Fail thread (mistakes you’ve made 2021)

[Oldbloke]

Lol , coat hanger wire

[kmar92]

You could have probably just left it there @DavidM

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, DavidM said:

Quick spray of the arm and plunged into the depths to retrieve the hops.

Waiter, there's a hair in my beer...

[DavidM]

4 hours ago, Oldbloke said:

Lol , coat hanger wire

Yeah, that might have worked.

[DavidM]

4 hours ago, kmar92 said:

You could have probably just left it there @DavidM

Thought about leaving it in. 

But didn't want problems during bottling.

[DavidM]

2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Waiter, there's a hair in my beer...

Well at least I'll know Who's it is this time..

[RDT2]

42 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Thought about leaving it in. 

But didn't want problems during bottling.

I leave mine in all the time, although thinking about it I have stainless ring weights in mine maybe that stops it from moving.

Edited November 13, 2022 by RDT2

[Malter White]

On 11/10/2022 at 9:13 AM, Malter White said:

Not a super fail but I didn't know where else to post this.

Old outdoor fridge is my fermenting chamber. It cost me zip and it's got a crappy coat of cheap, black spray paint, of which one can exploded and made the paint job very dodgy but it works like a champion.

Newer stainless steel, indoor fridge cost $200 and while it's been good to have something that will fit kegs, the freezer doesn't work well and continually needs defrosting (even though it's supposed to be frost free). If it doesn't get defrosted it raises the fridge temperature and drinks aren't very cold.

So I start perusing the latest Aldi catalogue and there's a fridge for $349. The missus doesn't want me buying another fridge. So I suggest I could swap the two fridges over but that would mean bringing the old ugly one inside. Blow me down - she said, "OK. We'll just close the man cave door when people come over." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Anyway it looks like I'll need to give the old unit a sanding and a decent paint job. Even I think it's too ugly for inside as is.

I gave old faithful a rough sanding and some spray paint. It's come up OK but there's plenty of imperfections. It'll do for my mancave.

NB: Please don't tell my automotive spray painter brother I've done this. I won't hear the end of it from him.

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, Malter White said:

I gave old faithful a rough sanding and some spray paint. It's come up OK but there's plenty of imperfections. It'll do for my mancave.

NB: Please don't tell my automotive spray painter brother I've done this. I won't hear the end of it from him.

Looks OK to me ye Malted One, now for some funky artwork & let's see a coupla beer taps sticking out of it, Then you can THROTDO.

[Malter White]

2 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Looks OK to me ye Malted One, now for some funky artwork & let's see a coupla beer taps sticking out of it, Then you can THROTDO.

You know what, Phil? I've never really wanted to put taps on a fridge before but the door on this one opens opposite to my previous beer fridges, which means I now have to leave my chair to pour a beer. I'm now seriously considering doing external taps. The rabbit hole just keeps going and going.  

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, Malter White said:

You know what, Phil? I've never really wanted to put taps on a fridge before but the door on this one opens opposite to my previous beer fridges, which means I now have to leave my chair to pour a beer. I'm now seriously considering doing external taps. The rabbit hole just keeps going and going.  

Come on you know you want it, just do it. Since I have had beer on tap, literally pouring from the fridge door, drip tray & all, the kegs all neatly tucked away inside, I cannot imagine going back to the old days of forever bottling, that sucks.

Soon I will be upgrading my set up with extra kegs & a lot of other gear to turn "Phil's Bar & Grill" into something I have always wanted.

You won't be sorry mate it is well worth it.

[Malter White]

16 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Come on you know you want it, just do it. Since I have had beer on tap, literally pouring from the fridge door, drip tray & all, the kegs all neatly tucked away inside, I cannot imagine going back to the old days of forever bottling, that sucks.

Soon I will be upgrading my set up with extra kegs & a lot of other gear to turn "Phil's Bar & Grill" into something I have always wanted.

You won't be sorry mate it is well worth it.

