Most embarrassing homebrewing mistakes

[jonny24]

Similar to a post above...


I have 4 taps on kegerator door. Recently all torn down and cleaned, so only 1 tap is installed and hooked up to a keg (I just moved, creating a gap in my supply) on Line 1.
I kegged a second beer, hooked it up at 35ish psi to co2 Line 3, vented the keg, and then ALMOST hooked up the liquid line. But I stopped myself, and realized I needed to put the tap on.
Got up, put the tap on, hooked up to the line, and hear the inevitable splatter of beer hitting the floor.
Got up, threw a towel down, and looked at the door. I had put the tap on line 2, not 3!

It doesn't end there!

The next day, eager to try a somewhat carbonated sample, opened the fridge to hook back the the liquid line, and get real confused... why is liquid line 3 empty? And why does line 4 have beer in it?

I had put the tap on the wrong line, AND put the wrong line onto the keg!

 

[Still Brewn]

Brother is an avid brewer now, 30g Morebeer system. Glycol-cooled conical, etc. He's also a member here.

I know you know what you are doing now and I know you have been around here for a long time, but..... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/broken-glass-carboy-horror-stories-compendium.376523/

 

[ListerH]

I know you know what you are doing now and I know you have been around here for a long time, but..... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/broken-glass-carboy-horror-stories-compendium.376523/

Wow... yeah I haven't used my glass carboy for a while as the potential for disaster is huge! Used to secondary in one all the time... now it goes in a nice stainless steel keg.
I wonder how close I ever came to being one of the photos in that post! Carrying a full glass carboy around to rack it, swirling Starsan around in it with wet hands etc etc!

 

[SEndorf]

Bottling a 5 gal batch of beer, looking over and noticing the beaker with priming sugar water sitting on the counter.

BTDT.. At least you HAD the priming sugar ready.
On one of my first batches, I bottled the 5 G. and I completely forgot about the priming sugar.

 

[MaxStout]

BTDT.. At least you HAD the priming sugar ready.
On one of my first batches, I bottled the 5 G. and I completely forgot about the priming sugar.

I had bottled and capped them all before my discovery. But I popped off the caps, used a plastic pipette to dose each bottle with sugar solution, then re-capped with new caps. Beer turned out OK. Only lost about 50 bottle caps and some time.

 

[SEndorf]

I had bottled and capped them all before my discovery. But I popped off the caps, used a plastic pipette to dose each bottle with sugar solution, then re-capped with new caps. Beer turned out OK. Only lost about 50 bottle caps and some time.

I remember re-sanitizing the bottling bucket, dumping them all back in and started over bottling with the priming sugar. That was a long night.

 

[MaxStout]

I remember re-sanitizing the bottling bucket, dumping them all back in and started over bottling with the priming sugar. That was a long night.

Ouch. Did the beer turn out OK?

 

[Jayjay1976]

I remember re-sanitizing the bottling bucket, dumping them all back in and started over bottling with the priming sugar. That was a long night.

I hate bottling so much that a night like yours would have been my last batch of beer for a loooooong time. Possibly forever.

 

[SEndorf]

Ouch. Did the beer turn out OK?

Drinkable, but not really very good.
I'm sure multiple other factors were involved other than the bottling debacle!

 

[passedpawn]

I know you know what you are doing now and I know you have been around here for a long time, but..... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/broken-glass-carboy-horror-stories-compendium.376523/

My broken carboy was why I started collecting links to similar accidents, and why I started that thread.

 

[SEndorf]

I hate bottling so much that a night like yours would have been my last batch of beer for a loooooong time. Possibly forever.

I never hated bottling with that much passion, but I do like the kegs. Haven't bottled for quite a while.

 

[Still Brewn]

My broken carboy was why I started collecting links to similar accidents, and why I started that thread.

I didn't realize you started that thread. But yeah that thread is why I have never used glass. I also don't like carboys because of the lack of head room. I would rather not deal with extra stuff..... blow off tubes, pans of sanitizer.

 

[odie]

First mistake...early extract days, circa 1994 Hawaii...maybe my 3rd or 4th batch...had something I can’t remember fermenting in the garage...well I had to go on detachment so I left my roommate what I assumed to be clear priming and bottling instructions...a week later I’m in the garage working and “boom”??? Another “boom”...why is my leg bleeding??? So I ask my roomie...any problems bottling the beer? Did you put a teaspoon of corn sugar in each bottle? “Yeah, just like you said”...show me the spoon i left you...”uh, this one?”....dude, that’s a tablespoon...

 

[odie]

Second mistake...my third kegerator and second homemade one...brand new small chest freezer...wasn’t thrilled about the condensation so i decided to coat/seal/treat the inside to prevent rust...with auto undercoating spray...that sh*t never cures...spent days getting it out...

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Using reclaimed yeast that was too old to work, burning the string on my bag while squeezing as the water heats up, biggest was my wort chiller hose melted in the boil because it got too close to the burner and when I turned it on I ended up with an extra gallon of wort and had to boil it back down again.

Sent from my KFFOWI using Home Brew mobile app

 

[JoanofArc]

Messing around in a water calc trying to add this and that to get all the numbers close to target, zero idea what I was doing, and when it all looked right I ended up putting 7 grams of epsom salt in my kettle. The weizenbock ended up with a weird tart flavor that won't fade and I just can't get used to. Not to mention the slight laxative effect. Can't decide whether to dump it or soak my feet in it.

Oh hell this is funny. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[JoanofArc]

I may have recently forgottten a VERY full keg of sanitizer in the garage.

View attachment 609853

Oh dude, that hurts. Guess it can't take the pressure.

 

[JoanofArc]

I didn't realize you started that thread. But yeah that thread is why I have never used glass. I also don't like carboys because of the lack of head room. I would rather not deal with extra stuff..... blow off tubes, pans of sanitizer.

I bought a kit with a plastic carboy for the reason given of the danger of glass breakage

 

[ferm.adventures]

The most embarrassing was also recent and was a little heartbreaking too. Most of 2018 was a busy year and for various reasons I didn't brew for 6 months. Once the dust cleared I made two quick 3 gallon batches, a short session mead and a smoked amber ale.

After the hiatus, I had 4 kegs to clean, and I used my keg washer to wash all 4 and they came nice and clean. Then I rinsed all 4 kegs with just the one gallon of water in the keg washer. And added some sar san to the same water to sanitize. I was proud that I saved so much water, not realizing how dumb I was being.

I kegged both the mead and amber, and the hydrometer samples were great. a few days later when I tried them from the keg, they were horrible... and it took me a little while to realize what I did. Obviously there was quite a bit of PBW residue transferred to the beers. It took me weeks to dump the kegs until I was finally kegging more home brew in correctly rinsed kegs.

 

[wepeeler]

Made a yeast starter Monday night which I intended to harvest from the night before cold crashing. Grab the flask off the stir starter. I sanitize the foil, grab my magnet to pull out the stir bar, run it up the side of the flask and the stir bar pulls the magnet into the flask. SPLASH. I grab another magnet to pull out the stir bar and magnet, run it up the side of the flask and again the first magnet and stir bar crash to the bottom of the flask. Only this time they cracked the flask. Grrr...This was last night...

 

[passedpawn]

Made a yeast starter Monday night which I intended to harvest from the night before cold crashing. Grab the flask off the stir starter. I sanitize the foil, grab my magnet to pull out the stir bar, run it up the side of the flask and the stir bar pulls the magnet into the flask. SPLASH. I grab another magnet to pull out the stir bar and magnet, run it up the side of the flask and again the first magnet and stir bar crash to the bottom of the flask. Only this time they cracked the flask. Grrr...This was last night...

Did it leak when it cracked? DME on a hot stove can create a sticky mess that takes a while to clean up.

I made a massive mess one night when I broke two (yes, two) flasks. Both of them dumped all over the stove. Wife was in bed, thankfully. I had to scrape the sticky stuff off the stove and floor. Super mess.

In the pic, you can see the broken exploded one. About 3 seconds after I took the picture, #2 in the back also let loose (arrow points to crack ready to blow). I used the big one in the front for years and heated it exactly like that. Why this time?: ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE DME IS DISSOLVED IN THE WATER BEFORE HEATING. IF IT IS STILL SOLID ON THE BOTTOM, FLASK WILL BREAK.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Did it leak when it cracked? DME on a hot stove can create a sticky mess that takes a while to clean up.

I made a massive mess one night when I broke two (yes, two) flasks. Both of them dumped all over the stove. Wife was in bed, thankfully. I had to scrape the sticky stuff off the stove and floor. Super mess.

In the pic, you can see the broken exploded one. About 3 seconds after I took the picture, #2 in the back also let loose (arrow points to crack ready to blow). I used the big one in the front for years and heated it exactly like that. Why this time?: ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE DME IS DISSOLVED IN THE WATER BEFORE HEATING. IF IT IS STILL SOLID ON THE BOTTOM, FLASK WILL BREAK.

View attachment 610019

I've always read that you should only heat DME for a starter in the flask if you have a gas stove. Therefore, I've always boiled mine in a pan first, then transferred to the flask.

 

[Franktalk]

Forgot to change the mash tun and grain temperatures on BeerSmith today, and my basement was 50 degrees. Instead of mashing it at 154, I mashed in at 144. I had to boil some water quickly to bring it up. Mash was low for the first 15 minutes. I'll call it an protein rest. Yeah, that's the ticket.

 

[Homergah]

I left my IC in the work shop where I brew. Didn't consider the freezing temps, and the water left in the coils of the IC. Next brew day I toss the chiller in the BK at the usual time before end of boil. When it got time to chill I turned the water on. It was a good while before I realized what was going on. Pumped a lot of nasty water into the wort. I'm talking water with extreme manganese content. I don't even use the stuff to clean with. Beer ruined. Had to dump it two weeks later. Not really that embarrassing, just aggravating. I test the chiller now before dropping it in.

I do have an embarrassing brew story, but I may hang on to that one, for now.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Oh dude, that hurts. Guess it can't take the pressure.

oh man.
My keggorator is on the back porch.
Off of course.
I have a temp triggered outlet with a 100 watt bulb connected to keep things from freezing.

 

[passedpawn]

You should consider doing a KickStarter campaign for your noodle-ducttapte "Beer Bouy" contraption. Have it kick off on 4/01

This is the fastest way to chill. Boil-to-ambient in only a few minutes. Stir like crazy while pool water rushing past. Also, immersion chiller in there. It's in my pool spa. Marlee approves. Lots of near-disasters before I abandoned this method.

 

[Home_alone1]

For the first few batches I couldn’t figure out why I had so much Trub transferred when using my racking cane . Then I discovered the little black cap wasn’t a cap at all but a filter to pull beer from above !

 

[Sbe2]

I was transferring wort from my BK to my fermenter in my garage. I set my BK on my work bench on top of a three ring binder. The idea was to keep trub away from my valve while on the binder. Well, I went to do something like grab the O2 wand or sanitizer and saw the BK fall 4’ from the bench. The binder somehow unfolded resulting in about 3 gallons of NEIPA on the floor of my garage.

I cleaned up the floor and added 3 gallons of distilled to the fermenter. Turned into a nice NEPA.

 

[dx250]

Now I get to repaint my kitchen ceiling. On a side note remember to put the oring in the liquid poppet before pressurizing your keg to 30psi.

 

[rlonardo]

Always always always always always make sure your kettle valves are closed. I've spilled water and wort on more than one occasion...most notably a nice sticky imperial stout wort all over our apartment kitchen floor and under the stove.

