Tell me about the Un-Fun part of Brewing

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billbrister

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I have been an extract brewer for the past year and have recently started All Grain brewing on a friends 3 tier system. Thinking about building my own set up and I am looking for some info from the group. Mainly - what are the obstacles you all encounter on brew day. From start to finish ...

Before I start building, I am hoping to gather as much information regarding what could go wrong so when I do build my structure I'll have a good idea from the group.

Cheers!
 
There are all sorts of places where problems can occur, but that's part of the fun, IMHO.

Cleanup is the least fun for me. Dumping 30-100 lbs of heated, soaked grain, disposing of said grain, scrubbing kettles, running hot water and/or caustic solution through all hoses/fittings, and then mopping the inevitable leftover mess...not fun!
 
I agree on the clean up part. I do clean up as much as I can as I go, But it would be great if after we pitched the yeast some beer gnomes would come in and clean up the mess.
 
+1
I second the cleanup part. I used to think bottling sucked too, but I must say I've come to enjoy it.
 
Waiting by far the worst, I have no patience! I want to drink it NOW!!!!!

Waiting is definitely one of the worst parts. Bottling used to be the worst until I got a kegging setup. And I made a DIY beergun so sometimes I'll just carb the beer in a keg then bottle it from there. Cleanup sucks too. I suppose I can't really decide which is the worst.
 
Yeah, the cleaning sucks. Which is why it's always nice to invite a friend over for brew day. For the cost of a couple of home brews (pennies), they usually feel obligated to help. Works for me anyway.....

snidely_whiplash.jpg
 
Ok ... so I guess we all hate cleaning!

This is good stuff - thanks for the input.

What about before the cleaning and waiting ... I want to put wheels on my sculpture to move it around (does anyone have / not have wheels?) ... if so, what do you like or not like about the mobility part?

Do you have your set up in a certain area that is the "brew only" area of a shed, garage, storage unit?

How about storage (grain, hops, yeast) ... I have an old fridge that I put in my garage for my beers and I am using the freezer part for hops storage. Thinking about getting a small dorm fridge for the yeast and grain.

I need to be considerate of my brewing "foot print" in the garage ... since I have minimal room to expand. Thank the Beer Gods that my wife is enjoying the fruits of my labor.

@beergolf … I'll work on the whole "Beer Gnomes" angle … I know a guy, who know a guy in Ireland. Would Leprechauns work?
 
Wheels are a good thing, especially if your concerned about the garage footprint. Pushing it up against the wall for storage is easy with a set of wheels. I brew in the garage and keep the rig in the garage. The grains I store in sealable pet food containers. You can buy them at pet stores, hardware stores or sometimes wally world. Not sure I would go with the freezer, a lot of condensation can happen in there. Hops, are vaccuum packed and stored in the freezer.
 
I always feel guilty about the amount of water I use whenever I brew. The amount of water used for the brewing and cleanup is just a whole lot for me.
 
I always feel guilty about the amount of water I use whenever I brew. The amount of water used for the brewing and cleanup is just a whole lot for me.

I agree with this. I would like to start recirculating the chiller water. That seems like the biggest waste to me. At least it is going out into the yard.
 
I agree with this. I would like to start recirculating the chiller water. That seems like the biggest waste to me. At least it is going out into the yard.
+1 But I need more brewing projects like I need another hole in my head. (The one I have makes a whistling noise when I run. :D)
Since I'm doing < 5 gal batches, clean up isn't too big of a deal. I have a big enough pipeline that patience isn't too much of an issue.
 
clean up for sure and the steam burn on my wrist...

Oh, brewing tends to involve industrial type cleaning, I swear! That's the wort part for me.

As far as burns, the worst one I got was when 180 degree water shot out of my return hose on my MLT while I was filling it, directly to my chest. I screamed, pulled off my shirt, ran to the bathroom, and soaked my, uh left appendage, in ice cold water. I had blisters on my boob, and now a lifelong scar. It hurt like a pisser for a long time!

