Homebrewing epic fails

Bingo! ...and I'll bet you were drinking, too.
10 AM is my cutoff time...if I haven't lit a burner by then, I won't brew that day. This is the reason I don't like liquid yeast sometimes...once I make a starter, I feel committed. RDWAHAHB...could be your best beer ever.

 

I once made a starter with a packet of dry yeast....
I also brewed after work and got totally shit faced in the process. I left everything to be cleaned in the morning... so terrible. I almost quit brewing that day.

 

Agree. You have to be careful about squeezing in a brewday. The time to brew a batch can escalate when something goes wrong. If you are tired or pressed for time, you may not think through an issue and compound your problems (like adding of lime, not getting a response on the meter, and adding more lime instead of questioning your instrument).

I have had to put brewing a beer off for a month due to a ramp-up in work responsibilities and my packet of liquid yeast in the fridge is getting old. I'm finding I may have to start squeezing in brew days again, and dry yeast may be a helpful solution to the more demanding schedule of liquid yeast.

 

You gents ever done a double brew day? That shit is hard to balance.

I've had a few moderately disastrous brew days. Such as swirling a carboy for some final aeration and it breaks, forgetting chlorine removal, etc.

This has to be the worst offense on my brewing though. Totally defeated feeling. Ceiling joists caved in all over my pristine brewhaus. Finally going to be able to start rebuilding this weekend, amongst other commitments of course.

 

WOW!! Is that a garage door opener among that mess too? Good luck with that mess.

 

1) Had a quick connect connector come off my pump when chilling my wort - definitely alcohol related
2) After force carbing a keg, the output line came off. At 40psi, the beer shot across the room hitting the living room window with great force. Had to think for a second on how to de-pressurize but that was enough time to make a huge mess. I am still in the doghouse for that one.

 

I'm about 20 batches in since I started brewing last year, and nothing too disastrous yet other than a couple boil-overs. I fear that my good luck will catch up to me soon.

I'm surprised that so many people poo-poo brewing after work. That's usually about the only time I'm able to brew. I'll start at 6pm and finish up around 10pm. I have my equipment set up and my grains crushed the day before, which helps get things going quickly. I think the fact that I do BIAB is probably part of the reason also. With no lengthy mash draining and sparging, it's usually only about 10-15 minutes between when I finish my mash to when I start heating up the boil.

 

Yup... Thanks!

 

years from now while cleaning the kitchen up you will still find places that beer went.

 

Wow that must have been ready to explode

 

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Public/Photos?preview=2014-08-26+18.47.45.jpg

May be hard to tell from the pic. After a 90 min boil, there was a clear color change in the cabinets near the stove. This was after my first (and only) brew in the kitchen. My wife thought I ruined the cabinets and to this day says there is a slight color difference. I have been brewing in the basement after that.

 

I think there was a change in my tap water chemistry because after about 15 successful beers, 3 batches in a row had an intense astringency that made drinking impossible. I was so discouraged that I gave up brewing for a while, then had the bright idea to buy bottled water.

 

Recently brewed a Citra IPA. OG 1.050. A week and a half in took a sample from the sample port, refractometor reads 1.030, .20 or so of from my desired FG. I'm a bit puzzled because airlock activity has slowed to a near standstill. Of course knowing airlock activity doesn't signal the end of fermentation and given that it's only been a week and a half I let it go.

A week passes and I pull a sample, refractometor reading is 1.030. I start to wonder, is my meter reading right? I callibrated it. Do I have a stuck fermentation? Is it done fermenting at 1.030? Did something go wrong during the mash leaving me with a bunch of unfermentable sugars? I check my Brewday notes and I hit all my temps. At this point I make a decision, a fatal one. Im thinking of re- pitching and since I am running to the homebrew store for a Saison I am making the following day I can pick up my yeast to re-pitch but first I attempt to rouse my yeast. I gently swirl the fermentor and then head off to homebrew store.

Next day is my saison brewday and everything goes wonderful. I finish up and go check my IPA. Nothing in the airlock! At This point in my head is where I am determined that I am going to see a damn bubble from the airlock no matter what! I'm not ready to re-pitch tho and why should I be after all I pitched a healthy starter!

Biggest mistake yet, I crack the lid on my conical fermentor then proceed to take my mash paddle (sanitized of course) and lightly stir the beer. I button back up the conical and for whatever reason I feel pretty good about what I'd just done. A day later nothing. Again I was so fixated on the airlock I truly lost sight of what it was I was trying to accomplish.

My final course of action was to re-pitch. Fermentation must be stuck. Take one more reading and its you guessed it 1.030. So I re-pitch.
The next morning I check my IPA and I see a wonderful sight! A few bubbles from my airlock! I fixed it, I am the man, disaster avoided

A few days go by and I am getting anxious to pull a sample from my Saison just to see how she is progressing. I pull my sample and check gravity. Gravity reading is 1.030!? Deep down I knew what was wrong but I said wait maybe it's just coincidence. I calibrated this thing. It read the correct OGs for both beers. I knew my refractometor was the problem but admitting that meant realizing that I just made mince meat of my IPA, a beer I was pretty excited about. Finally I gave in and grabbed my hydrometer, the one I'd used for years after I'd got into brewing, the one I'd replaced for better and easier technology. My IPAs gravity reading: 1.008, my saison reading 1.013

I kegged both beers still hoping for something good. The saison, spot on, tank 7 clone-ish, A very good beer. My Citra IPA? Equal parts cardboard equal parts water, blended up served chilled! I wonder why ?

Check and recheck the meters and don't go chasing bubbles.

Cheers

P.S: I could have just just told you my refractometor didn't work but I had to set it up for you and put you guys in the moment.

 

Are you aware that a straight-up refractometer reading from a finished beer needs to be corrected to give you a proper final gravity? If not, take a look at http://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/. Cheers!

 

I did after the fact. Since that point I have used my refractometor correctly. Thus my lack of knowledge lead to my fail.

Cheers

 

Been brewing since the late eighties, Two weeks ago failed to notice i had bumped the valve during mash in. All troubles still find me from time to time