Wilson! (I hope)

[bpgreen]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this post, so if modmins feel it belongs elsewhere, they should feel free to move it.

I don't know if Wilson made it here from Mr Beer Fans, and even if he did, I don't know if the "Wilson" concept made it here.

Wilson was known for being brutally honest about mistakes that he made on brew days. He was also really good at writing humorous narratives about his mistakes. But somehow, despite (because of) all of his mistakes, his brews turned out well.

So making lots of mistakes, but ending up with a good brew became known as a "Wilson" on MBF.

I hope my brew day yesterday was a Wilson and the beer turns out ok. It was certainly full of mistakes.

I haven't brewed in a while for a variety of reasons. I discovered a couple of containers of LME in my freezer, so I decided to do a PM instead of the all grain batches I've been doing since I got the Mash & Boil.

A couple of weeks ago, I was going to do an all grain batch, but I got distracted and forgot. I had gotten as far as putting the water in the M&B and adding some 88% lactic acid to get it ready. So I figured I was good on that aspect. But I took off the lid and there was an interesting-looking layer of black slime on top of the water. So I dumped it out, cleaned it out, and added some new water.

Since time was a consideration, I'd use a 30 minute bittering boil, and add homegrown hops for 20 and 7 minutes. I plugged everything into BS (more or less; I didn't really check to see that I had the right values for mash volume, etc).

I decided that since I'd be using less water, I could skip the wort chiller step and use ice and ice water to top off and cool down. So I froze a bunch of quart sized baggies for that step.

I turned on the M&B and set it so it would be at temperature when I woke up.

I woke up and discovered that math is harder after a few home brews and when it's late at night. So the water was not only not ready, it hadn't started heating. I let it get mostly to temperature, added the grain basket and grains and went for a swim (forgetting to change the temperature for the mash).

I got back from swimming and a quick shopping run (roughly 2 hours mash, I think) and pulled the basket. I added the Jarrylo hops and waited for it to come to a boil. When I noticed it had come to a boil (not sure how long before that it started boiling), I set the timer for 30 minutes and relaxed for a bit. When the timer went off, I added the next batch of hops and set the timer for 13 minutes.

Wait. What was that? 30 minutes before starting the next hop boil. Not 30 minutes total. 50 minutes total. Plug that into BS. Ok, so it'll be more bitter than anticipated.

Oh, I also decided that I'd just toss the homegrown whole hops in as-is, without a hop sack.

Timer went off, so added the next batch of hops, also homegrown, also without hop sack.

Timer went off the final time. Add almost 2 gallons of ice. Top off with ice water. Stir. Put lid on.

Check temperature. Still too warm.

Remember that I'm catching a shuttle to the airport in the morning. So I need to transfer to the fermenter, pitch the yeast, and clean the M&B tonight.

90F. Too hot. Too bad. Gotta transfer. Open the spigot. 2 or 3 drops come out and it stops. Of course. Whole leafs hops clogged it. Autosiphon to the rescue. Sanitize. Start. Watch for a long time (did I just forget how long it takes to transfer 5 gallons or is it taking longer because I'm in a hurry?).

Stick the bucket in the basement.

Wake up this morning. Scrambling to get ready before the shuttle comes. Notice a bucket with some partially milled grains. Huh? No time to worry about that. I guess that's compost.

Go to basement. Airlock bubbling. I'll have beer. I just hope it'll be good. Or at least drinkable.

As an aside, I noticed some seeds floating on top at the end of the boil. I'm sure they're not viable since they've been boiled, but it must mean there are some male wild hop plants nearby. I may check for seeds in the future and try planting some to see if I can get an interesting hop variety.

[Pudge]

I miss Ron... among many others.

[Inkleg]

Haha good read this morning. Looking forward to hearing how the story and beer turns out. To think I'd been calling them my "brew day from hell" and they were just a "Wilson".

[Beer-lord]

That’s a brew day to not remember. Hope it surprises you.

[BlackDuck]

Wow, what a day that was. Looking forward to hearing how it turns out. I know I've had a few rough days, nothing like yours though. And just about every time the beer turns out really good. It's karma, the beer turns out awesome, cause there is no way in hell you can replicate it again!!

[mashani]

I don't think I've ever had a bad brew day make bad beer.

Bad beer happened because of other things like fruit flies or some other kind of bastard, and usually after perfectly fine brew days.

Fruit flies are like anti-Wilsons.

[berryman]

I don't know if Wilson made it here from Mr Beer Fans, and even if he did, I don't know if the "Wilson" concept made it here.

I think he joined but only made a few post and the last visit was one day after he joined in Aug 2015.
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=520

[FedoraDave]

Wow that was a wild ride.

I get moody if my post-boil volume is a quart too high.

I hope your beer turns out okay. You are, by Borg Law, required to post a follow-up after an appropriate time. We're home brewers, we know how to wait for things.

[bpgreen]

I've been busy and have been traveling more frequently lately, so this spent 34 days in the fermenter.

It fermented all the way down to 1.004, so it's probably going to be a bit thin, but stronger than expected.

It'll be a few weeks before I get a chance to taste it.