brewing confession

[davefleck]

Alright, I admit it. I don't take gravity readings. Sometimes I forget, sometimes I just don't care to do it.

What corners do you cut?

 

[Teromous]

Sometimes I just drink grain.

 

[bgruis]

Sometimes I just drink grain.

ha ha ha lmfao....

 

[o4_srt]

Alright, I admit it. I don't take gravity readings. Sometimes I forget, sometimes I just don't care to do it.

What corners do you cut?

None, as long as I haven't had too many on brew day. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, I usually take 3-4 pages of notes during a batch, with another 1-2 pages during fermentation, bottling and tasting.

I've been known to take pictures of each fermentation at set intervals for future reference if I ever brew a recipe again.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I do not remember pitching my yeast on a brown I did a while back. It now taste delicious.

 

[iahebert]

I never sanitize. For some reason though, my beer always tastes weird.

 

[bgruis]

I never sanitize. For some reason though, my beer always tastes weird.

ha ha...nice!

 

[gregger]

I don't do gravity readings at all, never have. Don't care to either. The only reason I would probably get off my butt and do them is because people here on HBT assume you do and will ask for that info should you ever have a specific question about your beer brewing.

I've never had a beer that tasted less than awesome, so I seriously don't know what I'm missing by not doing readings.

I rarely write down or take notes on recipes. I basically find a recipe or something I want to make online, take my list down to the LHBS, then tweak the recipe myself sometimes. My career requires me to be pretty insanely organized so I don't miss deadlines. Probably why I don't care to take notes or do readings in my homebrew hobby... I refuse to feel so anal and try to be so exact about something I enjoy so much.

 

[snccoulter]

I don't do gravity readings at all, never have. Don't care to either. The only reason I would probably get off my butt and do them is because people here on HBT assume you do and will ask for that info should you ever have a specific question about your beer brewing.

I've never had a beer that tasted less than awesome, so I seriously don't know what I'm missing by not doing readings.

I rarely write down or take notes on recipes. I basically find a recipe or something I want to make online, take my list down to the LHBS, then tweak the recipe myself sometimes. My career requires me to be pretty insanely organized so I don't miss deadlines. Probably why I don't care to take notes or do readings in my homebrew hobby... I refuse to feel so anal and try to be so exact about something I enjoy so much.

I just let it sit long enough so I know it is done. Then toss into a keg and drink. Ibdo it from fun not to nickpick my hobby

 

[rmullins]

None, as long as I haven't had too many on brew day. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, I usually take 3-4 pages of notes during a batch, with another 1-2 pages during fermentation, bottling and tasting.

I've been known to take pictures of each fermentation at set intervals for future reference if I ever brew a recipe again.

I'm curious as to what your notes on a batch from start to finish look like?

I set up my recipes on BeerAlchemy, and print those off for brewday, and write down my refractometer readings, but thats about it really.

 

[gr8shandini]

When I was doing extract batches, I'd never take gravity readings since there's no way to mess it up short of not putting all of the extract in. For all-grain, however, there's no way I could get by without it. I've "saved" numerous batches by making adjustments during the boil. And taking FG readings lets you know whether you've made a session brew, or perhaps something you want to be more judicious with.

Where I take shortcuts is on starters. I don't brew particularly big beers and if I'm going out of my way to use a special yeast, it's because I want the yeast character. So a little underpitching helps. "Clean" beer styles get a packet of S-05 and as cool of a fermentation as I can manage. Never had a problem with esters that way.

 

[o4_srt]

I'm curious as to what your notes on a batch from start to finish look like?

I set up my recipes on BeerAlchemy, and print those off for brewday, and write down my refractometer readings, but thats about it really.

I take notes like I would while performing an experiment. I lay out the recipe and parameters, then i detail the exact procedure I go through, noting any variation from the recipe or parameters I defined in the beginning.

If I ever want to reproduce something, the exact procedure I used to make it the first time is readily available.

