Why didn't I do it sooner?

[brewcat]

I'm sitting here thinking about the times in brewing where you say, "Why didn't I do it sooner?"

My latest one is a temp control fermentation chamber. Now I can finally brew everything in summer. Lagers? Yes! It is the same feeling as kegging my first keg, pulling my first pint or even going full boil.

So what have been your latest moments? Your most memorable? Whether making your beer better or easier...What are they?

 

[kh54s10]

Mine was steps. Also in fermentation temperature control. First, a swamp cooler, then an insulated chamber. It could not cool enough for a lager so a freezer based fermentation chamber for lagers.

That and going from Extract -> Partial Mash -> All grain.

But all of those were in quick succession in the first couple of years after I started brewing 5 years ago.

 

[seatazzz]

Mine was definitely kegging. I'm only on my second kegged batch and already I find myself looking at all the bombers in my fridge, thinking, "nah, I'd rather have what's on tap." Mainly because bottle washing/sanitizing/storing = large headache. I've still got plenty of variety in my bottled beers and only one IIPA on tap, but I'm drinking the heck out of it.

 

[foam_top]

Mine is really small and simple but made all the difference in the world. I used to fill my hydrometer tube with beer/wort and then place the hydrometer (just how I learned from observing other brewers). Because of this, it would require guessing on where the fill line should be which is different at different gravities. However, I since realized if you just simply put the hydrometer in first and then the liquid you never have to worry about over or under filling the cylinder. I still give it a spin and make sure there's some buoyancy to get an accurate reading.

 

[TWAL]

Buying a house w/a basement and double garage.

 

[worlddivides]

I don't think I've ever been able to ask that question since I always know why I didn't do it sooner. I've been living in apartments for the past 15 years, so some things in brewing haven't really been practical. But I'll have a house pretty soon, which will be a problem... because all of things I've wanted to do so long have piled up and if I do them all at once... I just can't imagine how much money I'll end up spending.

Self control...

Self control...

That said, I had wanted to brew beer for almost 10 years before I actually started, so in a way, I kind of asked "Why didn't I do this sooner?" then. I remember I was talking to my girlfriend about fermentation, the science behind brewing, and so on (in an un-boring way, I'd like to think), and she just said "Well, why don't you do it?" and I was like "...Yeah... Why don't I?" and I went and bought my first brewing equipment and ingredients the very next day.

 

[edsa1984]

Just, why didn't I start home brewing sooner! Always loved my beer

 

[auhsojjones]

My wife and I live in a small town home in Atlanta with less-than-ideal air conditioning, and before our daughter was born I moved my equipment to my parents house. I've brewed a few times there already and their upstairs bathroom (which nobody uses) could get down to 50 degrees if I closed off enough vents and turned the air up. So basically I had access to a great ale room and never new it.

 

[unionrdr]

Get an air conditioner for the man cave & hung some 6mil plastic sheet over the archway to keep the room at 68F. Was getting up to 105F in here, or 40-ish in winter. Just need to get a good heater that can be set accurately. Then me & the fermenters will be comfortable. Thank God for credit cards!...

 

[Zekk]

Mostly just why didn't I start brewing sooner. I want to keg and get better temperature control, I don't because I don't have to disposable income for it. Simple.

 

[jerbrew]

In order of what has given me better beer or an easier all around brewing experience. Double down on the first two since they are not always mutually exclusive.

chest freezer for fermentation, kegging, adding a pump to my system, going all-grain

 

[BrerRabbitBrew]

When I kick a keg and don't even have a beer in the fermentor. Why oh why didn't I brew last week?

I'm planning on upgrading to a ten gallon setup soon and I'm sure I'll wonder why it took me so long to get around to it.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I brew out side like a lot of people. After cooling the wort I'd hook a tube up to the valve on my pot, open it up and fill my fermentor, take it inside and stumble down the stairs into my basement. Going down the stairs was agonizing, scared I would drop the fermentor or trip. One day I'm standing in the driveway watching the boil and notice that the valve is pointing right at my basement window. When it was time to drain the pot, I went to the basement, put the fermentor under the window, sanatized a longer piece of tube, dropped one end in the fermentor, opened the window, hook up the other end of the tube up to the pot and open the valve.

