It's been said before: don't brew drunk!

[FranklinNewhart]

We made the mistake of doing that on our first brew and couldn't get the stupid siphon to work!

Suck Damn it Don't Blow

 

[FranklinNewhart]

I got way to many Hops in a batch one time and I could not stand to drink it. What to do with the beer? I distilled it and took off the Liquor. Funny thing was the damn Hop Oils came along for the ride too. Ended up putting it in my gas tank. Boy that sure made my truck hop.

I do all things thoroughly.
Even when I do them wrong,
I do them thoroughly wrong.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

For me the worst part about being drunk on a brew day is trying to get it all cleaned up once its done. No one is motivated to clean THAT MUCH while drunk...at least no one I know. Then the next time you brew everything is dirty as hell and have been sitting around, or completely disorganized and you can't find the stuff....

But this never happened to me, I just heard about it on the forums.

 

[DaveTozer]

Sorry guys, I can't get on board with most of you. I see it as not only my right, but my responsibility as a Fermentation Artist, that I must drink home brew while making beer or wine. It keeps me grounded to my creative home brewing roots. Not to mention it it gives me a good buzz.

Have I made mistakes and forgot stuff? Absolutely. Is that going to change my habits? Absolutely not. I embrace it.

Oh, thank God!!! I was starting to feel really bad about myself, reading this thread. My motto has always been, "To make beer, you must drink beer!". That said, there have been times when I woke up the next morning and wondered whether or not I had remembered to pitch the yeast. But, change? NEVER!

 

[BeerAddikt]

I like to go hard when I brew. I've done a few Friday night brew sessions where I'm not pitching the yeast until around 2am, 8+ beers quaffed. I wake up the next morning and can hardly remember anything after flame out. But the bubbling carboy always reassures me.

 

[Brewbuzzard]

I like to go hard when I brew. I've done a few Friday night brew sessions where I'm not pitching the yeast until around 2am, 8+ beers quaffed. I wake up the next morning and can hardly remember anything after flame out. But the bubbling carboy always reassures me.

I brewed a Hefeweizen once and did a single decoction (15gal). I woke up in bed about 8 pm and hollered ****!!! Ran outside to the patio and there was everything. The opened yeast packs in a bath of vodka, hop packs empty, checklist completed, everything done except clean up. I ran to the garage and there in the fridge were the three carboys with blow-off tubes and all. I even finished my cigar. I don't remember a damn thing. I told my wife and brew buddy, I now know I can brew drunk. The hefe got a 3rd place in the Bluebonnet Brew Off. Not bad.

 

[BeerAddikt]

On some of those Friday brew nights I've been on the brink of blackout drunk but I check in the morning to find out I took notes with pitching temps, gravity readings, etc. I don't remember doing any of it and the hand writing is a bit sloppy but I'll be damned, I took excellent notes.

I guess I'm a functional drunk...a very helpful trait if you drink and brew.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I'm gonna drink 4 bourbon counties when I brew on Sunday. wish me luck.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm gonna drink 4 bourbon counties when I brew on Sunday. wish me luck.

Good luck!

I brew early AM. On the coffee. So relaxing sitting on my patio in the dark AM drinking coffee during the mash or boil. Dog wanders out when the sun comes up. I put on Turner Classic Movies on the outside tv, low volume so my wife doesn't wake up. Many are turds, but there are surprises - it's just background noise anyway.

 

[skraeling]

1:30 in the morning.

testing new equipment.

forget to close a valve on a bucket.

200* water on the floor and in my socks.

zero ****s given. thank you Christmas Ale

 

[JoeSTL]

My 2nd brew will be happening today in about 12 hours. My first batch is in bottles and not quite done, but I may have to sample a bottle or two while I'm brewing later, just to ensure the spirit of brewing! At least that's what I'll be telling myself...lol.

 

[AntonioMartins]

July 2016, my 10th batch, a Weiss.

First time I brewed without drink any beer, not a single one.

Result: My first infection, my first batch dumped to drain.

I believe Ninkasi didn't like my heretic attitude of making beer without drinking any beer

 

[mj1angier]

Yeah, I am just getting back into brewing but can see myself doing the same things. I am going to try my first brew this weekend. Plan to start Sunday morning. That way I will hold off drinking till finished.

Like that will happen, lol

 

[chudsonvt]

Just yesterday afternoon, I started filling my carboy through my chill plate.After running it for a minute or two, I look over at the carboy and think, "wow, I've transferred a lot already!". Well then I realized why it looked like that. I forgot to dump my sanitizer out of the carboy before filling. So I ended up dumping at least 1.5 gallons of good wart mixed in with the sanitizer. I am glad I caught it when I did because I was able to still salvage about 2/3 of the batch.

Damn brew-day beers got me.

 

[mj1angier]

Well, fist brewing went pretty good. Nothing broken, burned, dropped, or forgotten, lol
Started at 8:30 with coffee. Lasted till 10:30 before I slipped over to the taps to get a pint!!!

