batches will be better but if I can make what I've been drinking this week with all these mistakes, I'm hooked. For the record, the second and third batches (a LME recipe) has gone much smoother. The forth is a DME and started yesterday its looking good.

 

[r_flagg]

Oh man, some of these stories are great! I've never dropped my phone in my beer, only the lid to the LME in my Irish Stout, but it was pre-boil anyway and the can was already sitting in hot water, so I just relaxed. We'll see how it turns out in a couple weeks! I also made a Fat Tire clone recently and while xferring to secondary I proceeded to pump air into it while pushing out the last little bits from the autosiphon. I'll remember not to do that next time.

 

[PolishLogic]

Just remembered that I should post my rookie experience.

Trying to pry a stuck bung out of my carboy with a wooden spoon and snapped the handle off. My original thought was that I was in trouble since it hadn't been sterilized. Needless to say, it sat in there for a little over two weeks aiding in the fermentation process, and at the moment I'm currently enjoying the last few bottles of my Broken Spoon Amber Ale. It's been absolutely delicious.

 

[saynomore10]

Had a good laugh reading some of these. Keep them coming!
My worst moment happened last fall. I had finished the boil on a pumpkin ale, put my wort chiller in my brew pot and hooked it up to a garden hose in my backward. I had just moved into a new house and I guess the water pressure was a lot higher than what I was used to in my old house. When I cranked the hose on, the pressure blew the connector off my wort chiller, blew part of the foil covering my brewpot off, and sprayed a solid amount of nasty hose water all in my beer.
The beer turned out great though! Served it at a Christmas party and everyone loved it. Perhaps I'll have to add a bit of hose water again next time I make it?

 

[Newton]

The connection point on my wort chiller sprung a leak into my cooling wort. It leaked unsanitized hose water into my wort for several minutes before I discovered the problem. Then somehow I got my unsanitized hand right in the cool wort. Somehow that batch didn't get infected and it turned out pretty decent.

 

[bsdx]

I nodded off for a while in a chair during a boil part way through my hop schedule, too warm and a beer too many? I was probably behind but I'm sure it came out fine and no boil over. The garage doors were open, the gas burner near the big doors and I was across the garage. Can't remember if that was the pilsner where I had cut open a multi-pack too far and some of the hops made it into the pot but half of one of the sections ended on the floor. I try to improve my results by moderating or abstain from drinking while brewing now but it annoys me so its not 100%.

At least one time we managed to get an entire 5 gallon batch into bottles and half of them capped before I remembered we forgot to add priming sugar! glkjsfjlsfdjsdfjsdlgjsgdjgldjsfdgj;dsflgdsdgk! Felt weird opening the bottles back up and pouring them back into the bucket, and it just didn't feel right to splash hard so I mostly avoided it, and as far as I know it came out fine. From reading the forums I now know about oxidation, not sure if I've ever tasted it though after a few dozen batches.

We've made other minor mistakes before too and it mostly comes out as fine beer, so I take the little things in stride. I've discovered that I was mixing my straight-a and Iodophor way too weak and corrected it though. The only time I dumped a batch was when my LHBS only gave me 3 instead of 6 pounds of DME and even though I had doubts I made it anyway (not sure why, must have been in a hurry and/or impatient). I racked it into the keg, tasted it, BLEH (too hoppy for the weak malt) and dumped it out of frustration even though it could probably have been fixed. If I had been more confident I could have probably fixed it. At the time I just wanted to end that nightmare. It was a kit I had made before so its not like I thought I was going to miss out on something new.

 

[tortination]

When I brewed my second batch ever about 5 years ago I made an extract honey wheat beer and had not yet heard of a blowoff tube. I came home from work the first full day of fermentation and excitedly ran to check my brew. I found my airlock across the room and my ceiling, wall and many of my possessions were covered in sweet, yeasty, hop residue. Awesome. Never could get it all off the ceiling and the landlord kept some of my security deposit for that one.

Also brewed a decent extract IPA while on too much vicodin after breaking my nose longboarding. Not sure how I didn't mess that one up but my "Broken Nose IPA" was one of my favorite extract brews.

I've since moved on to all-grain, and haven't made an undrinkable batch yet (knock on wood).

 

[corbomite]

When brewing my 3rd batch, I put in the priming sugar in the primary(no bottling bucket) and wanted to make sure yeast I might have stirred up would settle so I put my lid back on with the blow off tube still attached. I forgot to remove the lid when I started to bottle so the pressure of bottling thru the spigot pulled water from my water bucket with the blow off tube in it into the primary which got bottled with my beer. This water had been sitting in the bucket for 2 weeks while my beer fermented and I'm pretty sure one of my dogs might have gotten into that room and drink some at one point. It was an AHS Barbar belgian honey ale clone, and yes, it turned out amazing.

 

[robtotten]

I was just checking my inventory and realized that I forgot to add the extract in a partial grain I did Saturday. I was pretty sauced. It was a pretty low gravity beer anyway, so I'm going to have to do something to make this one turn out ok! I'll probably throw a gallon of the fermenting wort into a pot on the stove, boil it w/ the extract, let it cool and pour it back into the fermenter. Durrrrrr!

 

[aphid_rancher]

My last batch (a partial mash) was my first using a Mash Lauter Tun (MLT) I had just made. As I heated the water for the mash I used an IR (touchless) thermometer to measure the water temperature. Problem was that I pointed it into the pot and basically measured the temperature of the bottom of the pot on the stove burner. I tried a variety of things to get the mash temperature up but had really poor conversion in the end. I went through with the rest of the process and measured the gravity after getting the wort into a carboy and adding some water to top it off. The gravity measured was really low because I had merely swirled the carboy to mix in the water. To fix it I dumped in about a pound of DME hopeful that is was not harboring unwanted nasties and shook the whole mess. The result was a very nice IPA and a smarter brewer.

 

[dummkauf]

First time I used my CFC I didn't have a spiggot on my pot, and realized that trying to siphon hot wort sucks. Wound up sucking on the other end of the tube(coming off the CFC, not the boiling wort) to keep it going. Aged that stout for 4 months in secondary and am drinking it now

My first IPA, I couldn't get my siphon to keep going due to the hops(dry hopping) kept clogging the wand. Wound up taking a grain sack I use for steeping grains(always have a few around), putting that over the end of the carboy, held in place by my hand, and pouring the beer through the bag into my bottling bucket. Had to tip it back quite a few times to keep the hops off the bag. I probably aerated the piss out of the beer, but it turned out great(note that this brew lasted about 3 weeks so I'll never know if it would have gotten worse with time).