I'm that guy...

that does his first all grain batch at night after a long hard day. It hasn't gone perfect, and by the time I'm done, I'll be cursing myself. It's all good though. That's my modus operandi.

I brew with a house full of guests. I brew whilst cooking dinner. I am stupid.
Just the same, I'll bet this batch of Orfy's Old Speckled Hen clone is gonna rock.

P.S. My back hurts...whaaa.

I often multi-task around the house while I'm brewing, and it does indeed hurt the back!

I once tried bottling a batch while my roommates were having a party... a college party in a small house.

Considering I was wrangling my kids at the same time, it went pretty well.

Except that I can never remember to add my whirlflock. NEVER.

Stauffbier said:

I often multi-task around the house while I'm brewing, and it does indeed hurt the back!

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Too scared to attempt this yet...worried about boilovers with my teeny boil pot. I stand over it and stare intently, all whilst stirring like a mad woman. Will be looking at some keggles this afternoon which will expand the room issue, maybe I can accomplish something during the boil

Brewed last weekend while i put down a floor in the kitchen!

that is brewing this weekend. first brew since his 3rd back surgery (in February) and is not looking forward to dragging the keggles up from his basement or lugging 5 gallons of wort down to the basement.

I'm also that guy that had to use the internet to see how to spell February correctly!

here's to good luck on our backs...

Mmmmm... Joint pain... I prescribe one more beer (or libation of choice)

I brewed my first beer before work. I had no idea how long the brew process would take. I severly underestimated by, oh, three hours.

"Yeah, I'll be a little late tonight..."

unionrdr said:

to getting the old backs "back" on track. On my 3rd beer,with more than a case still in chilly waiting. Now if I just had something for joint pain...gotta get to the store & let my son go in. Kinda like tha Ace Frehley song,"I have trouble walkin"...

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Cheers. I'm half your age and I had a ruptured disc removed about a year ago. I was stupid and waited 2 weeks after losing feeling in the front of my leg before seeing the doc. Now my left leg is about half the size of my right, but daily trips to the gym and a lot of stretching are slowly bringing things around.

It turns out that there is a price for playing football and rugby for years.

unionrdr, not to make this post sound like an old folks home... I had a laminectomy at L5/S1 many years ago. I've found that Aleve (naproxen sodium) works well for me when my back hurts. I told my MIL that I accidentally mixed up my viagra and the Aleve and hopes she gets the right one...
I try not to multi-task too much with beer (making and drinking). I don't stay as focused as I should. I save that for the cool down period.

Dawnhulio said:

Too scared to attempt this yet...worried about boilovers with my teeny boil pot. I stand over it and stare intently, all whilst stirring like a mad woman. Will be looking at some keggles this afternoon which will expand the room issue, maybe I can accomplish something during the boil

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I have an 11 gallon kettle, and my boil starts very slowly. I don't get a real aggressive hot break, and when it subsides I do all kinds of stuff while it's boiling. I also use Fermcap-S to keep it under control. When I was doing extract in a smaller pot on my stove I had 2 boilovers, and it is not pretty!

I was doing a 6 gallon batch in a 15 gallon kettle, so I wasn't sweating boil over. I just hope one day I can remember the whirlflock.

I've made a promise to myself to start mid morning next time. Once it gets over a hundred degrees, I'll have to start at 4:00am.

I don't mind having my five year old girl out there with me, but my two year old boy makes it impossible to focus on the brew. Keeping him away from danger takes all my attention.

I always start brewing first thing in the morning on Saturday or Sunday. I've done the night thing a couple times when I first started and didn't care for it at all. Washing your equipment at 2 AM because of multiple delays leaves a lot to be desired.

eppo said:

Brewed last weekend while i put down a floor in the kitchen!

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boss, lol

Doctor_Wily said:

boss, lol

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+1. Can anyone one-up the manliness of that brew session? I submit that they can not

40watt said:

...but my two year old boy makes it impossible to focus on the brew. Keeping him away from danger takes all my attention.

