New guy with etiquette questions

[joshesmusica]

I am in nearly the exact same situation. Except that I started on my own, and we became friends after, and he was a little interested in the idea. Mainly just the good beer though. He has tried to learn the steps of brewing extract, and I've even thrown in some steeping grains while he's been there, but he's just not a detailed person at all. But I know that about him, so I can't expect anything better. It was pretty cool when he wanted to chip in and buy some equipment. But then it was really ****ty when I gave him very specific instructions of what to buy, and he came back with only two of the items on the list, and a whole bunch of other **** that we didn't need.

He's also one of those people who will flake out of doing the work (granted he's an architect and has to spend lots of time at his work during the weekdays). The only thing that he's really good at (when it comes to this brewing partnership) is paying up his half of the ingredients. I've been pretty pissed at him recently, but my wife helped me with some advice, and I think it applies to your situation as well.

The fact is, I do like the guy, and I do consider him a good friend, and I would still like to be friends and drinking buddies together. The only problem here is that we're obviously both not very good at communication. That and our schedules make it hard to consistently brew together without it being a little stressful. The last thing I want is for our friendship to feel stressful, AND for my brewing to feel stressful. So I'm just going to attempt to talk it out with him. It's honestly stupid to hold it inside instead of just talking about it like adults. So now I'm going to tell him that he could take his small portion of the equipment, or I could pay him for it, and we will just brew when it fits our schedules best. No stress whatsoever. And of course we will try to hang out and drink those beers together more often than that. And I figure since I'm brewing my own choice of recipes often enough anyways, then when we do brew together, he can choose what to brew.

Luckily my wife is on board with the hobby, so she lets me invest in more equipment (because she gets to go buy dumb crap for her hobbies as well!). Also, the guy is German and has some ins to Oktoberfest, so I can't just stop the friendship!

 

[Pkrd]

Before accurately calculating the split, we need to no how the beer tastes.

 

[Jq1n]

Before accurately calculating the split, we need to no how the beer tastes.

Lol, I'd like to know that too! I'm a noob and have made a couple noob mistakes so it's taking a while to get this beer in my belly! I added a week to the fermentation for some reason then stored the bottled beer in my basement. The basement is a little too cold I think so 3 weeks hasn't been enough to carb it up fully. We drank about 6 of them last weekend with a couple other people to try the beer out but it wasn't carbed perfectly. Some were more carbed than others and some were hardly carbed at all. I moved the rest of the beer to a warmer closet upstairs so hopefully that will make it carb a little faster this week. This first beer is teaching me a tonne. Hopefully this Sunday me and the brew buddy can drink more of them, split the rest and start our next batch. I'm eager as hell and already planning (months in advance to actually starting I admit) a honey lager for the xmas holidays!

 

[Braufessor]

We drank about 6 of them last weekend with a couple other people to try the beer out but it wasn't carbed perfectly. Some were more carbed than others and some were hardly carbed at all.

If you are getting beer that is inconsistently carbed, one of the main reasons for that is that the priming sugar is not getting mixed thoroughly - so one bottle ends up with more sugar, another less.

If I bottle condidition, I mix about 2/3 cup corn sugar with about 8-12 ounces of water and boil it down to about 4-6 ounces of liquid. Add it to bottom of my bottling bucket. Transfer beer onto the sugar-liquid. Stir gently to keep mixing - fine line of mixing but not adding oxygen to the finished beer.

 

[Jq1n]

Add it to bottom of my bottling bucket. Transfer beer onto the sugar-liquid. Stir gently to keep mixing - fine line of mixing but not adding oxygen to the finished beer.

Like I said, learning a lot. This is what I did except for the gentle stir. I read about it afterwards. Wish I'd read about it before. Oh well, for a first beer it doesn't taste bad and once it's more carbed and sits in the bottle a little longer it should be really good.
Thanks eh

 

[joshesmusica]

If you make sure that your siphon hose is laying a bit on the bottom up against the side of the bottling bucket, there should be no reason to stir afterward, as the power and motion of the siphoning should cause enough of a stirring motion for you. Although I will stir a tiny bit on smaller batches (4-5L), just because I feel the time it's siphoning out doesn't do the job. But with 19L or bigger batches I never stir and always get even carbonation.

 

[treacheroustexan]

When I first started brewing, me and a few buddies were drinking a pint and I said screw it I want to brew my own, so I went and bought literally everything that day. I didn't ask for any money for equipment but they bought the ingredients for the first batch. We brewed that one batch together and it was awful. It was easy to tell that I was more into the brewing process than they were, as I am constantly learning something every day and researching it and coming up with new ideas. So I packed up my equipment and I now brew at my apartment alone..with my cat, no hard feelings. I invite them over for a brew day once in a while but I don't ask them for anything. It's my beer. I just invite them for the company and to have a few pints while brewing. I found that it was too difficult to brew with a friend, because in the end they will see things differently than you will, and somebody will end up losing out on money, and a friendship can easily be ruined. I know you mentioned that it was to save money, but what if you guys used the same equipment, and each brewed your own batch? So your buddy can brew whatever beer he wants and then you brew yours afterwards or what not? You will both save on the actual equipment cost, and you guys will get to brew and learn more about each others process without butting heads on what you want to brew. Just my two cents!

 

[JBOGAN]

If you are doing 90% of the work and research just go at it alone. Brewing by yourself is not bad and IMHO the distractions may hinder you from nailing down a brew day process. You will never need a second set of hands if you time things out correctly , where you are cleaning while mashing, boiling, etc. HBT is my brew buddy, no complaints so far and none in the foreseeable future.

 

[ECBrew]

...Brewing by yourself is not bad....

I'll add, unless you are brewing 10 gallon batches without a pump or gravity stand for your kettle.

 

[ECBrew]

...Brewing by yourself is not bad....

I'll add, unless you are brewing 10 gallon batches without a pump or gravity burner stand for your kettle.

 

[Gameface]

I really can't imagine brewing with a friend. I'm much too big a pain in the ass for that to ever work out.

 

[Kirky5000]

I was thinking the same damn thing. My dog thinks I'm to annoying to sit and lick her self as I trash my place trying to mash in 13 1/2 pounds of grist while taking the most insane OCD notes you've ever seen. My friends would slap me. But now I brew for a living so, feel bad for them, lol

 

[beernutz]

Rather than treat the cost of ingredients you incurred as a debt I'd work into the conversation when your partner comes to pick up his bottles something like, "it is amazing how much homebrew you can make for $xx" and see if he takes the hint.

 

[jrcrilly]

I've had friends over to help out on several brewdays. The gear is mine and I supply the ingredients (I would have to anyway). It makes for a fun day. When it is ready, they come back and we bottle half the batch (usually in THEIR bottles) for the friend to take home. Mine gets kegged. It is a way to share the experience and the resulting beer. If it is a beer I really want, I just make sure we do a 10 gallon batch so I get a full keg. Otherwise I get half a keg and get to brew again that much sooner. Win/win.