Getting rid of brew idiosyncracies that are detrimental

[brackbrew]

So as I sit here typing this, still draped in my "Quark's Bar" apron, hands pruned from cleaning up having put the finishing touches on my cream stout, I'm still frustrated. It doesn't seem to matter how well I plan out my brew days or how meticulously I think everything through, I still seem to have little glitches in my process--idiosyncracies, if you will--that feel like little mistakes, which make me worry about contamination, off-flavors, etc. For instance, at the end of my brew log from today:

Hops clogged faucet from kettle to carboy, used sanitized, “shellacked” chopstick to open hole. Wort aerated for approximately 10 minutes, seal kept as tight as possible. Starter pitched at 12:05 pm. As usual, little issues concerning sanitation (using the chopstick to unclog hole, swirling around with spoon that was hastily re-sanitized) bother me. We’ll see how this ferments. Starting gravity approximately 1.064.

Do any of you more experienced, better brewers face stupid little issues like these? How detrimental are they to the brew process and contamination on the whole? I'm CONSTANTLY TRYING TO IMPROVE MY CRAFT, but these always feel like annoying little setbacks in my quest for perfect brewing.

Sorry to rant!

 

[loopmd]

This is exactly why our buddy Charlie tells us to "relax and have a homebrew".

Just tell yourself "self, they brewed beer way back when no one on earth knew what sanitation is or was."


loop

 

[bobbyc]

I'm pretty new to homebrewing myself, but I've quickly learned that it takes beer to make beer. We're quite relaxed when we brew, and just soak everything that will be near the wort post-boil in a bucket of sanitizer.

Actually, the one brew we were quite sure we screwed up (melted plastic from the LME bag in the kettle, didn't have hop bags for the pellets, boiled over 3 times, krausen clogged the airlock 4 times) turned out the best by far.

 

[AllHoppedUp]

Frankie says relax, man.

I'm no seasoned veteran of the brew process, but I used to worry about that crap too. As with anything else in life, I eventually realized that there's no use fretting over what can't be changed. Had to unplug your flow with a chopstick? What's the alternative? Not like your gonna dump the whole batch over it.

There was another thread on this forum a while ago where several people talked about the first time they poked that little rubber gasket through the airlock hole on the primary bucket. One guy said he freaked out until his buddy, and experienced brewer, stuck his arm in elbow deep to fish the thing out. Moral of the story: you gotta do what you gotta do.

AHU

 

[Kaiser]

Exactly,

We are trying to get more efficient with the brewing process and necessary sanitation so we have enough head room for these diosyncracies as you call them. And I think there is actually a lot of head room so much that I belive you can wash your arm, stick it in the brew and it will come out fine. But am I going to risk a brew just to test this theory, No.

The straining of my first brew was a disaster. The funnel screen clogged up and I ended jup removing it and straining only through a cleaned (but not sanitized) strainer. Needless to say that I had lots of sediment. Read through some threads on the board here and relaxed about it. It came out just fine.

Straining remained a hassle untill I figured out to whirpool my cooled wort, let it sit covered for 20 to 30 min and then siphon the almost clear wort into the carboy. Last time I did this I didn't even use a funnel and screen. One thing less to worry about.

Kai

 

[Darth Konvel]

If those little issues are your biggest concerns, you haven't been drinking enough while you're brewing

 

[brackbrew]

I guess it's a good sign that there's been a steady bubble through the airlock ever since I sealed it...even after putting the whole carboy in a plastic tub surrounded by about 60-degree water to regulate temp?

 

[david_42]

Wait until you reach the 18 pound bran muffin stage to get really frustrated. That was a mash that was so stuck that when we dumped it out, it hit the ground in one lump!

My most common problem is pellet hops clogging the bazooka screen. I may go back to bagging them.

 

[rewster451]

Definitely stupid things happen when I brew as well. Still haven't had a bad batch. On my first batch, before I got my autosiphon, I was trying to suck the wort through the siphon to start it flowing from my brew pot to my brew bucket. I got a mouth full of hop sediment, and without thinking (that stuff is pretty rough on the pallette), spit it into the brew bucket! Woops. I rinsed it, but we were out of sanitizer, and I didn't want to get soap in there, so I just used hot water. A lot of it though. It turned out fine. If that didn't hurt it, a hastily sanitized chopstick shouldn't do much.

 

[homebrewer_99]

You, my friend, are just not paying attention to detail.

Plan better and your experience will go smoother.

BTW, stay off my roads too!

 

[BlightyBrewer]

Definitely stupid things happen when I brew as well. Still haven't had a bad batch. On my first batch, before I got my autosiphon, I was trying to suck the wort through the siphon to start it flowing from my brew pot to my brew bucket. I got a mouth full of hop sediment, and without thinking (that stuff is pretty rough on the pallette), spit it into the brew bucket! Woops. I rinsed it, but we were out of sanitizer, and I didn't want to get soap in there, so I just used hot water. A lot of it though. It turned out fine. If that didn't hurt it, a hastily sanitized chopstick shouldn't do much.

LOL! At least you didn't spit it back into your brew pot!

 

[tnlandsailor]

...My most common problem is pellet hops clogging the bazooka screen. I may go back to bagging them.

Click the link in my signature.

 

[ajf]

I've been brewing since 1972, and have brewed about 1000 gallons of beer. In all that time, I can only remember one batch where I didn't have a single problem, but I've only had two batches that had to be thrown away.

The one batch where I didn't have any problems was a stout, but I didn't have the correct ingredients to follow the recipe. I made do with what I had on hand, and the results were phenomenal. Unfortunately, I didn't make notes, and although I tried numerous times to repeat that brew, I never came close - so I guess I had a problem with that brew as well.

-a.