Worst Brew Day

[ClarnoBrewer]

We all love to brew, but I bet most of us have had that one brew day that just didn't go as planned. Anyone have a story to share?

Here's mine:

Several years ago, the weather forced me inside, and my desire to brew fooled me into thinking that an AG brew day would be just fine on the stove top. I was brewing a Dry Irish Stout, and used way too much raw barley that I'd cooked down. Can you say first stuck sparge? Yup.

Friends were over, some of which had expressed interest in helping. However, they were all in the living room, drinking, chatting, etc... as I'm cursing life trying to get this damn wort to flow. Finally I got so frustrated that I had a juvenile moment and punched the cooler. Mash shot out and up onto the ceiling. Try explaining to your wife why there's 3lbs of black mash stuck to the ceiling!

Finally got things somewhat loosened up and into the boil kettle. 1.5 hours later, the kettle finally boils. Sort of. Everything else goes mostly okay until I realize that there's no way to hook up my chiller in the house. So out into the snow goes the brewpot. After 3 hours in the snow, I was able to pitch the yeast. Friends had gone home, wife was in bed, and the beer turned out mediocre at best. So many lessons learned that day!

 

[jholen]

lol! Just got my smile for the day, even though work is going like crap.

I've only got two batches under my belt, so nothing that matches anything like the brew day you described. I'm sure that I'll have something eventually though Like you said though, it's all about learning.

Thanks for the story.

 

[prrriiide]

A buddy of mine worked at a retail establishment that had turkey fryers on sale for $35. I already had one, but figured, WTH I can always use a second.

The first time I used it, the burner put out a TON of soot. Unbeknownst to me, it coated the burner AND the pot. When I went to rinse the hot pot in the kitchen sink...POOF...soot EVERYWHERE. THAT SUCKED DONKEY NUTS. It took about 12 hours of continuous scrubbing to get that chit off of the cabinets, fridge, stove, counters, sink, floor, windows, blinds, table, chairs...every surface in the room had soot on it.

I only use that burner now if I have NO other choice (including the stove). That was a bad night.

 

[Jsuds]

So after a bad brew day, I walk into my HBS say hi and the owner responds asking me if I had low efficiency on the last batch. I say, yeah and am feeling like wow things really get around. He proceeds to tell me he forgot to three pounds of my grain bill. He says he helped someone mid milling came back to it and left some in the hopper. Yada yada yada, Uhg.

 

[user 103238]

Funny, just brewed my first batch yesterday afternoon. Decided to speed up the cool down process by going outside in the snow at -24 degrees. Two snow treatments sandwiched between two short ice baths had the temperatures down to pitching temperatures in under 15 minutes!

So out into the snow goes the brewpot. After 3 hours in the snow, I was able to pitch the yeast. Friends had gone home, wife was in bed, and the beer turned out mediocre at best. So many lessons learned that day!

 

[A4J]

When friends come over to watch/help me brew, I prefer it when I'm doing a simple brew without a lot of additions. One time I was doing a Belgian and got too distracted drinking and talking. I forgot to add the candy sugar and the orange peel. That beer turned out less than stellar.

 

[azscoob]

While balls deep in a 10 gallon double brewday, the first 10 gallons were on the burner and I needed to preheat the mash tun again to get 10 gallon batch #2 going, my buddy says "hey you are boiling over" so rather than help out (he is also an AG brewer) he just enjoys his beer while I race out the patio door to get the boilover under control. while that is going on the mash tun is on the kitchen counter filling with the sprayer nozzle. it begins to overflow onto and into the dishwasher located directly below the tun. my buddy goes to get a beer and returns to say "dude why is there water in your kitchen and living room?" I dart back in the house to who knows how much water, the kitchen was flooded, the dining room was flooded and it was making its way into the living room.

I am lucky I have no carpet in the house, I grab my commercial yellow mop bucket and string mop and start swabbing the water up. wife calls to check in on my brewday from her shopping, I tell her I had some down time so I was mopping the floors like she asked me to do days earlier.

She never found out about the disaster, but cant figure out why the dishwasher is jacked up and only works when set to "pots and pans"

I have no idea why it doesnt work right anymore

 

[cowgo]

my buddy says "hey you are boiling over" so rather than help out (he is also an AG brewer) he just enjoys his beer while I race out the patio door to get the boilover under control.......

my buddy goes to get a beer and returns to say "dude why is there water in your kitchen and living room?"

You definitely need a new brew buddy.

 

[azscoob]

Somedays we brew together with all our equipment, some days one watches the other but doesn't assist. that time he was there to get boozed up and make fun of me while I struggled.

I do the same to him, watched him hang himself on a brewday recently, shot useless pointers his way like "hey I think you missed your hop addition like 20 minutes ago, that beer wont have much bitterness at all."

When we brew together we assist each other, when just hanging out it is mostly to torture the other guy while he brews.

All in fun, we rarely have bungled brewdays but it is fun to watch when it happens!