Why should I stick with this frustrating hobby?!

[logan3825]

Try and plan out your brew day in advance, get everything cleaned and sanitized an laid out in preparation. Make a list of things that need to be done and the steps to follow that you can check off as you go and stay organized. It was only your fourth batch so there is still learning going on. After several batches your system will fall in to place and things will get smoother as you become more familiar with everything that goes on.

Yup, this. We followed this list for about a year I think. There is a lot going on so it is very easy to forget things.

Brewing procedure
At least 2 days before brewing check yeast viability
1 Gather ingredients, water, and equipment
2 Open beer, gotta stay hydrated
3 Start steeping water heating, heat to temp then turn to low
A
4 Put specialty grains into bag
5 Steep grains at suggested temp
6 Start boil water heating
7 Put LME jug in warm water to warm up
8 Set up burner
9 When steeping is done pour grains and steep water through strainer into boil pot
10 Heat till almost boiling
11 Remove from heat then add extract
12 Heat to boil and follow brewing instructions
13 Start top off water boiling with 20 minutes left in boil
14 Place wort chiller in pot 15 minutes before the boil ends
15 Cool wort
16 Sanitize fermenter while wort cools
17 Pour wort into fermenter
18 Sanitize yeast and scissors
19 Top off to 5 gallons with cooled water
20 Check specific gravity, add more water if necessary
17 Pitch yeast
18 Put airlock or blow off tube on fermenter and put in a cool dark place
19 Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew - Charlie Papazian

 

[Glynn]

Do you know what Glynn?
Your post made me grin!
WE all making brewing mistakes,
It's part of the process we sometimes take.
In brewing adventures we might make a mistake,
We're just brewing a beer that others will take.
To that we do have much fun
Brewing under the big old sun.
Brewers are very clever
I couldn't of said that better.
So who cares if you forgot the hops
Cause you made beer...that means alot!
It happens sometimes,
That are beer is not perfectly happy
Don't let me getting all sappy.
You beer my friend will be quite alright.
I'm quite sure it will be out-of-sight!!!

exactly my point. the whole process is a learning experience. today i over shot my temp on my mash. i was supposed to hit 152 i hit 158 so stirred my rump off and after 3 additions from the garden hose, i hit 153 so i closed the lid and said close enough. first run off gives me 2.5g, now i have too much sparge. i had half of it and my temp is to low. add half more temp still to low. i add all but one half gal temp is 158 still lower than i want it but it will have to do. then i forgot a hop addition. after racking to to primary im short on my volume quantity so i add whats left in my kettle to make up the difference. this was also the first time i did a 1 qt starter which of course brewsmith accounted for but i did not. now i have to much volume. are you reading this op. bottom line it will be ok and it will most likely be a great beer and all my friends and family will love it

 

[gavball6]

Wondering what type of filter you were using... I just use the nylon 5 gal paint strainer bag that fits perfectly into my fermenting bucket. I don't have to worry about pouring the wort into a smaller strainer/filter that gets clogged and starts to back up. Just pour it all into the bucket and lift out the paint strainer bag. Has worked great for me...

 

[amandabab]

I'm sorry if I sound angry but this is so frustrating!

Waking up very early to find a very angry, very purple raccoon thrashing around in a towel covered must bucket, almost made me give it up years ago. Sometimes there are rough days, but its worth it.

 

[Peppers16]

Maybe you need to cut back on the steps a bit and simplify your process. HBT is great and all but it doesn't half seem to convince some brewers that they have to make things a lot harder than they need to.
The whole point of a hobby is to do what you enjoy. You're better off making a slightly imperfect beer if you enjoy making it, than a perfect beer that convinces you to quit the hobby.
I'm probably that one condescending brewer ruining your perception of the community now

 

[mikemet]

yea im about to give up myself.

I have an IPA in bottles- never drank a single 1 yet
I have a Belgium in primary under 1 week
I have a Mr Beer 2 year old kit I boiled up a few days ago
I have Apfelwein I just put in a few days ago.
I have a 5 and 6 gallon BB on the way with another extract
I have a LHBS making me some AG- BIAB for my next mini project
I have an empty bottling bucket and I am getting a lid, airlock for it. And another bucket for more fermentation vessels
I havent sampled a beer from a bottle yet.


And you think you have problems........

 

[makomachine]

yea im about to give up myself.