One of these days I'll clear the area out and move the freezer over under the window. Then I wont have to move the fermentor until bottling day. I'm sure that after that's done I'll be posting here again.

 

[Dimax]

Son of a "hits head" Thank you for this small tip!

"(Mine is really small and simple but made all the difference in the world. I used to fill my hydrometer tube with beer/wort and then place the hydrometer (just how I learned from observing other brewers). Because of this, it would require guessing on where the fill line should be which is different at different gravities. However, I since realized if you just simply put the hydrometer in first and then the liquid you never have to worry about over or under filling the cylinder. I still give it a spin and make sure there's some buoyancy to get an accurate reading)".

 

[GHBWNY]

My "why didn't I do it sooner?" epiphany was in getting a pipeline going. Granted, only a 2-batch pipeline at the moment, but a pipeline, nonetheless. Used to be when I brewed a single batch at a time, I spent the many weeks following waiting, wondering, checking, peeking, anticipating, stressing over its outcome. Since I now start a second batch about halfway through the ferm of the first one, I find myself not worrying about the outcome of the first one to the point of almost forgetting about it. And so forth...

 

[55x11]

Why didn't I start brewing sooner?
Why didn't get into sour beers sooner? (I would have a stash of sour beers by now)
* I got into all-grain and temperature control with a freezer pretty soon after I started brewing, but that's a recommended step for anyone.
* Same with yeast starters (with stir plate) and yeast harvesting (could be fun to have your own yeast collection).
* Kegging is definitely one of those. I resisted the switch until I did, and never regretted it (even though I sometimes - often - still bottle-fill from the keg with Birchman gun).
* Aerating with pure oxygen - relatively cheap and easy
* Brewing 10G and 15G batches and splitting them for experiments (hops/yeast etc.). I wish I did it sooner - also speeds up my pipeline dramatically (to the point that I have more beers than kegs/taps in my keggerator).

The real question is - what will I say I should have done sooner a few years from now? What am I NOT doing now that I should be doing?

 

[Brownalemikie]

Well, I guess I never had time to brew during my working years.....but alas, now that I'm 63 I have mucho time and I'm loving it to pieces. As matter of fact I'm enjoying a home brew brown ale as I type this. I brew 2 gallons a week which is about 19 bottles of beer. Works out to about 3 beers a day...no problem.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Oh this is easy for me, and also a simple one. I had a manual siphon forever and taking gravity readings and transferring was a real pain in my ass trying to get a little water in the siphon to get it started seemed impossible.

So, buying an auto siphon seems simple but man it made my life so much easier...why didn't I do that sooner!?

 

[Limbrizik]

Mine is really small and simple but made all the difference in the world. I used to fill my hydrometer tube with beer/wort and then place the hydrometer (just how I learned from observing other brewers). Because of this, it would require guessing on where the fill line should be which is different at different gravities. However, I since realized if you just simply put the hydrometer in first and then the liquid you never have to worry about over or under filling the cylinder. I still give it a spin and make sure there's some buoyancy to get an accurate reading.

I have learned from my dad to use a sharpie and put a line where to fill your sample up to.

 

[Redtab78]

for my "why didn't I do this sooner" it was the purchase of my own grain mill.....all the headaches and struggling to fix my efficiency was solved with one simple piece of equipment.....which many friends now use as well!!

 

[liquidcourage]

I feel like I ask myself this all the time...

For a couple years I've been using my keezer as a fermentation chamber, lifting carboys and speidels in and out...all while an unused fridge sat in my storage unit. Now it's sitting in the garage with two carboys full of beer fermenting away.... Why didn't I do that sooner???