Does brewing stress you or relax you.

I find it's as good as laying on a sunny beach with a book.
That is if no one hassles me and I can just brew.

I look forward to my brew days. It's just me and the kettle. No pressure from anyone else. Completely relaxing as long as no one bothers me.

I pretty much relax when I'm brewing, but I'm not sure brewing itself relaxes me. I like to chill out on my porch and drink a couple while I'm cooking it.

I'm stressed out. I always feel like I'm forgetting an important step along the way. This problem got much worse when I switched over to all grain brewing. I hope that after a few more AG batches, I will be comfortable enough to relax.

What stresses me out is not being able to brew. I haven't made anything in months. It is about to drive me crazy.

To me this is a hobby...It's supposed to be fun, not something to stress out about. I take the rdwhahb'ing aspect of it pretty seriously.

I said stressed only because excitement is closer to stress than relaxation and it definately changes my mood

Brewing itself is relaxing as can be. Do homework, read a book, watch a movie on the laptop- something like that during the boil. It's when I have people help me that it gets more stressful. My girlfriend is actually very helpful and extremly easy to work with. My fellow brewmate that I live with during school- not so much. He only has one batch under him whereas I've got several so inexperience comes into play. But generally I love brewing cause it means I've got at least 2 hours to devote to something I want to devote it to. Kyle

Brewing is one of the most zen moments in my busy schedule. I feel like I can just put all the stressors of regular life aside and really connect with whatever beer I am making. Definitely relaxing.

Definitely relaxing. Even when things don't go quite as planned (lackluster efficiency or a stuck sparge), I'm still making beer... and drinking a few along the way.

It is fairly relaxing for me unless I have the 2 year old in the garage and I am constantly having to keep him from adjusting the flame, opening the MLT, or smacking the dog with the mash paddle. Then it becomes a little stressful.

It's both. It's good stress. Actually it only gets stressful at flameout.

I put it relaxes me, and it does for now. I will be doing AG soon and once i get my process and equipment down, I'm sure i will go back to being "relaxed".

I voted that it doesn't really change my mood because while a good brew day can put me in a good mood, a bad one can wreck my whole weekend.

It definitely relaxes me. The smell of wort, the mixing of the grain, the whole process- it really is relaxing to me. I brew alone, when no one is home to bother me, and I love it!

I don't know if it relaxes me, but it is great therapy. I usually enjoy the work and precision that is needed.

It does get quite stressful when the kids get too close to the burner and when the dog nearly burns his tail off by getting too close to the burner when my neighbor comes over to check things out, as happened Sunday. When I'm alone, the dog does his thing, the kids are off somewhere and I'm a happy mofo.

Both.

During the in-between times I get stressed by all the things that need to be done (crack grain, clean this, clean that, what? another effing' leak?) but, when the actual brewing is at hand I get relaxed and into it.

It depends.
If I have no major issues and have plenty of time then brewing is very relaxing and enjoyable.
However some days things don't go so well. And combine that with running back and forth between my basement storage room and my outdoor brew area i can be a little frazzled. However I seldom get stressed so I tend to take even these days with a good bit of RDWHAHB.

Craig

Doesn't really change my mood.

CBBaron said:

It depends.
If I have no major issues and have plenty of time then brewing is very relaxing and enjoyable.
However some days things don't go so well. And combine that with running back and forth between my basement storage room and my outdoor brew area i can be a little frazzled. However I seldom get stressed so I tend to take even these days with a good bit of RDWHAHB.

Craig

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Same here. If I get started late and am rushed...and have planned on multiple batches...and my evap rate is low for some reason and I end up boiling for longer, sitting around waiting, just wanting to be done...then I kinda get stressed. Never so bad that I'm not enjoying myself, but not quite as enjoyable as a leisurely single-batch day with a low-OG style. Those are undoubtedly the best. I can knock out a 1.055-or-under batch in under 4 hours, and still have time to lay around during the mash/boil...and when it's all done, I've gotten everything cleaned up already with my spare mash/boil time, and it's a great day. But when it's midnight on a worknight and I'm brewing a high-OG beer and keep detecting starches in my mash even after 70 minutes, then I get pissy. :cross:

Usually relaxes me, but I just checked on the batch I brewed Monday, and I forgot to cap one of the outlets on my carboy cap, so I've had an opening in the top of my fermentor for the first 48 hours or so. The thing is bubbling away, so I think I'm ok, but it adds a little anxiety to this particular batch.

Brewing is the biggest stress relief in my life (errr... second biggest). the_Wife has actually told me that I need to set aside some time to brew when she notices that I'm getting more irritable and crabby.

I've decided to forgoe double-batch brew days, because it does get to be a bit much when there's that much going on.

Normally I find it relaxing, but recently I moved to all grain, and although it is not exactly stressful, it defiantly was not as relaxing as it was before. I expect as I become more familiar with the techniques. It will become sit back relax and brew again.

There are several factors that tend to stress me out during brew day.

