My latest blunder occured when I was inspired by Drew’s Zymurgy article on turning 1 beer into two. To make the long story short, I pitched a Belgian ale yeast starter into the batch that was destined to be a dubbel, and then I pitched my American ale yeast into the batch that was destined to be a dubbel. I pitched it into the wrong fermenter! That left me with no yeast for my IPA. Although it was 11pm, I live near a convenient mart that sells a small assortment of homebrew products. When I arrived, they were out of S-05 and S-04, my “go to” dry yeasts. So I got a Nottingham pack. Then I realized it was the recalled Nottingham that some homebrewers have complained about as non-starter. So I got a Windsor pack too. I pitched them both. To recap, it was 1 mash, 2 different beers, and 4 different yeasts. I’ll sample the first bottle of the Notty-Windsor IPA today.
I hope you took good notes. It may turn out to be fantastic!
As brewing disaster stories go, that’s pretty funny and likely not fatal.
Maybe adopt a system to identify when you have pitched. I keep a piece of aluminum foil over the carboy before it’s pitched, and add an airlock afterwards. Maybe something like that would help. Or if you’re making multiple beers, take some masking tape and identify the carboys before you fill them. You could even make little reminder flags, like a piece of tape that says “needs yeast” that you remove when you pitch. But chances are, once you’ve made this mistake, you won’t make it again anyway. That’s how most mistakes go (thankfully).
Thanks for the encouraging words, Bob. I tasted the AIPA last night and the Belgian this afternoon. Gordon is right that the mistake was fatal neither for the dubbel nor the AIPA. I suspect that the dubbel has a reduced Belgian yeast character because some of the fermentables were consumed by the American ale yeast. The AIPA is a bit fruity, probably because of the Windsor, and this fruityness might have been more intense if not for the Nottingham’s presence. I think the dubbel is more to style than the AIPA, but that likely is more of a recipe issue than a yeast issue (advice for next IPA: more late hops). While I don’t think the mistake is worth repeating, I am happy to have two drinkable beers.
Now blend them 1/2 in a glass and see how your recipe collaboration tastes together. I was reading on another thread where someone made a Triple(as in Belgian) IPA so, I blended a real hoppy IPA with my Belgian Triple I have on tap and I loved it. Never thought of using Trappist Ale yeast for a Golden Belgian IPA and I’m thinking “why not”
Me too; pant-less, well unless you count little Capazzoli and the hairy twins.
:o :o :o :o
Yea…TMI. :
I brew alone. But appropriately garbed (just like Mrs. Cleaver, in a dress, pearls, and high heels, with my hair perfectly coiffed, and a festive ruffled apron to keep my dress nice).
I miss June.