Ever been in a brewing slump?

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Stevorino

Stevorino

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I feel like the last 3-4 batches I've brewed have left me disappointed. It's hard to keep stoked about brewing the next batch when the last few have been less than superb.
 
Well, looking at your pipeline it looks like you're taking your recipes from some pretty reputable sources. Perhaps something in your process? Pitching rate, temp control, etc.
 
So the fun comes in trying to figure out WHY you didn't like them so you can fix it next time. I agree maybe there is something in your process going awry. Maybe you've gotten lazy on something?
 
I've been there Stevo.

Way back I had a run of too dark , extract twangy brews. I got discouraged because it seemed I could buy better beer in the store.

More recently, I did a run of experimental IPAs and was very unhappy with every one of them. So I tried a Bohemian Pilsner and got a horrible bubblegum brew.

BUT I am on a frickin' roll right now (six months after the IPA and Pilsner slump.) I swear I could drop a turd in a wort now and end up with the best beer ever. In fact that same Pilsner that was so terrible six months I was about to dump a couple weeks back because I needed the keg space. As I was spraying it in the sink it smelled good. So I tasted it. Even better. It is fantastic.

I think the vibe just ebbs and flows (just like marriage, which is on a high for me right now also.) Stick it out til you come through the other side and you'll be where I am now. At least on the beer no clue about the domestic situation. ;)
 
Workin my way out of a slump right now myself. Get back from a deployment where i can't brew for 7 months, then i brew one once i get back stateside and it gets infected. 2 months later i move and now a year after i left in the first place i'm finally getting going again. It's been a long road but it sure is good to be back.:mug:
 
Makes me feel better -- I gotta figure out what's going on. I don't think it's been my recipes. We'll see, I have a couple more that I've brewed recently, I hope they turn out good!
 
let those beers age. I once did about 6 batches, and everyone tasted ..... boring. Let them age for a few weeks then go back, you might be surprised.
 
davebl said:
let those beers age. I once did about 6 batches, and everyone tasted ..... boring. Let them age for a few weeks then go back, you might be surprised.
Click to expand...

This could be it as well. My last couple beers have been rushed. I have room for 6 kegs and it bothers me that all the space isn't filled. Those beers turned out, meh ... at first. After several weeks in the keg they have become really good. Of course now the kegs are almost empty. :(

Maybe try an extended primary if you're not already doing so. It's not going to hurt your beer if you let it sit on the yeast for 3-4 weeks.

Is your fermentation temp controlled? You said it was your last couple of batches, so maybe your beers did fine a couple months ago without much attention but now that it's hotter ... not so much.

Do you keg?
 
I guess you could say Im in a brewing slump of sorts. I tend to get kinda disappointed with my batches at first, give them some ignore time in the kegs and come back to drink them all too quickly. Only problem is I dont brew any in the interim. I need to get that rig a moving along so I can at least make the process of brewing poor tasting beer a little easier. (Cause it almost ALWAYS comes back to surprise me when I leave it alone)
-Me
 
The best thing about a less than exciting batch is that you don't mind letting it sit and age. As many others have mentioned above letting them sit can have a HUGE impact on the flavors. When we make a great beer we drink it all down and may never really know if it can get any better with some time. My words of encouragement.

On a personal note, I am having an infection problem currently. Def have 2 infections and possibly a 3rd. Makes me not want to even brew at times, but the newest thing is adding brett to perfectly good batches so I figure I may as well go ahead and bottle them and see how they do with some time. The next step is just to get new some equipment I guess.
 
It's like anything.

Sometimes we have to become humble students again, rather than taking our methodology for granted. Re-reading Palmer's How to Brew and Daniel's Designing Great Beers helps me get re-focused.
 
I've been brewing almost a year. Until recently, I've been more slumped than stoked. Things have been much better for about my last 5 batches. Certainly no award winners here, but definitely quaffable. Better control of fermentation factors and late extract addition is my explanation and I'm sticking to it.

Is there a tasting judge in your area who can critique you beer? (wish I knew one here)
Sounds like nothing is really seriously wrong. Maybe just a few tweaks needed.
 
Thanks for the support, guys. I think conditioning may be the big factor here.

Typically I do a 3 week primary. I let it go through the main fermentation in a temperature controlled fridge and then after 2 weeks just let it do it's thing at room temperature. Then I keg it, let it sit a week and taste. Most of my beers on tap right now have gone through this process and still taste a little rough after 2-3 weeks in the keg. So that'd be a total of 5-6 weeks after pitching.

The other thing I'm going to work on tonight is looking at my carbonation levels, I have a feeling they may be a little over carbonated.

Hopefully one of these two things is the culprit!
 
I know it is summer and that you don't really want to drink something heavy, but looking at your taps is showing a lot of lighter, quaffable and refreshing beers. Look into making something that has some alcohol in it, Belgian, IIPA, Barleywine! I say this because I got into a dark beer slump for a good four months and it kinda got depressing, so I started brewing up lighter and lighter beers and it satiated me for a bit. Then I did up a huge IIPA and the next five brews were IPA styled trying to get the color dialed in, while keeping the flavor right. I am close, but still dialing for personal taste.

Check out my Easy Imperial IPA in the Recipe dropdown. It is a really drinkable 1.082 beer and you can have a keg of that to really have a good time.

It is tough and good luck. Set a goal, like you want to make a rye beer. Then once it is made, find all of its flaws and correct them the next time. So on and so on so that after brewing it two or three or four times you have something that is a really solid product.

