What have you quit doing ------ because it doesn't seem to be adding anything

[njviking]

I stopped caring what my friends and family would drink. My ball my yard; go make your own beer.

 

[RichFellows]

I have stopped doing something that has helped me stop making dumb mistakes: drinking heavily. Now if I am drinking while brewing it is usually just 1-2 for the whole process. This has helped me stop forgetting additions and doing other stupid things.

Oh how I wish I didn't know what you are talking about. It's entirely too easy while you are sitting outside on a nice day waiting for mashing, waiting for the boil to start, waiting to add hops, etc and drink a bunch of beers. I remember recently doing 2 batches back to back and after brewing/drinking for most of the daylight hours I barely can recall the final stages of the second brew. So far everything tastes okay so I'm sure I did fine but I wish I had a better memory of what I did.

 

[RichFellows]

Talking to my ex wife; no real benefit

I quit talking to her as well. I couldn't find a benefit.

 

[kcbeersnob]

I stopped:
- Skimming the foam at the start of the boil.
- Sending water samples for analysis and diluting with distilled. I just use distilled and build my water using Bru'nWater.
- Disassembling kegs every time I kill one off.
- Using sodium chloride conservatively in dark beers.

 

[Subdivisions]

-I no longer bottle beer.

To the kegs they all go.

This is by far the greatest time saver. There's also something about a batch of beer that gets aged in one big mass. It's like how draft and bottled beer seem different

 

[Jaybird]

I stopped taking thorazine on brew day as it did not help

Ohh man I still have to take this on brew day! Keeps me from seeing (and talking to) the bugs trying to get in and kill my beer..LOL

I quit talking to her as well. I couldn't find a benefit.

You know his EX-Wife? HUH....

Cheers
Jay

 

[bionut]

Because of him she's the ex, haha.

 

[Hello]

I stopped worrying about volumes so much. It actually helped and now I hit my volume pretty much every time.

 

[lhommedieu]

I've stopped worrying about volume and use the last runnings pH as an indicator of when I should stop sparging. I get what I get.

I've cut back using StarSan and have switched to isodophor for most of my sanitation. I still use StarSan for small parts that I get to with a spray bottle, but I rinse it off with boiling water.

I'm using less liquid yeast with starters and more dry yeast (no starter). Despite all my best intentions, I've never used yeast nutrient in the fermenter and don't aerate my wort; I've never had a problem with lag time.

I've stopped using a gravity system and now use pumps to move liquids around. This has made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the brewing process.

Despite the aforementioned things that I've quit, my brew day is actually longer because I'm learning the tri-decoction method. It's actually nice to shut out the outside world for a day at time.

 

[brew_ny]

Ohh man I still have to take this on brew day! Keeps me from seeing (and talking to) the bugs trying to get in and kill my beer..LOL


Cheers
Jay

maybe I should try adding Abilify

 

[stevedasleeve]

I meant to add:

I've stopped "upgrading!" My cooler, heatstick/induction burner combo, glass carboys, immersion cooler rig makes *fantastic* beers. I stopped changing things a number of years ago since I have dialed in to where I can hit any number I want and brew day is pretty much a no brain process, efficient and smooth as the skin on the underarm of a piglet...

I turned down an electric rig, and a conical my wife wanted to get for me... who needs the bling?

Steve da Sleeve

 

[Schecter]

I meant to add:

I've stopped "upgrading!" My cooler, heatstick/induction burner combo, glass carboys, immersion cooler rig makes *fantastic* beers. I stopped changing things a number of years ago since I have dialed in to where I can hit any number I want and brew day is pretty much a no brain process, efficient and smooth as the skin on the underarm of a piglet...

I turned down an electric rig, and a conical my wife wanted to get for me... who needs the bling?

Steve da Sleeve

I appreciate this post a lot. I use a corona mill, a 10 gallon cooler, and a propane burner. Yes I may make a keggle and I'm just getting a new chest freezer to ferment in, but man, I feel making something so damn delicious from the low-end equipment just tastes so much better. Plus, more money for malt!

Cheers

 

[riderkb]

I turned down an electric rig, and a conical my wife wanted to get for me... who needs the bling?

Steve da Sleeve

I had to read this twice. You have a wife who wants to buy you a conical? Please don't tell us she is beautiful, too. Don't rub it in.

 

[brew_ny]

last two brews no Irish moss they are clear as ever

so using Irish moss

 

[Qhrumphf]

I stopped labeling bottles not long after I started labeling bottles. Looks pretty. Waste of time.

I stopped using chalk in the mash, period. It doesn't work. When I do need to raise alkalinity (unless I'm ~20 SRM or more, and dropping my RA low, I never need it) I use baking soda.

I stopped using 5.2 stabilizer. It doesn't work.

I stopped paying attention to brewing "city" water profiles entirely. I do not pay attention to them in the slightest.

I stopped stirring my mash constantly. I give it exactly 1 stir halfway through and no more.

I stopped leaving every beer in the fermenter for 4 weeks. I now rarely leave them longer than three weeks, and often package at 2 weeks (or less for session beers). Even big beers (I don't brew many) get packaged at 3-ish weeks. Not that leaving them longer hurt the beer, just my process and yeast/fermentation management is solid so my beers don't need the conditioning time any more.

I stopped trying to make every mash hit 5.2 pH. I'm usually fine with 5.3-5.4, and like 5.5 on darker beers.

 

[stevedasleeve]

I had to read this twice. You have a wife who wants to buy you a conical? Please don't tell us she is beautiful, too. Don't rub it in.

Beautiful and dangerous, oh and can't live without my IPAs.

My beloved, Lady Maxine

http://youtu.be/lhTVmcoEeLg

Steve da sleeve

 

[Jaybird]

Beautiful and dangerous, oh and can't live without my IPAs.

