A Newbie and The WAITING

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Milkdud76

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Being a newbie, I find the hardest part of brewin is the waiting. The day after I brew I find myself checking on the beer more often than I probably should. I've brewed 4 batches of beer and found myself either; 1. Transferring from primary to secondary to soon, or 2. Bottling to soon. Should I brew MORE so something is always going on? How much brew on hand is too much? Is this turning into an addiction? Good or Bad?
 
Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew :mug:

Be sure to give all stages plenty of time. If you want to establish a pipeline and have more things going at once, and have the funds, you can always grab a second fermenter, and start another brew while the first one is finishing up fermentation.

I just try to remind myself that the beer will taste better as long as I give it time. I pick myself up some "filler" beer between batches to tie me over.
 
Waiting is hard for sure, but most people will tell you just leave it alone, make sure the yeasties are doing their thing but leave them be.....I usually let it sit an extra day or two after
 
5 weeks in primary, then straight to keg has been working out great for me.

Hang in there,
 
I started last July. I now have two 6 gallon Better Bottles, an Ale Pail, a 5 gallon Better Bottle and several 5 gallon buckets. I have had 4 beers fermenting at one time. I now have the choice of 7 brews + 2 bottle conditioning and another 2 in primary.

Never too much.

Let them alone. Allow the yeast to make the beer. You will appreciate the difference over beers that are rushed.
 
I know what you mean. Kegging made the biggest difference for me. Rather than leaving beer in the bottle for 3+ weeks you can carb and de-gas a beer in about a week. I recently started brewing again after a big move and didn't buy any brewing gear until my kegerator was built.

And then, of course, you need to brew more.....
 
You did figure out the most difficult thing about brewing....patience.

I have 4 fermenters and a another carboy that I dedicate to Belgians thay really take even more time. If I brew once a week I can let my brews sit for 4 weeks in the primary and I can also build up a big pipeline that makes waiting easier.
 
Learning patience has been the biggest challenge for me too. Try hitting up a store that sells "pick your six" craft brews, explore some different styles and build the empty bottle collection. :drunk:
 
I remember the first kit me and my buddy brewed. We brewed and were drinking in 4 days later. :eek:

Waiting is hard. Brew often to keep your pipeline full and also keep trying out commercial examples
 
You'll get used to it - once you get a pipeline up and running you'll forget about the beer in the fermenter and then be waiting on the beer bottle conditioning, and soon enough you'll have a pipeline where you won't "wait" for beer to drink. I did two batches on the same weekend, and then didn't keep my pipeline going.

What a mistake! Keep that pipeline going, atleast brew a batch once a month, if not two. I'm shooting for one every other week.
 
A pipeline is nice because you will have beers in all stages. It seems easier to wait two weeks when the next fv was just filled. But in the gaps, go out and buy some "research" beer.
 
If you want something productive to do while it's fermenting, work on keeping the wort fermentation temperature at the optimum. I find that a swamp cooler does a good job, but it takes a lot of attention, depending on the time of year/ambient temperature.
 
Milkdud76 said:
Being a newbie, I find the hardest part of brewin is the waiting. The day after I brew I find myself checking on the beer more often than I probably should. I've brewed 4 batches of beer and found myself either; 1. Transferring from primary to secondary to soon, or 2. Bottling to soon. Should I brew MORE so something is always going on? How much brew on hand is too much? Is this turning into an addiction? Good or Bad?

Yes it is turning into an addiction. And it is good and bad ha. I think patience just comes with getting some more under your belt. When I first started brewing I was a psycho about checking things. I have slowly just learned to relax and let the beer do its things. Yes getting a nice pipeline going will help feed the addiction ha. Is that a real question ? There is never too much beer on hand. Jk. Reading on here and just checking out what other people are doing and different methods is fun, but also dangerous. I see things people get or make and then I get jealous. Next thing you know I'm spending money because I had to have whatever they had ha. Well good luck to you bud. You doing AG or extract by the way?
 
A pipeline is nice because you will have beers in all stages. It seems easier to wait two weeks when the next fv was just filled. But in the gaps, go out and buy some "research" beer.

+1

Turns out that the "research":drunk: is one of my favorite parts of the hobby! I've also learned a lot more about beer than I would have otherwise. I had no idea what a "Dortmunder Export" was until I went and bought six different varieties to see if I wanted to make one of my own (I don't, but it was fun (and buzz-inducing) to figure that out). I think I can tell the difference between an English Pale Ale, an English Bitter, and an Extra Special Bitter just by taste after the "research" I did on that front.
 
The more beer you have the easier it is to be patient, 3 primaries, 2 secondaries and 14 cases of beer in cold storage along with a full fridge, yup I like being patient!
 
Agreed with all of the above. I've been at it for precisely three weeks today. I have one beer that I am going to keg soon, another that is 2 weeks in and will be kegged in about 2 weeks, and yet another that is going to secondary next weekend (porter to rack over vanilla beans). This is the first weekend that I haven't brewed since I started!
 
Thanks everyone. Will definitely be building a pipeline. Brewed a chimay last week and doing a hefeweizen next weekend.

Does anyone know where I can get lid for the 6 gal plastic bucket?
 
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