Happy New Year's everyone!

[backyard brewer]

May your 2009 be much better than your 2008 and may you and your family be healthy and happy!

[Rezzin]

I didn't start of 2009 on the right foot it seems.

I brewed an American Wheat today and everything went wrong. I ran out of batteries when milling my grain so I had to do it by hand. I had a stuck sparge because I forgot to add rice hulls to my recipe. I got stuck again when trying to drain to my fermenter since I used whole hops. I HATE WHOLE HOPS. I tried switching over to an autosiphon which also became clogged with whole hops. Between the extra wort I lost in the tun and kettle, I probaby have 4-4 1/2 gallons in the fermenter now which will probably wind up being less than 4 gallons into the keg when everything is done.

Ugh, what a day. This beer had better be so good my eyes roll into the back of my head.

[brahn]

What a nightmare. I've had my fair share of brewdays like that and the good news is that the next one is always better!

Happy 2009 everyone!

[brew captain]

You didn't use a hop bag with that Willamette Mike!?!?! Yikes! That is a problem. I found out about the challenges of using whole hops the same way, but don't hate them. You definitely get more essential oils from whole hops than pellet hops as was probably evidenced by a rainbowy "hop oil slick" you may have seen at the top of your wort when you added them. There is nothing more noble (pun intended) than using a brewing ingredient in it's traditional, unprocessed form.

I am sure your beer is going to be kick ass!

Happy new years!


Cheers!

[JonGoku]

Hey Mike, sounds like you had quite a time. Sorry I wasn't able to make it, but thanks again for the invite. I can't wait to hear (or taste) how the bear turns out.

Cheers!

[Rezzin]

Hey Mike, sounds like you had quite a time. Sorry I wasn't able to make it, but thanks again for the invite. I can't wait to hear (or taste) how the bear turns out.

Cheers!

It's a good thing you couldn't make it. I don't think it would have been a nice introduction into all grain. Plus, I think I was cursing my equipment half the time as well. Lesson learned though. I need to brew more often - the last brew I did was almost 4 months ago so I was a little 'rusty'.