Worst Brewday Ever

[ashley_leask]

OK so Tuesday afternoon I got home from work early with the plan to knock out a German Pilsner. All went well for the first half of the day, however when I went to hoist the bag after mashout, I thought "That's light..." And it was due to to the 3 inch tear in the bottom (probably caused by me leaving the paint stirrer sitting in it with the heat on for a minute or 2.

So, now I've got a kettle full of grain and water, scrambling around to find big pots and something to strain it through. Eventually got myself setup with a collander suspended over the pot with my old coarser grain bag folded in to strain through. Went over two pots, but that part wasn't too bad.

Boil was fine, then came to cool through the plate chiller...(forboding music) Guess I didn't strain that well after all, because it took 40 minutes of fecking about clearing 3 blockages before I got it into the fermenter.

Ended up with 18L of 1.041 wort rather than 21L of 1.046, but on the upside was the clearest wort by far I've ever had. Guess the straining isn't a bad idea at all.

Fermenting away with the slurry of a 4L Wyeast 2124 starter now, but if this thing is drinkable and not infected after all this, I'm calling it the Hindenburg Pilsener.

Edit: Next time I pass Bunnings, I'm going to buy a bucket. :icon_cheers:

 

[gregs]

I hate you bag brewers

 

[stux]

Edit: Next time I pass Bunnings, I'm going to buy a bucket. :icon_cheers:

Either that, or a cake rack

 

[kelbygreen]

lol I have had brew days go worse.

I had a f&(@ing dog brew. well thats what I called it. first AG all was going grate till I come out to check on it the bag is on the floor of the shed the lids off the esky (pot wasnt big enough) grain on the floor, dog quivering in the corner lol. I thought stuff it whats the worst can happen?? so voile in the pot tipped as much as I could in then drained got rid of the grain and then tipped the rest into a bucket with voile and added together. I think it was way short of OG but FG was lower to lol.

Also when I made a manifold first brew worked perfect second brew tipped batch sparge in mixed it in good when to drain big hunk of grain come out then nothing. Great stir it again turn tap nothing. F^$K put a chemical glove on (not used of coarse) stick hand in and the manifolds come apart!. after about 5 secs of feeling around and my arm burning like hell I came to the conclusion I cant fix it with the mash in there. So tipped it into a fermenter then fixed the issue then tipped it back into the tun and drained lol. That happened twice actually lol.

 

[pk.sax]

I hate you bag brewers

I haven't got a mash tun either. I'm a very sheety brewer

 

[dago001]

Never had that problem when I BIABed. Had plenty of other issues, including manifold coming apart a couple of times, false bottom coming off. I brewed on Wednesday, a double brew of dark wheat, I tend to be a little forgetfull over the course of a brew, but got to the no-chill stage without any problems, started filling the first cube, got a phone call with a hot tip for Caulfield ( didn't win) forgot about brew and ended up with 1 cube full of beer and the rest over the shed floor (16 litres). Put the lid on the cube, came inside, sat in the bar for the rest of the day. Pretty sad, considering it was only 11.30. Did have a few good wins on the Dish lickers during the day though.
Brewed again today - not a problem at all. Sh1t happens sometimes.
Cheers
LagerBomb

 

[jayahhdee]

Either that, or a cake rack

Since when do bunnings sell cake racks?

 

[stux]

Since when do bunnings sell cake racks?

 

[bear09]

Here is my sob story from Tuesday night this week 11th Oct 2011...

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...=58704&st=0

We all have shitty brew days. At least you sucked it up and worked through the issue. I cracked the shits like a little baby and tipped everything out - including the fresh 2L of ringwood that Id made up!!! :unsure:

After everyone @ AHB helped me get over myself and I cooled down, I figured out what went wrong and I have learned heaps.

ahhh good times...

Cheers.

 

[MaestroMatt]

No no no......

You had an amount in the fermenter by the end of the brew day. No matter how bad it goes - that makes it mildly successful.

Talk to me when you get through the mash (perfectly), a full 90min boil with 6 hop additions......then the feet of the burner collapse under neath the pot and spill all 30L of boiling hot wort through your garage. Man.....I was lucky in many ways that day but definitely did not get any liquid into a fermenter at the end.

Feel free to use the above story to feel better about you day

And "I thought this only happened to other people".............Welcome to the 'Other People' club!

 

[CosmicBertie]

My disaster:

I thought I'd be dead clever and do a step mash on my first pilsner. Hit, 50C, voile in, grain in, left for 20mins. Then, turn on the gas to bring it all upto 63C.

I didnt realise how much of the voile was hanging down the back, so I was stood there looking at these flames licking up the side of pot and extractor. Managed to put the mini fire out, then left it all to mash for 60mins.

When I came to removing the bag, I didnt realise that (obviously), there would be less voile to lift the bag with. As such, one of the singed corners gave way, before I managed to grab at it I ended up with REALLY hot grain all over myself, my jeans, shoes, the floor, kitchen. EVERYWHERE. It looked like I'd puked all over myself. Even worse, it had gotten into my wallet so all my money and everything was covered in grain and very sticky.

The worse thing was, I didnt know what to do next. I was stood there with a bag full hot grain burning my hands, my arms covered in burning grain, my cock and balls on fire and my legs slowly getting warmer, wondering which was the most important thing to loose, myself or the grain.

And the rest of the bastards in the house just laughed. C**ts.

Turned out to be one of the best beers I've made though, even after I'd picked out all the bits of burnt voile.

 

[ashley_leask]

Here is my sob story from Tuesday night this week 11th Oct 2011...
I cracked the shits like a little baby and tipped everything out - including the fresh 2L of ringwood that Id made up!!! :unsure:

I did read that, for a minute after I saw the bag was broken, I thought I'd have to tip it, but then my inner cheapskate kicked in...

Thanks for all the great stories, guys.

 

[Silo Ted]

Well my last two brew days have not been a disaster, but annoying no less. Efficiency has dropped by 10%. Im starting to think I should cross check my thermometer, this replacement piece of hit that Wiltronics lab supply sent me for the the three shittier ones the week before. WILTRONICS SUCK AND EVERY ITEM I HAVE SEEN IS CHEAP ******* RUBBISH.

Anyway, chin up lads, the next one will be killer :icon_cheers: