Brewing mistakes you really wish you'd avoided...

[Agentgonzo]

Oh yeah... been holding the end of the transfer tube above the fermenter whilst pumping the wort out of the kettle, got distracted by watching a chaffinch outside and then gone "why is my foot wet"

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Carefully setting the HERMS controller for the next mash step, wondering why the hot-side kettle is actually boiling - and then realising the temperature sensor has fallen out #facepalm

 

[Brew_DD2]

Attached blow off tube to dip tube side of my fermenter.

 

[moto748]

I've never (touch wood) had a real disaster, unless you you count leaving a batch uncovered in a bucket overnight after pitching. The resultant beer came out sub-par, but drinkable. But one thing I am aware of is the H & S aspect. I've dialed down on the size of batch I brew, restricting it to pretty much a 15 litre max. Because the thought of manipulating over-heavy bags of boiling hot sodden grain, should anything go wrong and you lose your balance, doesn't bear thinking about.

 

[Dutto]

You sexy beast I bet they were fluorescent green crocs

Unfortunately they had brown leather uppers and I classed them as “Working Crocs”, which is why they had melted weld marks on the soles!


A mate once asked me “Do you know why Crocs have holes in them?” I shook my head so he carried on “It’s so the last shred of dignity owned by the wearer can drain away!”
:hat:

 

[Paul7189]

When i first started brewing with 1 gallon stove top kits, I used the granular sanitiser that needs rinsing after use because it come with a kit and I didn't fancy spending the price of the kit again on star san. Anyway something went wrong (I did something wrong) and after about 6 weeks from brew to bottle carbed, I ended up with 8 bottles of Weiss Malt Vinegar..... Ordered a 1 litre bottle of star san the next day.

 

[gavp1979]

Attached blow off tube to dip tube side of my fermenter.

I did similar, for some reason I left an unconnected disconnect to the post with a floating dip tube and then wondered why there was beer coming out of my fermentation fridge

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Leaving the tap open on a Fermenter when filling from the kettle, not good hot wort on your feet

... What no one prepares you for though is just how gutting it is when it happens.

Yeah, this is it for me. I actually nearly cried. At least I noticed and managed to save 10L of the 23L batch. The rest marinated the patio.

 

[DuncR]

Disconnected the control box on my Grainfather in order to fit a grain coat. Reconnected pump and heater into the wrong sockets then wondered why the grainfather was making a buzzing noise and the water wasn’t getting any hotter for mashing. Fortunately I had the pump tap in the off position before mistake noticed. Phew!

 

[An Ankoù]

I rarely, if ever, leave my brew unattended for very long until it's in the fermenter. On this occasion I took the dog for a walk and when I returned my kettle, burner etc was surrounded by a pool of wort. My immersion cooler had developed a pin hole and the kettle had filled up and overflowed. Ended up with two fermenters full of mild at 1032 instead of the stout I had intended. Wasn't a bad mild, though.

 

[Brewshed]

One I'm fairly sure most people have done at one stage (myself included)....

Leaving the kettle for a bit "until it gets up to the boil". As soon as you turn your back... BOILOVER!

I regard this as an integral part of the brewing process!

 

[SteveB.]

My recent disaster was forgetting to fit the bazooka filter to my all in one. Got the wort boiling before I realized so drained the wort into a bucket and fitted the bazooka. Started pouring the wort back into the all in one only to find it coming out of the tap all over the kitchen floor. Double disaster in we one brew .

 

[Nottsbeer]

Biggest mistake was not ensuring my cooling water reservoir was connected properly to the coil pipe....ended up with a leak and some of the water getting into the beer. As i use rainwater this ruined the batch. As an optimist I finished the process and bottled it. There was a subtle hint of "butt water taste" so the lot got thrown. My wife still refers to my "butt beer"

 

[hop-a-long]

Forgetting to add priming sugar / carbonation drops before bottling & having 40 bottles of flat beer

I did it the other way around. Me being used to use one carbon drop per 500 ml bottle, I automatically did the same with 250 ml bottles.
Result:
80+ overcarbonated bottles, which meant that most opened bottles resulted in a fountain with very little beer left in the bottle to actually drink.

 

[MickDundee]

The hose from the out end of my chiller is quite flexible and I usually have to put my boiler lid on top of it in the sink to keep it still. I forgot once and sprayed water all over the utility room!

 

[nickjdavis]

I once forgot to attach the lugs on the side of my Braumeister malt pipe meaning that there was nowhere for the lifting handle to catch on to to remove the malt pipe after mashing. It took a good bit of levering with various bits of wood to raise the pipe to a position where I could fit the upper lugs, and then using the lifting handle and holding the malt pipe aloft with one hand, whilst trying to screw in the lower lugs with the other hand.

I say "I once forgot"....but that's not strictly true because I did it again a few months later!!!

 

[phildo79]

Attaching the gas disconnect to the liquid post because they look the same so there 'probably' won't be any problems. Racking the gas up to 30 psi to burst carb and then rapidly reducing the gas (whilst it is still connected to the liquid post) and beer shoots up the line, through the reg and hits the ceiling.

Weirdly, I have done this more than once!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Biggest mistake was not ensuring my cooling water reservoir was connected properly to the coil pipe....ended up with a leak and some of the water getting into the beer. As i use rainwater this ruined the batch. As an optimist I finished the process and bottled it. There was a subtle hint of "butt water taste" so the lot got thrown. My wife still refers to my "butt beer"

Oh... my... lord...

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Attaching the gas disconnect to the liquid post because they look the same so there 'probably' won't be any problems. Racking the gas up to 30 psi to burst carb and then rapidly reducing the gas (whilst it is still connected to the liquid post) and beer shoots up the line, through the reg and hits the ceiling.

Weirdly, I have done this more than once!

Awesome - I can so see myself doing this. In fact, I've just been out to the garage and written GAS and BEER on my corny posts

 

[Brew_DD2]

I did similar, for some reason I left an unconnected disconnect to the post with a floating dip tube and then wondered why there was beer coming out of my fermentation fridge

Did that one recently. Was trying out the new Kegland all in one disconnects and forgot that the keg I was trying them on still had some beer in it and was pressurised. Thank god they are easy to disconnect.