What irritates you about brewing?

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jwwbrennan

jwwbrennan

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Sanitizing everything irritates me. It is not doing it that bothers me it is the lingering doubt regarding correct amount. I never know whether I'm fighting contamination or eternal damnation (cleanliness being close to godliness after all). I scrub, clean, sanitize, put the bottles in the oven for 15 minutes at 350; when is enough, enough? When does good practice become obsessive ritual?

I don't find the correct method can be explained as an absolute in all situations. There are many variables including individual environments. Our water comes from the water table below the house, test results are excellent, so I go with that and use it straight from the tap. I'm thinking it will become like everything else - sourdough for example - concern with minutia will be paved over with experience. I'll simply become one with my beer; which I suppose is the whole point in making it.
 
When you scrub, clean, SANITIZE, and then bake your bottles, and then start a thread about still being worried, is when it crosses the line into obsession. ;)

It's not that hard, and not worth stressing over. It's a hobby, it's supposed to be fun, not something we lose sleep over. We don't repeat the mantra RDWHAHB for nothing.....
 
I don't worry about it, I worry about worrying about it. Kind of a meta-worry really. If I didn't worry, I wouldn't have anything to worry about.:D

That's kind of why I posted it in Drunken Ramblings and Mindless Mumblings.:tank:
 
When it becomes too much for you handle, find a way to make it easier. Generally, if you get a batch of bottles cleaned, then you should only need to rinse out when you pour a beer, and then sanitize it right before you bottle. There is nothing wrong with sterilizing in the oven if you aren't sure you using clean bottles, but it's probably overkill unless you just got some bottles from the recycle.

But you say you clean and scrub, and that's usually all you need to do before using the Starsan, or Iodophor, or whatever your preferred sanitizer is.

I'm going to have to agree with Revvy on this, RDWHAHB!!
 
What bugs me is that it requires patience. I want it ready at the end of all the effort, not in 6 weeks time dammit.....

Or maybe what really winds me up about brewing is I have far more ideas for next projects or beers I want to try than I have time to brew or even capacity to drink!
 
jwwbrennan said:
Sanitizing everything irritates me. It is not doing it that bothers me it is the lingering doubt regarding correct amount. I never know whether I'm fighting contamination or eternal damnation (cleanliness being close to godliness after all). I scrub, clean, sanitize, put the bottles in the oven for 15 minutes at 350; when is enough, enough? When does good practice become obsessive ritual?

I don't find the correct method can be explained as an absolute in all situations. There are many variables including individual environments. Our water comes from the water table below the house, test results are excellent, so I go with that and use it straight from the tap. I'm thinking it will become like everything else - sourdough for example - concern with minutia will be paved over with experience. I'll simply become one with my beer; which I suppose is the whole point in making it.
Click to expand...

Use Star San- Star San is an acidic sanitizer from the makers of PBW and was developed especially for sanitizing brewing equipment. It requires only 30 seconds of contact time and does not require rinsing. Unlike other no-rinse sanitizers, Star San will not contribute off-flavors at higher than recommended concentrations.

I had the same concerns till I found Star San...
 
mcspanner said:
What bugs me is that it requires patience. I want it ready at the end of all the effort, not in 6 weeks time dammit.....

Or maybe what really winds me up about brewing is I have far more ideas for next projects or beers I want to try than I have time to brew or even capacity to drink!
Click to expand...

If you're looking for a very quick turn around, brew a Wheat. It does not require secondary and you just leave it in fermenting for 2 weeks. Bottling takes another 2 to 3weeks, so move to kegging. If you force carb you can drink it in 24 hours.

I have a Scottish Ale (ABV 16%) that will sit in secondary for 2 years....
 
CraftBreWear said:
If you're looking for a very quick turn around, brew a Wheat. It does not require secondary and you just leave it in fermenting for 2 weeks. Bottling takes another 2 to 3weeks, so move to kegging. If you force carb you can drink it in 24 hours.

I have a Scottish Ale (ABV 16%) that will sit in secondary for 2 years....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have a wheat on e list of things to do sooner rather than later, but will probably rack it onto some form of berry and secondary it anyhow as SWMBO likes fruit beers and puts up with all the fermenters in places she would be using for other things. Best to keep them happy!

Two years is a definite example of good forward planning though. Maybe brewing was invented to teach man patience. It's actually a Zen meditation exercise rather than a process for making beer.
 
What annoys me is the Uber-brewer that always seems to come around when we are talking about brewing. You all know someone like this. He knows exactly how every possible brew should be executed and why. If you disagree, well you are either stupid not to take his advice or ungrateful for him bestowing his knowledge upon you. He'll tell you how your beer will suck if you don't use RO water building up every microgram of minerals, using an 8-step decocted/turbid mashed process driven by a 128 bit electro- phased comupterized driver on a touch screen. To me it's much more a hobby and a craft. 100 different ways to do the same thing and get GREAT beer. Sure it'll be different than another guys, but you get your process consistent and tweak for results, you'll have good if not great beer. Guys like that just scare the newbies away from the craft.
 
I hate when I run out of beer. That's about all that irritates me.

Oh, that and when grain gets under my false bottom and plugs up the entire system and I get a stuck mash followed by a stuck sparge followed by burning myself on the boil kettle. That irritated me too. :drunk:
 
Not having enough space that I can dedicate to brewing.

Of course if I had a 30x40 pole barn, I am sure I could grow into it too.
 

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