Why Can't I RDWHAHB

First off, I have to apologize to everyone for some of my recent posts asking noob questions I already know the answer to; I've just been all stressed out about my brew lately.

Anyone else ever feel this way, just when you think you have the brewing thing under control and you can handle some unexpected circumstance, something happens and you suddenly start to panic like a first time brewer?

I've never had a brew session that didn't have moments like that...

Honestly, not really. Even with our first venture into AG last week, that yielded wort, but with not very good efficiency, the stress level was low.

I'm not sure we'll ever get stressed about brewing.

Sure, we want to make good beer, but we realize we're still pretty new to it, and learning still. But if something goes wrong, in the grand scheme of things, a bad batch is pretty small potatoes.

And every batch presents plenty of learning opportunities.

So RDWHAHB!

ill.literate said:

I'm not sure we'll ever get stressed about brewing.

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Until you run out of homebrew!!!!!


JadedDog, no sweat. Some of us just have a harder time relaxing, myself included.

I prescribe more homebrew for us.

Those folks who are already naturally chill, send us your extra beer!

TheJadedDog said:

First off, I have to apologize to everyone for some of my recent posts asking noob questions I already know the answer to; I've just been all stressed out about my brew lately.

Anyone else ever feel this way, just when you think you have the brewing thing under control and you can handle some unexpected circumstance, something happens and you suddenly start to panic like a first time brewer?

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1. If you stress about your brew it is guaranteed to spoil it.

2. Disasters happen to us all the time-- boilovers, bottling half a case and then remembering the priming sugar, running out of propane halfway into a boil... you name it. The key is making sure that you are drinking enough homebrew during your brewing session.

Occasionally I get confused but I don't stress about it much. I had an infected batch recently that annoyed me, but I got over it.

mmditter said:

The key is making sure that you are drinking enough homebrew during your brewing session.

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EXACTLY what I was saying! Here, here, pass another round!

My first "real" pm was an absolute disaster and mess, but I had enough brew to not sweat it. It turned out quite nicely. So far at least, couple weeks till I crack one open, but I am very optimistic.

Ok....I am a NOOBIE so I'm not too sure what this stress is about. I just brewed my first beer and there was a minute there when I thought it was going to go all over the garage floor.....but it didn't. I found that having a slight but healthy buzz helps keeps the stress down.

What stresses me out is when I distill. It takes freakin FOREVER to run a 12 gallon mash. Chances are you have a few months in the making of it, especially a fruit mash. You have to pay attention to cuts and make them without tasting every 10 minutes. I did that a few times and combined with the beer I drink while running the pot, I find myself rather potty faced at the end of the run, which can last as long as 10 hours. I don't do that much anymore, it makes SWMBO cut back on my fishing time. She's subtle about it, tho.

I always worry during the 24 hours between I pitch the yeast and the airlock starts bubbling.

I stress a little when a brew is radically different after fermenting than what I had planned. Most of the time, though, the weird batches swing back towards what I'm expecting. Like the 3CPA, which smelled and tasted like grapefruit juice on day 3.

TheJadedDog said:

First off, I have to apologize to everyone for some of my recent posts asking noob questions I already know the answer to; I've just been all stressed out about my brew lately.

Anyone else ever feel this way, just when you think you have the brewing thing under control and you can handle some unexpected circumstance, something happens and you suddenly start to panic like a first time brewer?

Click to expand...

I felt like I was the master of all I surveyed until I had a five day lagtime on my most recent batch. That had me tossing and turning at night, for sure. Most everything else, I'm relaxed about, because my experience tells me it's really hard to screw up homebrew too badly.