Why do you hate brewing?

[deanrallen]

Damned double post...

 

[BrunDog]

Trying to pour DME into a pot of hot water for my yeast starter. The steam hits the bowl as I'm pouring and turns the DME into a sticky brick. Yay.

Used to do this. Now I put the DME in first, then fill with H20, the heat right on stove.

In any event, no reason you can't put DME in first even if you add boiling water to it.

-BD

 

[JonM]

Or, put the pot on the scale, zero out the scale, THEN add the DME, then add the water then put on the stove and start to heat.

 

[Homercidal]

My biggest gripes are me. I want to be more organized and more prepared each brewday. I want to have things have their own dedicated space and be put back when done. I want to remember to do things on their schedule (Like clean that empty keg and refill with that ESB that should have been done a few days ago.)

All of that is my fault. It's up to me to get it done. It's not impossible. I just can't seem to do it.

I'm better than I used to be. I am more prepared and I stress less when I have to wing it. I have brewsheets that I just need to remember to fill out on brewday to record the batch. I clean stuff during the brew so when I'm done I really only have to wash out the pump and hoses and the kettle and maybe a few odds and ends. Anything that was used before the chill is already cleaned and drying by the time the fermentor is full.

I wish I could get my electric rig finished. I'm currently further behind than I was last year. Stupid little things hold me back and I forget I need to buy this or that to move forward.

When the beer turns our nice it's all worth it, though.

 

[TheCADJockey]

My biggest gripes are me.

This is me as well. It's not so much that I procrastinate, more so that I "think" I hate doing it. I always compare it to going to punk shows. Man, I never want to. Friends finally talk me into it, and I have a blast. Once I start making beer, I enjoy every second and cleaning isn't even an issue.

I think there are a few things I'm missing that would make it much more enjoyable. A dedicated beer fridge now that I have dedicated space, for one.

 

[1977Brewer]

I hate that I can't do it often enough. Budgeting time and money is tough when both are precious commodities.

 

[Zekk]

I hate that I keep making stupid mistakes, like using too much water, or not buying enough grain or having dme on hand.

I also hate that I don't drink my 5 gallon batches as fast as I want to brew. My wife and I just moved so I don't really have people to help me drink it either.

 

[VApatriot]

The biggest PITA for me is moving my equipment upstairs from the basement so that I can brew in the garage...then having to bring it back down after brewing is over with.

I've got you beat. Not only are my kettles and gear in the basement, the only sink big enough to wash them is the utility sink in the laundry room on the second floor. So for me it's haul the kettles up from the basement to the second floor to wash out before brewing, bring them down to the garage to brew, bring them back up to the second floor to wash again, then haul down to the basement for storage. Ugh!

 

[davidst]

I've only brewed 4 batches so I'm pretty inexperienced but for me it's:

1. Waiting 4 weeks to see how my beer turned out and to drink it (although I do get the warm un-carbonated sample at 2 weeks).

2. Making sure I have 48 empty bottles around before bottling day.

3. Cleaning those bottles and then to a lesser extent bottling.

Brew day is fun though and I don't even mind the cleaning afterwards.

 

[Peruvian802]

Mine was not cleaning, it was setting up and tearing down.

x2.

I keep all my brewing equipment in the basement so whenever I brew I have to pull out the burners, kettles, milk crate with chiller/paddle/gloves/etc, fermenter, etc. and bring them upstairs to brew outside. Maybe some day I'll create an indoor electric brewery, but then I would hate brewing inside on a sunny day! :smack:

 

[lump42]

I can't think of anything.

Lugging the equipment out of the basement? I do that on Friday evening before a Saturday morning brew session and that job is accompanied by beer and tunes. And it really doesn't take that long.

Cleanup? I hose things out and scrub the kettle and turn it upside down on the brew stand to air dry. Doesn't take long at all and it's easy with the garden hose. I suppose it is a bit of a chore in the winter when I can't use the hose, but not bad.

Putting stuff away is accompanied by beer and tunes, so that's not so bad.

I keg, and kegging is always accompanied by beer and tunes.

Making starters is a snap because I pressure can wort. The pressure canning is a snap too.

Really, I can't think of any part of the process that I "hate."

