I've got to the point that I set my system up in the garage every spring and don't tear it down until fall. So if I want to brew all I have to do is a quick clean to the pots and tun and a good clean to the rest of the equipment but no hauling stuff out. The only reason I don't leave it in there fall and winter is my other sport and business takes over and I need the garage space and have lack of time by then. I would say the constant cleaning and lifting is the hardest part for me.
What do you hate most about brew day?
- Thread starter Daphne-weizen
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Really? You're speaking of one of lifes simple pleasures. Sounds like someone needs to take a moment to smell the roses, as the saying goes...
I hate gathering up my stuff to brew, I have a piece here and a piece there and where did I put that other piece again? It was just in my hand..., and I seem to lose stuff right as I need it.
My world is peaceful, daughter minding her business, wife doing her thing, dog sleeping, UNTIL I START TO BREW then it is chaos. Daughter wants to help (she is 3), wife wants me to do something or I am in her way, dog becomes my best friend. I have even waited for them all to leave just for them to come right back in mid mash or boil get my help with something. Needless to say I have never had a brew day go right, and I am used to it, I love it all...
I also find waiting on the beer to condition to be the hardest.
-edit- the best, nice sunny day when I start then it rains...
My world is peaceful, daughter minding her business, wife doing her thing, dog sleeping, UNTIL I START TO BREW then it is chaos. Daughter wants to help (she is 3), wife wants me to do something or I am in her way, dog becomes my best friend. I have even waited for them all to leave just for them to come right back in mid mash or boil get my help with something. Needless to say I have never had a brew day go right, and I am used to it, I love it all...
I also find waiting on the beer to condition to be the hardest.
-edit- the best, nice sunny day when I start then it rains...
I was in the same boat. I switched my brewdays to 9PM. That may not work for you, and I am sure tired in the AM. But it is nice and quiet.
well, all that has been said is pretty much it.
I clean as I go and when cooling I fill 3 or 4 5 gal buckets or the like for the finish cleaning when all is done.
I really had issues with my lower back and all the lifting. I orig had planned a 3 tier stand but ended up going with a Brutus 10 type stand a few years ago I pulled the trigger and welded one up.
I love the process, even more so with my AWESOME stand. I still have items here and there but thats more from me not putting stuff back where it should be.
So that's what I hate the most... not being able to find something!!! Ugggg...
I clean as I go and when cooling I fill 3 or 4 5 gal buckets or the like for the finish cleaning when all is done.
I really had issues with my lower back and all the lifting. I orig had planned a 3 tier stand but ended up going with a Brutus 10 type stand a few years ago I pulled the trigger and welded one up.
I love the process, even more so with my AWESOME stand. I still have items here and there but thats more from me not putting stuff back where it should be.
So that's what I hate the most... not being able to find something!!! Ugggg...
I am an early to bed and early to rise kind of guy, by 10pm I can't keep my eyes open and by 4am I am wide awake.
I tried to start my brew day at 4am on a Saturday or Sunday when I wake up but I get into trouble because I make too much noise. Can't win for losing...
Happy wife, happy life... learn it live it...
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Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
Great question, OP, and I've really enjoyed the responses. It has made me appreciate the ways I've set up my brewing over the years to enjoy the whole process with a minimum of wasted time. Things I used to hate, the lugging of heavy objects, the gathering of equipment from various locations, even the cleaning - I've just worked out over the years ways to do it without hating it. A pump, shelving, a brew stand, wash tubs, PBW - they all help make it go smoother. I think my only gripe is that I don't have running water in my garage, so I have to run a hose out for brewing water and for chilling, and there's no instant hot water, so I have to be creative when I'm trying to rinse everything. I heat a few extra gallons of sparge water, so I have some for washing up the MLT, and then I use the first runnings of the immersion chiller to fill a wash tub and rinse tub with hot water. A lot of my cleaning takes place while something else is going on: MLT gets cleaned during the boil, other equipment gets cleaned after I remove the immersion chiller and am letting the trub settle after whirlpooling.
What I really hate, though, is when I injure myself or break/damage some of my equipment. Two weeks ago while I was rinsing PBW out of my boil kettle, I grabbed the chine, which had been several hundred degrees just a few minutes earlier. The whimper that escaped my lips was more out of the realization of my own stupidity than of pain. The scars are mostly gone. It's for this reason that I never crack open a brew until the wort is in the boil kettle - just make too many mistakes.
In a week and a half, I'm going to do my first ever double brew day - so I'm interested to see how long it will take, trying to be efficient in my multitasking. Hopefully I won't break anything...
