Whats the biggest bonehead mistake you've made while brewing?
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Beer glass gets that low that you have to send a baby in after it then get yelled at by a sign?
cheez
Well-Known Member
I was doing an all grain batch, took a pre-boil OG measurement and it was about 10 or so points below target. So, I added a calculated amount of DME to bring it up to the target. I then realized that I was looking at the POST BOIL OG target, not the PRE BOIL target. Doh! I then added a calculated amount of water to bring it back down to the pre-boil target. I felt like a moron to say the least. What's great is that the beer still turned out awesome!
Shred
Former Microbrewery Founder & Pro Brewer
I have my pseudo-pislner rye ale in bottles and they just don't seem to be carbing. Can't be certain, but I'm concerned I forgot to add priming sugar.
adiochiro3
Well-Known Member
Didn't have a wort chiller for my very first batch, so I left the bucket on the porch to cool -- with the lid off (because things cool faster when uncovered). 6-7 hours exposure to the night air. 
processhead
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meadmakerr
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Letting the airlock run dry ...... That cost me 129 dollars in honeys and other ingredients HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAa big expensive mistake
meadmakerr
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My son also pissed in my fermenter drum for my beer hahahahaha
ManhattanProjectBrewing
Well-Known Member
Last year (January, 2012) my brew buddy and I brewed up a beautiful double chocolate-mint stout. This bad boy was HUGE and; at the time, we were still getting our glass wet so we didnt fully understand fermentation. That being said, after three weeks in primary then an additional 4 weeks in secondary we were certain this beast of a brew was ready for bottling. We primed as usual (Batch) and made slight additions of both chocolate and mint extracts to bring the sexy back then bottled these beauties for Christmas. As I mentioned, we did not fully understand fermentation, specifically the effect of HIGH OG on certain yeast strains. None-the-less, a year later we had a wonderfully tasty and complex brew
. But, and its a BIG but.. It was flat as a pancake. The yeast was so pooped after primary and secondary it just packed it in and quit. However, THAT is not the bonehead mistake
..
In my infinite knowledge, impatience, and disappointment after almost a year of conditioning I got the bright idea of carbing up post-conditioning .. In a Soda Stream. See where this is going? I chilled a bottle while I was at work then in the wee hours of the morning (I was working nights) at a non-disclosed rural location I poured the stout into the carbing bottle and attached it to the co2 machine of death, AKA the Soda Stream ..
Now, you have to understand this was the FIRST time I have used this device. The warning label CLEARLY states use water only. What?!? Naw, press on soldier Press on. The warning label also stated press three times firmly until you hear a loud buzz. I figured, in my deep understanding of the word buzz I was listening for something akin compression breaks No buzz. I pressed three more times No buzz Rinse / repeat No buzz. At this point I am getting fairly concerned that the buzzer is broken and that I have officially exceeded the maximum occupancy load of said Soda Stream bottle . Naw, press on soldier. SIX MORE PRESSES No buzz. Okay, NOW I am freakn out!
I decided that safety, common sense, and simple physics had already gone out the window and it was time to abort. So .. I began S-L-O-W-L-Y unscrewing the soon to be soda-rocket-bomb-thermo-nuclear-explosive-choco-minty-fresh device-of despair .. BOOOOOOOOM! That sucker rocketed downward, spraying tasty-sticky-sweet chocolate mint nectar EVERYWHERE. E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. I stood there partially in awe, partially in panic mode . I gathered my senses, pulled myself up by the bootstraps, remembered my combat experience and assessed myself for injury and structural damage IM ALIVE! Soaked but ALIVE!!! And No broken windows. Whew! Wait . The ceiling, ooohhhh the ceiling.
The ceiling looked as if I had strategically shelled maple syrup with a Howitzer, creating what can only be described as a malt-laden Rorschach test. The lights glistened with an eerie, brown glow and the floor was still pooling the aftermath of the explosion. At this point I just chuckled, put my head down and began cleaning .for two hours. The splat pattern looked like something out of a bad B horror movie and reached from the kitchen to the front door to the family room to the downstairs hallway. And the smell . Well, the smell was delightful but all I could think about was the look on my wifes face should she come down prior to me getting rid of the evidence.
