Unexpected guests while brewing

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brew2enjoy

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Ever happen to anyone?

I try to plan my brew days so that I will be able to do my thing un-interrupted. This way I can take my time and enjoy the process. Well Sunday I got a nice little suprise when not one, not two but seven....SEVEN!! family/friends ended up at my house. And it couldn't have any worse of a brewday for it to happen as I was trying out new equipment for the first time. I was doing my first full boil out in my garage with my new propane setup and homemade wort chiller. It was a partial mash brew and lukily the mash/sparge part was done before this lovely suprise. I was in the middle of the boil.

Not that I don't mind teaching/explaining the process, but I had to basically put on a class! "what's that smell?, why do you do this?, why do you do that?, whats that foamy stuff?, you put your beer in that foamy stuff?, whats that copper coil thingy?......oghghghg! :drunk:

The good news is, I was able to maintain concentration and get the job done without making any mistakes. Just felt like ranting a bit :D
 
I didn't have it that bad. But one day,we were brewing one up,& my son walks into the kitchen after work. "Damn! What's that smell?" "We're brewing some beer" I reply. We'd just started hop additions. "that doesn't smell like any beer I've ever had. Smells like sh**". "Smells like sweet grainy hops to me". "Sh**,smells like goat p*** or something. Damn man".
Nothing like words of encouragement. Geez. Some folks just don't appreciate our craft...:mug:
 
Two years ago for my birthday my wife specifically told my sister that I would be too busy brewing beer to have a party.

So my mom and my sister and her three kids and a friend or two all showed up while I was brewing.

I felt bad, but I had to tell them to wait for me in the house. I'll be in when I'm done.
 
Reading your story homercidal,this song came to mind; [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0nNZ5wAWZE&feature=related]Kiss Black Diamond - YouTube[/ame]
 
Happened to me this weekend during my first attempt at a partial mash. My brother and my dad stopped by. I put them to work, but unfortunately I drank a lot more then I normally would during a brew day and this led to me pitching my yeast at a little to high of a temp. It's all good though, we had a good time and my brew seems fine.
 
unionrdr said:
I didn't have it that bad. But one day,we were brewing one up,& my son walks into the kitchen after work. "Damn! What's that smell?" "We're brewing some beer" I reply. We'd just started hop additions. "that doesn't smell like any beer I've ever had. Smells like sh**". "Smells like sweet grainy hops to me". "Sh**,smells like goat p*** or something. Damn man".
Nothing like words of encouragement. Geez. Some folks just don't appreciate our craft...:mug:
Click to expand...

Are you sure he's yours?
 
How you handle distractions weeds out the real brewers!

Seriously when my buddies and I brew we purposely mess with each other for fun. If its a competition beer all the better to ratchet up the heat.... sometimes literally!
A closed / open valve here and there is good clean fun.

Not everyone's idea of fun I'm sure.

I can remember one day a friend went inside and I re-plumbed his brew kettle. It was an upgrade that time.
 
My last two brew sessions were 'brew parties' of sorts where my wife would cook up some awesome food and then I'd show whoever was interested the 'art' of brewing. Keep in mind I am still learning myself so perhaps I wasn't the best one to be teaching others but all in all we had a good time. Having said that I will admit I make far less mistakes while brewing when there are fewer people around to distract me.

What were some of the mistakes I made during my last brewing party? Forgot to pre measure hops, put wrong hops in at wrong times, forgot to cover brewpot while chilling, forgot to take OG, forgot to aerate wort, didn't make a starter for my liquid yeast, and had a boil over which ended up clogging up a quarter of the jet nozzles on my banjo burner. Not to mention I (not intentionally) let my wort get up to almost 80 degrees for about a day during primary fermentation

Oy!
 
Somewhat similar, I guess: I had to move my most recent batch (a Christmas Saison) from the back yard to the open door of my garage due to unexpected "weather." (The garage opens onto the street, by the way, so everyone in the neighborhood could see what I was doing at the time.)

My next-door neighbor decided, in the middle of a delicious little cloudburst in which you couldn't see halfway across the street, to pop over and see what I was doing.

One kegerator-fresh stout and a quick conversation/brew demonstration later, I may have converted my neighbor to the dark side. :rockin:
 
I think the most I had was my Uncle/Cousin, and then 3 different neighbors came out. They were actually really helpful and it was the quickest cleanup I had.

But when I have changed up my process or trying something new, it is nice to have some alone time to keep focused on things
 
I love brewdays where no one at all ever disturbs me. I also love brewdays when a ouple friends come over to brew a batch together.

What I don't like is to expect and plan for a solo quiet brewday, and have random stoppers by. It throws off my mojo and usually my aggravation shows.
 
These are all great... my SWMBO seems to be the biggest interruption when she "visits" me outside. Those visits only seem to include conversations about her "honey do" list. Honey do this.. honey do that... honey can you c'mere for a second (while right in the middle of a potential boil over or just before I have to add my 5 min hops and do all the flame out stuff), honey honey honey... blah blah blah....

I figured it all out now though... I give her an extra glass or two of wine on Saturday night, and she'll sleep in Sunday morning while I get up early and brew up a storm, all alone... just me and the sweet sweet smell of propane and wort.
 
I feel for you. Brewing can be very cathartic, and while it is always enjoyable to teach others about brewing, sometimes a brew-session is intended as a means to decompress.
 
I don't mind unexpected company, sometimes there are lulls in the process that can use the help of company. I don't like being interrupted during the important parts (i.e. mashing in and getting appropriate temps, just getting to boil over stage, etc.). I do like to explain the process the best I can to folks not familiar with the process, as I still consider myself quite new to the process.

Ryan M.
 
brew2enjoy said:
Ever happen to anyone?

I try to plan my brew days so that I will be able to do my thing un-interrupted. This way I can take my time and enjoy the process. Well Sunday I got a nice little suprise when not one, not two but seven....SEVEN!! family/friends ended up at my house. And it couldn't have any worse of a brewday for it to happen as I was trying out new equipment for the first time. I was doing my first full boil out in my garage with my new propane setup and homemade wort chiller. It was a partial mash brew and lukily the mash/sparge part was done before this lovely suprise. I was in the middle of the boil.

Not that I don't mind teaching/explaining the process, but I had to basically put on a class! "what's that smell?, why do you do this?, why do you do that?, whats that foamy stuff?, you put your beer in that foamy stuff?, whats that copper coil thingy?......oghghghg! :drunk:

The good news is, I was able to maintain concentration and get the job done without making any mistakes. Just felt like ranting a bit :D
Click to expand...

Not perhaps the best timing in the world....but it's hard for me to imagine a better "teachable moment" for people who perhaps don't know a lot about our pastime / craft / insanity. Sounds like you took advantage of it, and some teaching & learning took place. Good.
 
Revlus said:
I figured it all out now though... I give her an extra glass or two of wine on Saturday night, and she'll sleep in Sunday morning while I get up early and brew up a storm, all alone... just me and the sweet sweet smell of propane and wort.
Click to expand...

Genius! :mug:
Regards, GF.
 
SWMBO has these jewlery and candle parties sometimes. She invites the girls over, and the guys come out to the garage and we brew a batch. I usually go out and grab some interesting craft brews and do a tasting while were waiting on the mash or the boil. Usually turns out to be a fun night even though we all end up schlammered by the end!

Sent from my MB502 using Home Brew Talk
 

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