Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Exploding Russian Imperial Stout



Well, I broke my first carboy last weekend 4/9/10 when I was moving them around in the garage. Barely clinked two of them together and a chunk fell off one of the carboys after it cracked. I was able to find the glass pieces and salvage most of the beer. My dad was there to helped so he poured the beer through some cheese cloth and into a bucket. I put the breather on the bucket and the emergency was averted.
Before this mishap this Russian Imperial Stout has given me problems. At the beginning of the mash, it broke my plastic stirrer. This caused me to have temperature problems. Various other problems occured during the brew including a partial stuck mash and over flowing the mash. My new system still needs fine tuning especially for a 42 lb. grain bill.
That morning, as I was driving to work, I called my wife to warn her to keep an eye on the carboys because I had filled them to much and there was no blow off tube and the RIS is high in fermentable sugars. She said they looked fine. A couple hours later she called back because there was explosion in the closet and a river of beer running out. This Russian Imperial has caused problems, but it will be good. Coming in at 1.082 OG. I will wait to at least three months to drink it.