After all was said and done I learned one VERY valuable lesson. The term buzz is up for interpretation. Oh, and the Soda Stream, though it did work out later after watching a few how to videos on YouTube, has a built in tilt-release designed to release the pressure prior to unscrewing the bottle. You live and learn folks You live and learn. And THATS my biggest bonehead mistake ..so far.
Cheers,
-JM
In my infinite knowledge, impatience, and disappointment after almost a year of conditioning I got the bright idea of carbing up post-conditioning .. In a Soda Stream. See where this is going? I chilled a bottle while I was at work then in the wee hours of the morning (I was working nights) at a non-disclosed rural location I poured the stout into the carbing bottle and attached it to the co2 machine of death, AKA the Soda Stream ..
Now, you have to understand this was the FIRST time I have used this device. The warning label CLEARLY states use water only. What?!? Naw, press on soldier Press on. The warning label also stated press three times firmly until you hear a loud buzz. I figured, in my deep understanding of the word buzz I was listening for something akin compression breaks No buzz. I pressed three more times No buzz Rinse / repeat No buzz. At this point I am getting fairly concerned that the buzzer is broken and that I have officially exceeded the maximum occupancy load of said Soda Stream bottle . Naw, press on soldier. SIX MORE PRESSES No buzz. Okay, NOW I am freakn out!
I decided that safety, common sense, and simple physics had already gone out the window and it was time to abort. So .. I began S-L-O-W-L-Y unscrewing the soon to be soda-rocket-bomb-thermo-nuclear-explosive-choco-minty-fresh device-of despair .. BOOOOOOOOM! That sucker rocketed downward, spraying tasty-sticky-sweet chocolate mint nectar EVERYWHERE. E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. I stood there partially in awe, partially in panic mode . I gathered my senses, pulled myself up by the bootstraps, remembered my combat experience and assessed myself for injury and structural damage IM ALIVE! Soaked but ALIVE!!! And No broken windows. Whew! Wait . The ceiling, ooohhhh the ceiling.
The ceiling looked as if I had strategically shelled maple syrup with a Howitzer, creating what can only be described as a malt-laden Rorschach test. The lights glistened with an eerie, brown glow and the floor was still pooling the aftermath of the explosion. At this point I just chuckled, put my head down and began cleaning .for two hours. The splat pattern looked like something out of a bad B horror movie and reached from the kitchen to the front door to the family room to the downstairs hallway. And the smell . Well, the smell was delightful but all I could think about was the look on my wifes face should she come down prior to me getting rid of the evidence.
After all was said and done I learned one VERY valuable lesson. The term buzz is up for interpretation. Oh, and the Soda Stream, though it did work out later after watching a few how to videos on YouTube, has a built in tilt-release designed to release the pressure prior to unscrewing the bottle. You live and learn folks You live and learn. And THATS my biggest bonehead mistake ..so far.
Cheers,
-JM
tmac2050
Well-Known Member
I had 3 batches fermenting - 2 in buckets and one bulk aging in a carboy, covered with a shirt to keep the light out. When it came time to bottle the beer in the carboy, I absentmindedly dragged the bucket of the newest beer upstairs and did not realize my mistake until cleaning everything up. Thankfully, it had fermented for 11 days, and no sign of bottle bombs yet.
hio3791
Well-Known Member
Last year, I bought a pump and while learning the "new" process, I was recirculating boiling wort to sanitize the pump/hoses/etc. Well, I shut off the pump, grabbed the side of the hose that was in the BK and placed it in my bucket of StarSan leaving the other end connected to my wort chiller. I killed the fire on the BK, started the cold water through the chiller and reached for the hose end that was in the bucket, only to notice the bucket was considerably hotter.
