Dirty little secrets...

Williams 728
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seatazzz

seatazzz

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I often go back over my notes from previous brewdays; some of my older ones make me laugh, I was so obsessive about certain aspects of brewing that I lost sight of the big picture. 8+ hour brewdays, when I'd wind up sweaty, dirty, and just plain disgusted. Nowadays I can knock out an all-grain brew in less than 5 hours, from milling to final cleanup, and some things I don't even think about anymore. And my setup ain't fancy by any stretch of the imagination; just a keggle, 12 gallon kettle, and a mash tun built from a 16g extract barrel.

So, my question to you is, where do you skimp/cheat/ignore what some think are hard and fast rules about brewing? I'll start with mine: Soap never touches my equipment. Hot water, and plenty of it, is all I use to clean the kettles, pump, chiller, lines, and tun. Even my kegs only get a couple of good rinses to get the goo from the bottom, then a starsan swirl and they're good to go. I might soak something in oxyclean if I've left it for a few days but that's rare. Haven't had an infection in 2+ years, either, and our house is a mecca for fruit flies in the summer.
 
Oxyclean everything. Sanitize nothing.

or at least 95% of te time i dont sanitize. Only infections were from dried airlocks on aging beers and a pedio pitch starter.
 
I don't make much of a fuss at all about cleaning my mash tun (Igloo cooler) or boil kettle. Just dump leftover contents, a quick wipe with a towel to loosen any stubborn bits of grain/hops, and a blast from the hose and it's done.

The one area where I do pay pretty close attention is on the 3-piece valve on the kettle. That thing gets really skanky if you go a few brews without disassembling and cleaning it. I bought a spare one and just swap them back and forth, so I've always got a clean one ready on brew day.

I still use plastic bucket fermenters. After racking beer out of them to kegs, I just hit them with hot water at the sink to make sure all visible traces of organic matter are loosened, rinse, dump. Then I store them inverted in the basement to drain and dry. Takes all of 2-3 minutes. Before filling them again, I fill them up about 1/4 with starsan, put on the lid, and shake. Works fine every time.

I often shorten mash to 30 minutes and boil to 45. Brew days are 4.5 - 5 hours usually.
 
Over the past 15 years, I've mashed almost every batch at about 150 F for just 45 minutes average. This results in satisfactory efficiency and attenuation. I found 30-35 minutes to be too short. But often times I've only mashed 40 minutes. Good enough. >100 batches experience. I'll play around more with boil time on future batches but so far I'm still boiling for 60. Brew day often takes 4 hours or less.

I only brew 2 gallons, not 5 or 6. Many many reasons. I boil on my kitchen stove. I have no fancy brewing equipment. A few big pots and kettles and I'm good to go. I've done up to 6 gallons on the stove, and it does work out okay, but usually just 2 gallons.

I immersion chill in a big tub sink. I do not own a copper coil chiller.

Nor a stir plate. I use dried yeast most of the time and sprinkle directly on top of the wort. I don't like making starters but I will for liquid yeasts, better safe than sorry for those. Shake once in a while maybe. But dried yeasts are super reliable so I prefer those.

I often/usually don't dump out the spent grains and finish cleanup until the next day. Saves a good bit of time on brew day. I too use only a hot water rinse for mash and boil equipment, and don't "clean" anything very well other than the fermenters.

I often sanitize my equipment immediately after cleanup when it's already wet and easy to do, and therefore sometimes don't bother to re-sanitize on brew day. Hoses though are especially important, so I do still always sanitize them for every use.

Hell, I feel like I'm just repeating myself. Yeah I am a minimalist in every respect...

https://mantymalters.wordpress.com/meet-the-malters/dave-taylor/
 
I'm seriously trying to give up squeezing the grain bag.
It's a hard habit to break.

I used to leave beers in primary for 3-4 weeks before bottling, out of paranoia about bottle bombs. Then I would load them all in a large, lidded rubbermaid tub with a thermostatically controlled heat mat for 2-3 weeks to bottle condition.

Since I started kegging I only let my standard gravity beers ferment about 8-10 days; as soon as they hit FG I transfer to a keg and age at serving temp for a week or two to let them settle out and carbonate. Much faster and a lot easier than bottling. I do end up dumping the first couple of yeasty pints, but it's a small price to pay for the time and effort saved.
 
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One time saver is start heat for boil as soon as there some wort in BK, now I've gone electric, as soon as heat element is covered. This way boil starts within five minutes of end of sparge.

A real effort saver is to put new wort into recently emptied fermentor on previous yeast cake without unsealing and sanitizing fermentor. This works with a conical anyway, using closed transfer racking and trub dumps. Have gone three back to back batches successfully this was so far.

Carbinging kegs though spunding also saves effort, once you get the timing down.
 
In the ignore category... I still use big, heavy, breakable glass carboys and also still rack almost every batch I make to a 5 gallon glass secondary. I may not have a very refined palate but I’m convinced that my beer is as good or better than most commercial versions. I don’t brew any of the many IPA variations so the minimal amount of oxygen exposure is of little concern to me. I’ve done several beer trades with other forum members and unless they’re just being nice and trying not to hurt my feelings, they also agree.
 
