If you had to HATE one thing about Homebrewing...

Sanitization!

I decided around 8:00 pm last night to bottle my latest brew - it was close to 1:00 am when I was done and cleaned up... We all know the majority of this time was spent sanitizing the bottles! Absolutely hate it! (but love it).

What's your homebrew pet peeve?

The waiting is the hardest part.

I don't mind sanitizing as much as cleaning.

That's a LONG time for bottling a batch of beer! How many gallons was it? It takes me 2 hours at the most for 5.5 gallons, and that includes washing and sanitizing bottles!

If I HATE one thing, it's clean-up!

Cleaning.

Stauffbier said:

That's a LONG time for bottling a batch of beer! How many gallons was it? It takes me 2 hours at the most for 5.5 gallons, and that includes washing and sanitizing bottles!

If I HATE one thing, it's clean-up!

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It was a 5 gallon batch... Let's just say I was very anal about sanitizing and had to give some time for my priming sugar solution to cool down (that probably took up a chunk of it). Also bottling alone is kinda tricky, and apparently VERY messy!

dr sanch... get yourself a Vinator. It makes sanitizing bottles super fast, and easy! It's one of the best gadgets I ever purchased!

Dan said:

Cleaning.

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Same here

Stauffbier said:

dr sanch... get yourself a Vinator. It makes sanitizing bottles super fast, and easy! It's one of the best gadgets I ever purchased!

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You just gave me something to do on my lunch break tomorrow. Vinator it is! (and yes, I'm impulsive like that)

Actually I kind of like the cleaning/sanitizing. It reminds me of back when I worked as a dish washer in a restaurant: I could just turn off my mind and let my muscles go as I scrubbed pots, pans and silverware. It was a very relaxing time.

What I'm not a big fan of is having to remember to swap out the ice in my ferm chamber regularly, especially since I live in the Arizona desert.

Removing labels off bottles is the worst for me.

only thing i could hate is dealing with hops in BK when transferring to fermenters, its fine most of the times but every several brews whatever i have down there gets clogged

Wow - Just me bottling. one hour to an hour and a half. Clean bottles as you use them by rinsing them out real well. Then when your ready to bottle all you have to worry about is sanitizing. Throw them in the dishwasher on the rinse/heated dry (the heat kills the bacteria) and your good to go. I have NEVER had an infection in one of my bottled beers.

But i HATE the waiting game on the stronger beers. I wish they were ready to drink in 21 days MAX! But that can be fixed with a steady pipeline...

Cleaning.

I hate bottling! Which is why I recently switched to kegging. Kegged a 5.5 gallon batch today in under an hour and that includes breaking the keg down, cleaning, and sanitizing it. Plus, I'll be drinking it in a week

I will still bottle special brews, Belgians for example, but bottling is what I dislike the most about this hobby.

bergy said:

Actually I kind of like the cleaning/sanitizing. It reminds me of back when I worked as a dish washer in a restaurant: I could just turn off my mind and let my muscles go as I scrubbed pots, pans and silverware. It was a very relaxing time.

What I'm not a big fan of is having to remember to swap out the ice in my ferm chamber regularly, especially since I live in the Arizona desert.

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Actually your signature reminded me of how much I hate boil-over too!

DoubleAught said:

I hate bottling! Which is why I recently switched to kegging. Kegged a 5.5 gallon batch today in under an hour and that includes breaking the keg down, cleaning, and sanitizing it. Plus, I'll be drinking it in a week

I will still bottle special brews, Belgians for example, but bottling is what I dislike the most about this hobby.

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Exactly why I keg.

When I started brewing I bottled a batch and put 1 in a keg. After that I knew brewing was not for me if I had to bottle, so I waiter for some good deals on kegs an I'm lovin it. So why all the bottlers? Oh and for me I hate having to brew when it's -35 out and -10 in my garage.

I hate not having the money to get all the gear I want to get!

or you could keg?

The wait. I'm still waiting to taste my first brew only 1 week in bottles so far and my second batch just 1 week in primary

DoubleAught said:

I hate bottling! Which is why I recently switched to kegging. Kegged a 5.5 gallon batch today in under an hour and that includes breaking the keg down, cleaning, and sanitizing it. Plus, I'll be drinking it in a week

I will still bottle special brews, Belgians for example, but bottling is what I dislike the most about this hobby.