As it turns out, I left the valve open and even though the pump was shut off, a syphon had started and was drawing boiling wort into my bucket filled sanitizer. No big deal, except, I had my yeast in mason jars in the bucket. The temperature caused the jars to pop the lid and while there was no broken glass, the yeast was destroyed. Fortunately, I had extra yeast so disaster averted.
Lessons learned that have become part of my SOP:
As it turns out, I left the valve open and even though the pump was shut off, a syphon had started and was drawing boiling wort into my bucket filled sanitizer. No big deal, except, I had my yeast in mason jars in the bucket. The temperature caused the jars to pop the lid and while there was no broken glass, the yeast was destroyed. Fortunately, I had extra yeast so disaster averted.
Lessons learned that have become part of my SOP:
- Shut off all valves
- Don't remove hose off the BK until fire is out and cold water is flowing through chiller
- Don't sanitize mason jars by leaving them in the sanitizing bucket
- And most importantly, Always have extra yeast in hand
JoelRabbit
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Brew in a bag... forgot the bag. 'Nuff said.
tmac2050
Well-Known Member
tmac2050 said:
Needless to say, I now label EVERYTHING.
No biggies, but...
First one: I was gonna take a pre-boil gravity reading. Opened the spiggot while the lid was still on... took forever to fill - and then it hit me... so I opened the lid, or rather... tried. It was stuuuck! Eventually got it off... and hot wort came spurting out of the spiggot. Thankfully I didn't burn my hand, and the spiggot was facing out away from the stove, as usual.
Second, well... not really a bonehead mistake. We had done a leak test on our electric brewery, and it was fine. Then on brew day it started leaking right where the heating element was mounted. Scary.
First one: I was gonna take a pre-boil gravity reading. Opened the spiggot while the lid was still on... took forever to fill - and then it hit me... so I opened the lid, or rather... tried. It was stuuuck! Eventually got it off... and hot wort came spurting out of the spiggot. Thankfully I didn't burn my hand, and the spiggot was facing out away from the stove, as usual.
Second, well... not really a bonehead mistake. We had done a leak test on our electric brewery, and it was fine. Then on brew day it started leaking right where the heating element was mounted. Scary.
Retire2016
Well-Known Member
Dumping a batch of mead before bottling. With nothing really to lose except space on my shelf, I should have aged it out.
Dropped the "non-sanitized" cap to a vial of white labs into my chilled wort as I was pitching...
Left the BK burner on as I was trying to chill the wort, couldn't figure out why my IC sucked so bad...head smack on that one.
And of course the ever present forgot priming sugar in fridge and bottled anyways. Went to grab milk for the morning cereal and noticed my now very chilled priming sugar still sitting there.
Left the BK burner on as I was trying to chill the wort, couldn't figure out why my IC sucked so bad...head smack on that one.
And of course the ever present forgot priming sugar in fridge and bottled anyways. Went to grab milk for the morning cereal and noticed my now very chilled priming sugar still sitting there.
kombat
Well-Known Member
I've got a few to add to the compendium:
- Forgot my stir bar was in the flask and dumped it down the sink.
- Pitched an entire 4-liter starter into a 5 gallon batch of Oktoberfest instead of decanting (still waiting to see how this batch turns out)
- Put a keg of Oktoberfest into the fridge to lager, hooked up a blowoff tube. Cooling contraction sucked back about a liter of Star-San into the beer. Different batch than the previous one, this one is also still lagering.
- Set my glass carboy on a small box to keep it off the concrete while filling with chilled wort. As it filled, the weight caused the box to collapse. Carboy tipped and shattered.
plumber_bob
Well-Known Member
Didn't hit the numbers on first brew.
Didn't hit the numbers on 2nd brew.
Didn't hit the numbers on 3rd brew.
Didn't hit the numbers on 4nd brew.
and on and on,... but I made damned good beer every time!
Well,.. the non's at work thought so,... it was all highly drinkable for me!
And I got that learning curve thing that helped me out!!!
Checking and reading what the 10k+ posters have to say,... I don't feel too bad.
pb
Didn't hit the numbers on 2nd brew.
Didn't hit the numbers on 3rd brew.
