I'm Through Brewing Sober

Never fails....every time I brew sober, my efficiency sucks and the beer winds up being sub-par.

Example: two weeks ago I did a double-batch. The first was an IPA, the second an oatmeal stout. I didn't start quaffing beer until about mid-way through the mash on the IPA. By the time I got to the end of the oatmeal stout, I was so tanked I forgot to take an OG and woke up in the middle of the night trying to remember if I even pitched the starter to the second batch. Both beers turned out marvelously.

Yesterday I tried a simple Hefeweizen. Missed my OG by at least 6 points, all while sober.

No more sober brewing for me.

drayman86 said:

No more sober brewing for me.

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welcome to the club

Brewing sober? Hmmm...that never even occurred to me. Interesting concept. Not for me, but interesting...

what is this "sober"?

I tend to rush things if I don't run the tap gauntlet while brewing.

DeathBrewer said:

what is this "sober"?

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verb
–adjective
1. not intoxicated or drunk.
2. habitually temperate, esp. in the use of liquor.

Strange state of being, indeed.

DeathBrewer said:

what is this "sober"?

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Its what you say to the cops when you get pulled over.

"But Ossifer I'm serfectly pober!"

Schlenkerla said:

Its what you say to the cops when you get pulled over.

"But Ossifer I'm serfectly pober!"

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But you are not supposed to say ANYTHING to cops.

Man, I'm the exact opposite. I can't brew while drunk.

PseudoChef said:

Man, I'm the exact opposite. I can't brew while drunk.

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Such a relative term! I can't brew if I'm 8 brews deep, but I usually polish off 4-6 bottles worth over the course of a brewday.

Evan! said:

Such a relative term! I can't brew if I'm 8 brews deep, but I usually polish off 4-6 bottles worth over the course of a brewday.

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Ditto - I usually try to hold off starting until the mash is done and the wort is on its way to a boil. Less likely of screwing up. Once the boil is going you've got plenty of free time between hop additions and what not to drink, make head calls maybe snack on some beerfood.

True. I've just noticed the times when I haven't touched a drop during brewday, those are my easiest and smoothest brews.

1 during the mash and 1 during the boil. Then however many I want afterwards.

You have to drink during brewdays, it's state law! Swear to god man, look it up!

Evan! said:

Brewing sober? Hmmm...that never even occurred to me. Interesting concept. Not for me, but interesting...

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+1 Have to agree completely...

i find heroin makes for a nice, smooth brew day.

...until the next day when you wake up in vomit and wort, your arms running blood into the shards of glass that remain from the carboy.

i usually have some nice light beer until the boil starts going...my small beers have come in handy for that.

if i'm on top of my game, cleaning/sanitizing/preparing, i really don't have time to drink much until i'm cooling the wort.

DeathBrewer said:

i find heroin makes for a nice, smooth brew day.

...until the next day when you wake up in vomit and wort, your arms running blood into the shards of glass that remain from the carboy.

i usually have some nice light beer until the boil starts going...my small beers have come in handy for that.

if i'm on top of my game, cleaning/sanitizing/preparing, i really don't have time to drink much until i'm cooling the wort.

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I second that. However i think crack mixed with LSD is the allstar combo. I finish a AG in 4 hours and i come up with the best ideas for my next batch. The smurfs help improve my brewing ability:fro: Actually as much as i drink i dont think ive ever brewed drunk. Im paranoid im going to scald myself.

drayman86 said:

verb
–adjective
1. not intoxicated or drunk.
2. habitually temperate, esp. in the use of liquor.

Strange state of being, indeed.

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Sounds awful. It gives me the shivers just thinking of it.

Nate said:

+1 Have to agree completely...

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+1 as well... actually, +2 b/c SWMBO drinks a fair amount while helping me out.

tdavisii said:

I second that. However i think crack mixed with LSD is the allstar combo. I finish a AG in 4 hours and i come up with the best ideas for my next batch. The smurfs help improve my brewing ability:fro: Actually as much as i drink i dont think ive ever brewed drunk. Im paranoid im going to scald myself.

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MAN I totally agree!!!! The smurfs were kicking ass with all their help, that was.....until the rice crispy's got a hold of them....it was a sad day, and day which will live in infamy....

OK I'm putting the pipe down for a while....:fro:

I'm going to go against convention here and say that I've never drank while brewing. The thought of wanting to do so never really crossed my mind. I brew 10-12 gallon batches and my brew days are 6 to 8 hours (single infusion vs. decoction) and only once every 4-6 weeks. I like to be on my game and put a lot of concentration and focus into brewing. I drink in moderacy anyway. A good, full brewday gives me a great sense of accomplishment... especially later that night when I see the fermenter airlock start to bubble. I guess I consider brewing and enjoying beer two separate things and each has its place. But, hey, that's just me. Each of us enjoys brewing and beer in our own ways!

