Brewing Under The Influence

It's a amazing the "minor" details you can overlook when Brewing Under The Influence. I got all the way through my 70 Shilling brew session, ranting about what a POS Beersmith is because I'm a 1/2 gallon high going into my fermenter and the OG is 7 points low, only to realize...the instructions call for a 90 minute boil. Not a 60 minute boil.

And apparently my vision suffers under the influence as well. My yeast nutrient and irish moss were sitting beside my glass of beer the entire brew session and it never occurred to me that I should actually put them to use.

Brew sober my friends!

TheGrouch said:

Brew sober my friends!

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Naaaaah Get better at doing it while drinking!

9 posts and he's telling us to brew sober

Waitaminute, you can brew sober? When did this start?

Brewing without drinking upsets Ninkasi, and that is NOT a place you want to go, my friend. Make lists and plan well before you begin brewing and drinking. Make sure drinking homebrew(s) is on that list. Don't think you can get fancy and skip an important step like drinking while you brew.

Embrace the chaos and enjoy happy accidents that sometimes accompany the miracle of beer.

Stir, sip stir sip sip ...um... O ya, P...sip stir sip slur and thats all I have to say on the matter. OOPs and take notes. Cheers

nukinfuts29 said:

9 posts and he's telling us to brew sober

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whats the post count have to do with anything?

nukinfuts29 said:

9 posts and he's telling us to brew sober

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So when did the number of posts one has made translate into how proficient they are at brewing?

Dougie63 said:

whats the post count have to do with anything?

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Beat me to it.

post count is forum software's oldest ball busting, joke around vessel. lighten up and quit being so literal. maybe you two should have a drink.

it clearly doesn't really have anything to do with anything

I do my best work BUI. And if I screw up I blame it on having 1 too many.

nukinfuts29 said:

9 posts and he's telling us to brew sober

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He's been on this forum 5 times as long as you

Regarding the topic, I do brew sober. While it's not for everyone, I love brewing in the dark AM hours.

I usually start brewing with a beer in hand at about 8 am. I'm usually useless by about noon tho

I often get brewing early in the morning, first thing, and my favorite beverage for then is a cup of dark roast coffee.

Much like I am enjoying right now!

passedpawn said:

He's been on this forum 5 times as long as you

Regarding the topic, I do brew sober. While it's not for everyone, I love brewing in the dark AM hours.

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If you go by time actually spent here I think my whore self wins

nukinfuts29 said:

If you go by time actually spent here I think my whore self wins

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That would be interesting to have a timer displayed showing cumulative hours spent perusing HBT - like the post counter on our profile.

hwcopela said:

That would be interesting to have a timer displayed showing cumulative hours spent perusing HBT - like the post counter on our profile.

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I don't want to know

If Charlie P. says to have a homebrew while I brew, then it shall be done. If done correctly you will happily "RDWHAHB". If overdone you'll start a siphon with your mouth and rack onto 2 inches of starsan.

Plus a little libation to the homebrew gods (Papazian and Zainasheff) never hurt anyone.

I brew in the mornings, and drink coffee until I start the boil. Then I reward myself with one beer, and then another once the chilling is over.

I guess I"m just accident prone, but even sober I've been scalded by a pump shooting boiling water at me, and burned myself on the flame another time. I would probably end up in the ER if I brewed half in the bag!

I'll moderate my earlier statement and say that 1) I, too brew in the morning and 2) I usually wait until I fire the BK before switching from coffee to beer.

But that's a step I never fail to check off my list, unlike whirlfloc. Which I forget all the freaking time.

don't feel bad...I brewed under the influence and dumped the entire batch into a dirty carboy that had been sitting outside for several weeks...I meant to use the clean one that was in the kitchen...but I thought I brought it outside to use the wort chiller with the garden hose...woops.The beer tasted like pastrami. Not very good.

Im an early moring coffee drinking brewer myself.Usually. I prefer it as a reward for a complete job. Usually at the end of the day.I also dropped a hydrometer having a beer-brewing,my mind is somewhere else doing it that way. I would drink and brew as much as i would drink and drive.Maybe 1 or 2 but usually none.

