AM I Crazy? Or should beer be simple and enjoyable?

[Big Monk]

I want brewing to be simple as well.

I can't think of anything less fun than being segregated from my family for 6 hours over a hot bunch of kettles, which I then have to clean, including a whopping bag of sticky grains, then babysitting fermenting beer for a week before having to sanitize a bunch of bottles and make a mess of some surface of my house while I package it.

One button brew and walk away you say? I'd sponsor that.

I love the calculations. I love that you can actualize a recipe into a final product. Hell, I still love commercial beer. What I don't love all that much is the actual process. It's a means to an end, so simpler is definitely better.

With that said, I agree that it can only be as simple as you make it based on what your quality standards are.

One thing that seems to be pervasive anymore as that brewing should be "fun". I can't think of a single part of the process that is actually fun for me. I want the best beer I can make and if I have to suffer the process to get it, then so be it. If brewing is "enjoyable" for you, then you are a masochist of sorts.

 

[bracconiere]

One thing that seems to be pervasive anymore as that brewing should be "fun". I can't think of a single part of the process that is actually fun for me. I want the best beer I can make and if I have to suffer the process to get it, then so be it. If brewing is "enjoyable" for you, then you are a masochist of sorts.

+1 i do it for a 92 cent twelve pack of 8%....But i can think of one thing that's fun about it, emptying kegs so i HAVE to do it again! lol

Fill kegs, Empty kegs, repeat...how simple is that!

 

[Big Monk]

...emptying kegs so i HAVE to do it again! lol

Somewhere between emptying and having to do it again is the problem.

 

[bracconiere]

LOL, you could hire a part time worker to do the brewing and clean up...Put an add in the paper, need help brewing beer. Competitive pay..

 

[boxboybrewing]

Note to self: Be careful what you say on homebrewtalk while intoxicated...

 

[Cavpilot2000]

That's all barley, therefore 1 ingredient in my book!

So you have a Mustang, a Ferrari, and a Pinto in your garage. They are all 4-wheeled, 2-doored, internal combustion engined vehicles, so they are one car?

 

[bracconiere]

Note to self: Be careful what you say on homebrewtalk while intoxicated...

people learn that quick around here....

edit: out of curiosity what were you drinking?

 

[bleme]

So why don't you leave out the flaked and roasted barley and make it simpler? Because you can't and still make the same beer.

When a recipe tells me to separate the yolk from the white, whip the white and add them back in, there is usually a good reason. If I whip the whole egg, I will end up with essentially the same product but there will be a noticeable difference.

Barley is the same way. Whether we malt it, roast it, husk it, or flake it makes a difference and different is delicious, but it's still barley.

 

[kh54s10]

When a recipe tells me to separate the yolk from the white, whip the white and add them back in, there is usually a good reason. If I whip the whole egg, I will end up with essentially the same product but there will be a noticeable difference.

Barley is the same way. Whether we malt it, roast it, husk it, or flake it makes a difference and different is delicious, but it's still barley.

Your analogy doesn't make any sense... If you leave out any part of it you don't have the same thing. Just calling it all barley doesn't mean anything. If you make a beer that has only 2 of the three listed it will be very different, the same as if you call it all egg, but leave out the yolk it will make the food different.

 

[bracconiere]

Your analogy doesn't make any sense... If you leave out any part of it you don't have the same thing. Just calling it all barley doesn't mean anything. If you make a beer that has only 2 of the three listed it will be very different, the same as if you call it all egg, but leave out the yolk it will make the food different.

i think his point is that, it's all the same thing...So it's easy to blend? toasted barley has a lot of similarities in it that would make it go good with just about any other way you proccess the same thing....just like if you, seperate an egg, whip the white, then fold the yolk back into said foam. it would taste like a fluffy omlete...

 

[SEndorf]

I rather like the analogy.
My chili will taste entirely different if I use ground oregano rather than crushed leaf oregano.....

 

[bleme]

Your analogy doesn't make any sense... If you leave out any part of it you don't have the same thing. Just calling it all barley doesn't mean anything. If you make a beer that has only 2 of the three listed it will be very different, the same as if you call it all egg, but leave out the yolk it will make the food different.

I was replying to those that were saying in order to be simple, you couldn't have more than 3 ingredients. @bracconiere makes his own malt. When he is kilning, he could pull out half and keep heating the rest, ending with a whole rainbow of grain but it all came from the same bag. Just because someone else does our kilning, doesn't mean it's not all barley.

 

[boxboybrewing]

people learn that quick around here....

edit: out of curiosity what were you drinking?

My fourth Belgian Quad I had brewed a few months back.

 

[SEndorf]

 

[bracconiere]

I was replying to those that were saying in order to be simple, you couldn't have more than 3 ingredients. @bracconiere makes his own malt. When he is kilning, he could pull out half and keep heating the rest, ending with a whole rainbow of grain but it all came from the same bag. Just because someone else does our kilning, doesn't mean it's not all barley.

can AND do! I find that if i do a smaller batch, say 10lbs. then instead of imediatly drying them. i instead raise them temp to ~150f, for a while THEN dry them, and roast them at either 220f for 12 hours or say something like 260f for 12 hours. i get a variety of diferent flavors that CONTRIBUTE to the singular...but yeah, they all pretty much taste like barley....

(please understand, i should have used ' things instead of caps but i'm too lazy to go back and make this sound 'simple'!) lol

My fourth Belgian Quad I had brewed a few months back.

Hey remember you, and me had a good night from it! i'd hate to think anyone would take this seriously...(and it'd be on them if it raises their BP)

 

[bracconiere]

View attachment 605667

Why yo barley so white!

 

[Qhrumphf]

Maybe it's just me, but I actually *like* brewing.

 

[Bilsch]

One thing that seems to be pervasive anymore as that brewing should be "fun". I can't think of a single part of the process that is actually fun for me. I want the best beer I can make and if I have to suffer the process to get it, then so be it. If brewing is "enjoyable" for you, then you are a masochist of sorts.

I'm sorry to hear that. I can think of few things more enjoyable then being left alone with my brewery immersed undisrupted in the thoughts of the brewday. Work harder, meet challenges, hone your skills and learn more with the result being better beer. What's not to love?

Ok so I'll admit I don't like cleaning that much but the rest of it is zen like.

 

[bracconiere]

Maybe it's just me, but I actually *like* brewing.

(i forgot that was here) i've been brewing 10 gal batches once a week for 14 years now...i still 'like' doing it, but it's like cooking dinner and washing the dishes to me...which is why i 'like' keeping it simple (and really, brew day's just sitting around waiting...)

 

[grampamark]

One thing that seems to be pervasive anymore as that brewing should be "fun". I can't think of a single part of the process that is actually fun for me. I want the best beer I can make and if I have to suffer the process to get it, then so be it. If brewing is "enjoyable" for you, then you are a masochist of sorts.

It sounds as if Scotty could be a candidate for the stamp collecting I mentioned a page or so ago. Why try to make oneself a martyr?

Which poses the question: Is minimizing 02 an issue with stamp collecting?

 

[Qhrumphf]

(i forgot that was here) i've been brewing 10 gal batches once a week for 14 years now...i still 'like' doing it, but it's like cooking dinner and washing the dishes to me...which is why i 'like' keeping it simple (and really, brew day's just sitting around waiting...)

I brew thousands of gallons a week.

Not even my own recipes (though I do miss the creative control of my previous head brewer gig, I can do without the stress).

I started making money off it on 2014. My last homebrew batch was 2017. Now, I have done a LOT of pilots at homebrew scale (aforementioned head brewer gig my homebrew system WAS the pilot, current gig has a dedicated pilot).

I just like brewing.

 

[bracconiere]

Which poses the question: Is minimizing 02 an issue with stamp collecting?

But that's simple! sandwhich them between glass!

 

[bracconiere]

I brew thousands of gallons a week.

Not even my own recipes (though I do miss the creative control of my previous head brewer gig, I can do without the stress).

I started making money off it on 2014. My last homebrew batch was 2017. Now, I have done a LOT of pilots at homebrew scale (aforementioned head brewer gig my homebrew system WAS the pilot, current gig has a dedicated pilot).

I just like brewing.

Sounds good! i've heard other people tell me they like driving busses, and do it for fun even. i personally love looking at/writing code for software..

I know someone here said the quote "find something you love and you'll never work a day in your life!"

( i was just agreeing...yeah it's work..)

 

[grampamark]

But that's simple! sandwhich them between glass!

Well, duh! Why didn't I think of that?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Oh work is work no matter how you slice it. I know pros who still brew at home. I've known even more mechanics who work on cars in their free time (previous career, though I was more auto body tech than mech tech).

Instead of spending my free time brewing I get to spend it on other hobbies (playing footy, powerlifting, etc).

 

[bracconiere]

Well, duh! Why didn't I think of that?

Did i just get called a simpleton...in a thread about keeping beer simple! i feel....happy

 

[kh54s10]

I'm totally lost when it seems in one reply you are calling all different malts made from barley one ingredient. And then saying that if you roast the barley differently you have lots of differences. I know they are all barley. But if you brewed a beer "simply" with only two malts a beer with pale ale malt and chocolate malt would be very different from Vienna and roasted barley. Yet they are all Barley. They are different ingredients to me.