Just this week I was pushing Starsan from keg to keg to purge with CO2. The kid starts crying upstairs, so I run up to take care of him for 5-10 minutes. When I went back to the basement I heard gurgling and see foam and Starsan solution all over the floor. At least it was clean?

A couple of brew days ago my immersion chiller bit the dust. The vinyl hose split just before it enters the coil, spraying water into the wort. I probably would have nipped that in the bud if I hadn't left it unattended to go watch football inside. Instead I walked out to this scene. Dumping a batch before it ever hits the fermentor is quite depressing.

 

[jason613]

Thought I had purchased maris otter for my stout...but the bag was roasted barley. Needless to say gravity was low and there was almost no fermentables...finally noticed it was roasted barley the next time I went to brew.

 

[jason613]

I may have recently forgottten a VERY full keg of sanitizer in the garage.

View attachment 609853

Whoa

 

[MrKelly]

I went to keg a 5 gallon batch and the keg was full with 3 gallons of beer left in the fermenter....

Don't forget to dump the sanitizer before you keg.

 

[Matthew Nelson]

Once I had a mostly blocked airlock due to an aggressive ferment. It deceptively bubbled, but only because it was under extreme pressure. When I pupped the bung to rack it, I was greeted with a 5 foot geyser of beer erupting out of the carboy. Lost a good 2 gallons. The saving grace was that I was fermenting in a bathtub, so the only bad cleanup was the ceiling.

 

[Still Brewn]

I went to keg a 5 gallon batch and the keg was full with 3 gallons of beer left in the fermenter....

Don't forget to dump the sanitizer before you keg.

Very sad. But at least you were able to get some beer from the experience.
I think I will continue to clean my kegs only when they are ready to be filled, that way they are upside down in the sink when I'm ready to refill. I was going to try to stay on top of it and clean as soon as they were empty but with How many people do the same thing I think it is better to just keep putting things off.

 

[ba-brewer]

I went to keg a 5 gallon batch and the keg was full with 3 gallons of beer left in the fermenter....

Don't forget to dump the sanitizer before you keg.

Up until this post the only real embarrassing thing to admit was the feeling of Schadenfreude I was getting from this thread.

One time I keg a beer and thought it was a bit weird I had little more extra beer left after siphoning from fermentor to keg but just went about things as normal. Later I started thinking maybe I failed to empty the keg of starsan before filling. I only use about quart to a half gallon in the keg and roll it around a few time to wet the surfaces.
Don't recall when it dawned on me that was what happen, maybe it was great head on the beer.

Very sad. But at least you were able to get some beer from the experience.
I think I will continue to clean my kegs only when they are ready to be filled, that way they are upside down in the sink when I'm ready to refill. I was going to try to stay on top of it and clean as soon as they were empty but with How many people do the same thing I think it is better to just keep putting things off.

I keep my dirty kegs under pressure from when they kicked and clean just before filling, yet I still messed up.

 

[NewJersey]

most embarrassing thing I've done is brew 3 vessel as opposed to single vessel biab. I feel like such an idiot.

 

[odie]

Today I forgot to turn the heat element off at end of boil. I wondered why my wort chiller was slow???

 

[pshankstar]

Today I forgot to turn the heat element off at end of boil. I wondered why my wort chiller was slow???

I had the same thing happen with my blichmann burner. I thought I turned it off but it still had a small flame going. ‍ Doh!!

 

[GnenieGone]

Guess the most embarrassing thing was related to drinking too much during brewing. I vorlauf into a 1gal container. Drinking, listening to music and surfing HBT can cause issues. Head bobbing to Jimmy Hendrix, replying to a thread, then noticed my feet getting really warm. Well, because the obvious happened. Wert spilled over all over the kitchen floor. No wife around tho! [emoji106]Learned to have secondary containment becuase there's no way I'm stopping drinking while brewing! 6am or 6pm, beer is involved!