Homebrewing slump...

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I managed to get my brewery all set up in my garage today... So I'm all set for brewing tomorrow! :mug:

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We're also expecting a blizzard... and I absolutely love brewing in the snow... So maybe I'll brew twice tomorrow, who knows!
 
max384 said:
I'm brewing... I'm finally out of my slump!

I'm actually doing a double brew day today. I've got an imperial IPA boiling and a blonde ale in the mash tun. Man it feels good to be back!

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When you go out in that mountain of snow and brew, I'd say that means you haven't lost a bit of interest in the pastime.
 
I'm in an incredible slump - I haven't brewed since July 4, and I can't seem to get back into it. I want to, badly, but with a leaky immersion chiller that I can't seem to fix, and absolutely no way to get the temps down low enough with a minimal footprint/budget, it has ground to a standstill.

I'm line-iteming the things I need to proceed with brewery operations as I type this, and, unfortunately, ca-ching. Induction burners, a BrewJacket, and a FastFerment Conical add up quickly.
 
I've been in a bit of a slump as well with school, getting a puppy, moving, and getting new equipment. On top of that I get wort and yeast from school so taking the time to brew is tough.
 
I haven't slumped in my desire to brew, but did go 4 months in 2014 without brewing. I was building an electric 3v system at the time, but I had a good pipeline. Fall of 2015 another 4 months without brewing but no pipeline...harsh.

We bought a house in August and had our little dude 2 weeks after closing/moving in. Work schedule has also been brutal. It took 4 months to get brewery set back up.

First batch was Amanda K's extract lambic 10gal. So it'll be a while. Second since then was a saison I ruined by dropping mash ph too far. Astringent as hell.

I'm trying to get brew day down to 4 hours, but that means 1-2 hours prep day before. Still easier than a 6 hour block of time. Fight the urge to sell equipment!
 
m00ps said:
I was forced into a homebrewing slump from a 4 month period in the hospital, ... Nothing will keep me from brewing
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Apparently 4 months in the hospital will! :fro:

Glad you're back on your feet.

Serious question:
On the first page of the thread a poster says they brew 50+ times a year. Even if those are each producing 5 gallons of finished beer instead of larger batches that still comes out to a little over 7 - 12 oz. bottles per day. Maybe I need to get some friends or dedicate my life to destroying my liver but I've got about 11 gallons in the keg-fridge and another 5 in a lager I'm brewing and will be making something hoppy fairly soon. My point ... what in the world do yall do with all that beer?

I guess my slump is not being able to maintain equilibrium between consumption & production. ;)
 
beernutz said:
7 months is not a slump. Try 7 years.
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A slump is a slump. I can't believe all the people saying it's been over 6 months since they've brewed. I'd go insane! I need to brew a couple times a month to maintain my sanity.

@MVKTR2 - I think Braufessor brews smaller batches, like 3 gallons. Could be wrong on that one, in that case, 50 batches is an insane amount. It's a lot anyway. I have that kind of time as well, but even that is pushing it for me. I usually brew around 30 times a year.
 
In the months I wasn't brewing I was still in the forum lurking, reading, researching, and listening to podcast daily. Used that time to plan out my sour program and decide on tri-clover moving forward.
 
After brewing about once a month from 1991-2000, I only brewed a couple of batches from 2001-2007. I got back into it and continue to brew about once a month. When I stopped, I was not enjoying the brewing process. When I got back in, I worked on my process and having it down makes brewing more fun. Seriously, one of the biggest differences was finding Fermcap-S. It used to be, I could never walk away during the boil, so I'd spend 90 minutes plus after getting the beer in the fermenter cleaning. Now I can walk away and clean things as I go along. After getting beer in the fermenter, all I have to clean is a hose, my kettle, the chiller and the hop spider.
 
