What are some of the mistakes you made...where your beer still turned out great!
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two_hearted
Well-Known Member
I have a window from my living room to my kitchen that goes directly over the sink. I was cooling my wort and decided to fold some laundry while waiting. Without thinking I picked up the single sock that was left without at match and threw it towards the laundry (which is over the sink through the kitchen). The sock hit what must have been a downward vortex and went straight into my cooled wort. It sunk in milliseconds. I fished it out and went into primary. Came out great!
I made an amber ale where i screwed up a bunch of things...I forgot my moss, I forgot to throw the LME plastic jug into some hot water to loosen it up and ended up just not putting in a good half-cup minimum, didnt have my wort chiller and ice bathed it in a sink that was way too small and the cold break literally look like 3 hours. Then, I kept dropping equipment into the fermenting bucket as i was trying to transfer it and having to fish it out, leading to a sanitary issue. Finally, I panicked with the trub at the bottom (was my first batch) and ended up dumping the final gallon or so of wort and topping the recovered wort off with some warm water from the sink. In combination, this was when i also made a half-a**ed yeast prep for my dry yeast which may or may not have had a temperature issue when i pitched it. Finally, I then allowed my ale to ferment at 75 degrees ambient, which with fermentation inside put it at least 5 degrees over the proper range for that ale.
Im not done yet.
Then, during bottling, I did not have a bottling bucket available, so i siphoned to a carboy and then into bottles...doing this with all of my containers at level ground and being forced to pump siphon the entire time (again, first time), which wasnt a horrible deal, if not for the fact i kept allowing the racking cane to keep getting air into it and i was literally force aerating the carboy before bottling.
Well, i'll be damned if it isnt one of the most crisp and enjoyable amber beers i've ever had. Ironically, i have other brews that ive done perfectly, and they're not as good.
Im not done yet.
Then, during bottling, I did not have a bottling bucket available, so i siphoned to a carboy and then into bottles...doing this with all of my containers at level ground and being forced to pump siphon the entire time (again, first time), which wasnt a horrible deal, if not for the fact i kept allowing the racking cane to keep getting air into it and i was literally force aerating the carboy before bottling.
Well, i'll be damned if it isnt one of the most crisp and enjoyable amber beers i've ever had. Ironically, i have other brews that ive done perfectly, and they're not as good.
mlg5039
Well-Known Member
I used to suck start my siphons 
I brewed a classic Irish stout last week. Well, I intended to brew a sweet stout but my thermometer decided to get stuck at 140F for the entire duration of the mash. I think I added cold or hot water about 3 times each trying to make the damn thing budge. Nada. I don't know what temperature I mashed at, but I ended up 10 points too high for my first runnings... Yeah.
Then, I decided to sparge using a plastic pasta strainer instead of the nice metal one I usually use (it was in the dishwasher). It worked fine, for 10 seconds, until the strainer snapped, sending the grain bag containing almost 8 pounds of wet grain splashing into the wort, creating a hot, sticky mess everywhere. Wort even ended up INSIDE the fridge. I don't know how it managed this.
I cleaned up, leaving the sparge and wort dropping down in temperatures. It took me about 45 minutes to get to a boil, I guess the wort had cooled down to 120F easily by this point. I then noticed I hadn't made any ice for the ice bath... I ended up letting the thing cool in tap water only for 2 hours. After all that mubling and fumbling, I finally hit 1.040 OG: I guess coating my kitchen with a gallon of first runnings solved my over efficiency. The S-04 fermented this like a monster, only 12 hours in I had full krausen...
I took a sample yesterday: 1.010 FG and it was delicious, even uncarbed. Very Guinness like, but without the sourness.
Then, I decided to sparge using a plastic pasta strainer instead of the nice metal one I usually use (it was in the dishwasher). It worked fine, for 10 seconds, until the strainer snapped, sending the grain bag containing almost 8 pounds of wet grain splashing into the wort, creating a hot, sticky mess everywhere. Wort even ended up INSIDE the fridge. I don't know how it managed this.
