First major disaster.

[Robdog]

I did a brew on Saturday and everything was running smoothly until it came to colling the wort. As usuall i added my IC 15 mins before the end of the boil then when the boil finished i connected it to the tap and turned it on, everything seemed fine and the water was comming out of the hose at the other end of the cooler.

About 10 mins in i walked into the kitchen to find my 10 gallon bucket over flowing , the hose had come off the IC and the water was going directly into the wort. I never usually check on it until about half an hour in so im really glad i didnt leave it that long else i would have had a flooded kitchen.

I imagine the hose comes lose over time as ive done about 30 odd brews now and its never happened before. I know il be checking it all the time now before use to make sure its secure.

[Robdog]

Oh ive re done it now and it all seems fine.

[adm]

Aaaarrghhh.....what a nightmare.

Jubilee clips are your friend!

[borischarlton]

I have done a couple of brews now and am just waiting for my first big disaster, its sure to happen. Last brew, when I was dropping out of the boiler to fv, the vibration knocked the loose lid back across and I lost a couple of pints. If it turns out to be a good brew I will really miss them!!

[adm]

I had a bit of a disaster on Sunday....I was busy sparging into my boiler, when I noticed the hop filter sitting on the worktop......Oops!

30+L of wort in the boiler, getting very hot indeed and no hop strainer. Not good.

Two Marigolds on one hand and I just managed to get it screwed in before it scalded me.

Disaster averted.

[Russ]

There not major disasters!

I wrote of my kitchen off a couple of brew days ago (the brew survived though and i'm drinking it now very good if i do say so myself, debatable if it's worth the £105 per pint it's cost to put the kitchen right though .....)

Just finished the re build (just got to re decorate now), going to Christan the new kitchen with a Orfys Hobgoblin clone at the weekend. Thank God I've got an understanding wife! (and cover for accidental damage!)

[borischarlton]

Russ, fancy a wife swap!!

please can you give us the whole story

[harry_mac]

30+L of wort in the boiler, getting very hot indeed and no hop strainer. Not good.

Got the T shirt for that one.

Now when it happens I just let it go. It slows to a trickle coming out of the boiler at the end, but I don't have any marigolds

Back when I had no immersion chiller I used to run the hot wort into a fermenting bin and leave it overnight in a bath of cold water. I tried to get the water level as high as I could without the bin tipping over. That was easy with a 5 gallon brew because of the depth of wort, but with a 3 gallon one... you can guess the rest.

[Trefoyl]

"Jubilee clip" sounds so much nicer than "hose clamp"
I've had the same thing happen but I was standing there when it happened so I was able to stop it. Tightened the clamps and it's been ok since.
I've had near other near misses but have avoided calamity so far.

[harry_mac]

Russ, I've read through your post twice now, but can't see how that's a disaster if the brew survived

[crowds]

Thanks for the cautionary tale Robdog, it serves as a reminder to us all to check kit before each brew.
I made a pumpkin ale a few weeks ago and my IC started to leak (an entirely manageable amount and kitchen towel prevented anything going into the wort)

I way too paranoid and new at the game to leave anything unattended. My missus would not be understanding should the kitchen get flooded !
Perhaps there should be a wife/girlfriends lounge in the forum for all the swmbo's (or him-bo's) to chat... maybe Russ's (too many S's ?) wife can be the moderator and teach them all a little patience and understanding ?

[Russ]

Hi borischarlton

Nah mate better stick with this one ta

What I did was what I'd done many times before, filled the HLT with treated water the night before and set my time switch to come on at 5 am so when I start on the brew day at 5.30am next day, the waters up to temp. Problem was this tme I must have pressed 'on' instead of 'timer' and went to bed not knowing the boiler was on and going to boil all night. I boiled 5 gallons of water down to a gallon which I can tell you is one hell of lot of steam. Next morning it looked like someone had been in and pressure washed the kitchen, all the cupboard doors and carcasses had expanded, totally wrecked...

Not only did my wife help clear up (It took us 4 hours and remember I got her out of bed at 5.30am with the news) after we'd finished she suggested I carried on with the brew day

What can I say?

[jimw86]

Hi borischarlton

Nah mate better stick with this one ta

What I did was what I'd done many times before, filled the HLT with treated water the night before and set my time switch to come on at 5 am so when I start on the brew day at 5.30am next day, the waters up to temp. Problem was this tme I must have pressed 'on' instead of 'timer' and went to bed not knowing the boiler was on and going to boil all night. I boiled 5 gallons of water down to a gallon which I can tell you is one hell of lot of steam. Next morning it looked like someone had been in and pressure washed the kitchen, all the cupboard doors and carcasses had expanded, totally wrecked...

Not only did my wife help clear up (It took us 4 hours and remember I got her out of bed at 5.30am with the news) after we'd finished she suggested I carried on with the brew day

What can I say?

Now she really deserves a medal. Where did you find her??? Although I think this one is going to be coming up in arguments for a long long long time lol. Fair play though, I dont think I'd be posting now if I ever did anything like that.

[Capped]

Years back,and in a different house,I used to place my fermenting bin right next to an upright piano we had. One of cats favourite sleeping spots was on top of the piano,and he'd jump on to the FV first then onto the piano. One day,I'd just finished knocking up a stout and the lid was off the FV while I went to get the yeast or something. Sure enough the cat jumped onto the FV,not realising there was no lid on. In he went,and was back out again a second later completely soaked in stout wort. The missus screamed for the cat,I screamed for my beer. I went ahead regardless,and it came out very nice,as I recall.

[Robdog]

Aaaarrghhh.....what a nightmare.

Jubilee clips are your friend!

Yes i use Jubilee clips mate i suppose though over time its just came loose.

Im thinking about maybe making an CFC