Ah Crap! Moments

[cluckk]

What are some stories about "Ah Crap!" when homebrewing? Yesterday I had one. In the last ten minutes of my boil I placed my chiller coil in the boil kettle as I always do. As usually happens, this dropped the wort down from a full boil. I reached for the propane control to raise the heat. As soon as I turned it the flame went out completely. I figured I had turned the wrong way, so I tried to light it. The tank was bone dry. It waited until the second I touched it to go out. It's almost like the tank was saying, "Hey watch this!"

 

[Denny]

My biggest one was when I picked up a carboy of double decocted pils and watched, as if in slow motion, as it swung into another carboy of double decocted pils. Both shattered and I watched it flow down the floor drain. I was stone cold sober and being very careful. That was the last time I ever used carboys.

 

[Nightshade]

Started my sparge and realized I hadn't closed the dump valve on the boil kettle.
On the same brew as I was finishing the transfer to the boil kettle I have to fill a couple 5gal buckets (due to height of kettle to mash tun) usually it is about 3 buckets to finish off, I was 8 of these 5gal buckets in when it suddenly occured to me that I hadn't closed the valve leading from the MT to BK so I was basically pulling wort from the BK the entire time with very little coming from the MT.

It was a rough one that day

 

[unionrdr]

The only one I ever did was on last Fay Tuesday. I was brewing my PB/PM BIAB Hopped & Confusedv2. I was drinkin 24oz'rs & vodka. Got to the bittering addition in the boil & passed out cold @ about 3:50pm. At 5:34pm,I awoke,got that sinking feeling,& finished the boil. Helll of a boil-off,but I soldiered on. Now,after som 6 weeks in th ebootle & a week fridge time,it tastes Like Heinekin would if it weren't skunked. Talk about a happy accident! :rockin:

 

[dwart]

I was bottling my second batch and I thought every thong was going perfect. It only tool me about an hour to do it All. As I was bottling the last bottle I noticed the pot with the boiled priming sugar on the counter.

 

[Bumbler]

I had 4 "AH Craps"! on the same batch last Sunday.

#1) I do one pass chilling on my plate chiller, then in-line oxygenation and straight into the fermenter. I wasn't watching my temp and I ended up with 120F oxygenated wort in my fermenter. AH Crap!.

#2) While verifying the 120F I dropped my dial thermometer into the fermenter. AH Crap! Pumped it back to the boiler to re-sterilize.

#3) Pitched my yeast and put the fermenter in the basement. Woke up in the morning expecting to see active fermentation. The basement temp is 58F. No sign of life. AH Crap! I carried the fermenter upstairs and didn't have active fermentation till Thursday.

#4) Reviewing my notes I realized I added 1 Tsp. of NaCl instead of 1 Tsp. of CaCl2. AH Crap!

Time will tell.

 

[Vigo_Carpathian]

I was using a previously calibrated temp probe for my mash and found out that it fell out of calibration by 15F over a short time. I ended up accidentally mashing around 135 and ruined three batches before I noticed. Note to self: Taylor temp probes suck a##.