I cleaned up, leaving the sparge and wort dropping down in temperatures. It took me about 45 minutes to get to a boil, I guess the wort had cooled down to 120F easily by this point. I then noticed I hadn't made any ice for the ice bath... I ended up letting the thing cool in tap water only for 2 hours. After all that mubling and fumbling, I finally hit 1.040 OG: I guess coating my kitchen with a gallon of first runnings solved my over efficiency. The S-04 fermented this like a monster, only 12 hours in I had full krausen...
I took a sample yesterday: 1.010 FG and it was delicious, even uncarbed. Very Guinness like, but without the sourness.
Well, I was all set to try out my new RIMS rube and control box. Mash was great. It was fun watching the PID keep my mash within .10 of a degree of the target. Mashout and sparge were fine.
I was cleaning up my brew area a bit when I lifted up the box my grain had come in to discover I neglected to mash 1lb of carapils. I tried to setup my RIMS, but you can't do that with a just a quart or two of water. I threw it in a grain bag and tried to do it at the stove. Overshooting, undershooting. Ice, heat. Eventually I dumped the "wort" into the BK to boil. Took like another hour. I kept screwing up my hop additions, missing the times. Then I tried pitching into the BK for a change after cooling the wort thru my CFC. I'm fermenting in a sanke and I didn't want to have to remove the spear again. I didn't rehydrate the yeast since the Safale packet didn't give instructions and said to "sprinkle" over the wort. Looks like most of it clumped to the side of the BK. I wouldn't be surprised if I needed to repitch it.
I wound up a full point below OG. On the plus side, the wort tasted pretty good.
I was cleaning up my brew area a bit when I lifted up the box my grain had come in to discover I neglected to mash 1lb of carapils. I tried to setup my RIMS, but you can't do that with a just a quart or two of water. I threw it in a grain bag and tried to do it at the stove. Overshooting, undershooting. Ice, heat. Eventually I dumped the "wort" into the BK to boil. Took like another hour. I kept screwing up my hop additions, missing the times. Then I tried pitching into the BK for a change after cooling the wort thru my CFC. I'm fermenting in a sanke and I didn't want to have to remove the spear again. I didn't rehydrate the yeast since the Safale packet didn't give instructions and said to "sprinkle" over the wort. Looks like most of it clumped to the side of the BK. I wouldn't be surprised if I needed to repitch it.
I wound up a full point below OG. On the plus side, the wort tasted pretty good.
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
Pick
Well-Known Member
I used to start my siphons with my mouth, now have an auto siphon.
I do have one keg of altbier that has, what I would call a "licorice" taste, that is getting stronger. I have about 2 gallons left, that I think I am going to dump.
I do have one keg of altbier that has, what I would call a "licorice" taste, that is getting stronger. I have about 2 gallons left, that I think I am going to dump.
kal
Well-Known Member
I have a horrible time remembering things if I don't write them down... brewed a wheat beer (70% wheat malt, 30% pils) a few months ago and didn't realize until 1 hour into the mash recirculation that I forgot to add the rice hulls I had washed earlier the same day...
So the good news was that that was the day that I realized I don't need to ever use rice hulls!
Kal
So the good news was that that was the day that I realized I don't need to ever use rice hulls!
Kal
AaronKeller
Member
Didn't read through all these wonderful stories, so maybe this one's been posted already, but here it goes. At the end of a long boil on an dry stout, I turned on the water to my trusty copper coil immersion chiller and went back inside to get the carboy ready. Came back out a few minutes later to check on things. . .and thought "hmm, thats funny, the water coming out of the chiller is sort of tinged brown. strange." Went back inside. Came back out a few seconds later when I realized something must be very wrong. Looked in the pot. I had been boiling a 5 gal batch in a 15 gal pot so there was plenty of space. . .except. . .wait. . .how. . .why. . . is the pot almost full?
Yep, turns out I had left my copper coil out on the patio overnight and it cracked from the frozen water. I had been pumping cold tap water run through a garden hose into the wort. Long story short. . . a three hours of boil and a month of fermenting/aging later, it was the best dry stout I'd ever made.
Yep, turns out I had left my copper coil out on the patio overnight and it cracked from the frozen water. I had been pumping cold tap water run through a garden hose into the wort. Long story short. . . a three hours of boil and a month of fermenting/aging later, it was the best dry stout I'd ever made.
joetothemo
Well-Known Member
The best beer I have made in my limited experience was my second batch.
