When a batch goes wrong . . .

I don't think non-homebrewers understand the feeling of utter devastation when a batch goes wrong. You put so much thought, time, effort and money into something only to have one simple mistake throw the whole thing off - it can be downright heartbreaking! I know relax don't worry etc but hell!

I came home today to find that my pale ale w/ homegrown wet hops had sucked in about 1/2 a gallon of star san after cold crash... It kind of blows my mind, I have a really long blowoff tube - I use this because it hooks up to my CO2 after fermentation for transfers. I don't actually ever have blow off... Anyway, usually there is enough room in the tube to suck up some sanitizer during cold crash but only about half way up the tube - its never gone into the beer before. Also, my blowoff jug is on the floor of the chest freezer, so i figured a siphon was impossible. Biggest lesson is that hard cold crash or not, why the hell did I use so much sanitizer in my jug ??

I emergency kegged the beer tonight to avoid any potential oxidation, and it actually tastes normal (I think?) This one might be alright but I'm absolutely so frustrated with myself.

Gah feels good to vent, thanks for this thread @telejunkie

 

When I brew my annual wet hopped Harvest Ale I always choose to solely add the wet hops to the kettle. My primary concern with wet hops is they may harbor small insects which would be covered in bacteria (unwanted microorganisms).

Cheers!

 

@wasatchback i also likeBE- 256. Definatly burns off the sugar and has nice esters. Always have a couple packets of it around.

 

You need a in-line check valve.

 

I think you are correct! I wonder how it would do with the pressure diff from the liquid contraction though, any idea? Do you use one ?

I think what I really need is a pressurized fermenter.. I've drained CO2 tanks trying to put some positive pressure on my Ss Brewbucket during cold crash, which is why I settled on a long blowoff tube.

My FG on this beer was 1.005 - way lower than expected because of the Starsan dilution.. I can't taste anything off in the sample, but I'm really hesitant about serving this to people, would you be?

My total batch volume was just over 5.5 gallons , so with 1/2 a gal of star san its like 9 percent of the beer And on my super anticipated wet hop beer too, i'm so bummed about this one

 

I don't bother with cold crashing. Maybe this would work better if you worried about pressure. https://www.kegworks.com/inline-bal...h4l8CdNbiPH6Y8aP2JyKYEMf7YaAi3VEALw_wcB#/base

 

After a few months almost all of my bottles get overcarbed (gushers). But flavor and aroma is never compromised. Cant get my head around it, but the beer tastes good, so it just bugs me. Only had 1 drain pour. Probably 2014. An ESB that had a dry yeast malfunction. Tasted like a bitter bubblegum mess. Got worse with time till it was undrinkable. Promptly poured

 

If almost all of your beers are gushers, but it takes a few months to reach that point, I think that may point to some kind of infection.

Or I suppose another possibility is that you're using too much priming sugar, but you're carbonating at a fairly low temperature.

 

I use about 3oz of priming sugar with every batch. The only thing I've noticed is withe older beers theres kind of a staleness in the aroma. Other than that, they're good. The head does act more like soda head than beer head too. Bubbles audibly then disappears.