Brewing while drinking beer.....

[Brownalemikie]

Tough to beat drinking a home brewed brown ale while brewing same. In case you're curious......Caribou Slobber.

 

[GrogNerd]

I hold off until the boil, but that's just me

 

[jmartie13]

I made it to 10 minutes left in the boil before cracking one today......cheers!

 

[daggers_nz]

I don't touch anything until my kettle is cleaned otherwise I make all sorts of mistakes and forget boil additions

 

[Spartan1979]

I'll usually have a beer (maybe two) after the first hop addition. But no more than that.

 

[Brownalemikie]

Cheers to you all.....is it just me or is this slobber not the perfect brown ale? Btw just cracked my second one and lovin it.

 

[Rockn_M]

I typically will have my first beer while brewing about half way through my boil.

 

[user 30639]

I'll usually have 1 during the boil and then 1 (or more) afterwards. Don't want to get sloppy around open flame and boiling liquids.

 

[Yesfan]

One or two after the first hop addition. Once the carboy's filled, then let 'er rip tater chip!

 

[olotti]

I usually start after the boil and first hop additions or wait until the hopstand. Used to start right away and that just made for a long day and then the wife and kids would get home, not good.

 

[Sadu]

Yeah my 5-10 gallon brewdays are too much work to be drinking on the job. Things to do, needing to be super sanitary, large volumes of boiling liquids, slippery floors, and exact timings to manage. I typically save the beer till after cleanup.

For 1 gallon batches totally different story - those go like clockwork and it's a lot more standing around waiting.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

unfortunately beer makes me tired and less caring so no drinking till clean up is over otherwise its shotty and I have to do it again the next day

unless im brewing with a friend but most wont stay the 6 hour course lol

 

[baulz]

I start my brew days around 6am, helps cut back on the drinking!

 

[sleepspeaking]

Tough to beat drinking a home brewed brown ale while brewing same.

Pretty sure this post belongs in the "Don't Do That" thread.
I can relate though. I am always SO tempted to crack one while mashing.
But I'm no where near coordinated, and I forget stuff sober.
So I fight to abstain the whole brew day, until I'm done cleaning.
The few times I've broken the rule, I've burnt myself, forgot additions, contaminated batches, and broken things.
(I know right, that IS a lot of stuff going wrong at once.)
My profile pic is the second batch I ever made, while I'm drinking the first.

I stopped drinking on brew days by my 3rd batch.
(I know right, that is a lot of stuff going wrong for just 2 batches.)
The trend and root cause were easy to identify

 

[Yeastieboy]

I wait until I am whirl pooling. Too many screw ups when pouring beers sooner than that. Plus, boiling wort and 220V/30A don't mix.

 

[catdaddy66]

I almost always enjoy a beer or two in the chilling and pitching phase. Once (!) I did not drink at ALL in a brew session...

I know, right!?!

 

[Troutchaser]

Sorry I'm not sorry but I like to have a few while I brew! It's part of the fun!

 

[Johow]

I usually get my mash going and then parcel out the hops I'm gonna use in the boil. When I all the ingredients measured and set up and the mash is working, I'll make sure my fermenter is sanitized and everything I need to transfer the wort. After all that I'll crack one(next brew I'll be pulling one from my keezer) and relax. If I can't drink a couple of brews during the process, then I might as well just buy it....

 

[Brownalemikie]

Sorry I'm not sorry but I like to have a few while I brew! It's part of the fun!

My brown is under 6% so I can definitely cope with brewing while savoring a couple browns. Just finished the cleanup and cracked my third brown.....delicious.

 

[jparrette]

Ditto to what baulz said. I do my best, most error-free brewing when I start early in the morning. And NO drinking until the fermenter is in the fridge!

 

[OkanaganMike]

I start my brew days around 6am, helps cut back on the drinking!

Yup, too many silly mistakes when I drink and brew. Get'em going early am and by time you're done and start cleaning, its beer o'clock!

 

[jcav]

Like a lot of us do, I like to have a brew that I have made from my last brew day as sort of a tribute/toast to the new brew I am making on brew day. As long as I don't have more than one brew before the boil, all is well and most of the time no mistakes are made!

John

 

[r8rphan]

When it comes to that, there are no rules...

When I'm doing a winter brew and I'm outside in the low teens, beer is 'mandatory' while I brew..

But I generally have everything all measured out and ready to go and am well used to the routine...

Seeing as I haven't brewed in quite a while, my first couple of brews with the new system will largely be sober until near the end.... But once I get comfortable again so that it is routine... all bets are off...

80's hair band metal is also mandatory while I brew.. always!

 

[day_trippr]

I don't drink and brew. Wouldn't be prudent...

Cheers!

 

[jcav]

When it comes to that, there are no rules...

When I'm doing a winter brew and I'm outside in the low teens, beer is 'mandatory' while I brew..

But I generally have everything all measured out and ready to go and am well used to the routine...

Seeing as I haven't brewed in quite a while, my first couple of brews with the new system will largely be sober until near the end.... But once I get comfortable again so that it is routine... all bets are off...

80's hair band metal is also mandatory while I brew.. always!

Gotta love that 80's rock when I brew too! Good luck with the new system when you get it going!

John

 

[Singletrack]

I generally do not drink until it is 5:00 (somewhere), and I'm done brewing before that. But cleanup is SO much better with a couple beers involved, and cleanup isn't important anyway, is it?. Yes, of course it is, but I do a fine job cleaning regardless of a few beers.

 

[worlddivides]

Although I do occasionally drink in the morning or early afternoon (not excessive, just like 1 beer with lunch or something like that), I never drink until brewing is 100% done. I will, however, have a beer after the brewing is done. In all likelihood, I probably would be fine if I had a beer or two while I was brewing, but I just don't want to risk it. Alcohol has the tendency to make you forget to do things or do something completely wrong, so I generally have a cold one after the process has been completed.

 

[antony]

we drink after starting the boil...buddy remembers pitching the yeast. I think he forgot the gasket for his fermenter after pitching though. It's my chamber...at my house...cuz his wife doesn't want the mess.

yup.

 

[Erik_Mog]

I start my brew days around 6am, helps cut back on the drinking!

Same here. I start at around 6AM, so the only thing I am drinking is coffee. Once I get it in the fermenter and have it finishing cooling to pitching temp, I clean up, cut the grass, then pop a beer after I pitch the yeast.

 

[Stillraining]

I guess I better not post any personal admissions to this thread.

Carry on.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I have done this many times however the last few brew days where I didn't drink I was more focused on what was going on and keeping things going. I also typically brewed around 6 am but since I started running at that time brew days have been pushed back to 10 and I REALLY need to focus on getting things done efficiently while also keeping track of all my numbers to keep updating spreadsheets.

 

[Yeastieboy]

Years ago my buddy and I were drunk before we even started. We managed to get water in the kettle (from a garden hose) and break a glass thermometer in said kettle before even igniting the burner. I honestly don't even remember if we brewed anything that day.

 

[Johow]

I guess I better not post any personal admissions to this thread.

Carry on.

You running for office?

 

[sixwinds]

I tend to enjoy several brews on brew day. For me, the key is my step by step flowchart with stuff I tend to forget bolded and highlighted. No matter how buzzed I get I can follow the chart and the beer turns out ok!

 

[mattdee1]

I definitely drink beer on brew days, but I don’t find there’s enough time to drink enough to get sloppy, even if that were a goal. A lot of times, I combine bottling and brewing into one big operation. Get the brew going, and in the “down time” work on bottling 2 fermentors worth of beer. It’s hectic.

The worst one was last month when I declared that my Sunday afternoon would be devoted to doing a big brew/bottle song and dance. At that time I was reminded that I had already volunteered to take care of dinner for that evening, since I was going to be “the one that was home all day, so I’ll make sure it’s ready when you get home.” I try to avoid causing friction with my beer hobby so I said “no problem, dinner will be on the table as planned.” It was a braised pork shoulder with all kinds of vegetables, etc. So in addition to the usual chicken-with-head-cut-off routine of bottling/brewing, I was also running in and out of the house to check on and baste the meat at timed intervals, and prepare the side dish so that it would be ready at the same time. I think I had 4 or 5 separate timers running on my tablet at one point, it was hilarious.

When my wife got home, the 100 bottles were conditioning on the shelf in the basement, 10 gallons of new beer were in the fermentation chamber, the garage was cleaned up, and I was carving the meat. Phew!

 

[Derp]

If I drink while I brew I tend to get lazy when it comes to cleaning up. Usually I'll just clean up, take a nice shower (lots of sweat boiling beer in a 98-degree garage) and then reward myself with dry clothes and a few cold ones.

 

[Johow]

I definitely drink beer on brew days, but I don’t find there’s enough time to drink enough to get sloppy, even if that were a goal.
When my wife got home, the 100 bottles were conditioning on the shelf in the basement, 10 gallons of new beer were in the fermentation chamber, the garage was cleaned up, and I was carving the meat. Phew!

Yeah, I don't find I have enough time to get in drinking trouble on brew day either. But I certainly don't have time to juggle all of your activities. You are one busy guy. I'm trying to move to kegging so perhaps I could keg a batch while mashing or boiling.

 

[jcav]

I guess I better not post any personal admissions to this thread.

Carry on.

Go for it brother! It's ok we won't judge you (at least I won't anyway). It's your brew day after all!

John

 

[BeardedBrews]

I usually get my mash going and then parcel out the hops I'm gonna use in the boil. When I all the ingredients measured and set up and the mash is working, I'll make sure my fermenter is sanitized and everything I need to transfer the wort. After all that I'll crack one(next brew I'll be pulling one from my keezer) and relax. If I can't drink a couple of brews during the process, then I might as well just buy it....

100% this. I finish my ingredient and carboy prep at the start of the mash, once that's done I will drink. At this point the biggest risk is sanitation, so I ensure a large and easy bucket of starsan within reach and liberally splash it around.

The reality is, in 60-90 minutes it's not like 2 IPAs are going to make me useless.

 

[mattdee1]

Yeah, I don't find I have enough time to get in drinking trouble on brew day either. But I certainly don't have time to juggle all of your activities. You are one busy guy. I'm trying to move to kegging so perhaps I could keg a batch while mashing or boiling.

Yeah, it's a bit much for sure. On my last brew day, I tried doing the bottle/brew thing on a work night, starting at around 6:30pm. I figured I could be in bed by midnight if all went well.

Wrong-o. Ran out of propane at around 10:30pm. At this point, I've got a kettle containing about 12.5 gallons of half-boiled beer, a bottling operation well underway, and nowhere in the city I could think of that would be selling propane at that hour. I almost cried. What I ended up doing was lugging that kettle out of the garage and around to the back patio so I could temporarily convert my burner to run on my barbecue's natural gas supply. My back was throbbing after that adventure. I was able to finish the boil and chill the wort out there using a nearby hose spigot. Then, of course, I had to wrap up the bottling. Got to bed around 2:30, I think. Yeah, not doing that again.