My beloved, Lady Maxine

http://youtu.be/lhTVmcoEeLg

Steve da sleeve

Thats FLIPPEN KILLER! What year was that video done Steve?

Cheers
Jay

 

[unionrdr]

I like the mad maxine idea. Dat's a gude von...in other news, I too have stopped buying all kinds of brewing stuff, save for dolling up the man cave. I have what I need to make beer from kit-n-kilo to pb/pm biab. Works well for me...save for some simple temp control...which never seems to be simple without being messy.

 

[geckholm]

I quit messing with dough balls by mashing in at temps below the gelatinization point.

I also quit buying gallons of Spring Water. It just creates a plastic mountain. I use tap.

Interesting. So, if your mash temp is 152, you start low and once you are mashed in, you increase the temp? That works well for you?

 

[geckholm]

If I mash at 150 or above, I only mash for 45 minutes. All the conversion is done by then. Just a waste of time for me to mash longer. YMMV.

No matter the temp, at 30 minutes I just start doing an iodine test. You'd be surprised at how much time can be saved.

 

[skepace]

I stopped caring what my friends and family would drink. My ball my yard; go make your own beer.

Same! Tried brewing what others asked but then I just had 5 gallons of a beer I didn't want.

Stopped bottling once I could. So much easier and my wife doesn't know how much I brew since it's all in a fridge she stays away from.

 

[Bucky_Brewer]

I stopped worrying about "stuck-sparges".

I grind my malt as fine as I can while maintaining some visible pieces of husks in the grist and run with it.

And I'm finally hitting my efficiency goals. Woohoo!

Besides, if I did actually get an honest-to-goodness stuck-sparge, I'd just sparge in however many batches I needed to reach my target volume.

 

[azazel1024]

I use table sugar instead of corn sugar. It takes a little less of it, it makes my wife happier (she is anti-corn sugar, it's a thing, whatever) and saves a few pennies (and I always have some on hand on bottling day!).

I am stopping buying grain from my LHBS by the pound and going bulk (yay to now owning a mill!)

I am not buying yeast anymore (with rare exceptions) as I am building oversized starters and harvesting for later (with the exception of "brew once a year" stuff where the yeast won't keep that long).

I am not buying sanitizer in the little 8oz bottles any longer (32oz of Idophor FTW!)

I am not staying perfectly sober on brewing days any longer.

I am not straining my wort before it goes in the carboy any longer.

I am not using recipes any longer (other than as a basic guide before I make my own).

That is about all I can think of off the top of my head. I may be moving towards 30 minutes mashes as well, instead of 60 minute. I need to build confidence in that some more first.

 

[Grinnan5150]

I'm not straining the trub out of the wort when the boil is done. I find that it doesn't affect the flavor or fermentation at all and saves a bunch of time.

 

[corkybstewart]

I quit weighing malt-I have a scoop I use and I have a pretty good idea how much it holds for most malts. 2 pounds of barley(+- an oz) fills the scoop, for wheat it 2.2 pounds, and roasted malts are about 1.75-1.9 pounds. On 10 gallon recipes with 20-28 pounds total malts the weight difference is immaterial.
I mash until my sparge water is 180F, usually 45 minutes to an hour.
I quit cleaning kegs every time one kicks-now I wait until I have 3 or 4 to clean and I clean them while I clean my brewing system after a batch. I use one batch of PBW solution to clean all my lines, pump and kegs. This is also when I have my first beer of the brewing day.
I quit waiting until the sparge is done to start the boil. If I'm batch sparging I'll get the first batch boiling before I start the runoff of the second batch, if I'm fly sparging once I have 3 or 4 gallons in the kettle I'll fire it up. Getting the hot break from the first runnings out of the way while my kettle is still mostly empty helps prevent boilovers.

 

[MaxStout]

I stopped worrying about having beer our guests will like. (Actually, I never did worry about that. )

I'll offer some home brew or any of the micros I happen to have in the fridge. If you don't appreciate those kinds of beers, that's OK. But if you want a "Lite beer," be sure to bring some, as I don't have that on hand. When I go to your house I don't get judgmental about the beers you have. If you offer me a BMC, I will graciously accept it.

 

[brew_ny]

batch sparging for more then ten minutes

 

[1977Brewer]

I stopped worrying about having beer our guests will like. (Actually, I never did worry about that. )



I'll offer some home brew or any of the micros I happen to have in the fridge. If you don't appreciate those kinds of beers, that's OK. But if you want a "Lite beer," be sure to bring some, as I don't have that on hand. When I go to your house I don't get judgmental about the beers you have. If you offer me a BMC, I will graciously accept it.

This x 100. You are welcome to anything in my fridge. If it's in there, I bet it's good. If not, there's cold beer at the grocery store a mile away. I sent my Dad packing to Albertsons because he "doesn't like ales".

 

[unionrdr]

I've decided to stop steering around gruit ales. Especially after finding the Mumme recipe, aka Keutbier. Since the ale dates back to at least 1390's, I have to give it a try. Who knows, it might even be good for certain ailments?

 

[azazel1024]

This x 100. You are welcome to anything in my fridge. If it's in there, I bet it's good. If not, there's cold beer at the grocery store a mile away. I sent my Dad packing to Albertsons because he "doesn't like ales".

A lot of this.

That said, I tend to have at least half a dozen different styles at anytime and usually someone kind find something they like.

At a recent birthday party one of the dad's wanted a bud. He accepted a German Pilsner I had brewed (though admittedly, still a little flat) bregrudingly and liked it. I then gave him a Dopplebock, he thought it was awesome, "it's so smooth, and it is isn't hoppy. The flavor...".

Then he started talking about "wow, if this is beer you brewed, maybe I should think about brewing some beer". :rockin: