My worst brewing session ever!

[carrisr]

So I got my new HERMS brewing system all set up and tested with water to make sure it all works. I ran PWB solution and several rinses through the whole system. Last Sunday I decided to put it to the test with a batch of beer. I chose to do a Hefe, in part because it's a pretty simple beer and also because I wanted to stress the system. I figured it I could keep it circulating with 60% white wheat malt it would be able to handle just about any recipe.

Well I did manage to get it pretty well stuck. With some stirring I could get it flowing again, but it would get stuck again after a few minutes. So I decided I should add some rice hulls to loosen it up. I shut down the pump and made a run to BIY to get some. However, the inside of the coil must have had some oxidation that dissolved while it was sitting there idle, as when I started pumping wort again it was blue-green coming out of the coil! Being a sucker for punishment I tasted it and yes, it was very metallic. Since that wouldn't be salvageable I dumped it out and cleaned everything.

I had a yeast starter ready to go so I decided to try again on Monday. After getting some office work done I managed to get started around 1 pm. I ran starsan through the system in the hopes it would clean out any remaining oxidation in the coil. I was mashing when the storm hit. We lost power immediately. After the first round passed I did what I could to try and salvage this beer. I was able to run off the wort, but was not able to collect the full volume, and since there was still no power it hadn't been recirculating. My efficiency was only around 60% as a result.

I went ahead and boiled since my burner is propane. With the power still out (and hence no well pump), I was not able to chill the wort with my IC so I had no choice but to let it air cool overnight in my basement. It was down to the mid 70's by morning. Power was back by then so I put the carboy in the fridge to get it down to my pitching temp of 68F. Fermentation took off strong though so that's a positive.

It'll be interesting to see how it turns out. I'm not expecting great things though. I'll probably call this one Tornado-Wiezen. To add insult to injury, the storm knocked down a tree on my house and another on the pole barn, along with tons of tree limbs down all over the place. I've spent the last 3 days cleaning up.

[czubak]

What a nightmare. Kudos to you for forging on, I would have had my stuff for sale after round 1