I have an IPA in bottles- never drank a single 1 yet
I have a Belgium in primary under 1 week
I have a Mr Beer 2 year old kit I boiled up a few days ago
I have Apfelwein I just put in a few days ago.
I have a 5 and 6 gallon BB on the way with another extract
I have a LHBS making me some AG- BIAB for my next mini project
I have an empty bottling bucket and I am getting a lid, airlock for it. And another bucket for more fermentation vessels
I havent sampled a beer from a bottle yet.

And you think you have problems........

Just when you think you are done, you add something to the list. Welcome to the hobby! I'd add some form of fermentation temp control as well - knowing what I know now, that and AJ's water primer were the two biggest improvements in my beer.

 

[prrriiide]

Hop socks are cheap (.39/ea at my LHBS). I use one for each hop addition. Since I started doing that, my beers have been much clearer and the fermentations have seemed cleaner. Just use your stir spoon to pull them out before you transfer. But AFTER cooling your wort - don't want to lose that whirlpool hop goodness!

Mako - say hi to Jason White when you see him! Wish he coulda made in the NFL, but those things happen. Still one of my favorite Sooners!

EDIT - Oh, and send me a gallon of Braum's Chocolate Chip on dry ice, if ya don't mind!

 

[makomachine]

hop socks are cheap (.39/ea at my lhbs). I use one for each hop addition. Since i started doing that, my beers have been much clearer and the fermentations have seemed cleaner. Just use your stir spoon to pull them out before you transfer. But after cooling your wort - don't want to lose that whirlpool hop goodness!

Mako - say hi to jason white when you see him! Wish he coulda made in the nfl, but those things happen. Still one of my favorite sooners!

Edit - oh, and send me a gallon of braum's chocolate chip on dry ice, if ya don't mind!

Boommmeerrrr! (Sorry OP, had to be done)

 

[Yooper]

Well thank you everybody for your kind words. I really mean it. I had a good work out and am on my second beer (I know that's counter productive but...) and am a little calmer. The thing that's frustrating is that I do take my time with it and try to plan as best as I can. I like to cook too so I was always have the brew makers version of mise en place. I'm just doing kits, so technically and in theory, this should be pretty easy for me. I guess that why I got so upset because I felt I was prepared, I try to learn from my mistakes and I thought I had accounted for all of them in this batch.

I mean everything was going so well! I was almost done. It was like fumbling on the goal line. I bought a more expensive kit with a higher gravity because I felt I was ready for it. The kit cost around $50 I think and then I bought the wyeast which was like another $7 and like $6 for the stupid filter that failed. The SG of the kit is 1083 and the FG is 1020.

Reading some of your of your advice and anecdotes have helped. I will have to say that out of all the hobbies I have be involved with, this is by far has the best support community behind it. Everybody is so cool and nice and never condescending. This a really nice community to apart of! And no, I'm not drunk! Thanks again and now I plan on getting drunk and listening to the Clash.

I have 10 gallons of "band-aid" beer- my first ever totally ruined batch. I haven't dumped it yet, but I'm going to have to as it's undrinkable. I can pin down what happened (at least, I think so!) and avoid that in the future. At least, I can count it as a learning experience.

I typically don't filter my wort, but leaf hops clog up my system so I started bagging them recently. I don't worry about pellet hops as they go right through just fine. I also don't worry about break material or other stuff, as it'll all settle out in the end with the spent yeast as trub.

 

[Barnzy02]

Eh, you can only convince yourself it's worth it to keep at it.

Best thing i found, is if you're pouring into a bucket. Get a mesh bag that fits the lip of your bucket, put bag in bucket, pour wort into bucket, pull out mesh bag with all your hop and trub goo. Done and Done.

 

[Brulosopher]

Today I attempted to brew my fourth batch ever. It was am imperial hefiwietsen or however you spell it.. Everything was going perfectly until I had to pour my wort into my brew bucket. I had my brew bucket filter on to filter out the hops. I've done this twice before and I've never had a problem. But today the stupid filter comes undone and splashes wort all over my kitchen. So then I dump half of the wort that is now in the brew bucket back into the boiler pot to try it again. Probably contaminating the $@"! out of it as I'm doing this. I try it again being as slow as possible and it does it again!!! Wort everywhere, it's a mess. I'm guessing I lost about anywhere from 1/2 to a full gallon of wort. So I say screw this and I just filter what I can and dump the wort in fill it up to 5 gallons and pitch the yeast. Probably a $:;- tone of hops that weren't filtered out. To make maters worse, I was sold less liquid yeast that I needed for this kit. So I was forced to pitch with one dry yeast packet and one large liquid packet of wyeast. I pour the liquid yeast in and then I notice the little packet inside was never ruptured!!! I swear I smacked the crap out of it and no, I didn't make starter.

I have been working on beer related stuff since 10:30am it's now 4:30! This sucks so hard to put so much freaking work in and was a perfectly beautiful day outside. Not to mention the close $70 I spent on this stupid kit! I'm sorry if I sound angry but this is so frustrating!

Yeah! That's why I use hop sacks and pumps

 

[Homercidal]

Meh. Your beer will be fine. Frustrating, but in the end I highly doubt what happened will cause any problems. Have another beer and watch the news. You'll soon realize now small your troubles are.

 

[mjohnson]

I think you should quit and take up golf.

 

[james138]

Thanks for the info! My beer is,bubbling a lot. I don't have blow off tube I just have an airlock on top of my brew bucket. Is there a chance that the lid will pop off?

Also does anybody links where I could by these hop socks? I'm guessing I can just get the 5 gallon paint strainers at Lowes or HD.

 

[mikemet]

Thanks for the info! My beer is,bubbling a lot. I don't have blow off tube I just have an airlock on top of my brew bucket. Is there a chance that the lid will pop off?

Also does anybody links where I could by these hop socks? I'm guessing I can just get the 5 gallon paint strainers at Lowes or HD.

At your LHBS - AKA muslim bags.

 

[unionrdr]

"You'll be back Rogatanski! You're hooked Max...& you know it! People said they didn't believe in beer anymore. Well,you & me Max...we're gunna give'em back their brewers!"!! Any LHBS has muslin hop socks & grain socks. I even use the grain socks for raw hops,as 1 ounce of those has a much greater volume. Ya just have to find something about brewing that'll light the ol' fire again.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

Don't you dare quit or I will find you and..... help you. First, buy a hop bag or hop spider and stop worrying about all the junk in the fermenter. It won't hurt. I use a bag, with a few extra hops since your utilization may drop. I use 2 per batch depending how many ounces of hops. I get almost no crap on the bottom of the kettle.

 

[HookUp]

Relax...This is a hobby and supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable.

Ditto.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

All hobbies take time & effort & have a learning curve.

If you're not comfortable in the kitchen, and aren't having fun, maybe you took up the wrong hobby?

Only you can answer that.

I'd take the advise above, relax, try again and then determine if you were just having a bad day.

 

[Smashing]

Welcome to the bad day club! I've had everything happen from failed equipment, knocked over buckets and just last week - hot mash and 2nd degree burns on my hands! I've learned to simplify my day as much as possible. I use hop bags for my boil kettle and fermentors. I built a permanent brew stand so I can stop using boards and cinder blocks to put things on. One great tip I got was to write all your brewing steps down so you don't have to go from memory. Helps to budget your time and decrease stress. One other thing, No beer until the boil is done. I consider it a celebration to enjoy a beer while I cool my brew. Consider it chillin while I chill.

 

[tknice]

I have 10 gallons of "band-aid" beer- my first ever totally ruined batch. I haven't dumped it yet, but I'm going to have to as it's undrinkable. I can pin down what happened (at least, I think so!) and avoid that in the future. At least, I can count it as a learning experience.

I typically don't filter my wort, but leaf hops clog up my system so I started bagging them recently. I don't worry about pellet hops as they go right through just fine. I also don't worry about break material or other stuff, as it'll all settle out in the end with the spent yeast as trub.

Meh, pour some neosporin in there, I'm sure it will be fine.

j/k sorry to hear that happened Yooper.

Hopefully the OP will see from this thread that we all have this happen from time to time. I've brewed my house pale ale lots of times and did three things last weekend that I had to facepalm.

a quick example... I doughed in at my mash-out temp! how's that for an oops (luckily I had enough room for cold water to bring it back down).

For me at least, most things get chalked up to distractions.. so much so that my wife's friends show up on brew day and ask: "Are you tknice or tk-NOT-nice today??" haha

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Waking up very early to find a very angry, very purple raccoon thrashing around in a towel covered must bucket, almost made me give it up years ago. Sometimes there are rough days, but its worth it.

That's f'n hilarious!!

James, RDW bro, and HAHB or a CB or whatever makes you happy. Brewing'll get easier and the beer'll get better.