Brewing with friends

[blizz81]

I never brew alone. My brewing buddy has pretty much been there for every brew in our 8+ years, maybe minus one or two and / or being late / leaving early for some. My lady is generally there for them all now too, and though she loves craft beer and brewing and has a pretty good understanding of the process by now, she hasn't taken the helm for a brewday (we do rotate batches between the three of us, so she'll tell me what she wants & pay for the ingredients). She volunteers to do a good portion of the cleanup at the end of every brewday.


We have a couple other beery regulars and stragglers here and there, pretty common for them to bring beer (commercial or homebrew) to share during the day. Stragglers, I'll give a start time (usually noon-ish) and find they generally show up at about 3-4pm when things are winding down. The three of us generally explain process details to anyone that's interested and asks questions.

 

[Firewalker11]

I am brewing with my brew buddy this weekend at his house. He does 3 tier and I do BIAB so it's always something new to learn!

 

[johngault007]

Ok, so all of my solo talk went down the tubes today...lol. A buddy of mine that hooked me up with custom woodwork for my malt mill likes beer, and as an exchange of services I offered homebrew in exchange for his woodworking skills on various projects I want to do for my brewing. He asked if he could come over and "see how it's done" this weekend.

So, I guess I don't mind people coming over and asking questions and me explaining the process, that's cool. But I guess it's the inherent feeling that I need to entertain/host anyone that comes over, when in fact I'm setting up the next process or cleaning as I go, because it's therapeutic.

The only real exception is my Dad, he stays out of the way and we just B/S about anything and everything. Plus, he's family, so there isn't that expectation to play host with him.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

The host thing is tough, for sure. Probably the worst part. When it's someone who I have over a lot it's not a problem but other people I feel like I have to make food, keep them busy, etc.

If it's a good friend we are both just happy snacking in chips and watching hockey in our downtime

 

[fd4413]

My brother and I brew together... it's our thing. We bought all of our stuff together etc and it's great. Now, our sisters boyfriend asked to come over the other night to watch us brew. First and last time haha. He always seemed to have "a better" or "a faster" way to do things. There came a point where it was so distracting to our process that we had to sit him down and plug him full of beer.

 

[markstache]

I have people over while I'm brewing about 1 in 3 times. Mostly, it's just people who hang out and shoot the breeze. In this case, I appreciate the company.

I've been showing a few people how to brew on my last few days. For this, I basically keep up a constant flow of chatter. "Now, I'm milling the grain. We need to break up the pieces but not too much. Now, I'm adding the grain to water, please stir while I do this" etc. I'm a teacher, so this is basically par for the course for me. I'm trying to find more things to engage my students/fellow-brewers ("active learning"). Now that I think about it, I've had one guy over twice now. I think it is time for him take the lead on a brew day, while I play patient observer.

 

[johngault007]

I'm trying to find more things to engage my students/fellow-brewers ("active learning"). Now that I think about it, I've had one guy over twice now. I think it is time for him take the lead on a brew day, while I play patient observer.

Wish I had a teacher like you in school!!!! Nothing like getting students interested in learning than to show them how to make beer.

 

[brewerdoc]

Make some!

(Or move somewhere where there are more HBT folks!)

I need to join a home brew club and if that doesn't work then for sure move.

 

[blizz81]

On the most recent brewday this prior weekend, one of my brewing friends put our decanted starter jug on the "clean these dishes" counter. Our other brewing friend doing cleanup cleaned the jug straight out.


There went our yeast...


I should brew alone!!

 

[oceanic_brew]

I have two setups for brew day.

One is outside on the deck with all my equipment sat up and looking technical and lab-like. The other is for when I brew with people or my brew partner (girlfriend) on these days I heat mash and sparge on the kitchen stove and do my boils just outside the door on the deck where I monitor it through a window and usually use ferm-cap.

My brews on the back deck are meticulously precise and I take lots of readings and all that, my brews in the kitchen are very laid back and I can chat and have a beer.

I also no-chill into a keg so I'm doing my whirl-pool, transfer, and overnight cool all outside away from anyone who happens to be around and I barely need to monitor it like I did when using my counter flow.


I do miss the days of doing complete brews on the back deck and pitching the yeast that day and if I ever were to teach someone to brew I would set all the gear up in a more logical fashion on the back deck.