What's the hardest part of homebrewing?

[justbrewit]

what is fly sparging?? forgive my ignorance

and my spelling! LOL

 

[enoughstuff]

Definitely the wait!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Porter fan]

The waiting is the hardest part.That's what i voted for.. :cross:

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

cleaning up............i love the whole brewing experience, that's just my least favorite part of the brew day.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I voted for waiting. Only because I hadn't brewed in quite a while so my supply consists on my first batch in ages. Tha's why I brewd 10 Gallons though. I figure I should still have plenty left by thetime my next beer is ready.

What I find the biggest pain to be is sanitizing bottles. Though FINDING bottles is becoming a hassle. I like the 500ml (pint) glass bottle chechvar and Baron are bottled in, but they are hard to find used here. In BC, liqour is sold through Govt stores (cheaper) and private liqour stores. The Govt ones do the most business sine the price is cheaper but they don't tend to have cold sections. Anyways, they used to sell you used bottles of whatever type was on the palettes, for the cost of the deposit (10cents) each. Then they started crushing the bottles to save space. For some reason they no longer crush them and they have them in the back on palettes, awaiting pick up from the recycler. But some idiot in govt has decided that they can no longer sell used bottles due to "health concerns". If you go to the recycler he will sell them but for $3 for 12 dirty 12 ouncers! Rip off. And no big bottles.
I can find 12 ounce easy enough form friends. But I do like the big bottles.

I was desparate and resorted to using 500ml water bottles for 5 gallons. The other 5 is in glass. I figure the first 5 won't last to long anyway. Of course I ahd to make a strong ale for my first bacth in ages. Takes for ever to age!
Even at a 9 days old it's tasty. That other bacth better be done soon. I need to put away half of this 10G batch for a year. All this talk calls for a strong Ale!

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

that's wild. i didn't realize that's how booze was sold in Canada.

waiting is tuff, but it's cool to see the beer mature and progress through fermentation. i check mine every morning and night to see activity and record the differences. after brewing yesterday, it confirmed my vote again.....clean-up!

 

[SwAMi75]

Thats because its easy and fun!

True, plus I don't have to have my loud-ass burner going, so I can enjoy some tunes. Not to mention playing with my little whirly-gig sparger.

justbrewit: Fly sparging is basically rinsing your grain bed of the extracted sugar by sprinking hot water over it. What comes out the bottom is your sweet wort.....then you boil.

 

[rewster451]

By the time I pitch, I have had a good six pack or more. The cleanup is a dreaded step at this point due to my current state of mind! I'm ready to go relax with a few more home brews but instead it is getting late and dark and I have to drag my equipment to the curb to hose it all down and then get to the sanitizing...

This is my predicament exactly. I love everything about brewing... The smell, the careful temperature control, the weighing of ingredients, the formulation of a recipe, even to a certain extent the waiting. There's stuff in my closet turning into beer, and while I wait I drink old homebrew or good storebought stuff. The druken cleanup seems to sneak up on you just when you think you've finished and everything is hunky-dory.

 

[JillC25]

I hate sanitizing. Everything is too bulky to fit in the sink and I think I spill more sanitizer on me than I do in the carboys. And those damn raking hoses are always unraveling or falling on something that might contaminate. I think by the time I'm done w/ sanitizing I need a 6 pack just to calm my nerves.

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

try a wallpaper tray for racking canes and long tubes. i use a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with sanitizer, and keep it all day while i brew. anything already cleaned, gets put into the bucket until i need it, or when i'm done cleaning up.

 

[BlightyBrewer]

For me it's bottling. But now I transfer to the keg, prime, gently stir, then draw off ten 500ml bottles and put them aside to mature...and the keg, well it doesn't get to mature too long!

 

[wl7coe]

Brew a good beer and people want it all, you calculate it will take 10 gallons to hand out enough, but you only have 4 gallons.

The hard part is telling people you don't have any more!

A runner up is bottling.

 

[Orfy]

try a wallpaper tray for racking canes and long tubes. i use a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with sanitizer, and keep it all day while i brew. anything already cleaned, gets put into the bucket until i need it, or when i'm done cleaning up.

I do the same. A 5 Gallon outside and a one gallon next to the sink, both full of sanitiser. After I use something I rinse it, leave it in the bucket and just give it a quick rinse if I need it again or before I put it away. By the end of my brew I don't have that much to clean.