Spartan1979 said:
After brewing about once a month from 1991-2000, I only brewed a couple of batches from 2001-2007. I got back into it and continue to brew about once a month. When I stopped, I was not enjoying the brewing process. When I got back in, I worked on my process and having it down makes brewing more fun. Seriously, one of the biggest differences was finding Fermcap-S. It used to be, I could never walk away during the boil, so I'd spend 90 minutes plus after getting the beer in the fermenter cleaning. Now I can walk away and clean things as I go along. After getting beer in the fermenter, all I have to clean is a hose, my kettle, the chiller and the hop spider.
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Interesting... Before Fermcap-S, once I got a solid boil going, and all the hot break had broken, I never really worried much about a boilover. And I generally would boil a little more vigorously than many of the other guys in my homebrew club, so it's not like I cranked the boil way down. I'd watch the boil for a good 5-10 minutes at the beginning to make sure, but from that point forward, it was dialed in and not a concern.

Of course, I just had a thought... I brew in my garage. If I was in the kitchen and was worried about getting SWMBO's stovetop covered in wort, I'd probably watch it like a hawk :D
 
I'm in the same boat. Haven't homebrewed in a year and a half, this forum used to be my casual reading and still is. Brew for a living now and working crazy hours I simply don't have the motivation on my limited time off. It really does turn your hobby into a job. I would love to get back into making whatever I wanted to every week.
 
bwarbiany said:
Interesting... Before Fermcap-S, once I got a solid boil going, and all the hot break had broken, I never really worried much about a boilover. And I generally would boil a little more vigorously than many of the other guys in my homebrew club, so it's not like I cranked the boil way down. I'd watch the boil for a good 5-10 minutes at the beginning to make sure, but from that point forward, it was dialed in and not a concern.

Of course, I just had a thought... I brew in my garage. If I was in the kitchen and was worried about getting SWMBO's stovetop covered in wort, I'd probably watch it like a hawk :D
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I brew in the garage too, but I'd have beers that just flared up out of nowhere.
 
MVKTR2 said:
Apparently 4 months in the hospital will! :fro:

Glad you're back on your feet.

Serious question:
On the first page of the thread a poster says they brew 50+ times a year. Even if those are each producing 5 gallons of finished beer instead of larger batches that still comes out to a little over 7 - 12 oz. bottles per day. Maybe I need to get some friends or dedicate my life to destroying my liver but I've got about 11 gallons in the keg-fridge and another 5 in a lager I'm brewing and will be making something hoppy fairly soon. My point ... what in the world do yall do with all that beer?

I guess my slump is not being able to maintain equilibrium between consumption & production. ;)
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You need to make more friends. Its pretty easy when you give out free beer to everyone in the neighborhood
 
I'm on a similar homebrewing slump for not unrelated reasons.

I had a bike accident on June 2nd, resulting in a broken collarbone, which needed two operations to fix a plate on the bone.

When the accident happened, I was on the way to the bank to hand in final mortgage documents to buy our first house. The first operation was delayed so that we could close on the house before I started on the opiates for the pain from surgery.

Then we moved house July 2nd. During the move I pulled the plate off of my collarbone, which resulted in a second operation.

Just last week I was cleared to lift more than 10lb with my left arm, so now the brewery build in the basement is going full steam ahead (until I get a vent fan, anyway... ;) ). Finally I'll be out of the kitchen/garage for brewing, where I've been in the last few apartments.

I managed one quick extract brew on veterans day to replace a sour I bottled then, but other than that and a batch of cider last fall I haven't brewed since April last year. But I've been planning...
 
I brewed 5-10 beers a year from 2004-2008 (high school and first three years in college). When I moved on campus, I never brewed in the apartment, and to be honest I don't remember why I had stopped. I guess I just didn't have time. After I graduated, I moved around for work a few times. First 9 months in Houston, and I didn't even look at brewing. Then 11 months in Baton Rouge. I bought ingredients from a LHBS (which wasn't very good), but then never used any of it (the day I planned to brew I actually drove to Houston to see some friends at the last minute).

Finally while living on the Texas coast in 2012 I brewed a few beers in my apartment. In 2013 I moved to Pearland (south of Houston), and started brewing in earnest again. Since then I have been brewing again, switched to all grain pretty early on, and actually read about how to improve my beer. So that's a pretty good 4-5 year gap that I didn't brew anything at all.

