Brew Day F**k Up!

[brettprevans]

what a shit brew day.
brewed 1 last night so I could brew 2 today, Head down to LHBS and no wyeast scottish or irish...have to rethink brew recipes. decide to do a differant brew. get home, missus instructs I have to take lawnmower to shop, baby is screaming and needing attention, etc etc etc. so Im stressed running out of time, but decide to push on and begin to brew, .. here whats happens.

doing a RIS with speciality grains:,
1st **** up - screwed up the grain cracking (Ross im ordering a marga mill from you tonight!).
2 - i have used light crystal instead or normal
3 - used a tin of larger instead of draught
4 - 2 yeast packs ripped and i had to transfer it into anothr container which i hope to hell is sterile enough
4 - (biggest **** up of all) - did batch sparge brillently but didnt take water volume in account of final amount ie i have way to much liquid! about 10L too much, so the alc% and flavour is way too low.

what a mess. original receipe is below. ive upped the dex, maltodex and LDME to try and compensate for flavour and %. its sitting at about 10% instead of 12%.
500g cracked roast barley
500g cracked crystal
1.7kg can Draught
1.7kg can Porter
1.7kg can Stout (no brand names are listed)
1kg brewing sugar
1kg dried brew booster

60g styrian goldings
40g East Kent Goldings
20g saaz
20L total

its all enough to make you cry and ive still got an extract brew to go (BConnery's christmoose ale)

 

[0M39A]

bad luck mate

im sure it will still turn out to be a pretty decent brew though

 

[Tony]

YEah been through the whole..... trying to brew with screaming kids around. I had twins too!

Its no fun.

Here are some tips from someone who has had a few of these days.

Plan at least a week ahead.

Have your yeast in the fridge in advance. it lasts for months in there.

crack all your specialty grain a day or 2 before when you have time and the kids are in bed. Pack it all into a zip lock bag, squeeze out the air and write on it whats inside.

Have all your ingredients like tins ect layed out in order ready to go the day before.

Weigh out all your hops the day before too and do the same as the grain. In a bag, squeeze out the air and write on it, whats in there, how much and what time addition it is.

Then when your trying to steep grain, watch temps, add hops change dirty nappies, calming down the little lady and washing the car at once like me its all done and you are less likly to stuff up

I have an old saying

Its called the six P's

Proper Planing Prevent Piss Poor Performance!

It works for me.

PS....... anyone taking bets on how long before the Mods get the Edit button happening

Ine got $10 on 3 PM today

cheers

 

[Jazzafish]

YEah been through the whole..... trying to brew with screaming kids around. I had twins too!

Its no fun.

Here are some tips from someone who has had a few of these days.

Plan at least a week ahead.

Have your yeast in the fridge in advance. it lasts for months in there.

crack all your specialty grain a day or 2 before when you have time and the kids are in bed. Pack it all into a zip lock bag, squeeze out the air and write on it whats inside.

Have all your ingredients like tins ect layed out in order ready to go the day before.

Weigh out all your hops the day before too and do the same as the grain. In a bag, squeeze out the air and write on it, whats in there, how much and what time addition it is.

Then when your trying to steep grain, watch temps, add hops change dirty nappies, calming down the little lady and washing the car at once like me its all done and you are less likly to stuff up

I have an old saying

Its called the six P's

Proper Planing Prevent Piss Poor Performance!

It works for me.

PS....... anyone taking bets on how long before the Mods get the Edit button happening

Ine got $10 on 3 PM today

cheers

Good advise there Tony...

I do most of those things for same reasons. Only I measure out my grain uncracked and store it in a sealed bucket. Night before I crack the grain into my mash tun and set up my strike water to be at temp and ready to underlet when I wake up in the morining. Those electric timers are great.

Will have to take up your hop idea though Tony... normally have them in cups and add them left to right. But one normal brew morning I was mowing the lawn, obeying swmbo impulse jobs, entertaining the kid, entertaining the dog, stopping the porters boil over while talking on the phone and added the wrong cup of hops!

Luckily it didn't completely kill the beer and some quick promash calculations helped me balance it. Called it the wrong hop porter.

The 6 P's are legendary!

 

[brettprevans]

yeah i wanted to change the title after i posted but dont know how. mods have changed it (as they should)

I tried to go for the 6 P's just didnt get there (although my hops schedule and batch sparge was flawless - all measured etc). so i should try and take something positive away from it.

as it turns out im only about 5L over in the end with loss from 60min boil etc, so time will tell about the end result. im hoping for some massive kraussen with all those fermentables and 40g yeast!

 

[Tony]

I just won $10

Im chuffed

Wait...... hang on......

Ooooooohhh Maaaaan

 

[brettprevans]

nice guess tony.


its keeps getting better...just took an OG reading...couldnt get one, the hydro i have only goes up to 1.2 and I couldnt get any movement :huh: . hmmmmmmm this still could be a big bugger of a brew

im definately getting the camera ready for 'Kraussenwatch'

just aksed ross about getting a marga mill ssend to me post haste!

