Capped wrote:...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.
I like that! Hope I've not started something. How about 'Black Cat Porter' - the cat in question was indeed as black as a blind cobbler's thumb and would probably been invisible in the wort,had he stayed therecrowds wrote:Dry Hop with 1 Cat
.bloody brilliant!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.
I laughed at that one. That's got to be the best beer disaster story I've read so far.Capped wrote: 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.
Me too! Which makes it all the more incredible that the beer turned out fine. I mean,you can take every precaution imaginable and still get problems, but get away with having an unsterilised moggy swimming around in it. Such is life,etc! Ah,after my brother had necked a pint,the look on his face was priceless when I told him of the near cataclysm it had gone through. He still won't have anymore of my ale despite my protestations that there's never been a repeat,even tho' we've now got six moggies stalking the place.Philipek wrote:I laughed at that one. That's got to be the best beer disaster story I've read so far.Capped wrote: 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.
I can't believe it turned out alright, though. I scream for my beer if the cat even looks in the kitchen after wort cooling. Had the cat jumped in iodophor before jumping in the stout?
I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to sanitation.
In some quarters,cats are omens of good luck,y'know! Anyways,talking of disasters..... When I was a small boy (I dunno,5,6,7 years old),my brothers and the ol' man decided to have a pop at a beer kit. My recollections are a bit hazy to say the least,but I do distinctly remember that it was a Tom Caxton kit. This would have been around 1970,so in the early days of home-brewing which I believe was only made legal in 1963. Instead of a fermenting bin,they were using what appeared to be a giant,clear plastic bag. I really have no idea if this was part of the kit back then,or they were just improvising. Could anyone on here confirm or otherwise? I can't ask the ol' man 'cos he shuffled off this mortal coil 20 years ago,and my bros' memories are as faded as mine. Anyway... for some reason they got the whole caboodle rigged up at the top of the stairs. Don't know what happened exactly,but something caused the bag to rip and five gallons of beer went cascading down the stairs. My ma wasn't best pleased and oh,how I laughed at the sight of my frantic pa and bro's trying to slurp the ale out of the stair carpet before it disappeared forever. Our house was always a bit weird like that! That was their first and last foray into homebrew,until I picked up the baton some ten years latercrowds wrote: This thread is a curse. Towards the end of the session I started getting twitchy I saw the neighbours cat lurking in the garden.
.I can't understand why this is such a problem. Why not jug then pour the wort, hops 'n' all but not the hop-strainer, into the FV (which should have ample capacity to take the lot)? Fit the hop-strainer then jug/pour it all back. Quick hose out for the FV and away you go. Takes about five minutes.crowds wrote:But worst of all I only went and did just what adm did and left the hop strainer off ! but I had no marigolds to hand... OUCH
Poured as much of the wort off into a pan as would fit then tilted the boiler to try to get the hop strainer in. Which I did albeit loosely.
After cooling the with my dripping IC I must of knocked the strainer out again so the flow stopped while filling the the FV due to hop blockage.
So I had to pick up the whole boiler and pour it in via a strainer.
All in all it was a mare, instead of the 25 litres of 1.047 I ended up with about 14 litres of 1.070 and had to do some serious topping up which has now taken my SG to 1.040.
Cats - lazy sods, until you start doing something a little out of the ordinary then they're there to oversee the proceedings. I always get the cat sauntering in when I'm cooling and transferring. He's sniffing buckets and standing on his hind legs thinking about leaping on the counter.Capped wrote: we've now got six moggies stalking the place.
