Worst brew day ever

[mattd2]

61% is pretty good all things considered
My brewday/night F-up on Sunday consisted of milling my grain direct into the MLT while heating strike water in the pot next to it. Unsecured hopper (juice bottle - I really need to build something better) tipped over and fell straight into the water. Had to grab it out of the 140(ish) °F water, scoop the grain out and the guestimate how much I lost... looks like I will not be recreating this batch if it goes down well

 

[fuzzy2133]

Do you just drill a hole through the parts and run the wire through??? Ive had to stick my bare hand in the mash before to reattach my manifold as well and I would like to avoid reliving that experience if possible.

all the ones I have seen are built like a ladder. My thought was to wrap end to end so all the fittings dont move much. If your bulk head has exposed threads you can wrap the wire around there to attach it to the cooler.

Post a pic of what you have. Maybe I am thinking of the wrong thing.(?)

 

[fuzzy2133]

Agh double post

 

[Zepth]

If it's any consolation it was only my last 2 brew days that I didn't end up mopping the kitchen floor. I mean I should do that anyways every so often, but not because of a recent screw up. It's either the new setup and less siphoning with more valves, or I got my act together. Or I'm more focused on the current task and less involved with finished batches if you know what I mean.

Worst: Indoor boilover on the stovetop. And down the sides. And onto the floor. And under the stove. And the counter beside the stove. And somehow the drawer at the bottom of the stove. What a bloody mess.

 

[jtratcliff]

Consider this... It might have been the Worst brew day ever, but in the end you'll have beer.... No so bad in the grand scheme of things

 

[LabRatBrewer]

After reading some of the horror stories on HBT ending in the ER, I think a thread about the worst brew day ever would end with, "Someday, I hope his widow will forgive me."

Still, yours does sound frustrating.

 

[damlamb]

Post a pic of what you have. Maybe I am thinking of the wrong thing.(?)

All the joints are soldered except the last one where it meets the bulkhead. The odd time its fallen out mid-mash and made for some bad days.

 

[fuzzy2133]

I added red with were I would wrap the safety wire. ~3 times around the bulk head and 2-3 times around the "T". You will need some pliers to twist the wire to snug the wire up. More than likely you will have to experiment to find what works best. 1lb of wire will last you a long time so don't be stingy.

 

[SnakeRidge]

"Someday, I hope his widow will forgive me."

Well Mrs Brewer, when the fire went out, there wasn't a whole lot left to bury....

 

[schematix]

**** happens when brewing.... Not to knock your day but at least you got beer and didn't get hurt. There are a number of stories on here about carbon monoxide poisoning, burns, major cuts, electric shocks, etc. Stickyness and low efficiency is easy to fix.

Personal memorable bad experiences are:
-Wort chiller splitting open when the wort was at 100 (had to re-boil and re-chill, great beer though!)
-Many stuck sparges, particularly with 1 bag particular bag of belgian pilsner malt
-Cooler warping during sparge constantly letting grain run out
-False bottom hose coming off while stirring
-Pump cavitation before I understood the huge difference in vapor pressure between 170F and 190F water
-Clogged plate chiller
-Clogged Hop Stopper

Out of my 50+ brews I've only had maybe 2 or 3 go off without a hitch. It's ALWAYS something. The better you deal with it, the better your brewing will be in the long term.