I can relate with a lot of posts here. I'm admittedly a very lazy brewer. I've recently began more of an effort to write things down, I went probably a year where I didn't write down any FG/OG, or even my recipe sometimes.

Mash tun gets a rinse with the hose, or if it's winter then swish of water from the tap a couple times. Kettle gets a rinse, or an oxy soak if I left it and it dried. Buckets get a rinse only. My main fermenters are my glass carboys which generally get an oxy soak if the crud doesn't come off with a couple swipes of the brush.

I measure my gain temp, and use Brewers friend to calculate the strike volume and temp. However, as long as the strike water is within 3 degrees F or so that's good enough. I check the temperature to make sure it's at least 148, but after that don't wait for my thermometer to settle. I make no adjustments. I usually use 152 in the calculator regardless of style or recipe.

I rarely chill, usually leaving it overnight or even until after work the next day to transfer to the fermenter. Dry yeast sprinkled on top only.

I find that transferring to a secondary helps me with transferring clear beer to my kegs, so I do that for my pilsener and sometime for my English ales. I don't bother for APA's or Irish stout. Those 4 styles are probably 90% of what I brew. Never noticed anything I would attribute to oxidization.

I usually leave empty kegs in the fridge until I have a new batch to go in them. Then they get rinsed, sometimes sanitised, and then filled.
 
Jayjay1976 said:
I'm seriously trying to give up squeezing the grain bag.
It's a hard habit to break.

I used to leave beers in primary for 3-4 weeks before bottling, out of paranoia about bottle bombs. Then I would load them all in a large, lidded rubbermaid tub with a thermostatically controlled heat mat for 2-3 weeks just in case.

Since I started kegging I only let my standard gravity beers ferment about 8-10 days; as soon as they hit FG I transfer to a keg and age at serving temp for a week or two to let them settle out and carbonate. Much faster and a lot easier than bottling. I do end up dumping the first couple of yeasty pints, but thats a small price to pay for the time and effort saved.
Click to expand...

Why are you giving up squeezing the grain bag?
 
isomerization said:
Why are you giving up squeezing the grain bag?
Click to expand...
Squeezing the bag is generally frowned upon by BIAB brewers. In my case, it causes excess trub in the kettle which I have no way to keep out of my fermenters. I also crush too fine (fixing that soon) and the husk "mud" IMHO can cause bitter off flavors. I started squeezing the living daylights out of the bag when I first started brewing and its hard to resist squeezing out the half gallon or so of extra wort. I've started adjusting my recipes to compensate for the loss but even still, I can't resist just a quick squeeze.
 
seatazzz said:
Soap never touches my equipment. Hot water, and plenty of it, is all I use to clean the kettles, pump, chiller, lines, and tun.
Click to expand...
Yep. I've never even bought oxyclean. Wipe equipment clean with hot water, then again just before using and a quick shake of starsan.

seatazzz said:
Even my kegs only get a couple of good rinses to get the goo from the bottom, then a starsan swirl and they're good to go.
Click to expand...
I don't even open my kegs anymore. Leave them under pressure once the beer's gone, then when it's ready to refill, pump in a little starsan (from a dedicated starsan keg - liquid post to liquid post), a quick shake, then push it out again. Repeat two more times. It gets rid of the bulk of the yeasty trub and doesn't let bugs in. It also means kegs stay perfectly purged! You do need to be careful if you're dumping a low attenuating yeast on top of a high attenuating yeast though.
 
Jayjay1976 said:
Squeezing the bag is generally frowned upon by BIAB brewers. In my case, it causes excess trub in the kettle which I have no way to keep out of my fermenters. I also crush too fine (fixing that soon) and the husk "mud" IMHO can cause bitter off flavors. I started squeezing the living daylights out of the bag when I first started brewing and its hard to resist squeezing out the half gallon or so of extra wort. I've started adjusting my recipes to compensate for the loss but even still, I can't resist just a quick squeeze.
Click to expand...

Weird, is that a new consensus? I do agree with you that it generates extra trub, but thats never been a big worry for me.
 
These are definitely some dirty secrets. I'm nearly OCD with cleaning my kitchen and equipment so I couldn't let anything go without soap touching it. Some of these posts make my skin crawl.
 
45 minute mash, 30 minute boil, no chill. At the end of the boil I put a lid on my kettle and dump it into the fermenter the next morning. I can do 3 gallons in under 4 hours.
 
OnePlate said:
These are definitely some dirty secrets. I'm nearly OCD with cleaning my kitchen and equipment so I couldn't let anything go without soap touching it. Some of these posts make my skin crawl.
Click to expand...
Those of us who are more concerned with sanitizing than cleaning have people like you in mind. It’s fun to see the reactions of those who can’t imagine doing things any other way than their way.

Actually, that applies to almost all of the process-related questions that come up here on a regular basis. :cool:
 
I've been doing full volume BIAB overnight mashes. I used to fuss over the mash, taking the temperature and stirring every 15 minutes, but now I just stir in the grain and forget about it. Boil in the morning if I have the next day off; if I have to work, set the pot out in the cold and boil when I get off work.
Waiting that long is supposed to be "risky" but I haven't had problems. In the winter time, I don't chill after boiling, I just set the pot outside at night and dump in the fermenter in the AM. I also re-use kegs without cleaning them.
 