I guess I'm just over-cautious, but I never drink when I brew. Now maybe that's just because I always brew early in the AM and usually finish just after noon. OR maybe it's because brewing involves large volumes of boiling liquids, propane, an open flame, etc. Or it might be that I don't like screwing up my beer and having it not live up to it's true potential.

Your mileage may vary but that's the way I do it.

L

Pappers_ said:

I often get brewing early in the morning, first thing, and my favorite beverage for then is a cup of dark roast coffee.

Much like I am enjoying right now!

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+1...I tend to mash in as early as 6 am to get done earlier in the day (SWMBO imposed restriction...) I don't tend to crack the first one until I've started cooling, sometimes not even <gasp> until I've started cleaning up!

passedpawn said:

I don't want to know

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You've got that right - a cumulative timer to show how much time I've spent on HBT would probably scare me.

Never again...buzzed brewing is one thing, but I've noticed that there is definitely a point of no return.

I do both. But I like the morning brew with coffee in hand better I Am a lot more organized in the am

OK, so the "sober" part was a bit of a stretch. Maybe "Brew Sober ENOUGH TO READ DIRECTIONS My Friends!" would have been more accurate.

"It takes beer to make beer"

I take it really easy until I start the boil, then I'll have a few.

I don't start until my carboy is tucked away safely in the ferm-chamber.
It's on at that point!

The things I have done drunk, I don't even consider brewing to be dangerous. With that said I start at 5am so I usually hold off on my first beer until 8am. Right a round boil time.

My rule No. 34: no beer until after brewing. When the last of the equipment is cleaned up and put away, and the yeast are in the fermenter trying to decide which maltose molecules to chomp on first, then it's time to crack tubes- not before. My choice; I'm 67, and I've seen a few too many instances of what happens when people drink and XXXX. Not for me any more.

brants77 said:

"It takes beer to make beer"

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I won't post where I was going to take this....


For me, I don't drink til I've cooled and pitched. Doesn't matter the time of day because if my eyes are open it's an acceptable time for a beer.

My story goes....

When I needed bottles for bottling I ran to the LHBS to try and beat closing time. I get there only to realize I missed closing time by two hours...so instead I run to the liquor store buy 3 cases of summit, call a few friends, drink the beer, clean the bottles, then bottle my beer. Only to realize while under the influence I forgot the priming sugar.

I'm a bit more sloppy when brewing buzzed, but that's half the fun. You're making beer...it's just not right to make beer without drinking a beer....or 3.

I crack the first one when the boil starts, it is sort of a ritual. Then I wait until after pitching for the next beer. But there are exceptions to every rule!!

It takes beer to make beer. (I like that brantz77!)

I find it very bewildering by those who don't have a brew or 3 during the process. I mean I guess if you're up at the crack of dawn and coffee is your choice. OK But that's not for me. Now that being said, have I been buzzed brewing? Hell yeah, but seldom more than that. I have a checklist I follow for each brew to keep me from forgetting things.

I try to avoid the stupid sloppy drunk episodes. I got a lot of that out of my system in college. Well most of it anyway...

Dumbest thing I ever did was a few batches ago I was drinking with a friend while brewing. I was also cleaning out a keg so I could keg another beer I had ready. Well I ended up forgetting to sanitize the keg after cleaning it out. Beer went straight in, hooked up the keg, and it wasn't until I thought about it the next day that I realized what I had done. Thankfully the beer was fine. If there were any contaminates in there we drank it before any off flavors could crop up.

I'd say I do 70% of my brewing sober and 30% with a beer or two in my hand. So far I've been lucky and haven't had any major booze-induced errors or injuries, but I do remember one time having to do some volume adjustments - you know, working with our stupid gallon/quart/pint/cup/fl oz measurements - and just having a hell of a time keeping all the numbers straight.

We were drinking and bottling a few weeks back. I accidentally filled and capped the beer I was drinking. Luckily we were almost done and only 2 beers got bottled after that. I drink those first.

Strangely, the mix of 3 floyds alpha king and my IPA was better than than either one alone.