I agree. I have my small brewday equipment in single tote. I prioritize setting up. First burner and getting mash water. While that is heating I set up the mashtun and mill grains that I forgot to do the day before.

Clean things as soon as I'm done with it. Even the break material on my brew pot comes off with water and rubbing with my hands or washrag. In the winter, everything is cleaned in the tub, like I'm bathing children.

To remove break and hops from the kettle, I sanitize a paint strainer, place it in fermenting bucket, pour the kettle in. I only have to lift the strainer bag and hold it for a minute or two.

I bottle but I find the repetitive work a relaxing change of pace. I rinse out bottles well as soon as I empty them, so no cleaning bottle on packaging day. I did purchase a wine bottle sulfiter which makes sanitizing quick and a benchtop capper to make capping quicker and easier. I those cut my bottling times to around a half hour.

For starters, I microwave the wort for 5-10 minutes in the starter jar. I have plastic mason jar lids that I set on top the jar in the microwave. http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Regular-Mouth-Storage-Caps/dp/B0000BYC4BThen I just screw tight after it sits for a few minutes. I'll make it the day or two before and store in the fridge. Since everything was exposed to the steam, it will all be pasteurized if not sterilized.

 

[bobeer]

Cleaning and chilling the wort.

Oh yea... and the waiting! Waiting for the beer to ferment, waiting on the yeast cleaning things up, waiting on the dry hop, waiting on the cold crash, waiting on the carbonation and conditioning. I could deal with way less waiting. lol.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

as I'm pitching the yeast, I'm all like "Howlongigotta wait?!? Hey! HEY!!! Howlongigotta wait?!?"

 

[Bosh]

Waking up at 4 AM to get the mash and boil done and cooling before the spawn wake up. Gets old real fast.

Use one liter plastic bottles. Think I`d go insane with normal glass beer bottles.

 

[Crashola]

Oh man, it has to be the time it takes to do an all-grain batch. And I always go in thinking that, because it takes several hours, I'll be able to do something else like watch a basketball game. But it never works out that way. It seems like even when your waiting on the mash or the boil there is always something else that needs to be done like sanitizing the fermenter, rehydrating yeast, etc. It can be a grind.


Oh, and I hate chilling wort in the summer.

 

[brrman]

Cleaning the Mash Tun and BK. Always such a PITA for me.

 

[Yellowirenut]

Scheduling and space. Now that I have a family, I just have not found time to devote a full morning to brewing. Until I get my workshop shed its all on hold anyway.

 

[AQUILAS]

The constant worrying I go through.

Did I santize properly? Did I propogate and pitch enough yeast? Is my temp controller working properly? Is my fermentation already done? Am I gonna have bottle bombs? Are people going to like this beer or hate it?

 

[deanrallen]

The constant worrying I go through.



Did I santize properly? Did I propogate and pitch enough yeast? Is my temp controller working properly? Is my fermentation already done? Am I gonna have bottle bombs? Are people going to like this beer or hate it?

God yes! It's that little pit in your stomach during the whole process. I've been told it's a good thing to worry.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

The constant worrying I go through.

Did I santize properly? Did I propogate and pitch enough yeast? Is my temp controller working properly? Is my fermentation already done? Am I gonna have bottle bombs? Are people going to like this beer or hate it?

God yes! It's that little pit in your stomach during the whole process. I've been told it's a good thing to worry.

I stopped worrying about 15 years ago. don't stress your hobbies, stress everything else. use your hobby to relieve the stress. "If science teaches us anything, it is to to take our failures with dignity and grace."

What bothers me is not a particular task, but the ever present possibility of an infection. I had one and did not enjoy the experience.

start brewing sours. then you'll hope for a decent infection. hahahaa!!!

 

[munro]

I use my keggerator to cold crash and I hate lifting a glass carboy in and out of the chest freezer. I'm worried the carboy handle will stress fracture the carboy and leaning over the collar is a pain. Also space. Where I have lived for the last two years doesn't have the best lay out for brewing. Lots of careful slow walking with kettles of wort and full glass carboys.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

The humidity....

Brewing inside easily raises the humidity of my house 10% - 20% along with the temperature about 5°.

There's also not enough time in the week to do it as often as I want. I hate that.