What I really hate, though, is when I injure myself or break/damage some of my equipment. Two weeks ago while I was rinsing PBW out of my boil kettle, I grabbed the chine, which had been several hundred degrees just a few minutes earlier. The whimper that escaped my lips was more out of the realization of my own stupidity than of pain. The scars are mostly gone. It's for this reason that I never crack open a brew until the wort is in the boil kettle - just make too many mistakes.
In a week and a half, I'm going to do my first ever double brew day - so I'm interested to see how long it will take, trying to be efficient in my multitasking. Hopefully I won't break anything...
the4gottenman
Active Member
It used to be bottling. Then I started kegging. Now I would say hauling equipment up to the kitchen to clean and hauling water downstairs. Which is why plans are in the works for adding a pot filler over the brew table and adding a bathroom with a basin sink. Like someone else said though, it's like complaining about going to the beach (or in my case, the mountains). All the hard work is more than worth the end result. 
Really? You're speaking of one of lifes simple pleasures. Sounds like someone needs to take a moment to smell the roses, as the saying goes...
Don't you mean stop and read the paper? Or catch up on HBT posts using your phone.
Am I the only one who hates all the cleaning? ;-P
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What do I hate? Trying to keep wife and kids outta my F'n way! That's just about it.
I'm pretty much in agreement with this...over the years, I've made the same kind of improvements. And now it's even better because I have access to instant hot water and sink in the garage. My three tier brew stand is on wheels so I just roll it out the garage door with everything hanging off it and set up some folding tables for stuff......damn things..if I pinch my fingers one more time :cross: ......
All this had enabled me to do double brew days! I can do a 12 gallon batch in 5 hours, start to end....I can do a double day, one 12 gal and one 6 gal in about 8-1/2.....but I am beat at the end.
And like Black Island, I don't drink till the last batch is in the fermenter....I do need a beer to wash that boil kettle though
But to answer the question....nothing...I really enjoy every minute and the downtime has given me the chance to think about how to improve the process.
"Perfection is not obtainable. But if we chase perfection, we might catch excellence."
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Whether at home or in a brewery, dealing with the spent mash is my least fave part of the process
Johnnyhitch1
Well-Known Member
1. Cleaning
2. Cleaning
3. Cleaning
Which brings me to my next point
Make them clean!!!
If i didnt have to clean i would prob brew a ton more.
2. Cleaning
3. Cleaning
Which brings me to my next point
Make them clean!!!
If i didnt have to clean i would prob brew a ton more.
I remember my days of working at a local microbrewery. Low guy on the totem pole gets the shovel...
Flipadelphia
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Cleaning for sure.
NathPowe
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Not a big fan of the cleaning, but honestly my least favorite part of the hobby doesn't occur during brew day.
For whatever reason, I find packaging beer (i.e. kegging/bottling) to be really annoying. I don't dig it. I keg almost all of my beer (I bottle 1 or 2 5gal batches a year) and, while I definitely think kegging is an improvement over bottling (for me/my style - I'm not hating on bottling here), I still find it very tedious and generally lacking in awesomeness.
That's my deal. At the end of the day though, this is still the most badass hobby ever and I'm obviously going to keep filling kegs up with tastiness.
Cheers.
For whatever reason, I find packaging beer (i.e. kegging/bottling) to be really annoying. I don't dig it. I keg almost all of my beer (I bottle 1 or 2 5gal batches a year) and, while I definitely think kegging is an improvement over bottling (for me/my style - I'm not hating on bottling here), I still find it very tedious and generally lacking in awesomeness.
That's my deal. At the end of the day though, this is still the most badass hobby ever and I'm obviously going to keep filling kegs up with tastiness.
Cheers.
I think I spend all of 40 seconds cleaning on a 6 hour brewday so I am gonna go with managing boil time. I think I got ADD when it comes to standing over the kettle for that long so I constantly walk away and do other things. I cringe at recipes with lots of hop additions.
Flipadelphia
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Do you have a small boil kettle or something?
No a keggle. I take a metal scrubbie and quickly hit the trouble spots. Dump it in compost outside garage door, rinse with garden hose and flip over to dry.
Ditto. It's all the interruptions while brewing. Son: "Dad, can you take me surfing?" Me: "I can drop you off once I start to mash, and can pick you up 1 to 1/2 hours later. But, if you miss that window, I can't get you until after the boil, chill and transfer to the fermenter." Son: "What?"
Given the amount of waiting around brewing entails, my wife and kids can't understand why I can't do errands or drop them off/pick them up in the middle of brewing. I have to explain to them that I don't want to leave a propane burner burnning without being there and that alot of brewing is a matter of timing.