I've brewed both tanked and sober and most places in between and I have to say a nice couple beer buzz keeps me from getting too not-RDWHAHB.

ill drink a few while brewing but Ive learned to not smoke anything until Ive started cleaning up.

We don't need no stinking soberness on brew day. Drinking beer while brewing beer only seems like the right thing to do. It pleases the beer gods.

I don't know about you fellas, but 2 beers during the brew session doesn't get me tanked enough to start making bad choices or scald myself.

Anyone else like to play "Drain a Keg" while brewing? Start with a full as soon as you start breaking out equipment with the goal of having it dry by the time you pitch, it's a blast!!!

I brew in the mornings so it's hard to really get a good buzz on. I'll MAYBE have A beer through the whole process but more times than not I just drink coffee.

If I was to brew in the afternoon/evening though it would be a different matter

Alamo_Beer said:

If I was to brew in the afternoon/evening though it would be a different matter

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it's 5 o'clock somewhere

I usually brew early morning and I prefer coffee to beer with my breakfast cereal.
I do usually manage to pop one open the end of the brew session but that is a far cry from drunk.

Actually I very seldom get impaired enough from drinking where I would have trouble brewing. I much prefer to enjoy my beer rather than just get drunk on it. The worst is probably during bottling, especially when bottling big beers. I usually have a beer or 2 with dinner just before bottling, then I have to sample the beer before bottling, plus I can't let that last partial bottle go to waste. It all adds up to

No problems yet though.

Craig

I didn't know that brewing sober was an option... Even at the brewpub that I've been brewing at lately we start pouring pints as soon as we're mashed in, and that's usually 8:30-9:00am...

McKBrew said:

Anyone else like to play "Drain a Keg" while brewing? Start with a full as soon as you start breaking out equipment with the goal of having it dry by the time you pitch, it's a blast!!!

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Yeah, but those pesky ER visits are a *****...

Evan! said:

Yeah, but those pesky ER visits are a *****...

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Budbo can tell you how dropping a glass carboy can make you blead out.

BTW - We aren't women, we can't blead for 7 days in row w/o dying.

i'm sorry children, i just don't trust anything that bleeds for 7 days and doesn't die.

My last batch (AHS Double Chocolate Stout) I had a buddy over and made the mistake of drinking with him (that would be about a beer every 15min or so). Let's just say it wasn't the best idea. Things I forgot to do:

-Boil the top off gallon of water if I didn't hit the mark (suprisingly I was dead on 5 gallons so this didn't bite me)

-add the cocoa powder during the last couple minutes (it wasn't until cleanup I realized that I forgot to add it, so it was dumped into the almost room temp wort before pitching the yeast)

-Clear the space in the basement for the 6.5 gallon glass carboy BEFORE carrying it downstairs (buddy had left and so I'm trying to clear the space with one arm)

-Add the frozen bowl of ice to speed the wort cooling process

And probably a couple more I forgot. From now on its 1-2 during the brew. I haven't done enough batches to feel anything is second nature, and with these kits having some added ingredients at different times I think it's the best.

c.n.budz said:

I didn't know that brewing sober was an option... Even at the brewpub that I've been brewing at lately we start pouring pints as soon as we're mashed in, and that's usually 8:30-9:00am...

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8:30, Strong showing...

I must admit, I like the "drain a keg; fill it up" challenge. On my list of things to attempt. Surely it qualifies if it's drained between you and your brew-buddy/SWMBO?!?

Focus

if i'm brewing alone, i'll only have a few, if i've got the grunt(little brother) around to carry the pot/carboys, then i let loose.

I won't get butt ass drunk while I'm brewing, but I've made a ritual of having a few while I'm brewing. I won't get anywhere close to a buzz until I put the chiller in the last batch though.

DeathBrewer said:

i'm sorry children, i just don't trust anything that bleeds for 7 days and doesn't die.

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I don't trust anything that can bleed up to 6 months without dying. I don't care that they just had a kid. There's no excuse for it! Women are the devils' concubines. I just want to know what they got in trade for the lack of death by bleed-out.

Oh yeah...I find that if I drink more than three during brewing tends to make me rush near the end as I have forgotten to do something til the last minute. 6 or 7 afterwards is great though!

uglygoat said:

if i'm brewing alone, i'll only have a few, if i've got the grunt(little brother) around to carry the pot/carboys, then i let loose.

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+1

If i have help then multiple pints are ok. If i have to do everything and try to knock down 5 or more pints i find that i leave a few things to clean tomorrow, yeah thats it. its tireing work i tell ya. then when it comes time to brew again im behind the 8-ball as i still have to clean the stuff left dirty from the brew session a few weeks earlier.

Just a sip or two for me. But not too much.