Fail thread (mistakes you’ve made 2021)

[JoeB7]

Didn't hop a brew. 15 bottles of Beer cider still sitting there not getting any better

[RDT2]

6 minutes ago, JoeB7 said:

Didn't hop a brew. 15 bottles of Beer cider still sitting there not getting any better

Could you get some hop extract and add it to  your glass before you pour. A very small amount maybe @beach_life could give some advice he uses it a fair bit! Or maybe they are tippers!

[Stickers]

7 minutes ago, JoeB7 said:

Didn't hop a brew. 15 bottles of Beer cider still sitting there not getting any better

maybe brew a hoppy ale and use them up by combining them in a glass?

[JoeB7]

Well being partial to a black 'n' tan I have used about 10 long necks but, I think I'd rather my bottles back 

[terminal2k]

5 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Now I have masking tape reminders on my FV's for gods sake.  Promise to give myself an uppercut next time I do this to myself. 

Reminds me of when I started. I said I'd never be dumb enough to leave the tap on the fermenter open. Then I swore I'd never make that mistake again. Then I swore the same thing two more times.

[Tone boy]

5 hours ago, terminal2k said:

Reminds me of when I started. I said I'd never be dumb enough to leave the tap on the fermenter open. Then I swore I'd never make that mistake again. Then I swore the same thing two more times.

Lol. I’ve done that

[ben 10]

9 hours ago, RDT2 said:

some advice

needs to be boiled....

9 hours ago, JoeB7 said:

I think I'd rather my bottles back

drink quickler

[kmar92]

23 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Now I do not know what it is but every time since I started making my own yeast starters I have always forgotten to strain the yeast liquid as I tip it out of the Erlenmeyer into the FV and hence my magnetic stir bar ends up in the FV.  Then I have to fish it out with sanitised tongs etc. or wait until the batch is kegged and then remember to retrieve it before cleaning out the FV. 

I have even put masking tape reminders on the flasks to stop me from the above silly process but I did it again with the big Kegmenter and my stir bar is now well and truly welled up somewhere in the bottom of 44 L of wort.

Now I have masking tape reminders on my FV's for gods sake.  Promise to give myself an uppercut next time I do this to myself. 

Lucky I have a few stir bars otherwise big trouble in the brewery. 

I think that a lot of us have done that @iBooz2. I have also lost a stir bar down the drain once after I had forgotten it was in the wort and I dumped the trub down the drain at the end of the ferment, including the stir bar!

[JoeB7]

Found a solution to my beer/cider stuff up.... Fresh  like we did with with those Hahn & Carlton ice beers in the 90's to make them drinkable

[Classic Brewing Co]

9 hours ago, JoeB7 said:

Hahn & Carlton ice beers in the 90's to make them drinkable

Ha Ha I didn't buy them anyway but did taste them, bloody awful 

[Shamus O'Sean]

On 10/5/2022 at 8:28 PM, iBooz2 said:

Now I do not know what it is but every time since I started making my own yeast starters I have always forgotten to strain the yeast liquid as I tip it out of the Erlenmeyer into the FV and hence my magnetic stir bar ends up in the FV.  Then I have to fish it out with sanitised tongs etc. or wait until the batch is kegged and then remember to retrieve it before cleaning out the FV. 

I have even put masking tape reminders on the flasks to stop me from the above silly process but I did it again with the big Kegmenter and my stir bar is now well and truly welled up somewhere in the bottom of 44 L of wort.

Now I have masking tape reminders on my FV's for gods sake.  Promise to give myself an uppercut next time I do this to myself. 

Lucky I have a few stir bars otherwise big trouble in the brewery. 

I have always feared forgetting a stir bar in the yeast as I pour it into the wort.  Touch wood, have been lucky so far.

I do not strain the starter though.  I use another stir bar on the outside of the flask to carefully draw the stir bar, that was inside the flask, to the rim of the flask.  I then remove it with my finger, being careful to only touch the stir bar and not the flask.

[iBooz2]

On 10/7/2022 at 11:13 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

I have always feared forgetting a stir bar in the yeast as I pour it into the wort.  Touch wood, have been lucky so far.

I do not strain the starter though.  I use another stir bar on the outside of the flask to carefully draw the stir bar, that was inside the flask, to the rim of the flask.  I then remove it with my finger, being careful to only touch the stir bar and not the flask.

@Shamus O'Sean yep I hear you but I still have to remember its in the flask in order to perform a school boy science trick like yours ha ha .  I have a SS skimmer that I purchased for this exact job.  Usually have it sitting in a bucket of sanitiser in readiness to tip the yeast through but my brain is not ready when I come to pour it in the FV and magically by passes this pre-planned step. 

[iBooz2]

On 10/6/2022 at 7:47 PM, kmar92 said:

I think that a lot of us have done that @iBooz2. I have also lost a stir bar down the drain once after I had forgotten it was in the wort and I dumped the trub down the drain at the end of the ferment, including the stir bar!

Done that too K.  I did not lose the stir bar on that occasion as being magnetic it luckily stuck to the bottom of the SS sink, but only a cm from the plug hole so very lucky.

[Shamus O'Sean]

5 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Done that too K.  I did not lose the stir bar on that occasion as being magnetic it luckily stuck to the bottom of the SS sink, but only a cm from the plug hole so very lucky.