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Sounds mean, but if he gets hurt once he'll remember forever. You can protect them from themselves only just so long.

Like a few others, I have gotten to where I can multi-task rather well in the world of brewing. I routinely keg or clean while brewing. I have actually mowed my lawn, to include weedeating, and trimming shrubs in the middle of a brew. Set the timer on your watch and just roll with it. I will even leave the house during mashing and go pickup ice or a kid as needed. I have even mashed while at church (you just hope it isn't a long winded sermon day). I think once you get your technique down, it is pretty simple. Now of course, I will likely forget to add hops to my next batch.

william_shakes_beer said:

Sounds mean, but if he gets hurt once he'll remember forever. You can protect them from themselves only just so long.

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Hurt I can handle. Maimed by boiling wort...not so much. Ran over by a car because I wasn't watching...I may as well off myself.

During last weekend's brew session, rescued a cat that was stuck 40 feet up in a tree (had been there all night, brrr). The only think I can't seem to do while brewing is drink - a few pints in and all sort of mistakes start happening.

BigBlueDog said:

During last weekend's brew session, rescued a cat that was stuck 40 feet up in a tree (had been there all night, brrr). The only think I can't seem to do while brewing is drink - a few pints in and all sort of mistakes start happening.

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Lol @ irony

I can't brew without drinking beer. Note to self, brew something under 5.5%abv...

I usually don't drink much when I brew. I start early in the morning. Usually by the time I'm boiling I get hungry and eat some lunch. I'll have one beer with lunch and then usually one more when I'm chilling the wort. Once I have pitched it's game on, though!

Stauffbier said:

I have an 11 gallon kettle, and my boil starts very slowly. I don't get a real aggressive hot break, and when it subsides I do all kinds of stuff while it's boiling. I also use Fermcap-S to keep it under control. When I was doing extract in a smaller pot on my stove I had 2 boilovers, and it is not pretty!

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I cannot begin to imagine the mess this would make. I have had nightmares about it! (wherein it seeped into every nook in our house and it was impossible to rid... but the aroma was AWESOME!).

eppo said:

Brewed last weekend while i put down a floor in the kitchen!

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A floor gets walked all over and is generally under appreciated to begin with. I don't see the need to insult it and lower it's self esteem even more.

Cruel, dude.

I'm kinda in the Zen approach to brewing. I learned from a few bad brewing days to:

1) Pick a day to brew and clear my schedule on that day (no work, no friends, no distractions)
2) Formulate recipe 2-3 days before brewing, making sure every ingredient is accounted for
3) 2 days before make starter and put in fridge to settle
4) 1 day before brewing, run water through filter, measure out mash water and pre-fill kettles (containers), treat water (campden, mineral additions) crush grain, spread out everything I will need: pots, sanitizer, cleaning supplies, burners, hydrometers, hoses, etc. If I'm overnight mashing-begin the process
5) On brewday, wake up early and start heating mash water (if not overnight mashing)
6) Clean as you as you go and put things away that you don't need anymore
7) I know I'll probably get flamed for this but. Absolutely no alcohol consumption. A cloudy head leads to mistakes anything from missing OG values, contamination, broken equipment, injuries, etc.

Of course I only have maybe 2 handfuls of brews under my belt and I'm sure some brewers can brew while hosting a party, mowing their lawns, and swapping out a transmission at the same time while hitting their numbers and finishing in 3 hours flat. I'm not one of these brewers and I doubt that I'll ever be so I'll just take this approach.

Know thyself.

SenorPepe said:

+1. Can anyone one-up the manliness of that brew session? I submit that they can not

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I have dragon and a tiger branded on my fore arms from my boil pot. I picked it up like Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu.

william_shakes_beer said:

Sounds mean, but if he gets hurt once he'll remember forever. You can protect them from themselves only just so long.

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Ok you obviously have had kids before.

This is all well and good for some things but a pot of boiling wort on your toddler is a trip to the ER or the morgue.