 

[brettprevans]

bottled my RIS (recipe above). my god, this is a big beer! thick as all buggery and a hell of kick. lovely alc warmth and huge stout flavours without being overly bitter. almost perfectly balanced IMO. cant wait to let this carb up and mature. OG around 1.1, FG 1.040. So I put it at about 11-12% :wacko:

very happy brewer here.

alternatively though I was dissappointed with the chrismoose ale (extract). It smelled fantastic whilst fermenting but seemed to lack any real flavour or aroma when bottling. Actually it tasted a little cidery. So maybe I fermented a little warm. BConnery did say it takes a good 3-4 months before it balances out, so I guess its a waiting game for now.

EDIT: spelling

 

[Stuster]

bottled my RIS (recipe above). my god, this is a big beer! thick as all buggery and a hell of kick. lovely alc warmth and huge stout flavours without being overly bitter. almost perfectly balanced IMO. cant wait to let this carb up and mature. OG around 1.1, FG 1.040. So I put it at about 11-12%

Not wanting to put a dampener on it, but that's probably more like 8-9%. Just means you can two bottles instead of one. :lol:

Sounds good. Let us know how it tastes next year. Still waiting (semi-patiently) on my RIS as well.

 

[brettprevans]

Not wanting to put a dampener on it, but that's probably more like 8-9%. Just means you can two bottles instead of one. :lol:

Sounds good. Let us know how it tastes next year. Still waiting (semi-patiently) on my RIS as well.

its a little of a dampener Stuster. I redid my calcs and I and still get about 11-12%. there is about 7.5kg of fermentables in there (because I thought I overshot the literage I addded some more ingredients). And the OG was between 1.1 and 1.15. I couldnt get an accurate reading.

But I guess the important point is taste not nessecarily %alc (although with an RIS it is also about %alc to keep within the style guides). No worries im still a happy brewer. Will report back in 6-12months.

 

[crozdog]

its a little of a dampener Stuster. I redid my calcs and I and still get about 11-12%. there is about 7.5kg of fermentables in there (because I thought I overshot the literage I addded some more ingredients). And the OG was between 1.1 and 1.15. I couldnt get an accurate reading.

But I guess the important point is taste not nessecarily %alc (although with an RIS it is also about %alc to keep within the style guides). No worries im still a happy brewer. Will report back in 6-12months.

CM2,
A 50 point difference explains the difference between 8% and 12%. HOWEVER, 50 points is a hell of a discrepancy! You should be able to differentiate that sort of difference - last time I looked they were a fair way apart on a hydro! h34r:

FWIW a refractometer will help you obtain prompt accurate gravity readings on brew day. It is one of the best purchases a brewer can make I reckon - apart from a fridge temp controller; a decent thermometer & no rinse sanitiser .

Good to see you're happy with what you've made, be patient & you're beer will reward you further.

 

[Stuster]

the OG was between 1.1 and 1.15

C'mon, croz. Time for some glasses? :lol: h34r:

 

[brettprevans]

I'll cop all comments about my crap OG reading on the chin, as it was a piss poor effort/result.

I couldnt get a good OG reading on the day(at one stage it wouldnt drop below 1.2 - which I know is rubbish) . no idea why, ive never had a problem before. since then ive replaced my hydo and hydro container cause they were a bit funky, but yes a refractor is on my future shopping list.

anyways im just keen to taste it. I think Im going to try Rigger's RIS (Grain & Grape) next. whether its extarct or AG depends on how fast I get my arse into gear and finish my AG setup.

 

[crozdog]

C'mon, croz. Time for some glasses? :lol: h34r:

yeah glasses of RIS. hahaha :beer:

 

[iluvbeer]

YEah been through the whole..... trying to brew with screaming kids around. I had twins too!

Its no fun.

Here are some tips from someone who has had a few of these days.

Plan at least a week ahead.

Have your yeast in the fridge in advance. it lasts for months in there.

crack all your specialty grain a day or 2 before when you have time and the kids are in bed. Pack it all into a zip lock bag, squeeze out the air and write on it whats inside.

Have all your ingredients like tins ect layed out in order ready to go the day before.

Weigh out all your hops the day before too and do the same as the grain. In a bag, squeeze out the air and write on it, whats in there, how much and what time addition it is.

Then when your trying to steep grain, watch temps, add hops change dirty nappies, calming down the little lady and washing the car at once like me its all done and you are less likly to stuff up

I have an old saying

Its called the six P's

Proper Planing Prevent Piss Poor Performance!

It works for me.

PS....... anyone taking bets on how long before the Mods get the Edit button happening

Ine got $10 on 3 PM today

cheers

Thats a great idea with the zip lock bags, i found the best way to get the air out is to put all that you want in the bag then zip it up till you only have about 1cm open, then submerge it slowly in a sink of water. When you have reached the top of the bag just zip it up and you have no air at all in there to contaminate the goodies. It is a lot cheaper than buying one of those cryvac machines and works nearly as good.