Stupid is? ...

.... ME!

So tonight was brew night. I was a bit rushed and wasn't really paying attention.

I got my water up to the proper temperature, added it to my pre-warmed mash tun, sunk the grains, and went to stir. I damned near broke my plastic spoon!

I have *never* had so much trouble stirring the grains. Granted this was 13#, but I have stirred 12# without "bendage" before, surely one more pound isn't the difference here.

I got to wondering about it. I *did* notice that a couple of the grains floating on top of the water didn't look as small as normal. Hmmm ...

I went back and looked at my order. Sure enough, I wasn't paying attention when I ordered either. Yeesh!

I ordered UNmilled grain, and .... I don't have a mill. You do NOT use UNmilled grain to brew with, as unmilled grain will not effectively extract the sugars that the yeast feed on. The grain is now wet -- there's no turning back.

After spending a few minutes feeling sorry for being a dumbass, I finally got it together and hit up my favorite online forum for all things homebrew. It is an excellent resource, and the folks there are really quick-on-the-draw for replies -- just what I need right now.

So I post a 'I'm an idiot!'-type post, and wait to see what answers I get and how quick. Within 15 minutes, I have 4 replies and one seems to be right on the money. The suggestion was to drain the wort and put the grains through a food processor.

This likely will not get me down to as fine a crush as I should have, but it will certainly be better than just dumping it all and buying new grains. Schweeeet!

Problem is, the (small) food processor that I have is basically for chopping an onion or garlic cloves -- that type of thing. It *damn* sure ain't big enough to handle 13# of grain. [sigh] A trip to WallyWorld (since it's already past 8 PM) is now necessary.

By the time I get back it's about 9 PM. I still have to clean the processor, re-rinse and clean all the equipment I have already used, and get the water heated again. Yippee! this will be a LONG night!

I get this all done by 10-ish, so I can start my first one-hour clock. It will likely be around 3 AM before my end of this is done, and it may not even be good. Yeesh!  LOL

Even with the processor effort, it did not crush the grains as well as it should have. I wound up with less sugar extraction than I was supposed to have, but more than I had before getting the processor. Well, at least, it's starting gravity reading will be around 1.030 (should be 1.061) instead of the 1.012 I had at first.

[[ for those that don't know -- the gravity reading is the amount of fermentable sugars in the liquid. The more fermentables in the liquid, the more the yeast work. The more the yeast work, the better the beer can be!]]

The gravity turned out to be 1.030-ish (avg. between two different pieces of equipment) -- about half of what it *should* have been. This is the WORST efficiency I have *ever* gotten! GRR! It will be like drinking a "lite" beer! UGH!

[cue Charlie Brown .... AUUUGGGGHHH! I CAN'T STAND IT!!!!]

Oh well! I think I will call this Ruthless CRye instead of Ruthless Rye! I guess what sucks the most is I *have* brewed this before and it was nothing shy of *fan ... tas ... tic*, then! I bet I *never* make that mistake again!!  ; )