 

[chisena]

Cause every time I make a beer I want to pour it out and make it better (i.e. Improve it in my own mind)... Drives me nuts.

 

[Scriv]

The amount of time between brewday and carbed beer day. Wish the process was faster.

 

[muels]

I hate how fragile the little tip in my racking canes are. No matter how careful I am I end up breaking that little piece thus making the racking cane completely useless. If someone could invent a more durable racking cane that would def make my brewing life easier. I've only been brewing for about 11 months now and I'm on RC #4.

PITA

Distant second is like everyone already said, the cleaning up part. I just don't feel like scrubbing and washing after I've been making beer for 5-6 hours. Sometimes I get lazy and leave the kettle and MT to clean days at a time later. Which adds to the level of aggravation because trying to scrub dried trub and gunk of the sides of the kettle is a real B.

Other than those two things I really enjoy brewing!

Do they break or just come out? Mine comes out now and again. It will snap back in. Pull the cane out, get a Chapstick tube and a dab of honey. Stick the racking cane tip on the Chapstick with the dab of honey. Turn the racking tube upside down and put the Chapstick in. Use the racking cane to push it up the tube. You have to poke around to get it to line up but it will pop back in and be good as new!

 

[globe]

Well i just moved into a apartment from a house. Now I really loathe brewing because i had my system down so well and everything in its place. It will take some to adjust.

 

[Wild1z]

For me, bottling. I need a better bottling setup with a nice deep sink, abundant counterspace, and a floor/counter capper. Hopefully in the new house. Right now, after oxycleaning the bottles I rinse, StarSan, and fill them in the bathtub (in case there are any spills) with my fermenter raised on a bath stool. Then cap using my trusty dual lever Red Baron.

It is an hour of bending over which my old back is liking less and less.

But, we are moving into a new house in a few months with a dedicated workshop, so I will tough it out

While I am continually tempted to keg, I usually gift about half of my bottles so having them in giftable format makes things easier. Otherwise I would have to drink them myself... which... er... would that be bad?

Save a few bottles and keg the rest. Your back will thank you! [emoji6]

In order of degree of hate (i.e., hate most to least)

Waiting for the damn strike water/brew kettle to heat up - Not a big deal during the winter, but in the summer I brew in my garage with the door up. I live in south Louisiana and the heat index is over 100 for pretty much 4 months straight. The humidity is unbearable as well. Add a couple of propane burners and my garage gets melt-your-face-off hot. If I brink a beer to drink while I wait, it's usually piss-warm in about 5 minutes.

I used to live in Slidell and I visit frequently so I know that oppressive heat. To top that off it's probably raining when you go to brew so you can't put the burner just outside the garage. I just switched to the Blichman burner from a bayou classic, it really cut that time back, there is no soot and it uses less propane believe it or not. Quiet too. I don't know what you have but I hope that helps. [emoji6]

 

[user 214470]

In the last few brews I optimized my PITA tasks a bit..

a) I now go clean the mash tun once I get the wort boiling. (I hate cleaning the mash tun, so it gives some relief after the brewing).

b) Tidy up everything else once I start chilling the wort (gas burner, small items, tools etc.)

c) After wort-to-fermenter the only thing left cleaning is the keggle, so I do that while the yeast is rehydrating.

d) Once I pitch the yeast, everything is already cleaned and organized - at this point I feel a bit tired but I'm completely done with the brewing + cleaning.

e) Also, bought a bottle rinser/sanitizer, faucet jet washer, bottle tree - that makes the bottle prep two-three times faster. I also sometimes prep the bottles the night before bottling, but in that case i need to cover the bottles with sanitized foil.. Now using the bench capper, that also helps a lot.

All in all - investing in some handy brewing/cleaning tools really helps to make the homebrewing pretty easy.

 

[jwalk4]

All in all - investing in some handy brewing/cleaning tools really helps to make the homebrewing pretty easy.

Preach it, brother!

All hail my dip tube brush! I use it to clean my keg dip tubes (obviously), but also scrub my vinyl tubing, siphon, and ball valves. Best 3 bucks I've ever spent.

 

[BaylessBrewer]

I don't hate anything about brewing. But, what I do hate is my wife bitching about me being in the garage all day drinking and brewing!! [emoji2]