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I'm slowly working towards kegging. I have a couple corny's, but I still need a fridge and gear. I do also hate bottling, so I'll change my answer to... I hate clean-up on brew day and I hate bottling on bottling day...

kevin476 said:

When I started brewing I bottled a batch and put 1 in a keg. After that I knew brewing was not for me if I had to bottle, so I waiter for some good deals on kegs an I'm lovin it. So why all the bottlers? Oh and for me I hate having to brew when it's -35 out and -10 in my garage.

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In Ol' El Paso it's even warm in winter, so we love brewing on a cold day. -10 or -35 is awfully cold though. I've never even experienced temps below -10, and that was at a cold storage facility. The only good thing would be how fast you can chill I would imagine!

Cleaning.

Cleaning for me too, mostly the end of the night cleaning.

And to the OP, +1 on the vinator. i bottled a ten gallon batch tonight in about 2.5 hours start to finish.

OT:i used to hate bottling, but with a better process and somebody to help you it isn't bad at all. Revvy had a thread about how to make it better, biggest thing for me was using a spray bottle to sanitize my bottles instead of dunking them in sanitizer.


i hate cooling the wort and storage. my tap water comes out at like 70 or so in the summer, and i'm just using my sink as an ice bath for cooling full boils.

i also live in a studio apartment, so all of the empty bottles, fermenters, brew pots, and other stuff really piles up

not keeping my hobby too myself and close friends.. now everyone that knows i brew keeps asking for sum!!

Same as sidcitrus, end of the day clean up! There has been a couple batches where I didn't wash the bottles as I drank them, hand cleaning bottles for an 11 gallon batch bottling day ain't fun!

Also people at your work (who you don't like) over hear you brew and are always hinting or asking for a bottle!

Edmanster gets it lol

Cleaning. Seems like I'm constantly cleaning. In fact, on brew days, that song keep running through my head - you know the one...

I can make you mine, taste your lips of wine
Anytime night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz
I'm cleanin' my life away

I need you so that I could die
I love you so and that is why
Whenever I want you, all I have to do is
Clea-ea-ea-ea-ean, clean, clean, clean
clea-ea-ea-ea-ean, clean, clean, clean.*

*Apologies to the Everly Brothers.

Bad batches and drinking the last bottle.

cleaning and pitching my stir rod into the fermenter every time even though i swear i'll remember every time i start a brew day.

Cleaning out the mash tun. Especially if I'm brewing late at night and forget about it for a day. I have to remind myself that even though i made it for cheap i shouldn't just throw it away and make a new one.

mopping the floor. Even when I don't spill a drop or brew outside, there are always footprints leading to the door.

Waiting. When I already know I made a good beer, but it will get better with time - I always want to take sample to see how it develops, but feel sorry to waste the beer it will be.
Worst is when I want to change something and have to wait till the old version is done.

chumpsteak said:

The waiting is the hardest part.

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i will second this all day long, i am now addicited to brewing, even though i have only one brew under my belt.

Cleaning.

Though I have moved my brewing to my porch and have recently obtained a utility sink so that I can do my cleaning right there. No more carrying everything to the kitchen sink or rinsing with a hose in the yard.

Edit: commenting went nuts, sorry for double-post

Cleaning.

Though I have moved my brewing to my porch and have recently obtained a utility sink so that I can do my cleaning right there. No more carrying everything to the kitchen sink or rinsing with a hose in the yard.

Cleaning and waiting. I don't feel like cleaning up usually after a brew, but then again, I can control that. I have no control over waiting...and I always keg early as a result. Then by the end of the keg I'm thinking, "damn, this is even better than when it started! I wish I had a whole keg of THIS!"

Pipeline goes too fast, kegs don't last 2 weeks. Stepping up to 8g. batches likely now that I have 11g. keggle. Even 7 or 7.5 is another case of beer over 5.

Cleaning and waiting. I don't feel like cleaning up usually after a brew, but then again, I can control that. I have no control over waiting...and I always keg early as a result. Then by the end of the keg I'm thinking, "damn, this is even better than when it started! I wish I had a whole keg of THIS!"

Pipeline goes too fast, kegs don't last 2 weeks. Stepping up to 8g. batches likely now that I have 11g. keggle. Even 7 or 7.5 is another case of beer over 5.

Everybody here seems to hate cleaning up afterward. Me too. I'm dreaming of an informal "apprentice" program where newbies watch and learn from the more experienced brewers in exchange for doing all the grunt work like cleaning, sanitizing, scraping labels off bottles, and making last-minute trips to the LHBS to pick up that one thing you always forget in the middle of brewing.

(sorry if this ends up in multiple posts ... it seems commenting is going haywire right now)