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You must learn from the mistakes of others

Post #1 made 10 years ago
by Primavera
You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself

Posting my first BIAB mistakes for other FNG's to avoid.

The good:
Did a test boil and had my evaporation rate dialed in and knew the propane stove was working.
Made a starter and had it up to speed at the appropriate time
Rigged a hoist and tested before starting

The bad:
Poor organization – Had two cardboard boxes; one with ingredients and one with equipment. No table to work from meant I was constantly looking for the last place I put that important widget. Working with stuff scattered on the ground. Didn’t have a means of cleaning refractometer, taking good notes etc.

Corrective action: I have a nice folding table that will hold everything needed for brewing. Mise en place for you chefs out there.

Thermometer misuse – left the probe cover on once thinking that the drain holes would allow sufficient heat transfer to the probe. Dumb idea.

Melted chiller line – Put chiller in with ten minutes left in boil. Noticed odd smell at flameout and discovered that the output line had melted where it hit the outer ring of the stove.

Distractions – Had to take a phone call during dough in. Completely missed recording the time. Luckily the phone call record pinned it down. Other duties had me in and out of the house. Luckily, I only had one very minor boil over.

Under estimating TWN – BIABacus said 8.35 gallons, I knew that was way too high. Wound up using 8 gallons and a was bit high on my OG. Trust the force Luke.
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Post #2 made 10 years ago
by nosco
I did my first double batch recently. I made a hop spider to try and improve my setup. I was in a hurry at the time and went to the hardware store and got some threaded stainless and a bit of pvc down pipe fitting to make the hop spider.

As my pot is a 65lt and a bit small the liquid for the boil was very close to the top of the pot and the hop spider. I have read that you shouldn't use pvc with boiling wort coz it can leach bad stuff into the beer. I was in such a hurry to get the beer underway that I totally forgot. It doesn't pay to over read sometimes.

The beer was boiling away nicely and my new hop spider was working great. I went over to the brewputer to enter in some measurements into the BIABicus, came back to the kettle and my hop spider was gone!? It took me a few seconds of head scratching to figure out what was goin on. The pvc had melted and the hop spider fell into the pot. It took me about 10 minutes to fish it out.

I thought about finishing the beer but it had been a long day and our 2 year old was being a handful and my wife had a new born to contend with. Plus I didn't want to condition the BoPils for a month or 2 to find out it tasted like pvc or to risk drinking some kind of toxin. So I turned the kettle off :(

So the moral of the story like in your post primavera is to be prepared and not rush things. Mistakes can be costly. I did make another double batch a week later which all went to plan :)
"Gentleman, when I first started Reynholm Industries, I had just two things in my possession: a simple dream, and six million pounds.
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Post #3 made 10 years ago
by blu_afro
the mistakes i have made (that i actually know i've made).
1. leaving the lid on during the boil. weaker beer but still tasted OK.
2. weighed grain with scales on oz instead of grams. managed to catch before the boil and back calculate.
3. didn't seal the secondary fermenter, resulting in paint thinner. lost this one
4. until last coupleof brews have been a bit lax on recording times/volumes.
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You must learn from the mistakes of others

Post #4 made 10 years ago
by nosco
While I am at it I should have mentioned my last batch of Apple cider vinegar lol.

We did some minor renovations and the fermentor got moved around a few too many times. Its a coopers open fermentor so I think it got air in it plus I didnt have it in the ferm fridge and probably got too warm.


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Last edited by nosco on 05 Apr 2015, 11:01, edited 1 time in total.
"Gentleman, when I first started Reynholm Industries, I had just two things in my possession: a simple dream, and six million pounds.
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You must learn from the mistakes of others

Post #5 made 10 years ago
by nosco
Oh and I should have mentioned that I made the American Amber from BCS but used the grain bill from the red ale on the opposite page haha. I kind of fixed it with a hop tea though which was a good exercise.

I might be able to post more mistakes here than most ;)


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"Gentleman, when I first started Reynholm Industries, I had just two things in my possession: a simple dream, and six million pounds.
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Post #6 made 10 years ago
by PistolPatch
nosco wrote: I went over to the brewputer to enter in some measurements into the BIABicus, came back to the kettle and my hop spider was gone!?
:lol: :lol: :lol:

...

I missed this thread. I'm sure we can all add a few things here :).

Don't get involved in big brew day charity days. Did one here and we brewed about five batches on three rigs in a day. Weighing grain, crushing it, pouring it into grain bags ready for striking. But, ended up pouring five kilos of uncrushed based malt into one kettle, everything was going so fast. Whoops!
Last edited by PistolPatch on 05 Apr 2015, 16:55, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #7 made 10 years ago
by BDP
Mistake narrowly avoided, but so close ... adding baking powder instead of baking soda for water treatment :headhit: . (always read the ingredients if it gets sourced from the kitchen cupboard).

Cheers!

Post #8 made 10 years ago
by windrider
nosco wrote:I went over to the brewputer to enter in some measurements into the BIABicus, came back to the kettle and my hop spider was gone!? It took me a few seconds of head scratching to figure out what was goin on. The pvc had melted and the hop spider fell into the pot. It took me about 10 minutes to fish it out.
I had a similar experience, not as bad though. I usually use a lid from a food container with a hole drilled in it to float my thermometer probe during the mash. Left it in while reaching the boil and couldn’t work out why it had disappeared. Luckily I fished it from the bottom and it didn’t melt.

My first brew I got confused with the hop additions and added the 0 mins at the start of the boil and the bittering hops at the end of the boil. Turned out okay though!
Last edited by windrider on 08 Apr 2015, 19:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #9 made 10 years ago
by Yettiman
I made a winter warmer based on an old english porter.

I added in figs and liquorice. I did not want my usual 30 litres (could never drink that much in the Christmas period, do I have the recipe, all except the liquorice. It was like drinking Basset Alsorts.

So rather than waste it, I brewed up a second, weaker dark ale and blended. Still ended up with 30 litres but at least it was drinkable.

My advice, never adjust the recipe on the fly, once you have started brewing.
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