For instance, I might write

"added 1/2 campden tablet to 11.3 qts strike water. Heated to 173 degrees. transferred to mlt and stirred 5 minutes. Mash temp = 156. Continued stirring another 3 minutes to reduce mash temp to 152. Covered mlt. At 15 minutes total mash time, temp = 151.5. At 45 minutes, mash temp = 150.5..." etc.

This is done following the procedure I originally layed out, which might call for 11.3 qts @ 173 for strike water, mashing at 152 for 60 minutes.


The professor of my chem class last year made it very clear that in order to reproduce an experiment, diligent noted must be taken. She graded our lab notebooks pretty strictly, so it's just a habit I got into, and I couldn't find any fault in her reasoning for the lengthy notes.

 

[McMalty]

I don't do gravity readings at all, never have. Don't care to either. The only reason I would probably get off my butt and do them is because people here on HBT assume you do and will ask for that info should you ever have a specific question about your beer brewing.

i can understand you not feeling like taking gravity readings, but i don't understand why. It's incredibly simple and not difficult. It provides you insight as to if your brew is done fermenting or not and how much abv ur brew has. If you're just making your run of the mill brew, i guess you might not care that much, but if you're making something high abv like a barleywine or an imperial, without taking gravity readings, i can't imagine having to wait a few months to figure out whether or not something went wrong.

 

[gr8shandini]

One more note regarding gravity readings: Get a refractometer. You can get one for as little as 30 bucks on ebay. It takes 3 drops of wort and all of 30 seconds to take a reading. I still take a hydrometer sample for FG (mainly because I want to take a little taste anyway), but there are plenty of calculators out there that'll correct a refractometer reading so long as you know the OG. In my experience, they've been correct within a point or two of the hydrometer reading. That's probably well within the margin of error for correctly reading and temperature correcting a hydrometer anyway.

 

[Dome555]

Was using the tube the hydrometer came in as a test tube. It broke and I said screw it. I imagine I may change my mind once my efficiency doesn't refer to how well I poured stuff into the pot.

 

[ryandlf]

Taking gravity reasons lets you know if your efficiency is on par, if your fermentation is finished, and the best part of all...how much alcohol you will be consuming per pint

I can see if you're brewing a recipe for the 100th time not taking a reading, but for new recipes its a must IMO.

 

[McMalty]

Was using the tube the hydrometer came in as a test tube. It broke and I said screw it. I imagine I may change my mind once my efficiency doesn't refer to how well I poured stuff into the pot.

I would look into purchasing a Fermtech Wine Thief. It's about $10 and worth every penny. it has a float valve on the bottom, so you just dip it in ur carboy, drop the hydrometer in and take the reading. then you can either tap it on the side of the carboy to release the liquid back into your carboy or tap it on the side of a glass so you can have a nice sample. It's incredibly easy and inexpensive.

my 2 pesos

 

[profmorrismsu]

I am a "Don't worry, have a home brew" brewer and a simple extract brewer who doesn't like to waste beer on hydro readings. Though, I can see why it would be useful for all grain.

For extract I don't care if my efficiency is off by a few points. Brewbuilder tells me what ABV to expect and that is close enough for me since my only real reason for caring about ABV is to answer that inevitable question from people trying my beer.

Not trying to start an argument. I think it's great that some people take tons of notes and hydro readings and some don't. It's all about having fun.

 

[Stevo2569]

I eat spent grain sometimes. I think it's sweet and chewy , kinda like popcorn.

 

[o4_srt]

I eat spent grain sometimes. I think it's sweet and chewy , kinda like popcorn.

I eat dry grain. Gives an idea of what flavors it will lend to the finished beer.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

sometimes I disregard proper pitching rates/cleaning and pour fresh wort into a newly empty, still "dirty" carboy...right onto the yeast cake.

 

[profmorrismsu]

One more confession, I am in the deep south with a wife who wears a sweater when the temp drops below 78F. I have no temp control. My beer regularly ferments at 78F.

I must have killed all my ester taste buds drinking BMC as a youth because I always think my homebrew tastes great.

