Share your dumbest brewing mistakes

I made a yeast starter for a packet of dry yeast on my first batch and didn't use a blow off tube...

 

Once racked 5 gallons of a saison to a bottling bucket with a vial of Brett. I realized that the spigot was pointing in the wrong direction so I twisted it and it came completely off. I had to quickly stick my whole unsanitized arm into the bucket to tighten the spigot back on. Turned out to be my best beer to date.

 

1) Needing to sanitize the rim around the starter jar before decanting ... grabbed and gave a half-squeeze from the Windex spray bottle instead of the blue StarSan-filled bottle next to it. Little if any got into the starter jar and full-on disaster was averted.

2) Placed the kettle's glass lid atop four pot well-used holders on the counter at flame-out. Went to replace the lid for the hop stand and one of the pot holders came along for the ride where proceeded it free fall into the wort. Fished it out ... returned the kettle to the stove ... boiled another few minutes ... and another full-on disaster was avoided.

 

My biggest mistake was not home brewing sooner!

 

The one (well, two) that stands out the most in my mind was the first day I was inspired to brew 2 beers with one main mash. The beers were an IPA, and a dubbel, with separately steeped darker grains and some candi syrup. Lots of planning went into this considering liquid volumes, the blending the first and second runnings in different proportions for the desired gravity, and so forth. I did consecutive boils full boils on my stovetop, so this was a long brewday. When it came time to add the yeast, I pitched a starter into the dubbel. Then I hydrated some US-05 and pitched that into the dubbel too. Oops. That was supposed to go into the IPA. So I biked to the local small grocer that carried good beers and some limited homebrew supplies. I got a pack of Nottingham, hydrated, and pitched in the IPA. As I am unwinding getting ready for bed, I notice an online rumor about bad packs of Notty. I compare my Notty's numerical code to the suspect one online: same code. So I run to the homebrew shop again, minutes before they close, and grab Windsor dry yeast, and pitch that. The next day, the thread on the Notty had lots of peeps saying the didn't experience this problem. So two beers, 4 different yeasts pitched, was a memorable mistake. Both beers were excellent, though. I'm sure I have some bigger mistakes, i.e., where the beers sucked, but those tend to be not so obvious, you just end up with meh.

 

I tried making a Berliner Weisse (http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/berliner-weisse-fail.103025/).

Brew day was a mess
- Incorrect measurements
- Forgetting that I didn't have a single pot large enough to mash / boil, so had to split the batch
- Accidentally threw out the aged hops I was going to use, so had to use fresh
- Burnt myself

Initial fermentation was a failure
- Left the Lacto blend addition too late
- Very uninspiring + v little sourness

Secondary fruit addition was a failure
- Couldn't find the fruit I wanted, so settled for Tangellos
- Accidentally added too much rind & pith : turned out not nice at all

The upshot? Two years later and the brew that I made the most (and dumbest) brewing mistakes has turned out to be one of my best.

 

Dumped 12lbs. plus of grain into 170º mash-in water and realized I'd never ground the grain. Recovery was messy – I won't go into the detaisl – but eventually the brew turned out decent if a little light on the gravity side.

 

A bad day for sure, but it turned out good. Way to go! You just disproved that this hobby is an exact science.

 

I boiled starter wort in a flask on an electric element on my stove. I heard some popping but did not see a crack. This was before I had a stirplate. I had swirled a few times without a problem. Went for it again and as I was swirling the bottom came out of the flask.

Loosing the starter was one thing, cleaning all the fermenting starter wort off of everything in the kitchen was another. From then on I boiled in a pot and poured into the flask.

 

First "big" beer:

-No temp control, airlock blew off, fusel alcohol smell/taste
-Added ground coffee in secondary. Tasted way too strong and kind of like stale coffee that had been sitting around all day
-Added cocao nibs from whole foods. Didn't know they would add fat content. Bottles have a thin layer of fat at the top

I don't "wing it" as much anymore after that disaster of a beer

 

I think a lot of people don't know how much fat is in nibs. Over 40%. Cocoa powder is a lower fat alternative.

 

I was brewing a kit beer that was half grain half DME, 5 gallon batch. It was a porter, like a Black Butte Porter clone. All the ingredients were in clear bags and I'd set them all up in order of application. In the process of starting the brewing and cleaning everything I'd set the white powdered cleanser bag next to the ingredients. In my rush to add everything on time I accidentally added the entire contents of the cleanser into my boil. That was the end of that batch of beer.

 

on my first batch i didnt realize that if the bottling bucket was covered completely the beer wouldnt flow out the spigot.
spent an hour gurgling cheap vodka and blowing in the fill tube to try and unclog the horrible "clog".
after filling about a case in an hour and a half it hit me.
I'm stupid

 

On my first batch I didn't exactly know what the hydrometer was used for so I placed it in the wort as I began the boil on the stove! I thought it would tell the temperature or rise according to the heat or something?! Luckily I figured something was wrong and pulled it before a rapid boil!

 

Had a great brew day and after chilling transferred to a fermenter with a spigot. Didn't realize the spigot was open as I was cleaning up until I lost half the beer onto the patio.

 

I had a similar accident, but for me it was just sanitizer into the sink. Very quickly I produced a magic marker and wrote 'open' and 'closed' on the side of my bucket.

 

I haven't started yet...dumbest mistake ever

 

This is fixable. Howtobrew.com

 

I just need to find some free time. I work two jobs and have two kids. Kinda tough right now. But it is definitely in the works.

 

Sometimes I don't seat the gasket properly inside the keg disconnect output and beer spews like mad through the top of the disconnect when I tap it. That really makes me angry. F bombs drop. It's happened twice.

Other than that, not much to report.