I've also managed to scald my legs in the past, too, but that seems tame now.
 
waiting, and when i steamed burned my arm, putting water in my mash tun!! the best part is open that beer and giving it a good drink!!!!
 
another bad part is when i forgot to clean my bottles. i would drink out of them and put them away. got them out to bottle and they had mold all over the bottoms!!! That sucked, but i got the bleach out and took care of the problem lol!!! Bottling sucks too!!!
 
I forgot about when i came home from the beach and my beer had blown the air lock out and the beer was all over my closet!!! That was another bad thing!!!! Had to replace a carpet and re paint the closet after hours of cleaning up!!!
 
I dream of the day they build a homebrew dishwasher/sanitizer big enough to handle the all the stuff needed on a brew day. Load it up. add solution. Push a button. Done. Brew Beer and repeat. Done.

Edit: grains are no big deal. I just spread them out around the foundation of the neighbor's house when he isn't home. And the spent hops I feed to his dog.
 
Oh, brewing tends to involve industrial type cleaning, I swear! That's the wort part for me.

As far as burns, the worst one I got was when 180 degree water shot out of my return hose on my MLT while I was filling it, directly to my chest. I screamed, pulled off my shirt, ran to the bathroom, and soaked my, uh left appendage, in ice cold water. I had blisters on my boob, and now a lifelong scar. It hurt like a pisser for a long time!

I've also managed to scald my legs in the past, too, but that seems tame now.

Ewww, beer burnt blistered boob.....
 
Drinking the beer has to be the worst......Just kidding.

I think while some parts may suck a little more than others over all I enjoy the whole process. I have dipped a spoon in the mash and ate it before while waiting for it to convert. Come on I know I am not the only one to do that LOL

If I had to pick one I would have to say cleaning up after the grain. But even then it is kind of cool because the animals can smell me brewing and come to the fence waiting for their share
 
I'd say bottling, but thankfully I don't do that anymore. I hate bottling so much that I frequently miss competitions because I don't want to bottle even a handful of beers.

Generally I'd say cleaning. I usually brew after work so that I miss the least number of waking family hours (as opposed to a midday weekend), and often that means I'm not getting done with brewing until 11 PM. Having to then clean & scrub a 20gal brew kettle is no fun -- in the dark, with a flashlight tucked under my armpit so I can see.

Beyond that, I'd say the one issue you encounter when brewing AG is that until you get your system and process dialed in, you may find that efficiency is all over the map. Even so, after 6 1/2 years of brewing I've run into something screwy with my process over the last 6 batches or so, and efficiency has been all over the place. I much prefer brewing AG to extract, but I'm scratching my head right now trying to figure out how to get this efficiency back to a predictable number for each batch.
 
Times whatever on the cleanup. I just left mine until 5am tomorrow before I go to work. haha I seem to have the most energy really early in the morning.
 
My favorite part is the smell when mashing. That is the best smell ever. Well the smell of fresh hops are pretty good too.

The worst part is cleaning corney kegs before kegging. Got to be the most tedious job taking them all apart and putting them together and leak testing. Got to be a better way.
 
Cleaning. Far and away. Yuck. I hate it. So, so much. It's really only because I have a tiny apartment kitchen and stuff always gets spilled/tipped/knocked about trying to maneuver around.

The only other thing I can think of is brewing a beer and it not turning out the way you expected. At least you learn!
 
What's really un-fun is to wait weeks, sometimes months, to try a beer you've invested so much time and care in and only to find out it's...meh. The hardest thing for me was discovering that the payoff isn't always there. But when it is, it really is.
 
My favorite part is the smell when mashing. That is the best smell ever. Well the smell of fresh hops are pretty good too.

The worst part is cleaning corney kegs before kegging. Got to be the most tedious job taking them all apart and putting them together and leak testing. Got to be a better way.

Have you ever bottled before? Just sanitizing all those bottles was so miserable. Although know when I bottle beer from kegs I just boil the bottles in water for 10-15 minutes. In addition to sanitizing it peels the labels right off!
 
Even though getting gadgets and upgrading your setup is fun. Spending more money than you probably should is not fun.
 

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