A real THBF brewers brewday.........work in progress.

[Wez]

This is part one. From idea to mash.

Ok here are some of the bits I imagine we all 'miss out' when we document a brew, i'm sure a few of you will say "I do that!" and i'm sure a few of you will be horrified at some of us disorganised brewers! It's just a bit of fun so I have tried to include most things that can go wrong.

I would love to hear your thoughts on what may go wrong in the next stage and I will add them in to tomorrows installment (mash and sparge).

A Real THBF Brewers Brewday - Part 1

23:00 After a good few beers, tell everyone in chat you are going to be 'up early' to get the HLT on.
23:02 Set alarm on phone for a very optimistic 06:00
01:15 Decide to say goodnight in chat as you have been drifting in and out of consiousness and unable to keep up with the youtube music links.
02:45 Say goodnight to yourself in chat and go to bed.
06:00 Phone alarm goes OFF.
06:05 Come back upstairs after ascertaining that the alarm is your phone and not the smoke alarm, hit snooze.
06:08 Log into the forum to check what you said in chat the night before.
06:10 Go back to bed.
09:15 Log into the forum to 'double' check what you said in chat the night before.
09:20 Kettle on and make coffee.
09:22 Start browsing forum and find posts you made but cant recall.
10:05 Realise that this beer isn't going to make it'self and decide to tweak your recipe.
10:25 Recipe complete.
10:40 Decide to fill HLT and turn on while you have a shower.
10:50 Get in the shower.
10:52 Return to HLT in towel with wet hair to turn plug sockets on.
10:53 Return to shower.
11:15 Get out of shower refreshed.
11:30 Brewers breakfast, 'triple' check forum for posts you cant remember.
11:35 Weigh out grains for tweaked recipe.
11:40 Return to tweak recipe as you dont have the grains you needed.
11:45 Weigh out grains.
11:50 Remember the HLT has been on for an hour, turn off boiling HLT and allow to cool or add cold water.
11:55 Remove lid from mash tun.
11:55:01 Recoil at stench from last months spent grains which are looking quite black.
12:05 Return to brewery with nicely washed out (if a bit smelly) tun, telling yourself it's pre boil side so no problem.
12:10 Remember you haven't worked out how much mash liquor your recipe needs.
12:10:15 Start to run as much as "looks right" into tun.
12:12 Tun full of water, knowing precision is key to a good mash temp, knock your only thermometer onto floor and accidentally step on it.
12:15 Dip elbow in mash liquor and remove quickly.
12:16 Add cold water.
12:17 Dip elbow in, rub elbow and mutter "it'll do"
12:20 Start stirring grains into tun
12:22 Drop a bowl full of grains onto floor, scoop up with hands and throw in, telling yourself it's pre boil side so no problem.
12:23 Sneeze, a big one. There is some that goes in the mash ah well, it's pre boil side so no problem.
12:24 Fully doughed in close tun lid and go to put the kettle on.
12:25 Return to tun, dip in elbow, add cold water stir, dip in elbow, nod approvingly and return to kettle.

 

[Sean_Mc]

:wha: .....yeah



:rofl:

 

[Dunfie]

Sounds about right. :rofl:

The only thing I could add would be:

06:00 Phone alarm goes OFF. Go to bed.

:lol:

 

[unclepumble]

Dear dear dear wez, you are not a very organised boy are you :nono: :nono: :nono: :nono: :nono:

I can't do the above mistakes as I am a Planner, ask jim he's been to one of my brewdays, :rofl: :rofl:


UP

 

[Wez]

Dear dear dear wez, you are not a very organised boy are you :nono: :nono: :nono: :nono: :nono:

I can't do the above mistakes as I am a Planner, ask jim he's been to one of my brewdays, :rofl: :rofl:


UP

This is not about me :nono: its how I imagine others might be :whistle:

Still waiting for some honest brewers to say "I do that" :lol:

 

[unclepumble]

This is not about me :nono: its how I imagine others might be :whistle:

Cobblers :lol:

UP

 

I can't do the above mistakes as I am a Planner, ask jim he's been to one of my brewdays

You're not wishing me to purjure myself are you :nono: :whistle:

 

[evanvine]

This thread really ought to be re-titled "How to brew AG the Wez way" :twisted:

 

[jamesb]

Sounds like the start of a fairly typical brewday for me.

 

[Aleman]

I'm not a planner . . .but given the life work balance . . . and kids and She . . . and any other committments I may have been lumbered with . . . . Brewdays for me are meticulous


























:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:











Well as much as I weigh everything out the night before, and fill the HLT/copper, If its a reasonable forecast (with little chance of rain) then I'll set up the rest of the kit.













left to myself though . . . that could be a diary of my brewdays

 

[tubthumper]

you forgot to mention

that you left the tap open when you poured liquer in to the mash tun and burnt foot as you only had slipers on

as a result you hop about knocking over the tun and have to clean up and start all over again.


element in hlt decides it now time to die and you have to quickly dismantle the kettle promising wife you will get a new one soon as brew is finished and she can get a cuppa out of the hlt instead.

sparge water now take an hour to get to temp and mash has already had an hour before element died ( decide no harm doen as durden park recipies call for 3 hour mash)

 

[graysalchemy]

you forgot to mention

that you left the tap open when you poured liquer in to the mash tun and burnt foot as you only had slipers on

Why do we all leave the tap open?? :hmm: :hmm: I do it every time. My new kettle leads managed to blow fuses whilst waiting for the hlt to heat up that added another half hour as I checked all the fuses in the workshop bar the plugs :wha: :wha: And yes one of my kettle elements decided not to work as well :x :x however managed to get 60l of wort to a rolling boil. So in the end not a bad day just could have finished two hours earlier.

:

AG

 

[rickthebrew]

:lol:

plus there`s always the - might as well have a pint as the mash goes on - scenario :lol:

obviously all my brewdays are nothing like this




































:drink: :drink: :twisted:

 

[Wez]

:thumb: I'm working on the next installment, i'll add that in

 

[LeicesterLad]

Where's that bowl of hops magically apeared from :hmm: Oh god I've forgot them as Im just about to turn on the water for the chiller !

Yep this one last saturday after having too many 'aar just one more's' between mash and boil ha ha

 

[Wez]

So........should I carry on and post the next bit?

 

[abeyptfc]

I'm still brewing the kits but there is such a thing as being over prepared! I've got my coopers lager, cerveza, ginger beer, flasher the dasher, champagne and turbo cider in bottles just now, so I was gonna wait until I had tanked a few before starting another brew as I was on hoiliday last week. I just decided at the back of 2 today to make up my coopers draught, if you plan it then you start thinking have I done this? have I done that? aslong as you sanitise everything then there isnt that much that can go wrong really! just get on with it!

AG is another story though! anything is an effort being half drunk though, even fishing where you have to sit by the water all day and watch a rod which aint much of a task, never mind brewing and having to weigh stuff out n that!

 

[craigite]

I either forget the hop filter in the boiler or write down the wrong time for the start of the mash or boil.
Put on mash and give it 5 mins then check temp, eat lunch of bacon and eggs lovingly prepared by the boss, check temp, check clock and figure mash has been on for 30mins. So did I write down the wrong time?

 

[evanvine]

So........should I carry on and post the next bit?

Go for it Wez :thumb:
You can take the flak :rofl:

 

[Tony]

09:22 Start browsing forum and find posts you made but cant recall.

heh heh ... YES!!!! I do that!