Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...  (Read 2882 times)

Offline hawkbox

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...
« Reply #15 on: June 19, 2018, 02:11:52 pm »
I poured about 6 liters of wort on the floor a couple weeks ago filling a carboy on a 10 gallon batch.  A guy I was talking to distracted me and I turned my back at precisely the wrong time.  That was a damned mess to clean up.

Offline Iliff Ave

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4507
Re: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...
« Reply #16 on: June 19, 2018, 02:38:51 pm »
About a year ago I had my magnetic tap list white board fall onto my 4 taps below in the middle of the night subsequently draining all 4 kegs onto the garage floor. The white board is now screwed into the fridge wall...
« Last Edit: June 19, 2018, 02:40:35 pm by goschman »
On Tap/Bottled: IPL, Adjunct Vienna, Golden Stout, Honey Lager
Fermenting: IPA
Up Next: mexi lager, Germerican pale ale

Offline ethinson

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 561
  • Why is the beer always gone?
    • River Pirate Brewing Co.
Re: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...
« Reply #17 on: June 20, 2018, 05:51:03 am »
I had a wide mouth carboy. Key word had. I was putting the lid on after just crashing the beer from my brew day. The lid seemed to get cross threaded a bit and the silicone o ring that creates the seal was sticking a little. I was having trouble untightening the lid and decided to get some leverage on the carboy so I used my knee to hold the carboy. And. Well. My knee punched through the side of the carboy, which cut my leg, shattered and dumped 5.5 gallons of beer with freshly pitched yeast and beer all over my rug, which didn’t absorb anything, and then the beer went all over my wood floors, under the stove, and pretty much everywhere. My mop didn’t do a damned thing. I used every towel in the house. And the rug had virtually all the hop matter caked into it. I just rolled the rug up and threw it in the garbage along with the carboy I used twice. (Haven’t used a wide mouth ever since.)

And that’s the biggest nightmare I’ve ever dealt with besides one bottle bomb.

I don't  care at all what people say about plastic buckets and plastic carboys, I will not use glass for this exact reason.  I have one glass carboy that was given to me for free.  I only use it if everything else is occupied.  It has a smaller opening compared to my plastic and weighs a ton.  I'm glad the glass is thick, but I'm always afraid when I'm washing it and the outside is slick with water and PBW that I'm going to drop it.  I avoid using it as much as I can.

(Re-reading and realizing your big mouth was probably plastic, which can still break, but it made me think of glass when I first read it.. still, a nightmare just waiting to happen)
SE Portland - AKA Beervana
Captain and Chief Deck Swabber - River Pirate Brewing Co.
Certified BJCP Beer Judge
2015 Oregon Brew Crew Member of the Year

Offline Killebrew

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...
« Reply #18 on: June 27, 2018, 04:34:14 pm »
I used to brew with the no-chill method which usually involves racking hot wort to a plastic container.  After collecting all 5.5 gallons of the 212F wort (ok, just shy of 212F) into the plastic container, I put the plastic lid on it and tilted it so the empty headspace would get sanitized.  Well, the heat loosened the seal of the lid and I got several gallons of hot wort on my bare foot in the carpet.  Spent the rest of the night with what I'm guessing were second degree burns, foot in ice bucket, drinking several homebrews.  Haven't done no-chill since, and the 3 foot by 3 foot wort patch in the carpet never really came out.
« Last Edit: June 27, 2018, 04:35:51 pm by Killebrew »

Offline zorch

  • Cellarman
  • **
  • Posts: 66
Re: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...
« Reply #19 on: June 29, 2018, 11:14:14 am »
A few years ago, I was running an oatmeal stout mash on my relatively new (to me) RIMS system when I received an important phone call.  My cell coverage in my garage is terrible, so I stepped inside for "just a moment" to take the call.

Unfortunately, "just a moment" turned into perhaps 15-20 minutes.   After ending the call, I headed back to the garage.  As I was approaching the garage door from the kitchen, I could smell the distinct odor of burnt toast. "Hmm, that's weird.", I thought...

I opened the garage door and was greeted by the sight of a smoky haze filling the garage.  Big greasy-looking bubbles of white smoke were erupting from my mash tun.   Apparently shortly after I left the garage, my mash stuck.  Without any wort flowing past the temp sensor, my PID controller kicked on the burner, and left it on.   So the wort at the bottom of the tun boiled, then started to scorch, then burn.    It was probably burning away in there for a good 10 minutes or more.    Obviously the batch was ruined, and the bottom of my mash tun had a nice layer of baked-on carbon where the burner jets were.   That carbon layer resisted all my feeble attempts to remove it using mere soap, PBW, etc.  In the end only an overnight soak with over cleaner removed it.

So, obviously I nobody to blame but myself for walking away from a process involving flames.   I'm just thankful I didn't set my garage on fire! 

Offline rob_f

  • Assistant Brewer
  • ***
  • Posts: 135
  • Corcoran Brew Works, Maryland
Re: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...
« Reply #20 on: July 01, 2018, 06:43:48 pm »
I brewed a Scottish Wee Heavy, even boiled a gallon of first running down to a syrup to add to the kettle.  This was going to be very good.  After a good fermentation, I kegged it.  Planning to age it, I put on a picnic tap for the occasional taste test.  At some point I found an empty keg, a mess on the floor, and an empty CO2 tank.  My only clue was that the picnic tap tubing was dry. :'(
Rob Farrell
AHA
CRABS

Offline uberbitter

  • 1st Kit
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: I can't be the only one- those "nightmare" home brewing stories...
« Reply #21 on: July 06, 2018, 09:49:32 am »
This past winter I was fermenting a bitter in my garage fridge with a temp controller. When my husband took a peek in one day the probe fell off the bucket and out of the fridge - where it subsequently thought my beer was at 40 degrees and dutifully ran the heater wrap for days...

That thing smelled awful.