Here is the list of foolish things I did:
-Splashed the steaming hot wort into my fermenter with vigor (This is a "NO!" says John Palmer)
-Stuck my face in the fermenter every few days to smell the glorious hops (probably disturbing the CO2 blanket).
-Noisily siphoned my beer from primary to secondary.
-Splashed the hell out of the beer in my secondary a few days later by shoving 2 hop socks full of Cascade through the neck.
-When the hops wouldn't sink, I poked them with a sanitized stir rod over and over again to submerge them...disturbing the beer in my carboy in countless ways.
-Scared that the half-soaked floating socks were an issue, I pulled them up into the neck of the fermenter (splashing all along) and snipped them with scissors...thus releasing their contents splashing back into the beer.
Here is the list of foolish things I did:
-Splashed the steaming hot wort into my fermenter with vigor (This is a "NO!" says John Palmer)
-Stuck my face in the fermenter every few days to smell the glorious hops (probably disturbing the CO2 blanket).
-Noisily siphoned my beer from primary to secondary.
-Splashed the hell out of the beer in my secondary a few days later by shoving 2 hop socks full of Cascade through the neck.
-When the hops wouldn't sink, I poked them with a sanitized stir rod over and over again to submerge them...disturbing the beer in my carboy in countless ways.
-Scared that the half-soaked floating socks were an issue, I pulled them up into the neck of the fermenter (splashing all along) and snipped them with scissors...thus releasing their contents splashing back into the beer.
smyth
Active Member
Well i'm not sure if it'll turn out great or not since i just did it last night, but if i doesn't i don't think this particular mistake was the fault. Lets hope though
Everything into the fermentor, topped it off with water, went to grab the yeast starter and knocked a lid into the fermentor. Washed my hand and arm and went in to grab it. Don't think it'll be a huge deal though since the lid that fell in was the lid for the top off water which was sanitized. I was shocked actually that that was my only misstep, everything else went smooth. I did find out that my stove takes a while to boil that much liquid though.
Everything into the fermentor, topped it off with water, went to grab the yeast starter and knocked a lid into the fermentor. Washed my hand and arm and went in to grab it. Don't think it'll be a huge deal though since the lid that fell in was the lid for the top off water which was sanitized. I was shocked actually that that was my only misstep, everything else went smooth. I did find out that my stove takes a while to boil that much liquid though.
On my first three batches:
1. Didn't use a blowoff tube, airlock + rubber stopper exploded, beer all over the kitchen, volcanoing everywhere. Beer was great (Amber Ale Kit)
2. Dropped the wyeast bag in the fermenter, unsanitized. I had only activated the pack like five minutes before because I had to leave. Bottled it direct from the spigot. Tasted ****ing amazing (Blood Orange Hef)
3. Pushed the rubber gasket into the bucket when putting on the airlock, reached into the bottom of the bucket with my arm, mostly unsantized, I hadn't showered for two days. When I was cold breaking (I use ice in a sink) I accidentally dumped about ten ice cubes in the wort. Beer is still in secondary but looks fine (AHS Chocolate Raspberry Stout)
Off topic: How many hydrometers have you broke? I've done four batches and already broke two
1. Didn't use a blowoff tube, airlock + rubber stopper exploded, beer all over the kitchen, volcanoing everywhere. Beer was great (Amber Ale Kit)
2. Dropped the wyeast bag in the fermenter, unsanitized. I had only activated the pack like five minutes before because I had to leave. Bottled it direct from the spigot. Tasted ****ing amazing (Blood Orange Hef)
3. Pushed the rubber gasket into the bucket when putting on the airlock, reached into the bottom of the bucket with my arm, mostly unsantized, I hadn't showered for two days. When I was cold breaking (I use ice in a sink) I accidentally dumped about ten ice cubes in the wort. Beer is still in secondary but looks fine (AHS Chocolate Raspberry Stout)
Off topic: How many hydrometers have you broke? I've done four batches and already broke two
I was at or over 160 on the mash temperature. The result was a high finish on the FG - 1.024 I think. But when it was done. I bottled and drank it in a couple of months later. It was great. BUT - I believe the ABV suffered. LOW ABV like a light beer but great head and body.