I'm already kegging but I'm just using bronco taps. I have a man cave, not a men cave, and it's a tiny study but it has all my simple needs - PC, monitor, brew equipment, fridge, sound system and a few other things. Normally I just swing my chair around and pour a beer from the fridge but with the change of sides of the door opening that won't be possible.
Unlike your set up, mine is more a place of solitude. In the words of Ben Lee, "And that's the way I like it and that's the way I like it." Cheers mate!

[Classic Brewing Co]

32 minutes ago, Malter White said:

I'm already kegging but I'm just using bronco taps. I have a man cave, not a men cave, and it's a tiny study but it has all my simple needs - PC, monitor, brew equipment, fridge, sound system and a few other things. Normally I just swing my chair around and pour a beer from the fridge but with the change of sides of the door opening that won't be possible.
Unlike your set up, mine is more a place of solitude. In the words of Ben Lee, "And that's the way I like it and that's the way I like it." Cheers mate!

All Good M.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

Got a bit impatient to put on a brew so spent ages mucking around. Only had a small amount of ice and cold water available to mix with FWK. It had just been transported in the ute and left there for a bit after got home. Warmed up a bit. 

Ideally should have put it it brew fridge for 6 hours and done it later this arvo after cooled down. Struggled to get lid off they are so tight. Tried running under hot water in laundry to loosen it, Fail.

Ended up sanitising a kitchen knife and cutting a few small holes in lid. By time I done this the small amount of water and Ice had warmed up. Took longer to pour out than I thought needed a bigger hole. 

Ended up pitching close to 20 degrees instead of the usual 13 or so.  Will give fridge a rest at 15 then bring it down to 13.  As long as the rest goes ok i have made a beer I suppose

[Malter White]

On 11/10/2022 at 9:13 AM, Malter White said:

Not a super fail but I didn't know where else to post this.

Old outdoor fridge is my fermenting chamber. It cost me zip and it's got a crappy coat of cheap, black spray paint, of which one can exploded and made the paint job very dodgy but it works like a champion.

Newer stainless steel, indoor fridge cost $200 and while it's been good to have something that will fit kegs, the freezer doesn't work well and continually needs defrosting (even though it's supposed to be frost free). If it doesn't get defrosted it raises the fridge temperature and drinks aren't very cold.

So I start perusing the latest Aldi catalogue and there's a fridge for $349. The missus doesn't want me buying another fridge. So I suggest I could swap the two fridges over but that would mean bringing the old ugly one inside. Blow me down - she said, "OK. We'll just close the man cave door when people come over." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Anyway it looks like I'll need to give the old unit a sanding and a decent paint job. Even I think it's too ugly for inside as is.

The saga of the newer fridge continues.
After switching the fridges over I now have an excellent beer fridge (the old black faithful) keeping my kegs and bottled beers at an icy temperature. Lovely.
But the silver fridge that I thought was going to make an ideal fermenting chamber due to it's freezer frosting up and reducing the effectiveness of the fridge now doesn't seem to want to play fair. Had it set at 21C for two days but it hasn't cooled down. It's basically just an oversized esky plugged into an Inkbird currently. We've got some hot days coming here in SA so it looks like I'll be putting blocks of ice in for the days and relying on cooler night temps to keep things at an even keel. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

9 hours ago, Malter White said:

The saga of the newer fridge continues.
After switching the fridges over I now have an excellent beer fridge (the old black faithful) keeping my kegs and bottled beers at an icy temperature. Lovely.
But the silver fridge that I thought was going to make an ideal fermenting chamber due to it's freezer frosting up and reducing the effectiveness of the fridge now doesn't seem to want to play fair. Had it set at 21C for two days but it hasn't cooled down. It's basically just an oversized esky plugged into an Inkbird currently. We've got some hot days coming here in SA so it looks like I'll be putting blocks of ice in for the days and relying on cooler night temps to keep things at an even keel. 

Hey Malter, have you had the thermostat checked? I am no refrigeration mechanic but it's all I can think of.

[Graculus]

On 12/1/2022 at 4:25 PM, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

Got a bit impatient to put on a brew so spent ages mucking around. Only had a small amount of ice and cold water available to mix with FWK. It had just been transported in the ute and left there for a bit after got home. Warmed up a bit. 