1) I am relatively new to brewing (only ~6 batches or so), so my "system" is not very well developed. This is especially true when I go too long between batches, which is pretty frequently.
2) I am constantly having to "shoo" away my children and my cat from my brewing areas.
3) I stay very stressed about the potential for infection.
4) Since I brew in my kitchen, I stay stressed about messing things up (etching my granite countertops with Starsan for example).
5) I find it almost impossible to balance the boil when adding dried malt extract to my brew pot. Inevitably I end up with boilovers on my ceramic stove top (see complaint 4) and/or disruption of my rolling boil. This has really bitten me when I have added dried extract toward the end of a boil in an effort to obtain a lighter colored brew. I was brewing an imperial IPA, and ended up losing a good portion of my malt due to really bad boilover loss.

I am currently brewing my first lager, which included a whole new set of headaches (yeast starters, temperature control, etc). Despite these "stressout" factors, I find myself compelled to keep pursuing this hobby. If there is one thing I love.....it's good beer. And knowing that I made it myself is worth any stress I may undergo during brew day. I think after several more "back-to-back" brew days to further define my "system", the stress levels will decrease. I can definitely see where the right atmosphere could induce a zen-like feel to brew day.

It generally doesn't affect me one way or the other. But there are those stressful brew days where it feels like everything that could go wrong did. And then you spill your hot water just to top off the day. Argh, those days stress me out, but they're few and far between.

I don't brew unless I'm in a good mood and that seems to hold throughout the process. (Except for the 18-pound rye muffin incident.) If I have to push myself to get started, I just don't. It was better when I was brewing with friends.

DrunkTrucker said:

What stresses me out is not being able to brew. I haven't made anything in months. It is about to drive me crazy.

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WHAT HE SAID!!! I HATE getting interrupted a 1/2 hour before I'm going to brew. I need all the inertia I can get. Right up until doughing in, I'm stressing like mad. Then, as soon as I hit my temp and shut my lid, it's onto autopilot. It's stress-free after that. (Unless I forget to hook up the chiller.)

I would say it definitely improves my mood, but I'd not really call it relaxing. I get so excited that I "PING" for about 4 1/2 hours while I brew. The stress comes from SWMBO bitching about it all the time, and the relaxing comes form knowing that I'll soon have 5 more gallons of the best beer I've made that day!
Having said all of that, It's for shizzle the best part of the week!

For me, brewing is a super stress release. It feels good to accomplish something and I'm pretty confident and don't get worked up if I do make a mistake. I almost always brew with my 6,4,and 2 year olds around, too - which could be a source of stress but isn't (anymore - used to be hard). HOWEVER, I do get stressed a bit when I'm brewing with adult friends b/c I'm distracted by talking, drinking, etc. Those brew days are the hardest for me - need to get over that.


CB

mandoman said:

HOWEVER, I do get stressed a bit when I'm brewing with adult friends b/c I'm distracted by talking, drinking, etc.

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I brew Alone.....YA AHHH With Nobody Else. Cause You know when I brew Alone....I prefer to be by myself!

I need a "both" option. Brewdays can certainly be stressful if things arent going right or, as has been the case with me before, trying to squeeze a brewday in when you really don't have time. However, for the most part it is very relaxing to me. I brew outside and I typically turn the radio on and listen to some music or a baseball game and sometimes read and enjoy the day. But when things go wrong, it can definitely be very stressful.

BigKahuna said:

I brew Alone.....YA AHHH With Nobody Else. Cause You know when I brew Alone....I prefer to be by myself!

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Yeah, freakin' GREAT! Now I am going to be singing that all day! Thanks a LOT!!!

bull8042 said:

Thanks a LOT!!!

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You know me...I do what I can to help out!

it relaxes me when everything goes smooth. When I run into a problem I get stressed, but kind of a good stressed where I take it on as a challenge. It is sort of like working a busy line during a rush, after you sit back and take a sip of beer and bask in your own accomplishment.

The only stressful part is when I RDWHA-too-many-HB and nearly fall in the boil kettle, at which point I have to stop drinking until the wort is safely tucked away in the fermenter.

It stress is me because i'm still new to all grains.

But i'm getting better.

It relaxes me most of the time when everything goes ok. Even if something went wrong I am still ok after I am done. Then I just stress over if I forgot something or messed up. I am always stressed to some level because I am very particular about certain things.

I think I still get a bit stressed. Mostly not because of the process, but because I'm always trying to do more than one thing while I'm brewing. Like trying to be a movie star on Mogulus and brewing at the same time. Just not that relaxing. Or having to make numerous trips in the house for water because I haven't invested in a water filter and RV hose yet. All and all the end product makes up for it, but just planning things out a bit better would help me.

I neglected to mention this earlier but Jamil has an article in the Sept/Oct Zymurgy that talks about this very point- balancing the Papazian philosophy with attention to detail and process.

I find it very relaxing. I get to forget about everything else for those few hours.