Worst brew day ever!

Hey, just thought I would share this with you guys, the story of the worst brew day I’ve ever had…

Its a Monday, first day of the Easter holidays and I’m feeling great, I stick on a podcast (Time to get jacked for the UFC Event this weekend, and to hear the build up for the bout between Michael “The Count” Bisping and Georges “Rush” Saint Pierre) and start my day the same way as always…

I give everything I’m gonna use a final clean down and a spray with starsan, I fill my HLT with water, I thought about putting a campden tablet in it, then decided I couldn’t be bothered (I’ve never tasted anything remotely chloriney in any beer I’ve done. Ever. Water treatment experiments come later). Everything goes down to the shed. Heat the water, mash in, and this is where it all goes to hell in a hand cart… I missed my mash temp. By 2 degrees. Its been so long since I’ve used a mash tun, Id forgotten that my MT needs a 2 degree increase of strike temp as it has to warm up as well given I keep it all tucked up in the shed… Cue me adding 90 degree water 400mL at a time to try and get the temps up. Finally hit 66 and lid on leave it. Just as the lid goes on, phone rings. My brewmate and son has just smashed his head against a wall at nursery and I have to go and see him to decide if he should stay there or come home with Daddy. I drive there, hes fine and playing outside like nothing is wrong.

Great, get in the car, drive home to find a BT engineer sitting outside the house, apparently he wants to come in and repair a fault with our broadband. Fuck me, the gods are against this brew…

So tests run, he fecks off to play at the green cabinet, I go and start my lauter and transfer to the big metal boil kettle, today is the day I get to play with my Buffalo Induction Hob! Transfer, sparge, transfer, slap it on the buffalo, it starts then…. cuts out. MOTHER F*****R! Whats the issue? Error Code E01? Shit the bed, some fucker has sold me a dud. Grab the gas setup, and it finally gets to a boil, hops in but its a windy day, wont put out enough heat to get a good boil going, transfer to the trusty home made 17 quid placcy bucket, and finally a good steady boil happens, rest of the hops in and the brew gets done. Just. its taken since 9am, and I finally finish at 4pm. What a fucking job. Changes need to be made, and they will be.

The only good part was using the mashing bag in the mash tun, it made it so freaking simple! Mashing and Sparging were a doddle.

Sometimes the beer overlords are with you, and sometimes they aren’t. Its swings and roundabouts. Hopefully the review of today’s brew session will be a joyous one as the issue with the Buffalo hob seems to be where its plugged in. It doesn’t seem to like extension leads…

Pictures and a write up, with full recipe to follow for todays brew. An Exbeeriment if you will, a brew with a 30 minute mash and a 30 minute boil… lets see how this goes…