Shawn Hargreaves
Well-Known Member
I just realized that my most recent brew marks a milestone: the first time in 3 years of brewing I have not worried about a single thing the entire way through the process.
My first couple of beers were full of worry:
First time around, I worried that my basement would be too cold, because the instructions said to ferment at 70 degrees. In retrospect, I seriously miss that house! (I moved last year). The basement varied between a rock steady 62 during the winter up to 66 in summer. Of course the beer turned out great.
Second batch, I worried about a nasty sulfurous smell coming from the fermenter. Of course it turned out fine.
Third time around, the yeast freaked me out by racing from lag to no more bubbles and just a few remnants of krausen in just 7 hours while I was at work, so I missed the whole thing. But of course it was fine.
I joked with my girlfriend that every time I brewed I would find something to worry about, and that it would be a different thing every time.
The more I learned (especially from this site) the more things I found to worry about. Is my water chemistry ok? Too much oxygen! Not enough oxygen!! Yikes!!! But of course I also heard many wise words advising people to relax and trust the process.
Knowing something in your head isn't the same as believing it in your soul. I knew I had nothing to worry about, but I didn't truly believe it, so I still worried, at least every now and then in those weaker moments when I forgot to remind myself not to.
Not this time!
It was a messy brew. Stuck sparge. Never did manage to set the filter bed right, so I ended up with the cloudiest wort ever (for a Kolsch, no less). Boilover. Spilled wort on the stovetop catches fire and sets off the smoke detector. And then I have a 36 hour lag time before I see any signs of fermentation (ok, so this is my first time using WLP029, and I'm keeping it cool, but really, 36 hours? That's like twice my previous worst...)
And yet, I'm not worried. Not at all. Not even tempted to worry. I wake up in the middle of night without even the slightest fleeting twinge of concern for my beer.
Maybe my cloudy wort will clear on its own. Or maybe it won't. Maybe I'll add some finings, or maybe I won't bother and I'll just have cloudy beer. Whatever. I know it will be fine.
Hurrah!
My first couple of beers were full of worry:
First time around, I worried that my basement would be too cold, because the instructions said to ferment at 70 degrees. In retrospect, I seriously miss that house! (I moved last year). The basement varied between a rock steady 62 during the winter up to 66 in summer. Of course the beer turned out great.
Second batch, I worried about a nasty sulfurous smell coming from the fermenter. Of course it turned out fine.
Third time around, the yeast freaked me out by racing from lag to no more bubbles and just a few remnants of krausen in just 7 hours while I was at work, so I missed the whole thing. But of course it was fine.
I joked with my girlfriend that every time I brewed I would find something to worry about, and that it would be a different thing every time.
The more I learned (especially from this site) the more things I found to worry about. Is my water chemistry ok? Too much oxygen! Not enough oxygen!! Yikes!!! But of course I also heard many wise words advising people to relax and trust the process.
Knowing something in your head isn't the same as believing it in your soul. I knew I had nothing to worry about, but I didn't truly believe it, so I still worried, at least every now and then in those weaker moments when I forgot to remind myself not to.
Not this time!
It was a messy brew. Stuck sparge. Never did manage to set the filter bed right, so I ended up with the cloudiest wort ever (for a Kolsch, no less). Boilover. Spilled wort on the stovetop catches fire and sets off the smoke detector. And then I have a 36 hour lag time before I see any signs of fermentation (ok, so this is my first time using WLP029, and I'm keeping it cool, but really, 36 hours? That's like twice my previous worst...)
And yet, I'm not worried. Not at all. Not even tempted to worry. I wake up in the middle of night without even the slightest fleeting twinge of concern for my beer.
Maybe my cloudy wort will clear on its own. Or maybe it won't. Maybe I'll add some finings, or maybe I won't bother and I'll just have cloudy beer. Whatever. I know it will be fine.
Hurrah!
