TLDR: sometimes the urge to brew comes and goes. Wait it out, sometimes you just need a break to rediscover passion.
I got my 1st Mr. Beer homebrew kit the Xmas of 1998. I’ve been (mostly) brewing ever since. I’ve had ebbs and flows in that time, and am currently coming off an extended hiatus. It’s been a good 2 years since I have brewed proper.
Like many others I started off extract, then extract with tweaks, then partial mash, then all grain and on and on. With the kit beers it was fun and different, and I definitely enjoyed the process and “science” more so than the beer it created.
After experimenting and finally going all grain, I started collecting more and more stuff. At first it was just whatever large pot the wife had in kitchen, then it was buying a dedicated pot, then a burner to move outdoors, then a purpose built kettle, then a bigger kettle for more beer, kegs, kegerator, stir plates, CFC chillers and more and more and more.
I brewed as a form of relaxation, and there was always a bunch of people over on brew days. I brewed for events for clubs I am in, friends weddings, family get togethers, parties etc. I never minded, all I asked for was to be reimbursed for grains and such, unless I was doing it as a donation/gift. I never really had “friends” that just came over for free beer, or none that I noticed. I bought a 20 and 25 gallon stainless steel stock pot from a restaurant supply store, hurricane burners, converted over to natural gas, welded a brew stand...yada yada yada. Point being beer was always on hand. Way more than I could drink, and sometimes ever more than I had place to store.
I converted an area under my basement stairs, along with a section of wall and base cabinets, with accompanying counter space as storage for all the brew stuff I have accumulated over the years. Even though I tried to keep things organized, and would use tool boxes converted to house pumps and silicone tubing with Ts and shut offs and everything I could think of to make brew day more efficient and effective, it was still a bus load of work getting set up on brew days.
Brew days were long, especially when brew buddies cannot always make it over. Though not fault of their own, people get married, have children, get grown up responsibilities. Still a set of missing hands only increases the work load. Every time I would set up and tear down, I always secretly promised myself I was going to go all electric. Especially in the Cleveland winters.
I went bigger and bigger on my batch sizes, justifying it as less brew days means less set up and tear down, but ultimately, though it may have been less brew days, going bigger seamed to increase workload. Heavier kettles to carry up and down stairs, more grains to scoop and clean, longer cooling times, bigger yeast pitches, blah blah blah. It started losing all the relaxing qualities that it once had, especially on days it was just me and the wife.
I did start doing BIAB on our stove top with some old equipment I still had, and that helped to scratch the itch, but again the set up and tear down, not to mention the wife being nine too happy with me taking complete control over the kitchen on brew days, was just such a pain in the arse, that eventually even that stopped. I needed a dedicated area to brew. One that was mine, could be set up permanently, so I didn’t have to pack and unpack every brew day. I cleared out a space in the basement, by the washer and dryer (because there was an existing floor drain that room, and proximity to panel), got some cabinets and some countertops, installed 2 utility sinks, started researching KALs electric brewery build.......then got super busy at work. That was over 2 years ago.
I was going to build my own electric brewery, but fact is work is still busy, and I don’t necessarily think I want to spend my precious off time cobbling together what I need. I enjoy it, but at this point in my life, I am trying to take on less projects, and finish up the current ones. I have really been missing brewing for the past 6 months or so. Really missing it. Especially running in to friends that I haven’t seen in a while and them asking what beer I am working on now, and I awkwardly have to admit that I haven’t brewed in a long time.
On Monday I ordered the 3 vessel electric system from Ss Brewtech. I have their fermenters and various other things, so I decided just to go with them. It will serve the purposes that I want. I have gone through my “imperial everything” phase, the more the better phase, the “everything is better with bacon” adjunct phase, and the “I bet I can get 10 pounds of hops in to this 1 gallon batch” phase. I past that. I enjoy making and drinking “simple beers”, a balanced pale ale, Belgian table beers, an ester bomb hefe, a basic porter. That’s all I will brewing at home.
I still have some work to finish on getting the basement “brewery” ready for prime time, but I’m in no hurry. I’m going to use that time as zen time. I have started making a list of what is incomplete, and some features I would like to incorporate. I’ve also been perusing this and other beer related sites looking for ideas. I am excited to brew my first beer, but I am not going to rush it. I want to get everything set up the way I think I want it, then do a dry (wet) run on the new system and see how it goes. If I find something is missing or think I can improve on something, I’ll change it and do another dry run, until it’s the way I want it.
I spent most of last summer’s weekends at my camper building a wood fired pizza oven as well as an outdoor kitchen & bar, and a “brew shed”. Next spring I will convert all my burners back to propane and take all of the old brew stuffs down there, and have an informal little brew pub going on at my place, where we will have brew days, and serve what we brewed on tap.