 

[SEndorf]

It sounds as if Scotty could be a candidate for the stamp collecting I mentioned a page or so ago. Why try to make oneself a martyr? Which poses the question: Is minimizing 02 an issue with stamp collecting?

@RPIScotty - you could borrow my bottle opener.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I'm totally lost when it seems in one reply you are calling all different malts made from barley one ingredient. And then saying that if you roast the barley differently you have lots of differences. I know they are all barley. But if you brewed a beer "simply" with only two malts a beer with pale ale malt and chocolate malt would be very different from Vienna and roasted barley. Yet they are all Barley. They are different ingredients to me.

The quip was that a traditional Irish Stout contains one MALT. Neither flaked barley nor roasted barley are malted. They are barley, but they are not *malts*.

 

[grampamark]

I've already had one hobby (woodworking/cabinetmaking) turn into a part time job.

Several folks have asked me if I’d like to open a brewpub when I retire. My answer is always not just "no" but "Hell no!".

I really enjoy brewing, but I know better than to turn it into a job.

 

[bracconiere]

I'm totally lost when it seems in one reply you are calling all different malts made from barley one ingredient. And then saying that if you roast the barley differently you have lots of differences. I know they are all barley. But if you brewed a beer "simply" with only two malts a beer with pale ale malt and chocolate malt would be very different from Vienna and roasted barley. Yet they are all Barley. They are different ingredients to me.

I've watched cooking shows that say spices/herbs, from the same botanical family, pair good with each other for cooking?

at least that's the way i took 'it's all barley' anyway.....

edit: simple recipes, simple beer...GOOD BEER

 

[bracconiere]

The quip was that a traditional Irish Stout contains one MALT. Neither flaked barley nor roasted barley are malted. They are barley, but they are not *malts*.

didn't get that! lol, your right!

i'll have to put a foot note on my last post...

 

[Qhrumphf]

It's semantic. Its still three grains. But (I assume) that was the joke at hand.

Classic styles are almost always simple.

These newfangled milkshake flavored IPAs and triple fruited Goses and "pastry stouts" not so much.

 

[SEndorf]

I've watched cooking shows that say spices/herbs, from the same botanical family, pair good with each other for cooking?

at least that's the way i took 'it's all barley' anyway.....

edit: simple recipes, simple beer...GOOD BEER

That's how I interpreted it as well. It's all barley, but how it's processed produces different results.

 

[bleme]

I'm totally lost when it seems in one reply you are calling all different malts made from barley one ingredient.

My point is that calling a recipe 'simple' based solely on it's ingredient list is kind of silly because it ignores the process portion of the recipe. We are kind of spoiled because we can go to a LHBS and buy barley prepared 50 different ways, but @bracconiere can take that recipe with 2-row, roasted barley, chocolate malt, Munich and crystal 60 and re-write it to combine those to just 1 ingredient (raw barley), add more steps to the process side, and end up with the exact same beer. So is it really 5 ingredients or 1?

 

[Big Monk]

@RPIScotty - you could borrow my bottle opener.

View attachment 605680

Not guitar playing though! That’s my first and best hobby. Reading as well.

I like everything about brewing except brewing. It’s like driving somewhere. Driving lost its novelty two weeks after I got my license. Now it’s just the thing I suffer through to get places.

I love the science. I love the end product. I love the calculations. I generally like the other brewers. Brewing however, isn’t all that fun. Automation certainly helps. Thank the heavens for automation.

And to be clear: my views on this are independent of Low Oxygen. Low Oxygen doesn’t complicate my brewdays. My brewdays complicate my brewdays!

 

[Big Monk]

I'm sorry to hear that. I can think of few things more enjoyable then being left alone with my brewery immersed undisrupted in the thoughts of the brewday. Work harder, meet challenges, hone your skills and learn more with the result being better beer. What's not to love?

Ok so I'll admit I don't like cleaning that much but the rest of it is zen like.

I respect your opinion and I respect you greatly Russ, but I couldn’t disagree more.

I do have young kids however, so 6 hours or more out of a weekend isn’t Zen like for me. It’s time not spent with them. I’m sure my opinion will change as they get older and I can meditate on the process.

 

[bracconiere]

These newfangled milkshake flavored IPAs and triple fruited Goses and "pastry stouts" not so much.

if only i had a stout on tap, and tub of vanilla ice cream.....I'd try it and, make a float! post a pic saying who needs to add lactose to their stouts anymore! we got ice cream baby! lol

 

[SEndorf]

I do have young kids however, so 6 hours or more out of a weekend isn’t Zen like for me. It’s time not spent with them. I’m sure my opinion will change as they get older and I can meditate on the process.

I certainly get it.
Mine are all grown and gone. If my kids were young and underfoot, I would be quite conflicted about the amount of time spent on a brew day.

 

[SEndorf]

You don't want this due to brew days.....