Brew Day From Hell

[tangent]

Never brew on a Monday

"like an English summers day" cold and windy rain on and off all day <_<

Waiting for a smack pack to swell and work commitments made for a delayed Monday brew session.

Started off well enough with 10+kgs of malt pre-milled by hand a day or two before. Fine tuned the crush and a freakin lovely crush it was.
Refitted the mash tun with new rubber washers after the old ones had become more avocado shaped than circles. "Aha!, there's the source of the leaks and dead sparges!" Stoked. Let's take this baby for a run with an almost full capacity of Vienna malt (thank Jeebus it wasn't all Weyermann)
After around 50 AG brews through it. I think it's fu<ked!
No sparge action at all, not even a slow dribble.
Ladle a whole tun full of mash into mayo buckets and investigate the false bottom. (these problems sparked my "show me your bottom" thread in the first case)
As I'm pouring the last of the mash into a bucket it knocks my Ikea timer/useless temp probe onto the floor. I'm grinding teeth by this stage and pick it up and try to turn it on.... nothing. I decide it deserves a higher G test and attempt to smack the C of a thing into millions of pieces against the concrete floor.

Stoutlover rocks up and saves the day with a malt swap and a few beers! Whew! I thought i was going to have to G-force test everything within arms reach for a moment there!. Thanks Mike :beer:

I notice later that the timer has a rubber edge on it and is actually designed for cranky brewers with stuck sparges, and even though the temp probe portion of it is as usefull as an ashtray on a motorcycle (useless),
the timer still works!

I take this as a good sign and soldier on. Rigging up a syphon and one of Ross' hop socks and a piece of tubing.


It actually works like a charm. False what? It's just a piece of tube!


I decide while this is working it'd be a good time to hook up the new March pump for a spin.
It seems every fitting I have leaks and the worm drive clamps seem to be made out of butter. About as tight as a .... leaking thing. Pump setup is useless. Covered in pre-boiled wort. The safety thongs are sticking and slipping at all the wrong times. Getting into shock testing mode again.

Time to ladle and pour everything by hand through my good old bucket in bucket system. The ONLY mash tun that has NEVER had a stuck sparge for me.
Works like a treat and I almost have the kettle full and the NASA is lit. After all this crap, I can finally boil and get on with life.... Yay!... hang on, what's these white bits floating on top?
It's pieces of brittle buckets sheared off against the uneven s/s kettle when I was resting it on there.
The whole thing is contaminated and currently draining out and down the compost.

What a Fu<ked day!

 

[Adamt]

Oh man, have a home brew, sounds like you need it.

 

[tangent]

about 3 pints down and rage diminishing slowly..

 

[lokpikn]

I thought i was going to have to G-force test everything within arms reach for a moment there!.


How come this sound quite normal to me. It does give some satisfaction untill you need to shock test something large like a lawn mower against the wall off the house.

I hope your next day gets better


Here is a link to my brew day from hell.




http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&hl=lokpikn

 

[tangent]

actually, no holes in roof! thanks mate. i actually feel a bit better!

 

[leeboy]

My first bad brew day happened on Saturday. I brewed a Californian Common Ale. Something I've done before which tastes remarkably like Anchors Steam Ale.

Anyway mash went great, as did sparge. great utilisation. Got through the boil well. Great colour, aroma etc.
Realised that I'd lent my heat exhange to a friend, and after a few beers throughout the session thought that I'd really like to get my beer cool quicker than waiting overnight to pitch my californian lager yeast.

Got it into my primary glass fermenter. And found a bucket full of rainwater and thought that since its treated "heatproof" glass thought i;d plunge it in and get it cool quick. Upon putting it in immediately the fermenter filled with 21L of beautiful finished product smashed and hot wort went everywhere. So not only did I loose my lovely beer but my lovelly fermenter as well. Talk about dissapointment.... Still angry with myself. Going to have to fork out for a fermenter again and brew that recipe again soon to get over that one.

WORST DAY EVER!!!

 

[tangent]

if it wasn't for the beer, brewing would SUCK ARSE BIGTIME!

 

[leeboy]

true that... With dissapointment its hard to look back at the 50 ag brews that have gone off without a hitch... Guess you've gotta or you'd chuck the towel in after such dissapointment

 

[tangent]

lol
i wouldn't say all ~50 have gone off without a hitch, but i suppose i didn't get this beergut from chips
you guys know how to make me feel better

 

[lokpikn]

Its funny how we all manage to remember the days taht go wrong but the

days that go off with out a hitch we all forget.


