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A funny thing happened on the way to the forum

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Chimerix

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 13, 2006
121
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Aloha all!

As I'm waiting for my aeration stone to finish its 15-minute boil, I thought I'd pop in and start a thread. My idea was to get people talking about the ...unexpected... things that have happened while working on their homebrew, things that don't necessarily qualify as problems.

Welcome to the X Twilight Night Files Zone Stalker of GotMead! :evil7: (Cue Ominous Music)

Episode one
While cleaning up after stirring and aerating a particularly troublesome batch of mead, I went to remove my aeration stone from it's hose so I could rinse the former and bleach the latter. When...
Dum dun DUNH!
The stone came apart! The stone itself came off in the paper towel I was using to pull it with, while the part that holds the stone in the hose stayed stubbornly in the hose!
I had to cut the end off the hose then slice it open to retrieve the hose-sticking part. It snapped back into the stone, and seems to be airtightish, but pops off without much effort.
Currently I'm adapting by barely inserting the assembly into the hose.
FTB

Keep in mind, the pilot is often the weakest episode! :tongue1:
 
Episode 2 - The Detergent Bucket

I moved up from a Beer Machine when a friend heard me talking about my interest and dumped a 5 gallon carboy, assorted paraphernalia, and about 300 bottles on me. I wanted to add a 5 gallon bucket to the list, not for fermentation, but for sanitizing and for racking into prior to bottling.

My boo works in a place where they cycle thru lots of laundry detergent, and she brought me home a used 5 gallon bucket. I filled it with bleach and water, and set it in the sun to soak. After a week, changing the water and bleach every other day, I pronounced it "clean."

So, getting ready to use the carboy for the 1st time, I filled my pail with bleach water and threw in my overflow tube. Everything else that needed sanitizing fit in the sink, so I did the rest in the kitchen. Well, due to some lack of foresight, the must ended up sitting overnight before it was cool enough to pitch the yeast. After pitching, I went to get the super-sanitized overflow tube, only to find it completely coated with a film of meadow-fresh smelling gunk!

The tube went in the trash, the bucket now holds fragrant socks, and the lesson is learned. Now I'm waiting for a used paint bucket from a contractor friend ;-)

FTB
 
lol i thought you said lesson learned? i just fill up my sink with sanitizer water since i do all my mead related work in the kitchen anyways.
 
Episode 3: Fallout

Again with batch #1 of mead. We've got 19.5 lbs of honey in the brewpot, along with just a little bit too much water, boiling merrily away. At one point my boo dares to take her eyes off the dangerously-full roiling mass, and gasps in alarm. I look up, out the kitchen window, an see...

BEES

Now, in Hawaii, most homes don't have A/C. We're all about windows here, lots and lots of windows. And the screen on each and every window, plus the front and back screen doors were crawling with bees. In a cloud around our house hovered still more bees, waiting for their turns to crawl on the screens.

Fortunately, we had no reason to leave, and expected noone coming in. We did close the doors, since the screen doors don't exactly fit tightly. And, after the boiling stopped (the boilover that occurred while we were looking at bees is a different story) the bees went away.

FTB
 
Where in Hawaii?? as I met a number of good mazers there while judging the Kona BrewFest last year. Great fellows from several islands. And some outstanding meads represented. If you get a chance to attend - DO - it is a party to be remembered.
 
JRHoppette said:
Where in Hawaii?? as I met a number of good mazers there while judging the Kona BrewFest last year. Great fellows from several islands. And some outstanding meads represented. If you get a chance to attend - DO - it is a party to be remembered.
Click to expand...

Kona Brewfest? Wow... I don't know HOW news of such an event has escaped mine ears til now! I'm near Honolulu, but that's no excuse!

Mahalo, JRH!
 
Oskaar said:
Chimerix,

Why are you boiling your honey?

Oskaar
Click to expand...

I was just following a recipe! Blame Charlie Papazian, not me!! :dontknow:

I didn't hear about the no-boil option until I got here, and I didn't land here until my must developed a lack of enthusiasm about fermenting.

Not to worry... either I'll never boil again, or else I'll never admit to boiling again. :laughing7: I'll let you decide which to believe!

Still, it was a very Twilight Zone moment.
 
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