I am assuming once our first child comes along I will be very limited on my production. On top of that I am beginning business school in August, which will eat up a significant portion of my time for about 2 years. My wife wants to have a child by the time I am done with school, so my best guess is this is the last year I will be able to brew this much. After this it will probably turn into once a month or less.
 
My slump was about 3 years long - I did three batches in that time - a couple together, and then 15 months without one. Kinda sad, actually. What happened was a) I got sick of bottling and all the **** that lies around because of that; b) I had two batches that just didn't come out as I want. Not dumpers, but not things I was proud of, and c) I was overthinking things and my batches were too complicated. At the point the slump started, I had brewed more than 100 batches over 14 years.

What got me back to it was the brewer at Tighthead Brewing Co. in Mundelien IL. That is a microbrewery that's growing like a weed and it grew out of a home brewer that got really good at what he does. His advice to me:

1) Just freaking brew - go back in your notebook (I keep an electronic beer journal but whatever) and find an old favorite beer and do it again. Find something from your really early years of brewing that you really nailed, and this time REALLY nail it because you have a lot of time in the saddle. And don't bottle it - keg it. (I already owned 5L baby kegs and a countertop kegerator for them, so easy to do). So I did - brewed a batch of California Common and it was spectacular.
2) Use Star San - at this point, I was using some other brand of sanitizer - I think Brewer's Edge - and I was having some off flavors that I didn't realize were sanitization problems. The PBW and Star San combo makes cleaning and sanitizing so damned easy ...
3) Go All Grain - which I did in November for the first time - and the results are spectacular. And it was super easy to do ...

So ...

I'm not sure my answers will help you, but that's my story.
 
max384 said:
I managed to get my brewery all set up in my garage today... So I'm all set for brewing tomorrow! :mug:


We're also expecting a blizzard... and I absolutely love brewing in the snow... So maybe I'll brew twice tomorrow, who knows!
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Congrats! and nice job on the organizing...I have one heck of a time with that in general, but when its done it does motivate you to acomplish even more things.
Welcome back!:mug:
 
Stillraining said:
Congrats! and nice job on the organizing...I have one heck of a time with that in general, but when its done it does motivate you to acomplish even more things.
Welcome back!:mug:
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Thanks!

It's well organized... for now. I always start very well organized... But it gets messier the longer it's been there.

I kegged a 7 month old beer I had in the fermenter, I did a double brew day on Saturday, and yesterday I brewed again, so I've actually got something resembling a pipeline going.

I also have a 15% ABV barleywine that's been fermenting for over a year that I may throw in a keg now. I don't plan on leaving this one on tap, but I'm not going to naturally carbonate a beer this strong, so I need to carbonate before bottling... and why not have it on tap until the rest of the kegs are filled?
 
Jaybird said:
The other side. Its about 100% filled right now. I have my fermenting fridge in there and my 80 gallon wine fermenter as well. I was able to fill it up fairly quickly..LOL

Cheers
Jay
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Are you brewing in prison? That is some progressive penitentiary :D
 
Welcome back @max384!

I haven't had a slump, but I've only been brewing 3-1/2 years. I think a move would knock me out for a while too. So... I guess I can't move.
 
Just finishing up the boil on an oatmeal stout. I've now got one carbing up in the keg, and three (soon to be four) in primary. Now that I'm back to brewing, I just can't stop! :ban:
 
DU99 said:
i had to take a short break from brewing,constant trips to hospital visiting a daughter who had terminal cancer.she has sinced passed away.
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Two daughters here. So sorry for your loss. I cannot fathom that. I believe I'd have to quit drinking for a time also.
 
max384 said:
Just finishing up the boil on an oatmeal stout. I've now got one carbing up in the keg, and three (soon to be four) in primary. Now that I'm back to brewing, I just can't stop! :ban:
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Now you sound like me. I have to quit brewing lest I run out of room! Gave away a growler & 6 pack yesterday trying to make room. Generally I'm the only one drinking my beer so consumption more than storage capacity is the bottle neck.
 
Haven't brewed for a month. It's bothering me bad. Keg is full. Pipeline is empty. I can't imagine taking a long time off without a full pipeline.
 

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