My first attempt to use a cooler and ice to manage fermentation temps, i packed in a giant bag of ice around the better bottle. Checked the temps the next day, it was at 40*F. Removed all the ice and it warmed up to basement temps after a day or so. Took a few days to start fermenting again. Extract wheat beer turned out great, whole family loved it.
it was my first batch i ever made and i was being very cafefull soaking everything in star san and well i was arriating with my glass carboy and i had put the rubber cap on to eliminate cantact with my hand which was also soaked in star san and pushed the damn rubber cap right into the wort so i had to dump all of me wort back into the kettel (not washed) find a coat hanger and hoping it would work put it right in the carboy not cleaning or sanitizing it at all finally got it out after 10 minutes of trying and i noticed i didnt even put the lid on the kettle...i finished it up and it was good not award winning but still good.
Dynachrome
Well-Known Member
Post your OG orI'm onna argue the low ABV. ;-)
Dynachrome
Well-Known Member
BTW - I just used a coffe grinder to grind my spcialty grains. Brewing ugly.
....forgot to get it ground at the LHBS!
80
....forgot to get it ground at the LHBS!
80
GetLooseontheGoose
Well-Known Member
1. while using my immersion chiller some hose water got in the kettle. I had this terrible feeling through out fermentation it was going to have an off flavor.
I was wrong, turned out it was an awesome Smoked Porter. That my friends want to brew again.
2. I decided to use some Irish moss, and the bottle i used had a label which said use 1 tbls/5gals. I didn't read it and I poured the whole bottle in.
never could taste the difference. The beer was clear though
I was wrong, turned out it was an awesome Smoked Porter. That my friends want to brew again.
2. I decided to use some Irish moss, and the bottle i used had a label which said use 1 tbls/5gals. I didn't read it and I poured the whole bottle in.
never could taste the difference. The beer was clear though
I can't stop laughing over this one ...
when i first started using liquid extract instead of dry my scale didnt have the volume, so i tried converting # to cups and miscalculated using a little over half the extract in a pale ale using all centeniall partial extract batch.It turned out pretty good,a little too citrus forward but still a really good beer.First light ale-whoops.Drinking it right now just to verify how good it is!2 months in the bottle.
My first use of a better bottle, got the wort chilled and transferred into the better bottle before I realized that a better bottle uses a different sized stopper than my carboys. It's late on a Sunday night, LHBS is far past closed, and I have nothing I can use for a blowoff. My solution.... wrap the carboy stopper in a whole lot of electrical tape, sanitize it and jam it on.
I think it would have been fine if not for that being the only batch where it blew the airlock out of the bottle (resulting in wort contact with the elec tape). Once bottled, the beer (an irish red) tasted like I was drinking it from a latex glove. Gave it a month.... flavor still there, but not as bad. 2 months, getting better, but still not all that good. After 3 1/2 months, it cleaned up to be one of my best beers to date.
I think it would have been fine if not for that being the only batch where it blew the airlock out of the bottle (resulting in wort contact with the elec tape). Once bottled, the beer (an irish red) tasted like I was drinking it from a latex glove. Gave it a month.... flavor still there, but not as bad. 2 months, getting better, but still not all that good. After 3 1/2 months, it cleaned up to be one of my best beers to date.
JBrady
Well-Known Member
I've knocked several nasty pieces of ice into my chilling wort while adding ice to an ice bath. Never had a infection. Also I've ended up with a mosquito and a yellow fly in the primary fermenter and didn't notice it until after fermentation completed, beers turned out fine.
Rebelz1
Member
Kind of the same here. Two batches ago I made Wheat beer that set in the fermentor for three weeks before I touched it. Opened it up and there is two gnats or the little fruit fly floating on the top. I skimmed them off, bottled and now one month later, this is one of the best beers I have made yet! Was a little worried about infection or something from them but it doesn't seem to have hurt it at all!
I think the co2 build up is so fast in the fermentor that they can't live long enough to do much damage to the beer other then get to you mentally!
onipar
Well-Known Member
During my first batch, I had *no idea* I had to chill the wort until after I poured it into my bucket fermentor. Luckily the top-off water brought it down a little, but it was still 95-105 degrees.