 

[Gridlocked]

I have been brewing for 3+ years and may have taken 3-4 gravity readings in 30-40 batches up until a few months ago. Now I try to pull one on all of my batches. It wasn't important to me and still I don't shed a tear if I forget or get busy but I tend to more now than I have in the past which I attribute to going to the all grain method and having new equipment. I just appreciate knowing what I'm getting out of my grain and as more and more friends try my beer I like to be able to give them an idea of the strength of the beer they are enjoying.

I have made plenty of batches without a plan or recipe. I've gone to the brew store and gotten a grain bill on a whim and picked hops on the fly and I've put together some pretty good beer.

To me, the hobby is about relaxing in the garage and having a few beers and a good time. I'm more about throwing some stuff into a kettle and seeing what happens than adhering to a plan, recipe or style and it seems to work out for me. I was awful at science and especially chemistry in school.

I do my research, read books and magazines, listen to podcasts, watch online shows and generally geek out on the hobby but I don't get hung up on particulars or details. And, I expect as time goes by I will want to brew to a particular style and enter in some contests but that time isn't now.

 

[brewmcq]

Four words:

BiaB.

Best beer I've ever made... minimal equipment and it takes less than 15 minutes to clean everything up.

Once I go electric (I have most of the parts), my "devil may care" attitude will be the most precise in the State.

 

[o4_srt]

I have been brewing for 3+ years and may have taken 3-4 gravity readings in 30-40 batches up until a few months ago. Now I try to pull one on all of my batches. It wasn't important to me and still I don't shed a tear if I forget or get busy but I tend to more now than I have in the past which I attribute to going to the all grain method and having new equipment. I just appreciate knowing what I'm getting out of my grain and as more and more friends try my beer I like to be able to give them an idea of the strength of the beer.

I have made plenty of batches without a plan or recipe. I've gone to the brew store and gotten a grain bill on a whim and picked hops on the fly and I've put together some pretty good beer.

To me, the hobby is about relaxing in the garage and having a few beers and a good time. I'm more about throwing some stuff into a kettle and seeing what happens than adhering to a plan, recipe or style and it seems to work out for me. I was awful at science and especially chemistry in school.

I do my research, read books and magazines, listen to podcasts, watch online shows and generally geek out on the hobby but I don't get hung up on particulars or details.

What happens if you "strike gold" with one of your thrown together batches and want to make another batch?

That's the reason I take notes.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

What happens if you "strike gold" with one of your thrown together batches and want to make another batch?

That's the reason I take notes.

I find that "striking gold" is more about dialing in your process and less about exact recipes...but maybe thats just me. Being detail oriented certainly helps make good beer.

 

[bovineblitz]

I just let it sit long enough so I know it is done. Then toss into a keg and drink. Ibdo it from fun not to nickpick my hobby

While I can appreciate that, sometimes you have a malty style that tastes a bit thin and could use a little more sweetness... a gravity reading lets you know if it overattenuated, that way you can fix it next time.

 

[mlg5039]

I'm a freaking science/engineering nerd so I note everything. Just in case I need to replicate something, or so that I don't repeat any mistakes.

Also, it helps you remember what you did those drunken brew days. Ever wake up to a bubblin' fermenter and wonder wtf you made?

 

[Gridlocked]

I take basic notes and keep track of temperatures and the ingredients used in BeerSmith but if I'm shooting for 154 and end up at 150 I could generally care less. I'll note that I mashed @ 150 and keep going. If I strike gold, I'm fairly comfortable that I could reproduce it or at least come close. As I said, since I've moved to a 10gallon system which is new to me, I've been more detailed but up until recently, all of the records I kept were on post-it notes on my garage wall.

 

[o4_srt]

I'm a freaking science/engineering nerd so I note everything. Just in case I need to replicate something, or so that I don't repeat any mistakes.

Also, it helps you remember what you did those drunken brew days. Ever wake up to a bubblin' fermenter and wonder wtf you made?

Must come with the profession, I'm an electrical engineering student