At least it gives those of us that have had things like this happen a bit of a smile.

 

[sqyre]

You've got to take the good with the bad...

The bad days will always pop up now and then...

But just have to get back on that bike and ride her like shes never been riden before!!!! Yeh yeh you like dont you bitch!!! eh eh eh eh.....eh... . . . .. .eh..... . . .. . . . . . .. .. :blink: .... .. .hmmm

Bit of bad luck there Tangent...

Sqyre... :blink:

 

[domonsura]

Any consolation Tangent, I have had a shit day too. I won't go into the details, but it's been one of those days when all the wrong things go wrong, you get all the bad news you didn't want, the big bills turn up, blah blah blah, blah blah blah.....and to top it off the brew that I put down for my brewday is still sitting at #%$@&%ing 1.025 after a @#$@#$ing week
It all brings to mind a LimpBizkit song. Break stuff. The lyrics fit perfectly.

"Just one of those days, when you don't wanna wake up, everything is F***ed, everybody sucks.
You don't really know why, but you wanna justify. RIPPING SOMEONE'S HEAD OFF!!!!"

Yep....it's been one of those days alright....and to top it off the forecast for Saturday isn't looking that promising either... Yay.

I'll have a consolation beer for you, and then I'll have 12 for me.

 

[domonsura]

Geeeezus Lokpikn, I just read your bad luck IPA thread, and I don't know how the hell you kept it together man......there would have been bits flying around my shed by the time the tree came through the fence.......

 

[bugwan]

Tangent, you poor bugger.

I guess you could say we've all had them, but I can't say my worst day can rival that! All I can say, is to sink a few and put the whole mess behind you!

Make sure that when you eventually crack this brew, wait for the right moment. Spend an afternoon mowing or something. Get comfortable in the best chair you can find, silence SWMBO (or whoever might be making noise) and savour every last drop! Remind yourself of that shithouse brewday...and have another.

Cheers

 

[tangent]

it's the Brew Gods demanding that i sub that JW Vienna with Weyermann.
(and quality hose clamps)

 

[Tony]

I thought i was going to have to G-force test everything within arms reach for a moment there!.
How come this sound quite normal to me. It does give some satisfaction untill you need to shock test something large like a lawn mower against the wall off the house.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&hl=lokpikn

I did that with a wippersnipper once.

It was a cheap shit freebie that a work mate gave me cause he owed me a caeton but i got that instead.

It would take atleast 30 minuites of sweat tears and blood to start and one day, after getting a blister on my havd trying to start it i picked it up at the line end andswung it like an axe strait onto the pavers.

The pavers won the fight.

bits and pieces of it went everywhere and i looked up to se my wife looking at me bewildered

I said in a relieved voice:

Im off to buy a new one now!

morral of the story is............ maybe you need a better mash ton mate.

cheers

 

[reVoxAHB]

Upon putting it in immediately the fermenter filled with 21L of beautiful finished product smashed and hot wort went everywhere. So not only did I loose my lovely beer but my lovelly fermenter as well. Talk about dissapointment.... Still angry with myself. Going to have to fork out for a fermenter again and brew that recipe again soon to get over that one.

WORST DAY EVER!!!

Recently had a similar experience with photos here. Wasn't a shitty brew day, more a shitty brew weekend :blink:

FWIW, I'm having a beer for each of you right now. I feel your pain.

And, I'm at least 6 batches on from my hell day; hardly even a memory. Bad blip on what has normally been an overwhelmingly positive brewing history. You'll get those. Learn from them, if possible. That's all you can do.

 

[enoch]

Sounds like a pretty ordinary day.

I thought about doing a brew on Sunday and bailed because it looked crappy - you are brave man indeed to have done it today when it has been completely shite.

My brewery is all electric (for the moment) so it doesn't take much rain to make it a bit exciting. Will have try a site visit once work cools off a bit.

 

[Kai]

So what's wrong with your bottom?

 

[warrenlw63]

Lemme guess Tangent... You still got your FB hooked up with the plastic hose and barbs that I warned you about a couple of years ago ? :blink:

Dis thread

Plumb it in with copper and never worry again.

Warren -