I lost a stir bar one time.  Left it sitting beside the sink to dry in the sun.  Asked SWMBO if she had seen it.  No, she assured me.  About a week later it was found, magnetised to the bottom of a baking tray, that had been used a few times in the meantime.  I do not get too many wins over her, but I counted that one.

[ben 10]

Ripped the wires out of an oxygen sensor today, very annoying.

[iBooz2]

2 hours ago, beach_life said:

Ripped the wires out of an oxygen sensor today, very annoying.

Did the patient survive?

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

Did the patient survive?

Beeep Beeep .....

[Aussiekraut]

Brewed this new recipe mid strength beer and had great hopes. The wort smelled nice and tasted quite decent for a wort being made with a lot less grain than usual. I poured it straight onto the yeast cake of a batch I had kegged the day before. Thanks to the Verdant yeast, it took off like Jones' Cat and I had a very good krausen on it within hours. The first signs were that it was still sitting at 1.020 after 4 days, when it should have been closer to being finished. Last night when I took the final sample before initiating a cold crash, it was still sitting on 1.020, wasn't smelling fruity as a Verdant fermented beer does and had a distinct sour taste to it. So down the gurgler it goes 

And this, my friends, is why I don't like doing dirty batches. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

11 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Brewed this new recipe mid strength beer and had great hopes. The wort smelled nice and tasted quite decent for a wort being made with a lot less grain than usual. I poured it straight onto the yeast cake of a batch I had kegged the day before. Thanks to the Verdant yeast, it took off like Jones' Cat and I had a very good krausen on it within hours. The first signs were that it was still sitting at 1.020 after 4 days, when it should have been closer to being finished. Last night when I took the final sample before initiating a cold crash, it was still sitting on 1.020, wasn't smelling fruity as a Verdant fermented beer does and had a distinct sour taste to it. So down the gurgler it goes 

And this, my friends, is why I don't like doing dirty batches. 

Well, I never have & probably never will but that's just me. I know some do it regularly same as re-using yeast, but I am happy to punt on the way I am.  

[Aussiekraut]

20 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Well, I never have & probably never will but that's just me. I know some do it regularly same as re-using yeast, but I am happy to punt on the way I am.  

Yup. I've done three and one failed. I know some do them all the time but I was always weary and now I know why.

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Yup. I've done three and one failed. I know some do them all the time but I was always weary and now I know why.

I will probably get showered with stones but honestly, I cannot see myself ever doing it. Re-using yeast I have done twice but I have chucked more out so I am not fussed with that either.

That is the beauty of Home Brewing, you can do it by your rules.

[Oldbloke]

54 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Brewed this new recipe mid strength beer and had great hopes. The wort smelled nice and tasted quite decent for a wort being made with a lot less grain than usual. I poured it straight onto the yeast cake of a batch I had kegged the day before. Thanks to the Verdant yeast, it took off like Jones' Cat and I had a very good krausen on it within hours. The first signs were that it was still sitting at 1.020 after 4 days, when it should have been closer to being finished. Last night when I took the final sample before initiating a cold crash, it was still sitting on 1.020, wasn't smelling fruity as a Verdant fermented beer does and had a distinct sour taste to it. So down the gurgler it goes 

And this, my friends, is why I don't like doing dirty batches. 

I have only on 2 or 3 occasions used the old Yeast to start a brew. Took a sample in a sanitised glass and put it aside overnight till I used it next day. Problem is if you do as above the fv hasn't been cleaned and sanitised.  So, a breach of normal procedures.

[Aussiekraut]

7 minutes ago, Oldbloke said:

I have only on 2 or 3 occasions used the old Yeast to start a brew. Took a sample in a sanitised glass and put it aside overnight till I used it next day. Problem is if you do as above the fv hasn't been cleaned and sanitised.  So, a breach of normal procedures.

Yeah I know. The rationale behind it is usually that the FV should not be contaminated, hence things being ok. I did actually spray it with Stellarsan around the walls and the rim but apparently not well enough. I don't think I will do another any time soon. Although 17 bucks for two sachets of W34/70 to make a nice lager does sting a little. That is more than the grain going in. 

[DavidM]

Fail/Win

Awhile back I bottled a brew and did not record it in the App I use (Brew Tracker).

Four days later, I looked at the App and thought Geez's I need to bottle that and get this going....

After bottling I went back to the fridge to get the next FV for bottling..

Hang On, only one FV, should be Two.

Scratched my head for awhile before working out that I had not recorded the previous bottling!

So, Wife's Lager, it's a mid strength (that might have saved me), Four days in the FV, Bottled and stored.

Four weeks later, NO bottle bombs, beer is pouring clear with lot's of Bubbles.

Wife is happy, I'm happy and no clean up 

[Oldbloke]

13 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Fail/Win

Awhile back I bottled a brew and did not record it in the App I use (Brew Tracker).

Four days later, I looked at the App and thought Geez's I need to bottle that and get this going....

After bottling I went back to the fridge to get the next FV for bottling..

Hang On, only one FV, should be Two.

Scratched my head for awhile before working out that I had not recorded the previous bottling!

So, Wife's Lager, it's a mid strength (that might have saved me), Four days in the FV, Bottled and stored.

Four weeks later, NO bottle bombs, beer is pouring clear with lot's of Bubbles.

Wife is happy, I'm happy and no clean up 

Yep, my father did a coopers lager for years. No real temperature control, no idea about hydrometers, just very basic stuff.  Always bottled on the 6th day.  Never a problem. Produced good grog.