What is your least favorite part of the brewing process

Definitely the after brewing cleanup! It's the worst.

Worst: Running out of homebrews because i let the pipeline get low
2nd worst: cleanup

I think someone else said this. I love cooking. I love brewing. I hate cleaning/doing the dishes. It would be sweet if I didn't have to clean those pots. Luckily, my gf hates to cook but doesn't dishes! How did I get so lucky? I still have to clean my own brew mess though...

Oh and the smell of the wort that is left over in my kitchen. It doesn't bother me but it bothers my flatmate (who really just hates any kind of smell in the kitchen) so he sprays those damned air fresheners. I really hate those. ¬_¬

Mike M said:

The waiting - it's the hardest part.

Waiting for a batch to finish fermenting
Waiting for a keg to carb
Waiting between brew days
Waiting for the boil
Waiting for the work day to end so I can draw a nice frothy draft

Like I said, the waiting is the hardest part.

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Agreed completely.

Chilling because I have no wort chiller. Takes forever.

I'd have to say .... pitching my tent beside the mailbox and waiting for deliveries.
Once the package arrives ,the rest if a piece of cake.

Checking my bank account to see how much I can afford to do on new projects.

finding the time is by far the worst working 6 days a week kids every other and a wife that want everything done.

I'd have to say sanitizing is the most annoying part. Just taking random hydro samples and i gotta sanitize hydro, thief, hydro tube, thermo, bah 10 minutes of sanitizing for a 30 second hydro read... I have started to keep a spray bottle of sanitizer but I don't know if I trust it as much as a fresh bucket made up... and with bottling I just want to get on with it, but have to do this 30 min sanitizing buckets, auto siphon, 48 bottles, caps... bah I say!

I like everything else, the actual bottling and capping is fun (SWMBO fills & I cap, we have it to a science, can do 5 gal in about 15 min), the brewing is a fun activity that SWMBO and I do together, I even like the post brew clean up (which is really the only part I get stuck with doing alone). It gives a nice sense of accomplishment when you put everything away and all is clean, and your just waiting to see signs of fermentation, or know that in 3 weeks you can pop it open for a first taste test.

Shelling out money for equipment / ingredients and cleaning bottles. Everything else about brewing kicks ass.

I hate the puking and dribbling. I like everything else.

Zenman said:

. . . and with bottling I just want to get on with it, but have to do this 30 min sanitizing buckets, auto siphon, 48 bottles, caps... bah I say!

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This is exactly what pushed me in to kegging. Of course already having a kegerator didn't hurt!

Cleaning up after brewday is over.

I get so impatient waiting for the mash to finish. I relax and enjoy the boil, but for some reason that 60 minute mash just gets to me.

The most consistent theme so far in this thread: cleaning / sanitizing. That part doesn't bother me, because my training in bacteriology lab 'way back in college taught me it's indispensable. It just is. So, I'm not bugged by that.
When I first started, I tended not to like brewday. Then I got a system (and a wort chiller) and....not so bad.
Bottling was an issue at first, because the only efficient place to bottle is my basement.....and the floor is wet at certain times of the year, which pretty much obviates bottling in six-pack carriers, and only a maniac would try to use loose bottles. I found some inexpensive 10 gal. totes that hold 32 12 oz bottles, and provide a really convenient way to move the bottles downstairs from the dishwasher, then back up for the first two weeks of conditioning. Bottling is no longer a chore.
So, it's hard to say.....probably putting everything away afterward.

Setting up. I have to haul everything either down two flights or up one to brew. It's the 'needing everyting at the start' that bothers me. Putting everything away after is easy because I clean and put away as I go.

Spray your hands with starsan. It will get rid of the Oxy Slippery skin.

B

bad coffee said:

Setting up. I have to haul everything either down two flights or up one to brew. It's the 'needing everyting at the start' that bothers me. Putting everything away after is easy because I clean and put away as I go.

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Yea that kind of bugs me too. I have a bit of system down now though. I try to get my strike water started as I dig out the MLT and then start getting things like the chiller and fermenter during the mash.

bad coffee said:

Spray your hands with starsan. It will get rid of the Oxy Slippery skin.

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You have changed my life with this sentence.

bad coffee said:

Spray your hands with starsan. It will get rid of the Oxy Slippery skin. B

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Are you serious!?!?!?

Without a doubt, the waiting. I'm probably as impatient as they come.

What's my least favorite part of brewing?

Well, aside from accidentally opening a trash bag full of spent grain that's been festering in 80F temperatures for five days (yuck!), it's probably the set-up in the morning. It seems like it takes an hour to get out a couple of tables, burner, kegs, grains, implements, chairs, water hose, etc.etc.etc...

I clean as I go, so by the time the fermenter is full, the only thing left to clean is the kettle and some hoses. Plus, I let myself start drinking when the chiller goes in, so that seems to help the last few tasks speed by.

Shooter said:

Are you serious!?!?!?

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Actually, that is correct. After I wash my MLT, BK, or whatever with PBW or Oxy, I stick my hands in the sanitizer bucket for a second and the slippery-ness is gone. I thought I was the last one to figure that out. Obviously, there are some slower than me.

My least favorite part of the brew day is the clean up, not because its a pain to do, but because even though I get everything put away, my Father bitches constantly while i'm doing it, before I'm doing it, after I've done it. The next morning, hell.... the next week...

So what I brought a little dirt into the house when i came inside... I'm going to clean it up... give me a damn chance already! Never fast enough you know?

Yea I live at home with my rents... but then again I'm only 22.

Bowtiebrewery said:

Yea I live at home with my rents... but then again I'm only 22.

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Please place your man card in the receptacle provided.

whutever said:

Without a doubt, cleaning. Oh, and brewing in the garage in summer.

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+1 on the garage in the summer

try to do what I can at night, just have to dodge the palo verde beetles.

Shlepping. All of my gear and ingredients (except the propane burner) is stored in the basement. Before and after each brewday I've got to shlep carboy, brewpot, MLT cooler, immersion chiller, ingredients, grain mill, water, tubing and whatnot up from/down to the basement and out/in the back door. Invariably I forget several odds and ends (where's my damn FUNNEL?) and have to hump it up and down the stairs a dozen times before I'm done.

I don't really mind the cleanup. Mostly it's just hosing everything down with hot water and finding a place for it to dry.

-Joe

Bottling beer. I don't care about cleaning everything, I just can't stand the process of filling bottles and then capping them. If I could just have someone bottle for me, then I would brew all of the beer in the world.

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Cleaning. Whether it is. The mash tun, the keggle, bottles, it don't matter. I hate cleaning anything that don't come in the shower with me.

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Truer words were never spoken...

bull8042 said:

Actually, that is correct. After I wash my MLT, BK, or whatever with PBW or Oxy, I stick my hands in the sanitizer bucket for a second and the slippery-ness is gone. I thought I was the last one to figure that out. Obviously, there are some slower than me.

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I'm usually pretty quick on the up take, but a couple of years ago something happened that caused some minor brain damage...I had kids. Between their constant screaming and the lack of sleep, I haven't slept in years, I sometimes have issues. In fact it's a miracle that I can even type a coherent sentence as it is good that I am good, good it is. All will be finerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;dk

;
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Sorry, fell asleep at the wheel for a second there!