36 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

Ever look back at some of the stuff you did and laugh?

 

At some point very early in my brewing I came to the conclusion that this whole cleaning and sanitizing thing was overblown.    In my early brewing I didn't have a chiller so I spoke with a few people who suggested using ice.  But they didn't say HOW to use the ice... or at least that's what I'm thinking now.  I would add ice to the primary and add the hot wort to it thinking that hot wort plus ice would equal yeast-pitching-temp wort.  Wow.  How about this... I actually added ice cubes (the ice fingers that your freezer makes) directly to a 6.5 gallon glass carboy.  I added the ice and then added some water because I was only boiling 3 gallons so I needed the extra volume.  I would get the ice and water in there and then put a funnel in the carboy neck and poor BOILING HOT WORT directly into the glass carboy right after the wort was done boiling.  Can you believe that?  Not once did I experience 'thermal shock' and shatter the carboy.  Whoo boy... should I be glad to be alive?

 

Anyone else have any of these stories?

[MyaCullen]

I used the half carboy of cold water + sink cooled partial boil method

[dmtaylor]

I set my first glass carboy into a cold water bath for chilling.  Immediately heard this horrible *CRACK* *POP*   It's funny... it wasn't leaking at that point and I could have easily siphoned the hot wort off to a second container, but oh no, I decided to try to very carefully lift up the carboy... and splash, lost it all at that point.

[ChefLamont]

1.  I used bleach as a sanitizer.

 

2. A buddy and I did our first double batch day, we did 5 gal batches and we completely finished one before starting the next.  That 13+ hour day for 10 gal immediately taught us to stagger batches and that we wanted to go to 10 gal batches.

[SchwanzBrewer]

My very first brew ever I had Chinese instructions and I wanted to get as much wort as possible in the fermenter so I sucked up the wort with a big straw and spit it into the fermenter. It turned into swamp water. 

[Poptop]

My very first brew ever I had Chinese instructions and I wanted to get as much wort as possible in the fermenter so I sucked up the wort with a big straw and spit it into the fermenter. It turned into swamp water.

No one will top this

[SchwanzBrewer]

So much was wrong with that brew. I bought a $25 kit at wally world and the instructions were in Chinese. I had to go by what was in the pictures. I knew nothing about sanitation or anything else for that matter. It took a few years to recover from the failure.

[HVB]

So much was wrong with that brew. I bought a $25 kit at wally world and the instructions were in Chinese. I had to go by what was in the pictures. I knew nothing about sanitation or anything else for that matter. It took a few years to recover from the failure.

I was wondering where you got that kit. 

[BlKtRe]

I posted about when a bung fell into the fermenter and how it was going to ruin my batch of extract/partial boil/top off method. Which those beers I made sucked anyways. 

[Deerslyr]

I think on my 2nd or 3rd batch... it was Mr. Beer... I was making a Red Ale and I decided to put some cloves in.  Cloves should never be used in beer... at least not on their own.  I tried to convince myself it was good, but it was not.

 

Nothing beats my decision to use metabisulfate on the plums that I ended up putting in the secondary for my Dr. Pepperweissen recipe.  Disastrous results... but that was much later and cannot be attributed to a rookie mistake.  IIRC, it wasn't too long after that that Schwanz attempted his "open fermentation" of a wheat beer.

[MtnBrewer]

I listened to blktre.

[shaggaroo]

I used star anise in a brew to try and get a slight licorice flavor. Suffice it to say I used way more than I should have. My buddy says, mmm breakfast sausage beer. Yeah that was a dumper.

[SchwanzBrewer]

I think on my 2nd or 3rd batch... it was Mr. Beer... I was making a Red Ale and I decided to put some cloves in.  Cloves should never be used in beer... at least not on their own.  I tried to convince myself it was good, but it was not.

 

Nothing beats my decision to use metabisulfate on the plums that I ended up putting in the secondary for my Dr. Pepperweissen recipe.  Disastrous results... but that was much later and cannot be attributed to a rookie mistake.  IIRC, it wasn't too long after that that Schwanz attempted his "open fermentation" of a wheat beer.

 

I forgot about that!

 

Yeah, that was a big oops. Forgot that it was in the back room and it had a big pellicle going on. Never know, might have turned out great! Yeah, one of these days I'd like to do that again, now that I know I have more control.

[MyaCullen]

I think on my 2nd or 3rd batch... it was Mr. Beer... I was making a Red Ale and I decided to put some cloves in.  Cloves should never be used in beer... at least not on their own.  I tried to convince myself it was good, but it was not.

 

 

I did that on an experimental belgianish brew, it was so clovey it made my throat numb

[Big Nake]

1.  I used bleach as a sanitizer...

I think this was passed around as acceptable for a long time. People would mention that Iodophor or Starsan would be best but that bleach would work just fine. I think I may have used "dish soap" to clean and bleach to sanitize on a few early extract batches.

[MyaCullen]

I think this was passed around as acceptable for a long time. People would mention that Iodophor or Starsan would be best but that bleach would work just fine. I think I may have used "dish soap" to clean and bleach to sanitize on a few early extract batches.

I used it on my very first batch, which was 1 can of Brew in a Bag brand lager hopped extract, and 1 quart of honey. that one sucked

Edited by miccullen, 18 July 2014 - 09:39 AM.

[BlKtRe]

I listened to blktre.

[djinkc]

There's really nothing wrong with using bleach, other than you can ruin clothes. I used it exclusively back in the day followed by a sulfite.

[MyaCullen]

There's really nothing wrong with using bleach, other than you can ruin clothes. I used it exclusively back in the day followed by a sulfite.

what's wrong is, you have to multi rinse it after you sanitize with it

[djinkc]

what's wrong is, you have to multi rinse it after you sanitize with it

the sulfite knocks it right out - like campden tabs and chlorine