What's been your worst brewing disaster?

ACTbrewer · Post by **ACTbrewer** » Monday Jul 17, 2006 4:48 pm

I reckon this would qualify!

"Due to health reasons I'm giving up brew so everything must go." from mentalmayham

Krusty · Post by **Krusty** » Monday Jul 17, 2006 11:12 pm

Ernie: I loved that story about the beer-filled waterbed, that was a ripper!

r.magnay & ACTbrewer: That's a pearler of a poem! Good one. You are the first person I've come across who have actually admitted to blowing bottles from excess carbonation. Often hear of "Uncle such and such" and "my neighbour so and so" who "home brewed until they got sick of exploding bottles." I haven't had it happen to me yet, touch wood.

Also:

Due to health reasons I'm giving up brew so everything must go.

Definitely qualifies as a major disaster in my book!

-Krusty

Matt Wilbur · Post by **Matt Wilbur** » Thursday Jul 20, 2006 9:35 pm

I put on a batch of Cascade Golden Harvest the other day. After fastening the airlock and lid it seemed airtight (e.g. if i put pressure on the fermenter the water level went up and down in the airlock) However, I mustnt have tightened the tap properly as I woke up the next day with liquid surrounding the base of the fermenter. Not too much though maybe a couple hundred mls.

I have tightened the tap and nothing leaks now.

It should still be ok?

Krusty · Post by **Krusty** » Thursday Jul 20, 2006 10:32 pm

Matt Wilbur wrote:It should still be ok?

Yes, what's left in your fermenter will be fine.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Friday Jul 21, 2006 12:43 pm

Years back i bottled a brew in winter and forgot to put them inside in the warmth, they stayed in the shed for the coldest week of winter and when i opened them after 2 months was when i realised what had happened, Flat as a tack and the whole 60 bottles ( thats right 2 brews) got used as drain cleaner.

Tipsy · Post by **Tipsy** » Friday Jul 21, 2006 11:19 pm

lethaldog wrote:Years back i bottled a brew in winter and forgot to put them inside in the warmth, they stayed in the shed for the coldest week of winter and when i opened them after 2 months was when i realised what had happened, Flat as a tack and the whole 60 bottles ( thats right 2 brews) got used as drain cleaner.

Why didn't you warm em up a bit and resurect them

ACTbrewer · Post by **ACTbrewer** » Saturday Jul 22, 2006 9:39 am

Oops! I'm not sure if the priming sugar would have been affected, but you probably could have warmed them up and got them carbonated again!

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Saturday Jul 22, 2006 10:04 am

ACTbrewer wrote:Oops! I'm not sure if the priming sugar would have been affected, but you probably could have warmed them up and got them carbonated again!

Yeah i know but id just started brewing and was not privvy to the help of sites like this then so at the time i thought it was dead for sure

Needless to say i havent had this problem since..

ACTbrewer · Post by **ACTbrewer** » Saturday Jul 22, 2006 5:22 pm

Isn't knowledge a great thing!
My first 'expensive' kit was a Munton's premium Strong Dark ale. The brew either got an infection or something else went astray. tasted like crap. Waited 8 months, still tasted like crap! I also bottled too early (I think). Got absolutely covered in smelly beer, trying to pop the caps and tip out 24 long necks.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 6:40 pm

got a new one today, not a disaster so much as a pain in the arse....

knocked over a well & truely carbonated PET bottle, I mean these things are firm as. This one hits the ground at just the right angle to crack the base & then takes off like a bloody beer spewin rocket, covering me and the beer fridge head to toe in beer! To add insult to injury I'd just showered too!

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 6:53 pm

Ash wrote:got a new one today, not a disaster so much as a pain in the arse....

knocked over a well & truely caronated PET bottle, I mean these things are firm as. This one hits the ground at just the right angle to crack the base & then takes off like a bloody beer spewin rocket, covering me and the beer fridge head to toe in beer! To add insult to injury I'd just showered too!

nice one

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 7:30 pm

oh, BTW - my previous "worst disaster" was my two can brew that conventional wisdom said was a big mistake, 2x coopers bitter + kg ldme

It was horrid at the 2 week point, it's 5 weeks old now & it actually pretty alright! I can't wait till it'd got another month or 2 on it, might be a real ripper!

I've never had a stout (sad I know) but this would have to be something close, it's a really really dark ale, only shows a reddish tinge when backlit.

lethaldog · Post by **lethaldog** » Wednesday Jul 26, 2006 7:33 pm

Coopers bitter from memory is very dark let alone a double dose but om not quite sure if it would be like a stout or not

Shagger · Post by **Shagger** » Thursday Jul 27, 2006 6:49 am

After capping a brew i was inverting the bottles to mix the priming sugar.
One bottle must've had a crack in it as when I tipped it upside down the whole top half of the longneck just fell off! Beer everywhere!
I haven't seen that happen since so I'm putting it down to a weak bottle.

Cat · Post by **Cat** » Wednesday Aug 02, 2006 1:29 pm

Just then my bottle capper wouldn't let go of one of my bottles. So I spent 15 minutes banging it around until the bell would loosen on the cap.

THEN I go to bottle my next one. For some reason, the valve on the bottom of the bottling tube has disappeared! So I have home brew gushing out of my bottling tube and it takes me 10 seconds to realise that "duh, you have to turn the tap off".

Then I go and empty out the bottle I just filled to find the bottling valve. As much as it pains me, I turn the bottle upside down in the sink, looking for that tiny bit of plastic.

...

IT'S NOT THERE!

Where has my bottling valve gone?! It's not in the tube, because I can see quite clearly through it all.

I'm completely baffled.

ETA: It was in another bottle

*slaps herself on the forehead*

Two good honey wheat beers down the drain. THAT's a disaster!

rwh · Post by **rwh** » Wednesday Aug 02, 2006 3:06 pm

Cat, that IS a disaster!

By the way, if you get a bottle stuck in your capper, the way to get it out is to TWIST it. Took me a while to work this one out

Cat · Post by **Cat** » Wednesday Aug 02, 2006 3:08 pm

Yeah, I tried that!

I got another one stuck AFTER all the disasters of before. So I twisted. And twisted.

And then the top of my bottle capper (the plastic bit) came flying off!

Now I can't UNtwist it ><

On the plus side, all of my brews are now bottled.

And I must say, bottling crown seals is so much easier than twist tops!

Duane · Post by **Duane** » Wednesday Aug 02, 2006 3:49 pm

Had my first real balls up 1.30am Sun. morning.

Just finnished boiling a very hoppy APA. While cooling, cleaned and sanitized
fermenter, then syphon wort from kettle to fermenter. Watching inside kettle so I dont pick up the trub,
suddenly feel a cool liquid between my toes! WTF is that I scream and look down to see beautiful sticky wort all over the floor

Not happy! 5 hours of brewing....f***
MAKE SURE FERMENTER TAP IS SHUT BEFORE FILLING !
Still ended up with 12lt, so not all lost.

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Wednesday Aug 02, 2006 5:30 pm

It's bad enough when that happens to a simple kit brew, but after mashing and sparging and boiling and cooling.... Sorry to hear that Duane, wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Cheers,
Greg

two headed brewer · Wednesday Aug 02, 2006 7:05 pm

I've miscalc'd severely on the hop level - near turned my face inside out when I tried it.
Gregb, you can relate to that one, can't you? Imperial to metric! Think I'd learn after your story!
All was not lost, tried a 50/50 with an under hopped one and was passable.
Bally.