:mug:
 
I feel your pain, and it can be frustrating as hell. I'm in a bit of one right now, but I feel like I'm just about to dig my way out of it. My issues have been with efficiency. Not really sure why. It may be time for me to invest in beersmith or something similar. One thing I noticed about your pipeline, is that they are all other peoples recipes. There's nothing wrong with that, but maybe try coming up with your own recipes, it may spark something and get you where you want to be. Maybe push the boundaries a little, which is hard to do, because you hate to wind up wasting a batch. Most importantly though, just keep at it, good luck.:mug:
 
yankee hill to Jarbo Gap, down the hill to two bridges and that is where I am from.

I had problems with efficiency in the beginning because of too course of a grind. Check that out. Otherwise, I haven't really checked in a while. If I aim for 1.050 and get +/- 5 points on either side, I am in the right range.

OP, you might want to do some experiments with the same recipe with a different yeast. Like Ed's Haus Ale with a Belgian strain, or a wheat strain. Just to give you something a little different.
 
Matt Up North said:
yankee hill to Jarbo Gap, down the hill to two bridges and that is where I am from.

I had problems with efficiency in the beginning because of too course of a grind. Check that out. Otherwise, I haven't really checked in a while. If I aim for 1.050 and get +/- 5 points on either side, I am in the right range.

OP, you might want to do some experiments with the same recipe with a different yeast. Like Ed's Haus Ale with a Belgian strain, or a wheat strain. Just to give you something a little different.
Click to expand...

Haha, speaking of which -- I just got done doing a taste test w/ EdWort's Pale using Nottingham and using WLP001. WLP001 was much better. Neither was amazing -- very little hop content, I tastes more like a Blonde Ale.

I used whole hops for the very first time and I don't think I got nearly the flavor I needed out of them. The Bitterness is there, but there is zero Flavor/Aroma.
 
Stevorino said:
Haha, speaking of which -- I just got done doing a taste test w/ EdWort's Pale using Nottingham and using WLP001. WLP001 was much better. Neither was amazing -- very little hop content, I tastes more like a Blonde Ale.

I used whole hops for the very first time and I don't think I got nearly the flavor I needed out of them. The Bitterness is there, but there is zero Flavor/Aroma.
Click to expand...

Did you adjust your quantities for whole hops? Pellets get better utilization so you would have to use more whole hops to get the same hop content.

I see you have been brewing a lot of different styles. perhaps your brewing slump has more to do with the style of beer you are brewing. For example I can brew 10 straight Old Ale's but if I do not care for an Old Ale I woudd think I was in a slump.

Ed
 
Brewmasters Warehouse said:
Did you adjust your quantities for whole hops? Pellets get better utilization so you would have to use more whole hops to get the same hop content.

I see you have been brewing a lot of different styles. perhaps your brewing slump has more to do with the style of beer you are brewing. For example I can brew 10 straight Old Ale's but if I do not care for an Old Ale I woudd think I was in a slump.

Ed
Click to expand...

This is definitely part of it. I throw a college reunion bash at the end of every summer -- this summer I wanted to supply the beer. The problem is that a ton of my friends that attend are BMC drinkers -- so I was trying to keep it light beers for them. Not a big fan of them myself, unfortunately.
 
Matt Up North said:
yankee hill to Jarbo Gap, down the hill to two bridges and that is where I am from.

I had problems with efficiency in the beginning because of too course of a grind. Check that out. Otherwise, I haven't really checked in a while. If I aim for 1.050 and get +/- 5 points on either side, I am in the right range.

OP, you might want to do some experiments with the same recipe with a different yeast. Like Ed's Haus Ale with a Belgian strain, or a wheat strain. Just to give you something a little different.
Click to expand...

Very cool, I actually live over in Concow, just past the resevoir.

I've always used the crush from the LHBS in Chico. I've gotten as high as 83% with it, but lately I've been in the low 70's. I think part of it is my sparge temps, I have a really hard time getting the grain bed to 168* for some reason.
 
Stevo, are you brewing AG?
Could it be your water? Does your municipality change water sources throughout the year?
 
brrman said:
Stevo, are you brewing AG?
Could it be your water? Does your municipality change water sources throughout the year?
Click to expand...

I've been playing w/ my water -- this may be it. The Municipality does not change the water source.

My efficiency has been consistently 80-85%, so i don't think it's a mash pH issue. With all of these beers I have been using a chloride/sulfate ratio in favor of chloride.
 
Yeah, I never gave it much thought that it would break when handling like that. I just figured that if I'm careful and don't drop it, I'll be fine. I'm seriously looking into getting a SS conical fermentor now, but being out of work for six weeks has put a little financial squeeze on the brewery purchases. My SWMBO insists that as soon as I go back to work, I need invest in one, so at least I've got the ok from her.
 
homebeerbrewer said:
Yeah, I never gave it much thought that it would break when handling like that. I just figured that if I'm careful and don't drop it, I'll be fine. I'm seriously looking into getting a SS conical fermentor now, but being out of work for six weeks has put a little financial squeeze on the brewery purchases. My SWMBO insists that as soon as I go back to work, I need invest in one, so at least I've got the ok from her.
Click to expand...

lol, further than 99% of the HBT crew!
 
dontman said:
I've been there Stevo.
I swear I could drop a turd in a wort now and end up with the best beer ever.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I laughed out loud at that one! :D

BTW If you offer me a beer one day and I don't accept, please don't take offence. ;)

BrewOnBoard
 
I know what you mean about being in a slump. But mine is sort of different. Lately I have been so busy that I just don't have that much time to brew. And when I do have the time I would rather spend it doing something else, like going golfing. I think part of the reason is that I have had a decent pipeline from brewing a bunch over the winter. So I havent felt the need to stock back up yet.


Oh, and I have come to realize that I hate bottling too. That doesn't help matters much....
 

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