I quickly jumped online to read what I had done wrong and found out I was supposed to chill. So I proceed to jam the entire bucket into my tiny sink with as much ice and water I could. More than an hour later, and only ten to fifteen degrees of a drop, I start to panic and add tons of ice directly to the wort.
I managed to get it down to 80 degree in just under two hours (give or take), and pitched at the high temp.
Belgian White, currently drinking, and it tastes great. :rockin:
I quickly jumped online to read what I had done wrong and found out I was supposed to chill. So I proceed to jam the entire bucket into my tiny sink with as much ice and water I could. More than an hour later, and only ten to fifteen degrees of a drop, I start to panic and add tons of ice directly to the wort.
I managed to get it down to 80 degree in just under two hours (give or take), and pitched at the high temp.
Belgian White, currently drinking, and it tastes great. :rockin:
Christian
Well-Known Member
A year and half ago i brewed an imperial IPA with massive amounts of hops and accidently left the fermenter near a heat vent (i had just moved into the place). The fermentation temp was WAY too high (got up over 90) and took me forever to bring it back down. Then i bottled it and set it somewhere that my roommate didn't like and he moved the boxes on top of a heating vent. I was out of town and they sat on the heating vent for a couple of weeks at least. The bottles were scorching hot when i discovered where they were. I drank one and it tasted exactly like liquid soap. It was one of the most disgusting things i had ever drank. I tried another at 6 months and no change, it was god awful. tried again at 1 year and it was still disgusting, no change at all. I had one 2 nights ago and not only was it good but it is like drinking liquid perfection. It's amazing!
JBrady
Well-Known Member
You had more hope for that beer than I've ever had with any of my bad ones. I could never hang on to a beer that was that god awful for over a year. Just goes to show that I've probably missed out on some decent brews that never got the chance to shine, lol.
Vance71975
Well-Known Member
I think the worst problems i have had occurred on my recent All Rye Pale Ale.
I started the mash Low on purpose at 145, after i had been up all night with no sleep at all so i said screw it and let it sit starting at 145 and went to be, my mash tun is a cooler so when i woke up and checked the temp it was 142, 3 degrees in 7 hrs cant complain! So i sparged it, collected my wort, and wouldn't you know it, no sooner than the last of the wort was collected it started to down pour rain, i boil on a burner out side, so i said screw it again, put the lid on the wort and let it sit over night before being boiled.So next day i take it out to boil, i am boiling away happy as a clam, and after about 40 mins of boiling i ran out of gas....Again said screw it, brought it in chilled it, forgot to check the temp, pitched the yeast, remember to check the temp, wort was still 80 degrees, thought to myself ehhh so it will be estery.
I just kegged this batch today, it is AMAZING!
I started the mash Low on purpose at 145, after i had been up all night with no sleep at all so i said screw it and let it sit starting at 145 and went to be, my mash tun is a cooler so when i woke up and checked the temp it was 142, 3 degrees in 7 hrs cant complain! So i sparged it, collected my wort, and wouldn't you know it, no sooner than the last of the wort was collected it started to down pour rain, i boil on a burner out side, so i said screw it again, put the lid on the wort and let it sit over night before being boiled.So next day i take it out to boil, i am boiling away happy as a clam, and after about 40 mins of boiling i ran out of gas....Again said screw it, brought it in chilled it, forgot to check the temp, pitched the yeast, remember to check the temp, wort was still 80 degrees, thought to myself ehhh so it will be estery.
I just kegged this batch today, it is AMAZING!
So I just pulled the top of an imperial IPA that I used an ounce of fresh microplaned orange peel in and got the smell of rubbing alcohol. What did I do wrong? Too high temp? Combo yeast (1056 and 1010)? Can dry hopping save it?
Ziggybrew
Well-Known Member
Time heals most beers. Taste a bottle every 2 weeks or every month. You may be surprised what eventually happens.
The reality is that beer has been brewed for millenia without any of the modern antiseptic or sanitation methods we use today, and it still became beer. The quality and taste may be subjective however it is still beer. Here is my story below.....one of the best beers I made so far and would rather drink mine over the Chimay Grand Reserve I have sitting next to it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/absolute-disaster-bottling-day-239028/
beerloaf
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/absolute-disaster-bottling-day-239028/
beerloaf
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