I was bottling my Nut Brown Ale this afternoon. I was feeling really good about this batch from the moment I started steeping the grains to cold crashing. I was really looking forward to getting this batch ready to drink. Everything was going smoothly for the first case of bottles until the siphon hose popped off the end of the spigot as I was filling a bottle. :cheers:
I wouldn’t even catagorize that as a blooper. The worst thing that ever happened to me in my short career was breaking two 5 gallon glass carboys(thankfully no beer in them). It was kind of sureal. That lesson cost me $80. :shock:
Brent
The first time I put my new grain mill on top of my plastic bucket, filled it with malted barley - great fragrance as it was for a dry irish stout, tightened the cordless drill to it, forgot to put my other hand on the base, pulled the drill trigger, and barley everywhere!
I sanitize my bottles by the dishwasher method. I usually set it on 5-6 hour delay so it’ll be ready to go when I come back from work. Last Fall I was almost all the way through bottling with just one 6 pack left before noticing that the dishwasher never went off. Starsanned those last 6. God must look out for fools because never got a single contaminated bottle. :cheers:
Also broke a carboy once- that starsan can be slippery. All was contained in the bathtub.
Trying to get my steeping grains into the bag on my own I managed to drop them all over my concrete driveway. I figured because I would be boiling for 60 minutes any germs would be killed so I just scooped them up and carried on. Well I guess I must have scooped up some unwanted bits as well; I did a taste test when moving into secondary - it was awful. Moldy bread taste is the best way I can describe it. Dumped it and moved on!!!
Got a little excited doing my first BIAB batch and dumped the grains in the kettle before putting in the bag. What a comedy followed! Scooping and pouring and straining and swearing and transferring and retransferring and swearing and laughing. Wish I had it on film. Would be priceless. Beer turned out great, though!
:cheers:
Ron
Second ever all grain… I let the wort pour from my cooler on the countertop to the kettle on the floor, splashing everywhere. While sparging, I wiped up sticky splashes, and fumbled the filthy sponge right into the kettle. Finished the batch… Probably one of my best batches… I almost want to try it again :roll:
I did something similar with my very first batch but dumped about half the bag in a wet sink. Scooped it up and carried on. Haha.
Got 12 bottles filled and capped when my red two wing capper broke. drank the 13th bottle, called the batch “Baker’s Dozen Wheat”. Called NB and they had a replacement shipped out the next day!! Since I have no LHBstore, I always keep a back-up capper and well over 100 caps on hand…for Justin’s case
I was actually thinking what I would do if my capper broke. Now that you posted this, I am buying a back-up. Been wanting a cap press anyways so I might just get one of those.
Nothing extreme but I cut my auto-siphon hose a little too short. So I started transferring my beer from the primary to the bottling bucket and lifted the siphon to pump it, I pulled the hose out of the bottling bucket and onto the floor. I use a 1/2" auto-siphon so the flow is pretty quick. It took me a little while to notice it and I lost about 3-4 or so bottles all over the floor before i got it back into the bottling bucket. I still use the same hose cause I’m too cheap to buy a new one but am very careful when pumping.
well, I just pitched half a vial of The Yeast Bank - Vermont Ale Yeast into a 2000ML flask of partially chilled wort (125F). It took me 2 seconds after seeing the white cream swirl around the flask before my gut sank and I realized I just killed my starter! I have no idea why I did this, possibly because it was my first time using those vials instead of the Wyeast packages. My routine was messed up trying to shake the yeast into suspension and I was so excited to finally get it all into a slurry that I pitched :shock:
I still have a small amount from the vial. I’ll continue to chill the two starters and pitch a small amount into both, then get another vial on the way home from work tomorrow and add some more. I think and hope there’s no reason this plan won’t work. Brewing a 1.062 batch on Sunday.
