What's the easiest way to make a mistake?

[Orfy]

I've made 3 big noob mistakes in the last month.

I put it down to not devoting myself to getting in the zone when brewing.

• I killed a better bottle. FFS!!!!!!! I think I am the only one to ever do that!!!!
• I Killed a 1 gallon carboy FFS!!!!!! Thermal shock.
• I Killed (Blew up and set on fire) my MLT. REALLY FFS!!!!!!!! I also think I am the only one ever to do that!!!!!!!!!

I've been stressed, busy and tired.

I need to get back in the brew zone.

 

[INeedANewHobby]

I ruined (well, kind of) a better bottle. I was sterilizing my stuff one night, and figured why not auto-siphon some of that very hot water into the better bottle where the starsan is to do it?....BAD IDEA. It shrivled up and is not about 4.5 gallons capacity. Dumb noob mistake on my part.

 

[Ryanh1801]

I almost forgot to sanitize my bottling bucket today. Dohh. Got ready to rack over and remembered right before I started the siphon.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I've made 3 big noob mistakes in the last month.

I put it down to not devoting myself to getting in the zone when brewing.

• I killed a better bottle. FFS!!!!!!! I think I am the only one to ever do that!!!!
• I Killed a 1 gallon carboy FFS!!!!!! Thermal shock.
• I Killed (Blew up and set on fire) my MLT. REALLY FFS!!!!!!!! I also think I am the only one ever to do that!!!!!!!!!

I've been stressed, busy and tired.

I need to get back in the brew zone.

How did you accomplish #1 & #3?

 

[Orfy]

I use water out of my IC for cleaning.
First run is not good for better bottles. They shrink Big time!!!!!

I have(had) an Electric Plastic HLT. I plugged it in and didn't spot it was turned on.
It blew up literally and set the plastic on fire.

 

[fretman124]

I trashed a Better Bottle with boiling water. Posted pics of it on here somewhere. Haven't busted a carboy........ yet. my mistakes usually are along the lines of forgetting ingredients, etc.

 

[david_42]

"stressed, busy and tired"

I tend not to brew under those conditions, but that means no homebrew for extended periods. That's also a mistake.

 

[krispy d]

"stressed, busy and tired"

I tend not to brew under those conditions, but that means no homebrew for extended periods. That's also a mistake.

sounds like the beginning of a vicious cycle!

 

[Got Trub?]

Been there, done (most) of it and have a T-shirt collection. Orfy I'm sure given your experience you know the following, just need to refocus...

What I have learned:

1) RDWHAHB - after the yeast is pitched

2) Brew day is brew day - I don't plan on anything else. I might putter around the yard or house on little projects during mashing or boiling but no other obligations.

3) Prepare the day before. I have all my grain measured and crushed, yeast ready to go - either crash cooled in the fridge or bubbling away in its starter. All my water measured out and my stuff ready to fire up first thing in the am. My directions printed up and in a water protective covering.

4) It isn't a race to see how fast I can go from flame on to yeast pitched. Sure I can probably do it all within 3.375 hrs but it is much more enjoyable and fewer mistakes if I take my time.

5) S@#t happens, roll with it. My last brew day the outlet hose fell off my WC and sprayed me with water. Just shrugged (mentally) turned off the water grabbed my handy screwdriver and fixed it and carried on.

GT

 

[ThomasRau]

What's the easiest way to make a mistake?

To be in a rush.

 

[Spyk'd]

Maybe not set on fire, but this one came to mind:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10606

 

[PseudoChef]

I just tend to drink way too much during brew sessions. I haven't really made too many detrimental mistakes, but some things would have gone better if I had been more clear-headed.

 

[FlyGuy]

I hear you guys -- I make dumb mistakes all the time. Most relate to me not remembering everything -- I am SOOOO absent-minded. For example, I have bottled at least 3 times before remembering the priming sugar cooling on the stove. I once dumped my cooled wort into my fermenter, but only after I realized there was a good quart or so of Star San in it (turned out fine, BTW!). I can't remember the number of times I have added sparge water to the mash tun before remembering to close the valve. I also burnt a pot up because I forgot that I left water boiling in it (it eventually evaporated).

Anyways, my biggest chance of making a mistake is when I don't write the whole process down, or I forget to follow it.

This is especially true when I am (a) tired, (b) in a big hurry, and/or (c) drinking too many homebrews.

 

[c.n.budz]

I think the easiest way to make a mistake is to let a friend who doesn't know what they're doing help you brew while also consuming too many HBs

 

[Chad]

Hmm, in my experience the easiest way to make a mistake is to become overconfident and feel that you have mastered the process. I know that I make more mistakes when I'm cooking or baking something I've done a hundred times than something I've only made a couple of times.

I write out checklists for brew day. They get stapled to the brew sheet generated by Beersmith. I use them to think through not only the mash and brewing, but to ensure that everything that needs to be cleaned gets cleaned and everything that needs to be sanitized is sanitized at the right time. My last brew day (actually two days) was bottling one batch, racking another batch to secondary and brewing a third. The movement of PBW and StarSan solutions through the various kettles, carboys and other vessels was pretty involved. I probably would have been sunk without my checklist.

Chad

 

[sudbuster]

------>I can't remember the number of times I have added sparge water to the mash tun before remembering to close the valve. <-----

LOL! i'm glad to hear i'm not the only one that does that. Makes a heck of a mess.......

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Maybe not set on fire, but this one came to mind:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10606

Damn, ya just gotta keep rubbing it in, don'tcha?
Actually, I was just going to find that old thread myself when I saw you beat me to it. Sad part, I wasn't even drunk! Orfy, I didn't set it on fire, but I melted a hole in it with a heatstick. Oopsie.........:cross:

 

[Spyk'd]

Damn, ya just gotta keep rubbing it in, don'tcha?

Naw, just some threads make an impression on me...


Like the ones that talk about placing heating elements in plastic containers and subsequently melting holes through them!




Seems there was alot of talk about using heatsticks back then. You don't hear about that method so much anymore. More likely to talk about brew sculptures these days. We're apparently getting more EACish. I mean EVERYONE has a keggle now, right? Keezer/Kegger?

 

[eviljafar]

For me the easiest way to make a mistake is to stay in that easily distracted, just had a couple, beer buzz state of mind. When that happens I've got to get straight into a couple more and drink through the danger zone to that calmer, more focussed and enlightened state of mind where beer, beermaking and I are at one.

 

[BeerAg]

My biggest problems have always occured when I try to do more than just Brew.

For example:
1) cooking burgers + brewing = beer with no bittering hops
2) watching an Aggie football game + brewing = unsmacked smack pack at pitching time
3) babysitting my 2 toddler girls by myself + brewing = first runnings on garage floor (The sparged grains made for a really good, uh, partial mash)

My other problem is thermometers. I break those yellow thermometers like crazy, usually when they are being sanitized mid brew-day. The average shelf life of a thermometer in my garage is 2.5 brews. I buy them 3 at a time.

Note to CPS: my daughters were never in the garage, where all the hot water hangs out. I simply emptied water from MLT into kettle, with kettle drain wide open, but never noticed.

 

[EdWort]

No brew till flame out.

 

[niquejim]

This post reminds me of one I saw on another site
http://www.tastybrew.com/forum/thread/121312

 

[Evan!]

No brew till flame out.

I think that's a typo there. I think you meant to say, "no brew till mashed in". Man, it doesn't matter if I'm brewing at 6am (which I often to). Once I'm mashed in, I go straight to the fridge for a homebrew. It's a ritual. I don't get wrecked or anything, but brewing while drinking what I brewed before is just perfect to me. And the worst mistakes I make are forgetting to add Irish Moss (OH NOOOES!) or missing a hop addition by a few minutes. Maybe if it's really late at night, I'll forget to take SG readings.