Didn't hit the numbers on 4nd brew.
and on and on,... but I made damned good beer every time!
Well,.. the non's at work thought so,... it was all highly drinkable for me!
And I got that learning curve thing that helped me out!!!
Checking and reading what the 10k+ posters have to say,... I don't feel too bad.
pb
Leaving the valve open in the mash tun and realizing it only after all the ingredients and water are in and mashing...
Is there a size limit for a post?
If the question is really limited to the single 'biggest' I guess I can pick one. My system uses triclover valves. These are secured to fermenters, kettles, hlt's etc. by a triclover clamp and the hose to be connected to the vessel connects to the other side of the valve by another triclover clamp. Can you guess where this is going?
On more than one occasion I have reached down to remove a hose and inadvertently loosened the clamp on the vessel side. I always caught myself except for once and that was when the kettle was full of wort. I had an instant to decide whether to take the scald or lose the beer. I decided on the former and managed to save about half the batch. And the scald wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
In the middle of this my brewing buddy showed up with his 6 yo daughter. The language that child heard! I hope she wasn't scarred for life.
If the question is really limited to the single 'biggest' I guess I can pick one. My system uses triclover valves. These are secured to fermenters, kettles, hlt's etc. by a triclover clamp and the hose to be connected to the vessel connects to the other side of the valve by another triclover clamp. Can you guess where this is going?
On more than one occasion I have reached down to remove a hose and inadvertently loosened the clamp on the vessel side. I always caught myself except for once and that was when the kettle was full of wort. I had an instant to decide whether to take the scald or lose the beer. I decided on the former and managed to save about half the batch. And the scald wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
In the middle of this my brewing buddy showed up with his 6 yo daughter. The language that child heard! I hope she wasn't scarred for life.
Lets see.....
* Was reading the wrong side of the thermometer the entire time (C vs F) during a mini-mash brew.
* Knocked a small dish of gummy bears into my bottling bucket just after siphoning. Bottled anyway...marginal damage.
* Went to give the wort I just put into the carboy to ferment a good swirl only to learn too late that I forgot to put the bung in.
And the list goes on....
* Was reading the wrong side of the thermometer the entire time (C vs F) during a mini-mash brew.
* Knocked a small dish of gummy bears into my bottling bucket just after siphoning. Bottled anyway...marginal damage.
* Went to give the wort I just put into the carboy to ferment a good swirl only to learn too late that I forgot to put the bung in.
And the list goes on....
WestphAles
Member
While I was sharing a little intro to whole grain brewing lesson with my uncle, which involved a 1-gallon batch on the stovetop, a person who will remain unidentified came into the kitchen to help. In preparation to do so, he lathered up and washed his hands... right into the pot of chilling wort in the sink ice bath.
skullface1818
Well-Known Member
for me, it was when I did my first AG mash.
Not only did I mess up my brewing water volume, temperature, and times, but my mash cooler still needed a lot of work. It was VERY leaky, its Stainless steel mesh was very unstable on the bottom, and their was exposed non Stainless steel metal washers on the inside....which quickly started to corrode after the first mash.
the beer came out terrible, heavily under gravity, and poorly yeasted (I made no starter). It tasted like a combination of stale yeasty bread with a distinct metalic aftertaste
Ohh and Did I mention the overcarbination? it was massively over carbinated.
I managed to fix up my mash to working order and none of my batches where ever as disappointing as the first AG one.
Not only did I mess up my brewing water volume, temperature, and times, but my mash cooler still needed a lot of work. It was VERY leaky, its Stainless steel mesh was very unstable on the bottom, and their was exposed non Stainless steel metal washers on the inside....which quickly started to corrode after the first mash.
the beer came out terrible, heavily under gravity, and poorly yeasted (I made no starter). It tasted like a combination of stale yeasty bread with a distinct metalic aftertaste
Ohh and Did I mention the overcarbination? it was massively over carbinated.
I managed to fix up my mash to working order and none of my batches where ever as disappointing as the first AG one.
Forgot to install my dip tub and false bottom on the mash tun.