My dirty little secret is there are only about 5 or 6 people on this forum who's 'non short and shoddy' beers I'd actually drink. Just like I wont ride carnival rides because they are maintained by carnies. Don't hate me because I'm picky.
 
I do clean the BIAB kettle with oxy after each brew I figure if a beer glass that gets rinsed between use gets a “film” that co2 bubbles will stick to a rinse isn’t enough... just my thought. I do not generally chill my wort especially when I brew 5 gallon batches. It sits on the stove with a cover, Saran around the lid and clamps. No wasted water. Beers turn out fine. I have a small copper chiller but the fitting I have for the faucet isn’t the right size. If it were I’d likely use it during the summer months.
 
Bilsch said:
My dirty little secret is there are only about 5 or 6 people on this forum who's 'non short and shoddy' beers I'd actually drink. Just like I wont ride carnival rides because they are maintained by carnies. Don't hate me because I'm picky.
Click to expand...
I don’t think you have to worry about being hated. There probably aren’t that many people here who are paying that much attention to you.

In case anyone was wondering, I don’t think anyone is taking my comments too seriously, either. At least, I hope they aren’t; I certainly don’t. :D
 
grampamark said:
I don’t think you have to worry about being hated. There probably aren’t that many people here who are paying that much attention to you.

In case anyone was wondering, I don’t think anyone is taking my comments too seriously, either. At least, I hope they aren’t; I certainly don’t. :D
Click to expand...

Sorry if I hurt your feelings.
 
grampamark said:
I don’t think anyone is taking my comments too seriously, either. At least, I hope they aren’t; I certainly don’t.
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wait aren't you the back bone of this forum? being a grain farmer and all? lol


and i have to many dirty secrets to list, so i would imagine bilsch would turn his nose up if i sent a 1liter soda bottle filled with beer to him.... ;)
 
grampamark said:
I don’t think you have to worry about being hated. There probably aren’t that many people here who are paying that much attention to you.

In case anyone was wondering, I don’t think anyone is taking my comments too seriously, either. At least, I hope they aren’t; I certainly don’t. :D
Click to expand...

Its a forum of amateurs looking for help. Of course most of it sucks, even if it's their baby!

The NEIPA is loaded with chunky murky hazy crap i wouldn't touch. :off:
 
schematix said:
Time for my dirty little secret... my 103rd batch is fermenting now and i've never, ever, ever considered giving my beers a name.
Click to expand...

and i've never brewed to a "style"....and in my 15 years of brewing once a week, i've never tried to brew the same thing twice....
 
schematix said:
Its a forum of amateurs looking for help. Of course most of it sucks, even if it's their baby!
Click to expand...

This is a forum for amateurs, some of whom are looking for help. The rest of us are just here to talk about brewing and participate in an online community of folks with a common interest.

The handful of self-anointed homebrew gurus here don’t seem to be able to discern the difference between those two groups. :cool:
 
schematix said:
Time for my dirty little secret... my 103rd batch is fermenting now and i've never, ever, ever considered giving my beers a name.
Click to expand...

Brewing #89 (of current brewing iteration anyway), never named mine either..

If something happens to fall into a style, that's nice, but not what I aim for, never really followed a recipe either.
 
grampamark said:
The rest of us are just here to talk about brewing and participate in an online community of folks with a common interest.
Click to expand...

how true, i just come here to play music match with other homebrewers....sometimes i get distracted by a recent post....
 
Hoppy2bmerry said:
Well this went off the rails fast.
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lol, and i was just coming back to say i got the malt ready for batch ~#751....

edit: and to get back on topic, when i'm deculming sometimes i get lazy and don't blow the rootlets off that good...just add some dark crystal to cover it up, lol
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
Dirty little secret? DME and LME are just another ingredient.
Click to expand...

True true. In reading a lot of Ron Pattinson's work, breweries used small percentages of malt extract for various reasons. Mine? I BIAB and sometimes I want to make a bigger beer than is comfortable for my mashing pot. Or sometimes I want the end beer to be a little less fermentable. Or I'm doing a weird batch size and hitting gravity spot on is just easier with a small percentage of malt extract.
 
I brewed yesterday and for the first time in 2 years I used my old Bigmouth Bubbler plastic fermenter. Normally it's the Spike 10-gallon conical, but I'm going to brew a hoppy beer next weekend and want the conical to isolate that beer from o2.

I was struck by just how simple things were. I'm looking forward to cleaning that fermenter, takes maybe 10 minutes whereas it's close to an hour to clean the big one.

I'm not particularly worried about oxidation; it's my Darth Lager and hops don't play a very large role in it; hop shot for bittering, then a couple ounces of Hallertau fairly late for flavor.

I really miss the days of BIAB; beginning to end in 3.5 hours typically. If I could ever get motivated I'd try to figure out how to do electric BIAB with RIMS recirculation...
 

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