Ein neues Jahr, eine neue 'Serie'. Dieses Jahr haben wir uns etwas ganz Besonderes ausgedacht: Ab sofort werden wir jeden Monat einen 'Brewfail of the Month' präsentieren.
Dafür benötigen wir natürlich immer wieder lustige, peinliche, schiefgelaufene oder ähnliche Geschichten vom Brauen, Abfüllen oder anderen Bereichen. Wenn du solch eine Geschichte hast, dann sende sie uns gerne hier zu.
Die Eröffnung der 'Serie' kommt von Derek und ist in englischer Sprache. Solltest du eine Übersetzung benötigen, kannst du z.B. Deepl verwenden.
Wir wünschen viel Spaß beim Lesen!"
"A Terrible Flood
As dedicated homebrewers, we strive to improve our craft. Whether through reading, researching techniques online, collaborating with friends, or upgrading our brewhouse equipment, we want our beer to be better. I sought this greatness through better equipment. Unfortunately, I went too big and changed too much all at one, which lead to a disaster of epic proportions.
First, I recently acquired a refrigerator and a temperature controller to regulate fermentation temperatures and improve my cold crashing. Quick side note, the last time I tried to cold crash without a refrigerator, the normally reliable German winter gave me three straight days of 10-15 degrees heat. I digress. In addition to this, I also wanted to improve efficneicney when transferring this glorious elixir from my fermenter to the bottling bucket. Without proper cold crashing and a siphon pulling from the bottom, I was leaving a couple of beers behind.
Second, I needed a floating diptube. So after hours of YouTube and Google research, I found the FlôTit 2.0. Reviewed as the highest rated and most efficient floating diptube out there. I purchased one immediately on eBay, as that’s where the guy sells them. It came and worked, as you’ll soon see, as advertised.
Finally, I’ve been researching about pressure fermentation and its benefits in brewhouse efficiency and temperature tolerance. So back to YouTube and Google I went and found the same guy who makes the FlôTit 2.0 has also made a savvy pressure valve for pressure fermentation in a keg called the SPUNDit. The SPUNDit had equally high reviews, so I excitedly ordered one to completely my fermentation system upgrades.
Brew day arrived and the brewing process went splendidly on a lovely Sunday morning. A hop forward IPA loaded with Mosaic, Citra, and Galaxy hops on a malt base of Golden Promise and Maris Otter in hopes of a fruity and citrusy delight. The air was loaded with that sweet aroma we’ve all grown to love. With boiling complete and my cooling system in place, I transferred the wort into a corny keg at a perfect 20 degrees and pitched the yeast.
Like a kid on christmas morning, I excitedly set in my new FlôTit 2.0 in the keg post and sealed the keg opening. After two minutes of shaking to oxygenate the beer and activate the yeast, I grabbed the new SPUNDit pressure value and secured it onto the other keg post. Giddy with my new toys, I carried the keg to my new refrigerator set at 20 degrees for fermentation. After clean up, I spent the rest of the day hanging out with the family.
The next day, my wife frantically called me at worked about how some of my beer had spilled out of the keg. It’s important to note here that my new refrigerator is in our storage area in the basement. In our apartment complex, the basement is sectioned off with cages so everyone has individual storage areas. My storage area shares a large space with my neighbor, which is divided in two by a fence. So we can easily see into each other’s storage areas and pass things like hammers or screwdrivers through the cage if needed. My refrigerate sits along this same fence.
When my wife was explaining what the scene looked like, she described it as a flood. I thought maybe there was a bad seal and some of the krausen had seeped out though the keg opening and leaked into the refrigerator. In actuality, all 18 liters of beer had siphoned itself out and was now on the floor mostly in my neighbor’s storage area! Clothing, electronics, tools, and kids toys were all soaked and completely covered with beer. The upside, the entire storage area smelled of delicious hops and amazing beer. The downside, my entire brew was on the floor and my neighbors things were ruined. To add salt to the wound, I was at work and could do nothing about it. So my wife and a different neighbor, not the one who’s things were soaked in beer, had to clean up the whole thing.
When I got home and upon further investigation, I had mistakenly put the SPUNDit pressure valve on the same keg post as the FlôTit 2.0 diptube. I must have turned the keg around when shaking it to oxygenate the yeast. This essentially created an open pathway for liquid to leave the keg unimpeded. So when the pressure began to build from the fermentation process, the liquid was naturally pushed though the floating diptube, through the pressure valve, into my refidgerator, and finally into my neighbor’s storage cage. This was a costly lesson to learn to double check valves and connections to make sure they’re right. But I can tell you for sure, I’ll never make that mistake again! "