Ideally should have put it it brew fridge for 6 hours and done it later this arvo after cooled down. Struggled to get lid off they are so tight. Tried running under hot water in laundry to loosen it, Fail.

Ended up sanitising a kitchen knife and cutting a few small holes in lid. By time I done this the small amount of water and Ice had warmed up. Took longer to pour out than I thought needed a bigger hole. 

Ended up pitching close to 20 degrees instead of the usual 13 or so.  Will give fridge a rest at 15 then bring it down to 13.  As long as the rest goes ok i have made a beer I suppose

With those lids on the chlorine I buy for the pool.

I put a short piece of 2 x 1 up against one of the sticky out bits and hit with a hammer.

Sometimes I'll break a couple off, but it'll open in the end.

Mind your fingers!

Maybe I should post a picture of the 2 x 1 and the hammer in the "what beer stuff did you make today" thread.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Graculus

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

@Graculus thanks for that to try I have had trouble in the past but always managed to get it in the end. I usually put gardening gloves on and know I will get sore fingers and hand. This one was just to stubborn.

[Tricky Micky]

On 12/3/2022 at 2:12 PM, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

@Graculus thanks for that to try I have had trouble in the past but always managed to get it in the end. I usually put gardening gloves on and know I will get sore fingers and hand. This one was just to stubborn.

UOB, get onto one of these;

https://www.kegland.com.au/capmate-lid-opening-spanner-wrench-tool-from-logipak.html

They're also on eBay and amazon.

Cube cap spanners - work a treat.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

5 hours ago, Mickep said:

UOB, get onto one of these;

https://www.kegland.com.au/capmate-lid-opening-spanner-wrench-tool-from-logipak.html

They're also on eBay and amazon.

Cube cap spanners - work a treat.

Thanks for that info you are a saviour I was almost going to stop getting the cubes because of the lids.  The pull tab bags can be annoying too but not like these lids. 

Grain and grape have some nice recipes in the cubes I'm glad you posted link to that tool much appreciated.

[Graculus]

I'm not sure if this should go in this thread or the what are you drinking thread.

Anyhow, get home from work yesterday. Start the barbie, open a beer.

No. 147 Kissaki fresh wort. Kebabs etc cooking. Sipping beer, thinking this doesn't taste too good.

During dinner the missus is talking about stuff, while all I'm thinking about is why the beer tastes off.

I don't say anything as all she'd hear would be "blah blah blah".

I'm sure the same beer tasted fine last week.

Was it the FV, should I bleach the FV, why is it off!!!!!!

After dinner I open another to check. Was it just one bottle?  Next one tastes fine.

Strange. So I proceed to go through the kitchen bin for the bottle top. The second one is on top. Number 147.

I find the second one has fallen down a fair bit....... Number 141!

Checks notes. 141 a Coopers Pale Ale that I made in June with Galaxy hops.

My notes say, very bitter, possibly off. Taste again at Christmas.

Mystery solved.

The APA is definitely improving. I'll try that again at Easter.

The Kissaki is fantastic.

[Oldbloke]

If its no good after 5 months it's not going to improve. 

 

Edit: to sterilise I just put 2 l of water in fv with a splash or unscented white king. Wait 30minutes splashing it around to splash all areas 2 or 3 times during that time.

Rinse cold water then rinse boiling water. Done.

For years I just used boiling water.

 

"During dinner the missus is talking about stuff, while all I'm thinking about is why the beer tastes off.

I don't say anything as all she'd hear would be "blah blah blah"."

Sounds pretty normal. 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Oldbloke

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

@Graculus @Oldbloke we don't listen to them either who cares. My missus looks like has been sucking on a lemon all day washing windows etc. I was busy with beer stuff and watching cricket. 

Tomorrow i will drive her to big w and kmart all forgiven.

[Oldbloke]

I've been married 45 years.  Some days I think it's a miracle I haven't hung myself.

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

20 minutes ago, Oldbloke said:

I've been married 45 years.  Some days I think it's a miracle I haven't hung myself.

you would have got maximum 25 for murder