Rough brewing day (heres my story, sad but true...)

[DPBISME]

I brewed Friday, Saturday and Sunday and all was going well on Sunday untill while brewing my Kitchen-Sink IPA (I was getting rid of a bunch of left over hops) and things started going bad…

1. The (StarSan soaked) T-shirt that I use to cover up the kettle while it is cooling down fell in the wort. Of course after it had fallen on the ground.
   
2. The HLT above the Kettle overflowed with water and dribble down the side in to my cooling wort. I am brewing outside.
   
3. The pump got clogged up with hops and quit flowing.
   
4. I grabbed my Auto Syphon and started to use that but since the tube is short it fell out of the fermenter on the muddy ground 5 times... I rinsed it each time with my StarsSan bucket near by and restarted.
   
5. My draw tube open on the conical was open and wort dribble out on the ground

So I figure::: some place in this screwed up process I have contaminated my beer.

BUT I figure all is not lost because:

1. The OG was 1.65 so I should have a good amount of Alcohol.
   
2. I used 4.5 oz for bittering: A combination of Warrior (3/4), Centennial (2), Palisades (1), and Nugget (3/4)so it has plenty of IBUs (11 Gallons)
   
3. My plan is to keg it in two weeks and take one keg to a party that week and then take the other keg to another party the 25th… In that amount of time I don’t expect any infection to take hold.

I figure it could come across a bit young but a lot of people like it that way…

We will see.

May all your brew days be less crazed than this.

 

[Poobah58]

And I thought I had a bad day!

 

[catdaddy66]

Sounds frustrating but I think your right that all is not lost!

I had planned to bottle my Irish stout (tasted amazing, btw), and all went well until I opened the spigot valve on the bottling bucket. That's when the threads loosened on the interior phalange and it sprang a leak. I had to quickly pour it back into the carboy which delayed bottling until today as I had to let the trub settle out again. Good news is I don't need to prime it for the bottle as I did that last night!

And in an amazing stroke of luck I had the forethought to sanitize my funnel despite not having plans to use it.

Good luck with your brew!

 

[2thGuy]

I don't think you should have too many problems with the beer as long as you have a big healthy pitch.

 

[Cider123]

Sounds like a murphy's law beer. I'm sure it will be fine. Once that yeast starts multiplying and going to town, it really out-competes any rogue bacteria. That's why it is important to get that wort to a pitchable temp range quickly and then pitch with a good starter.

I would be sure that your transfer techniques are improved for after fermentation is complete. If you have a lot of sloshing aorund before bottling or kegging you have oxidation issues which don't get better with time.

 

[DPBISME]

I don't think you should have too many problems with the beer as long as you have a big healthy pitch.

Well I forgot to add that... I used two packs of Nottingham that I actually hydrated... (I usually just cast it)

An hour or so later I opened it up and tossed in one more (dry) for good measure.

Since the Pitching Calculator said 2.8 packs I figure I am in pretty good shape.

I cast/ptiched a bit warm, maybe around 75 (F) since it is still very cool here in Northern VA...

I fully expect bubbles when I get home...

 

[DPBISME]

Sounds like a murphy's law beer. I'm sure it will be fine. Once that yeast starts multiplying and going to town, it really out-competes any rogue bacteria. That's why it is important to get that wort to a pitchable temp range quickly and then pitch with a good starter.

I would be sure that your transfer techniques are improved for after fermentation is complete. If you have a lot of sloshing aorund before bottling or kegging you have oxidation issues which don't get better with time.

Well everythng was good until just about time to move it from the Kettle so I don't expect O2 problems.

I am pretty sure what predicated my initial problem...

I have a Keggle with a rotating draw tube... am supposed to rotate it after the boil starts, I did not until after cooling and since I was using pellets some mush have settled in the tube...

It gave me an excuse to take apart the pump... first time in a year, since I usually just StarSan it After use and then again before use...

 

[GoodDogShelby]

Thanks for making me feel better about my brew day. Compared to your misfortunes, my day was a snap.

Hope things turn out tasty.

 

[Groo]

Had some issues on my brew last week (1st brew since November). Burner got clogged by a pincher bug and wouldn't boil. Had to move 11 gallons of 165 degree wort to the top of my three tier.

The worst part was that it was a 2 hour boil and I started late so this thing finished up at around 1:30 am. Midweek brewing is always asking for trouble.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who dips t-shirts in starsan.

 

[DPBISME]

Had some issues on my brew last week (1st brew since November). Burner got clogged by a pincher bug and wouldn't boil. Had to move 11 gallons of 165 degree wort to the top of my three tier.

The worst part was that it was a 2 hour boil and I started late so this thing finished up at around 1:30 am. Midweek brewing is always asking for trouble.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who dips t-shirts in starsan.

I cannot tell you haow many brewing sessions I finished with a flashlight...

My new thing is to make sure that I start early enough so if things go bad I can still see.

Last two times it was because I did two batches back to back.

Happy Brewing