Owly055
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2014
- Messages
- 3,008
- Reaction score
- 686
A clerk at a LBHS when asked the other day if she was a home brewer replied "it takes too long" ............................. I know she loves home brew, but I also know that the people around her are brewing on complex systems....... 3 tuns, pumps, etc. She's been to a few brew days where guys haul out their equipment. Shiny stainless steel vessels connected to pumps and plumbing with fancy triclamp fittings, and enough valves to confuse even a firefighter!........ a 5-6 hour process including cleanup. She's also been involved in the BIAB process.... a bit faster at 4.5 hours including clean up. She doesn't have 5 hours to commit to brewing......... she has a LIFE!!
I explained that I had refined the process down to 2.5 hours start to finish (grain pre-crushed), and she couldn't believe it.........
I explained how I do an "inline mash", doughing in with hot tap water (130F), and rapidly raising the temp to 145, then very slowly to 155 over 20 minutes. How I can raise to boil from 155 in just 8 minutes using my kitchen stove and my floating 2500 watt heater (home built). How I boil for just 45 minutes at a hard boil instead of an hour or 90 minutes, and how I crash it to pitch temp in just 7 minutes using an immersion heater, a cold water bath, and ice filled tubes floating in the brew.............
She obviously didn't believe me, though she's tried my brews...... and her friends who brew told her I was full of s__t........ or so I assume. The result is that I have to "prove it"..... I refuse to have more than one other person in the kitchen while I brew... there just isn't the space, and I don't need 5 people underfoot. I'm not a "social brewer" like many folks here......... I'm really not a social anything.
Sometime in January I will have a brewing "partner" for one brew session..... She chooses the brew she wants to make and brings the ingredients......... she takes the fermenter home, and from that point on it's "her baby"..... She's too far away, I won't accept any "child support" responsibilities. A friend of hers will rack it into bottles and do the sugar thing. It isn't a date......... she's easily young enough to be my daughter (30 years difference).... so don't get the wrong idea. It may be the start of something beautiful...... someone's exploration into brewing.
Most folks don't brew the way I do........... I hope to communicate some of that idea to her as well......... I don't begin with a recipe, only with ingredients, and a sense of how they can be put together to make something interesting. I sit down in front of the computer and use Brewer's Friend to craft something from the grains and hops I have on hand. I may use two row or pilsner, any of a number of crystal malts, biscuit malts, roast barley, or chocolate malt. I may use some corn sugar or honey, wheat malt, rye malt, flaked corn, cooked rice, torrified wheat, etc. I have about 20 different hops in my freezer..... I'm gradually learning what works and what doesn't, what I like, and what I don't............... Hopefully I'll "show her a good time", launching her into the world of home brewing, and recruiting someone to "spread the word" that brewing can be inexpensive, easy, fun and NOT eat up all your spare time. It really can!!
H.W.
I explained that I had refined the process down to 2.5 hours start to finish (grain pre-crushed), and she couldn't believe it.........
I explained how I do an "inline mash", doughing in with hot tap water (130F), and rapidly raising the temp to 145, then very slowly to 155 over 20 minutes. How I can raise to boil from 155 in just 8 minutes using my kitchen stove and my floating 2500 watt heater (home built). How I boil for just 45 minutes at a hard boil instead of an hour or 90 minutes, and how I crash it to pitch temp in just 7 minutes using an immersion heater, a cold water bath, and ice filled tubes floating in the brew.............
She obviously didn't believe me, though she's tried my brews...... and her friends who brew told her I was full of s__t........ or so I assume. The result is that I have to "prove it"..... I refuse to have more than one other person in the kitchen while I brew... there just isn't the space, and I don't need 5 people underfoot. I'm not a "social brewer" like many folks here......... I'm really not a social anything.
Sometime in January I will have a brewing "partner" for one brew session..... She chooses the brew she wants to make and brings the ingredients......... she takes the fermenter home, and from that point on it's "her baby"..... She's too far away, I won't accept any "child support" responsibilities. A friend of hers will rack it into bottles and do the sugar thing. It isn't a date......... she's easily young enough to be my daughter (30 years difference).... so don't get the wrong idea. It may be the start of something beautiful...... someone's exploration into brewing.
Most folks don't brew the way I do........... I hope to communicate some of that idea to her as well......... I don't begin with a recipe, only with ingredients, and a sense of how they can be put together to make something interesting. I sit down in front of the computer and use Brewer's Friend to craft something from the grains and hops I have on hand. I may use two row or pilsner, any of a number of crystal malts, biscuit malts, roast barley, or chocolate malt. I may use some corn sugar or honey, wheat malt, rye malt, flaked corn, cooked rice, torrified wheat, etc. I have about 20 different hops in my freezer..... I'm gradually learning what works and what doesn't, what I like, and what I don't............... Hopefully I'll "show her a good time", launching her into the world of home brewing, and recruiting someone to "spread the word" that brewing can be inexpensive, easy, fun and NOT eat up all your spare time. It really can!!
H.W.