The other thing I don't like about brewing is waiting to see what my recipe actually tastes like........ 6 weeks + after brewing it. By then, I've forgotten what I made.
It's a hobby...there isn't supposed to be anything to hate about it. If you have a "hate" about it, then change your approach....take pride in accomplishing the cleaning, of making that pot shine again, of watching clear water flow through a plate chiller, of putting something to look forward to in a fermenter, keg or bottle, of cleaning things so you have something to look forward to....
Maybe it's just me, but even after 15 years, I still get a thrill out of making this magic work....and continually tweaking and improving. The challenges are just too many to get bogged down in some detail that is required to do a good job.
I guess I should have named by brews Pollyanna Brewing
Maybe it's just me, but even after 15 years, I still get a thrill out of making this magic work....and continually tweaking and improving. The challenges are just too many to get bogged down in some detail that is required to do a good job.
I guess I should have named by brews Pollyanna Brewing
It's a hobby...there isn't supposed to be anything to hate about it. If you have a "hate" about it, then change your approach....take pride in accomplishing the cleaning, of making that pot shine again, of watching clear water flow through a plate chiller, of putting something to look forward to in a fermenter, keg or bottle, of cleaning things so you have something to look forward to....
Maybe it's just me, but even after 15 years, I still get a thrill out of making this magic work....and continually tweaking and improving. The challenges are just too many to get bogged down in some detail that is required to do a good job.
I guess I should have named by brews Pollyanna Brewing
I think hate is just a relative term, I don't think any of use actually "hate" we are all just talking freely about a hobby we love and the parts that go a little crazy, I am sure if there was true hate none of us would be having fun with this discussion
Flipadelphia
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It's a hobby...there isn't supposed to be anything to hate about it. If you have a "hate" about it, then change your approach....take pride in accomplishing the cleaning, of making that pot shine again, of watching clear water flow through a plate chiller, of putting something to look forward to in a fermenter, keg or bottle, of cleaning things so you have something to look forward to....
Maybe it's just me, but even after 15 years, I still get a thrill out of making this magic work....and continually tweaking and improving. The challenges are just too many to get bogged down in some detail that is required to do a good job.
I guess I should have named by brews Pollyanna Brewing
lol you're allowed to hate certain aspects of a hobby.
Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
I put my stand on wheels too, it's two-tier because I lack height in my 1926 garage-built-for-model T's. I even made it long enough to put the propane bottle on the end so all I have to do is twist the valve on brewday. My workbench gives my my space to keep my hop additions, irish moss, etc, and the "grain room" is a small store room at the front end of the garage. Would love to have your sink...
Sounds about right - I'm sitting at 5 hours on brews with short mash times and 60 minute boils, 6 if I need to do a protein rest or low temp mash and a 90 minute boil. The double day coming up is an American Amber and an American Brown, so I'll use your 8.5 as a benchmark to shoot for!
One think I always thought I wanted but turned out I don't is company on brew day. My wife will pop her head in once in a while, but having someone come by and hang out tends to stop me from multitasking, and I end up doing all the cleaning at then end, which I don't enjoy as much - something about cleaning on a deadline (ie: gotta get the MLT done before the second hop addition) helps me make a tedious job less so.
I have had good results with friends over. Turns out I do almost everything and a whole lot of talking, but they never seem to impede my progress. Then again since I am an indoor brewer space is quite limited and I can't clean my tun when my bathtub is full of wort pots. LOL. That just sounds ridiculous. I suppose I could clean it out while the boil is happening, but usually I'm too busy measuring out hops and timing additions.
It's a hobby...there isn't supposed to be anything to hate about it. If you have a "hate" about it, then change your approach....
Unfortunately most things come with a compromise: I love scuba diving but hate sunburns, love making woopy but hate cuddling, love fishing but hate mosquito bites...................
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McGlothan
Well-Known Member
I hate when you get all set up and prepare yourself for brew day and when you wake up its really WINDY! The wind can make an otherwise awesome brew day very frustrating. Especially when using the propane burner. You have to constantly watch it in case the flame blows out. I miss having an attached garage. My garage now is across a parking lot and has no water nearby. Not worth carrying everything back and forth.
I live in the city so brew at my parents most of the time, for me it's the hectic nature of having equipment in two places going back and forth on brew day means I am unsettled most of the day because I am rushing around getting there and prepping, hurrying to clean and then transporting home. The only positive I see on my imminent move to the suburbs is having a dedicated brew area