At the time this occurred I only had one keggle, which served as MLT and boil kettle. I would mash, then drain the wort into fermentor pales, then clean the keggle, and then pour the wort from the pales back into the keggle and boil.
60 minutes later I could not figure out why I could not get clear wort from the MLT, and then it just stopped up.
Looked over on the work bench and there was the false bottom.
So I had to scoop out all the wet grains and wort into my fermentors and installed the false bottom,
then poured everything back into the MLT,
then let it sit,
then vourloughed,
then transferred the wort back into the fermentors,
then cleaned the mash tun,
then added the wort back into the keggle,
then boiled.
I think that brew day took 10 hours.
At the time this occurred I only had one keggle, which served as MLT and boil kettle. I would mash, then drain the wort into fermentor pales, then clean the keggle, and then pour the wort from the pales back into the keggle and boil.
60 minutes later I could not figure out why I could not get clear wort from the MLT, and then it just stopped up.
Looked over on the work bench and there was the false bottom.
So I had to scoop out all the wet grains and wort into my fermentors and installed the false bottom,
then poured everything back into the MLT,
then let it sit,
then vourloughed,
then transferred the wort back into the fermentors,
then cleaned the mash tun,
then added the wort back into the keggle,
then boiled.
I think that brew day took 10 hours.
HoppyDaze
Well-Known Member
I know a guy who worked his tail off to get his wort down to 65 degrees, then never pitched the yeast. It wasn't me though...
AG brews -
Plan on a 5 gallon batch, buy ingredients for a 10. Brewed it anyway.
5.5 Gallon batch, come out with 7 gallons of wort.
5.5 Gallon batch, come out with 8 gallons of wort.
Moral:
I really need to recalculate my boiloff/deadspace of my equipment.
Plan on a 5 gallon batch, buy ingredients for a 10. Brewed it anyway.
5.5 Gallon batch, come out with 7 gallons of wort.
5.5 Gallon batch, come out with 8 gallons of wort.
Moral:
I really need to recalculate my boiloff/deadspace of my equipment.
Shred
Former Microbrewery Founder & Pro Brewer
Ran out of propane with 5 minutes left to boil today... that was pretty dumb. Fortunately, I had a tiny bit (read: just enough) in a tank on my secondary grill to finish the job.
Did this with my no chill container. Left probably half a gallon of sanitizer in it and realized after I'd transferred 3 gallons of hot wort that I forgot to empty it first. D'oh!
Fortunately after reading up on the web it appears the yeast actually like to eat this stuff. :rockin:
If a last attempt to boost the OG a bit more I grabbed the bag of sugar off the counter and scooped two cups into the wort. Didn't bother taking a reading.
The error did not present itself until 3 weeks later when I tasted a sample of the fermented beer. Uhm....that wasn't sugar. Yeah, ruined a whole batch.
The error did not present itself until 3 weeks later when I tasted a sample of the fermented beer. Uhm....that wasn't sugar. Yeah, ruined a whole batch.
amfukuda
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My first attempt at a fruit beer I blended up my fruit did not sanitize it added it to my secondary in the blended state and had a lot go into my bottling bucket since I was doing five one gallon batches splitting priming sugar seemed like a pain so I used fizz drops instead while bottling I forgot what bottles already had drops in them so I added to the "empty ones" a week latter I am cleaning glass and fruit particles from my kitchen
Cerevisaphile
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Why do you freeze your stakes? I would think that could make them brittle. I just keep mine in the garage in the bag with the tent. ;-)
I had a bottling bucket full of what promised to be a really good imperial porter. I tightened the spigot nut too much, which squished the gasket out of shape and caused a small leak. So genius me, I sprayed my arm with starsan, reached in and loosened the nut.
Infected the whole batch. All were nasty, sour, metallic tasting gushers. If I had let the leak go, I would have lost, maybe 3-4 beers. Lost the whole batch.
Infected the whole batch. All were nasty, sour, metallic tasting gushers. If I had let the leak go, I would have lost, maybe 3-4 beers. Lost the whole batch.
