Lessons Learnt

[irish_goat]

Thought it mighn't be a bad idea to share mishaps here so that others might learn and not do the same.

My lesson learnt: Auto syphons are not good for hot wort and can deform. 

[Bzfeale80]

Not a good idea to try washing out coopers oxblow pet bottles in a dishwasher. Some of them deformed so much that the caps won't go on again 

[Eoink]

Dont mixup Maltodexrtin ( nonfermentable) with Dextrose Monohydrate(highly fermentable) when making ginger beer in glass bottles. The result is bottle bombs. Months later I was still finding pieces of glass behind furniture meters away from where the bottles were.

[matthewdick23]

don't pee into the wind

[DEMPSEY]

Darwin awards top 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc5DNhMxYvk

[baconsarnie]

Don't forget to put in your hop strainer before you start your boil!

Yes, I know that feeling

Happened once & will never, ever, ever happen again*

*bound to happen for my next brew

[mr hoppy]

My lesson learnt: Auto syphons are not good for hot wort and can deform. 

At the risk of sounding like a total moron here's a few: I used to leave my hops in the fermenter and that didn't really work that well with an auto syphon.

Better bottles don't do too good with hot liquids either!

Putting jubilee clips on the wort immersion chiller was a big step forward for me as well.

That and stirring before draining when batch sparking. A "minor" detail that John *bleeping"* Palmer didn't bother to mention, or doing two batch sparges instead of one. Thanks John.

Oh yeah, best of all, don't lager in a non-temperature controlled freezer

[RichC]

Don't forget to close spigot on bottling bucket before siphoning beer into it!!! Have lost several litres on several occasions by siphoning into bucket with bottling tap open. It's become one of my critical checks on bottling day

[LordEoin]

Don't move your FV without removing the airlock *schluuuuurp*

[Dunkel]

If you're bottling straight from primary, don't put a couple of books under the fermenter to get the last drops out. Particularly if there's carpet underneath. 

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

When doing extract, ensure that your extract is thoroughly mixed into the water before applying heat.

Toffee anyone?

Basically heat some of your water first, add extract with element off, stir until dissolved in. Then top up to starting volume before putting the heat on again.

[imark]

Don't forget to close spigot on bottling bucket before siphoning beer into it!!! Have lost several litres on several occasions by siphoning into bucket with bottling tap open. It's become one of my critical checks on bottling day

Amen to that!

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

If you are not actively chilling, recalibrate your late hop additions, or remove the hops at flame out. Otherwise you just get bitterness and no aroma or flavour.

[Hop Bomb]

I did a mash for a stout which I left in the boiler for a few days without boiling. It grew a load of foam on the top. It smelled a bit too but I decided to boil it & ferment it out anyway. I now have a lovely tasting stout that has a slight whiff of shite off it.

[Billythegypsy]

Check your priming sugar calculations. Wait five minutes. Check again.

You don't want to open your six month old Duvel clone to find it's carbonated like a stout.