It was a great brew day until

Northern Brewer General
1

…the worm clamp fell off my hop spider as I was removing it from the kettle and the bag of pellet hop sludge went crashing into my lovely, clear wort.

I was really enjoying the first time using my new March pump and everything was going perfectly until flame out. Just two more things to do before pitching: remove the hop spider and chill the wort. Then one seemingly inconsequential piece of equipment fails, ruining my otherwise great day.

Plate chiller clogged. I had to break out the auto-siphon to get the wort into the carboy. Of course the funnel clogged. My efficiency went into the crapper, because I had counted on only having to leave about 1/2 gallon behind. Had to leave much more than that.

2

Bummer dude. I opened the rubber tote that stored my clean equipment in my dusty garage today after brewing on Sat., and found the starsan inverted…and empty. It was only about 7 oz but it was sticky and slick all over everything. I had the cheap stock tap handle from the keggerator sitting in the bottom and it was actually melted. RDWHHB. That batch will still turn out awesome.

3

That’s a bummer. I don’t know if I would have the patience to siphon if my chiller was plugged.

Don’t know if you already do this, but I’ve started using my drill to tighten all clamps. Mainly for the ease and speed, but also insures that all of them are tight.