Micromanging Brew Process when there are two of you

Does anyone have a brew partner that they can not rely on to keep the brew process running smoothly? I took a friend on board this year and boil overs, overshot temps, etc. He is a good friend but man! I was ramping up from 122 to 150 and left him in charge of turning off the burner. Temp was 148 and I told him to turn off the burner at 150 while I was on my way in my house. I came out a couple minutes later and a few minutes after that I notice it was at 155. Then I quickly turn off the burner and stir the mash to find it jumping to 175! Then it was a 7 minute scramble to bring it back down.

I do more work in terms of correcting and cleaning boil overs and reap only half the beer now. I never had a boil over on my own and if I over shot a temp it was 2-3 degrees.

It sounds like you need to stop letting him brew with you.

I feel your pain... I had a brew buddy with me a couple times:

This guy:



And he does not listen for anything... This was the last brew I did with him... I got sick and tired of him screwing up the simplest of tasks... Like boil overs ... HOLY Crap have I gotten pissed...

The closest thing I have to a brew partner is my ipod. No one is coming near me when I'm in that zone.

I usually don't ask for help unless I really need a third hand because I don't want to have anyone else to blame when I F* something up, but my girlfriend suffers through a lot of brew days with me providing moral support.

I like brewing with other people but it always makes brew days harder and more hectic. I have however recently found that my one friend Jeremy is a great brew partner!

The best solution is getting them to buy their own rig and bring it over to brew with you.

I have yet to find a happy medium with a brew partner. I decided that I either have to do everything and they can watch me, or I just instruct them to do everything and sit back and drink. I have found that splitting the chores is always more of a pain than it is worth.

If you have a wooden mash paddle, I'd suggest putting a few notches in it to start. Then at the start of the brewday explain to every helped that each notch is from a previous helper who was paddled because the screwed up

I rarely brew with anyone who has ever brewed before anymore. Back in college, I had 2 brew partners, but we all learned together. Everyone kind of had a rhythm on brew day. It was kind of nice. I brew with my girlfriend now. She really only does simple stuff like help me dough in, vorlauf, hold tubes in place etc.

I would give him another chance, and sounds like maybe you're a little too serious about your brewing. Remember, it's only beer A few degrees off target temp probably isn't going to make a difference in the end, and a couple boilovers are part of the learning process. You probably know the telltale signs of an impending boilover but he doesn't because he's new.
If he just has poor attention to detail, then maybe just give him the easy tasks or change his role from "brewing partner" to "drinking partner." Just having someone to talk to and drink with during brewing can make it more fun and go by faster, plus he gets free beer out of the experience.

I've brewed with two people. One knew what he was doing and could brew and BBQ at the same time. The other just stood there and watched me do the work.

If someone can't pay attention to the process, they don't deserve any of the beer; unless they buy the makings.

agusus said:

I would give him another chance, and sounds like maybe you're a little too serious about your brewing. Remember, it's only beer

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I didn't say I was going to boot him. I was just asking if anyone else can feel my pain. I don't feel I am being too serious for getting irritated from having someone constantly make the same mistakes from not paying attention. Aren't we all too serious for spending our days on a homebrewing chat site anyways?

agusus said:

A few degrees off target temp probably isn't going to make a difference in the end, and a couple boilovers are part of the learning process.

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It was more than a few degrees though. Try 15 degrees. That's not good when you are step mashing. Read up on what occurs at 150 and what occurs over 170 and maybe you will feel my pain. Thinking you might of just mashed out 30 minutes into a step mash is not fun.

agusus said:

You probably know the telltale signs of an impending boilover but he doesn't because he's new.

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He has extract brewed for years and not only did I express the importance of watching the kettle at the beginning of the boil he has still boiled over more than once.

agusus said:

If he just has poor attention to detail, then maybe just give him the easy tasks or change his role from "brewing partner" to "drinking partner." Just having someone to talk to and drink with during brewing can make it more fun and go by faster, plus he gets free beer out of the experience.

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I want the guy to learn how to all grain brew but there has been no progress. Maybe I should just have him in charge of keeping the pint glasses full of beer. He is good at that. In fact he is usually doing that when I return and s#@t is hitting the fan.

david_42 said:

I've brewed with two people. One knew what he was doing and could brew and BBQ at the same time. The other just stood there and watched me do the work.