 

[mr_y82]

I just brewed up a beautiful 2.5 gallon batch of IPA, and was enjoying a few home brews while doing so. I recently switched to a ported carboy, and unfortunately while I was filling it after cooling I didn't realize the valve was open and my wort was flowing into the sink while I was filling it... so I now have maybe 1 gallon of wort fermenting in my basement instead of 2.5 . All that work (wort) literally down the drain. So listen up when we say it kids: do not drink too much while brewing, and always pay attention to the moment, it can make the difference between a full case and a six pack. I learned my lesson the hard way, I hope you can learn from my mistake.

On to the next recipe - older and wiser.

Hope you drank whatever was still in the trap in the sink!

It´s ¨don´t worry, relax, have a homebrew,¨ not ¨don´t worry, relax, have a six pack!¨... I´ve been know to (routinely) drink a few during the process... So far I have averted disaster for a decade (well not entirely, but it was never due to intoxication).

 

[BassElement]

Hope you drank whatever was still in the trap in the sink!

Yep- was finally able to re-use that costly and highly specialized drain removal tool that I bought for a single use years ago and for which I got lots of grief from my wife - at least I could show her I actually used it twice

 

[Abrayton]

Had one Tripel to many and the end of brew night is pretty fuzzy. I’m pretty sure that among other mistakes, I forgot to sanitize the carboy. Been fermenting for three weeks. Strong cidery smell and krausen hasn’t dropped. Gonna wait another week before taking a reading. Lesson learned.

 

[deks77]

i had a nap once and scotched my wort. it tasted alright till it fermented, then it was straight up burnt popcorn lol. I usually mess up with my equipment profile and end up with way to much hops.

 

[seatazzz]

Tonight will be my first brew since I reorganized my garage into more of a mom-cave. Set up the laptop with some good speakers for tunes & YouTube, everything clean and in its place, 50 pounds of 2-row just begging to be brewed, and plenty of beer in the kegerator. Can't wait. I've always had a few while brewing, only screwed me up once. Fell asleep during what was supposed to be a 90-minute boil, that turned into what I think was a 160-minute boil, losing a gallon more than I intended. Beer turned out great if not as much as I hoped for, as well as a LOT higher ABV.

 

[Murphys_Law]

A few years ago...probably my <10 brew day, I somehow managed to break my hydrometer in my fermenter (I have no idea how or why it was in the bucket).

Yeah, I was pretty drunk.

I ended up sanitizing a strainer and another bucket and just poured the beer from one to the other. The strainer was the fine metal one and did a good job of catching the “BBs” and glass from the hydro.

Beer actually turned out delicious and nobody died of some type of poisoning or glass cuts!

I think I even did a “drunk Amazon” that night and bought a 15G kettle which I no longer use.

I may have a beer during boil and/or waiting for the wort to cool but that was probably the last drunk beer I made!

 

[user 125772]

All these anecdotes pale in comparison to the guy (i think he was on this forum) that slipped and his arm ended upon the boil kettle. he suffered some terrible burns on his hand, arm and torso.
We use some serious stuff to make our beloved beverage. Know when to say when.

 

[Abrayton]

Thanks buzzkillington

 

[schematix]

Several years and 20+ brews later I haven’t even had 1 sip during a brew day. The 50 odd brews before that, as much fun as it was, I won’t go back to the good ‘ol 7am sloshfest. Too many mistakes.

 

[TBC27]

thanks buzzkillington

&#129315;&#129315;&#129315;

 

[jrgtr42]

I normally will have one or 2 during the brewing, depending on when I get started. If it's early in the morning, it's more like having a couple cups more coffee than usual.
I haven't had (knock on wood) any issues due to alcohol - I don't get the good stuff going until fermenter is full and in place, and I've started cleanup.
Any problems I've had are due to rushing things along.

 

[Pkrd]

Most of us are dumb enough that we'd probably make those mistakes sober.
Y'all stop hating on the beer.

 

[Gagunga]

I usually brew in the morning and finish around lunch time. I reward myself with a post-brew beer with my lunch. That way I don't have to worry about overindulging while brewing. That doesn't mean I haven't had any caffeine-induced morning brewing screwups

Been there done that. Oh I have half an hour before adding this or that. I'll clean the house a bit...45 min later oh ****.

 

[hawkbox]

I find I screw up the most when someone is helping me as I get distracted and forget things like gravity measurements, etc...

 

[Vandulus]

Welcome to the school of hard knocks

My rule is "To make good beer, one must drink good beer", unfortunately I took that rule a little too liberally early on and forgot to add DME until after the wort was chilled, pitch the yeast or sanitize everything properly.

To echo much of what many have said before:
- Prep like crazy before brewing
- Create a detailed checklist when sober and follow it religiously
- Write notes as you brew, as your memory may get a bit fuzzy
- No beer until after mashing is done
- Only one beer during the boil
- Another beer during chilling and cleaning
- As many beers as you care for afterwards to celebrate another brew day!