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Author Topic: Long time reader, First time poster.  (Read 1488 times)

Offline EnkAMania

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Re: Long time reader, First time poster.
« Reply #15 on: October 14, 2020, 03:16:19 pm »
One time I made a batch of German pils.  It was chilled and just ready to go into the fermenter when I looked over and saw all the hop additione for the entire brew sitting on a table.  Thinking quickly, I added a gal.of water and brought it back to a boil, adding the hops at the appropriate time.  Made for a hell of a long brew day, but it worked.

I had a similar experience, except it was extract.  Chilling my wort, I look over and see a bag of extract. I didn't have any surplus extract, so it meant I never added it.  Panicking, I just threw in it the cool-ish wort and it looked like pancake batter.  When I added the yeast, I swear I heard them yell "yee haw!"  Beer turned out fine.
Some day we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny

Offline HopDen

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Re: Long time reader, First time poster.
« Reply #16 on: October 14, 2020, 03:31:31 pm »
I brewed an Oktoberfest a few years back for a friend of mine. He came over to "help". I got more distractions then help and I grabbed the hop addition from the freezer, ripped it open, tossed it in the boil. Then I looked at the package and realized I added Cascade hops to a German beer. I panicked at first, but then realized that I just have to shorten the boil to keep the bitterness in check. 6 weeks later at his party and no one was the wiser that the bittering addition was Cascade and not Hersbrucker, plus I got a bunch of compliments for the beer. Lesson learned, never panic. Everything is gonna be totally fine.


This is going to sound very anti-social but I have learned my lesson on having people over for a brew session and that includes my wife. Too many questions and too many distractions equals a not so ideal brew day!!

Glad the Fest beer was a hit!

I agree.  I seldom have people over when I brew or drink when I brew.  If I do either of those, I just write off the beer to whatever happens.  The day is about the people in that case, not the beer.

Well, to be honest, I do have have a few beers while brewing but not until after the mash and well into the boil. There is no rhyme or reason to that, its just that when I brew, I start about 6am so by 10 am....its beer o'clock!  ;D

Offline Lazy Ant Brewing

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Re: Long time reader, First time poster.
« Reply #17 on: October 17, 2020, 08:06:14 am »
I always have a couple of cold ones during the boil and so far everything has come out fine.   Several years ago we had a hatch of periodical cicadas with some of them flying around while I was brewing outside and I wondered how many of those were going to end up in the brewpot.  As far as I know, none of them did, but along with a suggestion from one of the contributors to this forum I called the batch 8th Plague Ale.  It was good!
It's easier to read brewing books and get information from the forum than to sacrifice virgins to appease the brewing gods when bad beer happens!

Offline goose

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Re: Long time reader, First time poster.
« Reply #18 on: October 17, 2020, 09:06:10 am »
I brewed an Oktoberfest a few years back for a friend of mine. He came over to "help". I got more distractions then help and I grabbed the hop addition from the freezer, ripped it open, tossed it in the boil. Then I looked at the package and realized I added Cascade hops to a German beer. I panicked at first, but then realized that I just have to shorten the boil to keep the bitterness in check. 6 weeks later at his party and no one was the wiser that the bittering addition was Cascade and not Hersbrucker, plus I got a bunch of compliments for the beer. Lesson learned, never panic. Everything is gonna be totally fine.


This is going to sound very anti-social but I have learned my lesson on having people over for a brew session and that includes my wife. Too many questions and too many distractions equals a not so ideal brew day!!

Glad the Fest beer was a hit!

I agree.  I seldom have people over when I brew or drink when I brew.  If I do either of those, I just write off the beer to whatever happens.  The day is about the people in that case, not the beer.

I am with Denny on this one.  Too many screw-ups when brewing with a friend and drinking during brew day.  I do brew with others from time to time, but the beer comes out only when the beer is transferred to the fermenter.

My brewing horror story.  Had a lot of stuff to accomplish on a brew day before doughing in on a brew day years ago so I was hurrying to get things done and dough in.  Started adding grain to the mash tun and realized after a few scoops that I have forgotten to mill it! Damn it! Scooped all out the wet grain and milled it along with the rest of the dry grain and started the mashing process again.  Kind of gummed up my old JSP mill until the dry stuff hit the rollers, but the beer came out fine.  Only a minor cleanup needed to the mill, but hey I actually hydrated some of the grain like some commercial breweries do with their grain bill.
Goose Steingass
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Offline Oiscout

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Re: Long time reader, First time poster.
« Reply #19 on: October 17, 2020, 12:30:21 pm »
Just brewed up a northern brown ale, made a check list hit all my numbers and temps and just pitched the yeast this morning. I love it when a plan comes together.

There are some classic stories in this thread!!!

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Offline Oiscout

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Re: Long time reader, First time poster.
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2020, 04:40:36 pm »
7 day test she tastes great. One hell of a brew night!

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Offline ravenwater

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Re: Long time reader, First time poster.
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2020, 08:21:54 am »
Huzzah! Glad to know that the situation perhaps redeemed itself by rewarding you with "tastes great."
Shawn Crawford  -  Rio Rancho, NM.  
 BJCP, Worthogs Homebrew Club of New Mexico

Life is good. Beer makes it gooder.