If someone can't pay attention to the process, they don't deserve any of the beer; unless they buy the makings.

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Yeah, he pays his way, has ordered food on his tab while brewing, and he has ran across town last minute to get ingredients too. Just gotta try to get him to pay better attention.

I've got a brew partner this weekend, one of the other guys in the office likes drinking my beer and decided he wanted to see how it's made. We'll see how it goes.

agusus said:

Remember, it's only beer

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Really??? I can't believe I have seen these words around here.

i'll find out this weekend also. a friend will be in town and hes gonna help me bottle 1 batch and then brew another. i'm pretty sure he has no idea what the process is so it will be a bit of an effort to keep things going smoothy.

WorryWort said:

The closest thing I have to a brew partner is my ipod. No one is coming near me when I'm in that zone.

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I'm with you on that one, brother!

-Steve

SavageSteve said:

I'm with you on that one, brother!

-Steve

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I also brew alone. I've never brewed with a buddy, but it sounds like it'd be fun. I'd love to do that. I brew with my IPOD, or my laptop, and only when I'm home alone. It's really fun, in a zen kind of way, you know?

It's more fun to brew with someone. Preferably a competent person.

I went from brewing 3 or 4 times a month with my roommate back in college to every other week by myself. Certain things are easier with someone else there, like evenly wetting the grain when doughing in, or carrying 8 gallons of wort down some stairs to the back yard.

Don't even get me started on bottling alone.

I enjoy brewing alone, but I also enjoy a crowd. Usually, I invite friends over when I brew - it can get hectic, and most people are just sort of lazy, but everyone has fun. No big problems yet. It's kind of a social thing like a BBQ. When I was brewing indoors, I would often brew while we watched a basketball game or something.

There are only one or two people that can actually help with anything, luckily, SWMBO is very helpful. Most people are like "so is that the hops?" or whatever, pointing to some random thing. It gets rather tiring explaining mashing etc to people.

I have to do a lot of moving of pots around and such in my awkward abode, so it is very nice to have some strong arms around to help move 70lbs of wort etc.

Like Yoop said tho - it is very zenlike to brew alone! Now I am having a fantasy of brewing alone in the dark, in the cold, in the winter.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

The best solution is getting them to buy their own rig and bring it over to brew with you.

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I agree.

This is what I did with my buddy who has been brewing for eight years (I've only been brewing for one). Bought all of the gear, didn't come in like a d-bag and demand to have everything my way. Made some suggestions.

Two brews in and things are great.

I have two brew partners that have been with me since the beginning. We all have our roles in the process. I'm the researcher and recipe creator, more or less lead the process, another guy is fun to hang out with and is good at catching my screw ups and thinking ahead to the next steps to keep things moving (used to own a restaurant), and the third (my BIL) has a large shop with a small temp controlled room and is good at building a lot of the equipment. He is often not there since my sister beats him into submission 75% of the time, but he has the shop...

15 gallon batches would be difficult to maneuver without help, and 5 gal batches are too small for us. A lot of the time we have other people over that are interested in the process and just want to watch and drink, but they usually stay out of the way so its all good.

Me and one of my buddies have brewed together twice. I tend to do 99% of everything but that's understandable because I know what I'm doing (yeah right) and he understands that he dosen't know what to do. I have used the two brewing sessions as a time for us to BS and I explain to him everything I'm doing and WHY. As I'm doing things he often looks them up in Palmers How to Brew. He's a super smart guy and is interested in learning the process but I can tell he dosen't want to invest the time to do it himself. This is fine with me but I find that if you explain WHY you are doing something it makes it a lot easier for the brew help to understand HOW to do it.

I feel your pain though because I don't get many oppurtunities to brew and when I do I don't wish to screw them up because my pipeline would take a big hit. Besides I'm living off grad loans so each batch is relatively expensive for me. In 2 months or so I'll have a job in my new profession and then I'll finally be able to afford a membership on here.

On another note. I think the picture you posted explains it all. Your NEVER going to see a boilover when you can't see inside the brew kettle! Classic!

Yes and I feel your pain !

Pat

And he does not listen for anything... This was the last brew I did with him... I got sick and tired of him screwing up the simplest of tasks... Like boil overs ... HOLY Crap have I gotten pissed...

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I see the problem. He is a guy and you are a gal. He has his attention split between bedroom fantasies and brewing. Probably 90/10 in favor of fantasies.:rockin: