What's your least favourite thing about brewing?

[Halfacrem]

Organisation! I'm rubbish. I put things away after a brew day and can't find it the next time :)

I've managed to lose quite a large funnel and spent half an hour this morning looking for mini keg bungs

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I keep all my brewing gear in one of those large plastic storage boxes with a lid you often see here being used as a water bath, I like the fact the lid is a tight fit so keeps the nasties out.

 

[Brewed_Force]

For me it's got to be cleaning all my empty bottles.
Also, deciding what to brew next!

 

[Hoppyland]

I don't like yeast lag much either - I'm always edgy until I see signs of fermentation.
Dave

Yep, this always has me on edge, especially when I "refresh" my yeast with a new culture (I mainly use slopes, so there's not a hell of a lot of yeast cells to start with). I'm always worrying that something nasty has got in when I make up that first starter & then pitch it :pray:

 

[Hoppyland]

Another thought - a neighbour popped round today with some empty bottles. Made me realise that, whilst I don't particularly like cleaning & sterilising bottles, what I really hate is removing the labels!
OK, the old paper label/water soluble glue ones aren't bad, and the plastic film type are tolerable. But a lot of the other modern ones seem a nightmare - especially where it's a combination of paper label and solvent-based glue :twisted:

 

[viper161985]

Mine has to be fruit flies. Despite it being winter and below 5 degrees my kitchen is full of them since I started brewing. Never had any in my kitchen til I started. Makes mixing wort and racking off somewhat a challenge

 

[brumbrew]

so true!

Here's some tips of my own;

move any potted plants.

Empty the bin.

Have nothing in the fruit bowl.

If a fruit fly can get into your brew. Then so can air. Fix that first and kill the flies after.

fruit flies! Dam you to hell!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Waiting, i don't use a heat source so in winter everything seems to take ages to ferment.

 

[Birkin]

I enjoy brew days, I never really have any issues cleaning stuff and I have things pretty well organised now.

I've always been good at thinking on my feet and getting things organised as I work, I naturally think ahead without needing to really plan much more than making sure I have the consumables in stock!

The thing with brewing is it feels natural, I feel like a pro, like I know exactly what I'm doing. That might not necessarily be the case, but when you feel like a pro there's satisfaction and pride of work to be taken in every aspect of the process.

On the subject of bottling, I have a bottle tree sat in the corner in my kitchen, I wash as I empty bottles, when the tree has fruited I empty it and rinse the bottles with starsan through a bottle rinser (trust me, buy one.)

Then to bottle I have a racking cane, bottling wand and bench capper.

With this equipment bottling is a breeze.

I much prefer bottles to kegs, nice to be able to stick a couple in the fridge to chill, and no worries about loss of carb.

 

[Robin54]

I always thoroughly wash bottles after Ive poured the beer, and when it comes to bottling time again I put then thru the dishwasher. ( I don't use any chemical steriliser) I let then cool down a tad before refilling. It works for me.

 

[GHW]

My old thread resurrected; always nice!

After my patersbier's slow start, I've changed my mind and agree with CreweBrewer. lag!

You'd think after about 18 brews I'd have stopped worrying about it, but no...

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

Bottling for me.

 

[Sonnal]

Bottling for me.

You need to start kegging Bungle:grin:

 

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

I've got some pressure barrels and a corny. But not got all the gear for the corny set up. Got regulator and a 4 tap splitter. Need to get gas and some dispense method.

 

[Sonnal]

Think there's a place in Stockport for gas but I got mine from an eBay seller in Rochdale - bought the bottle and will refil when needed. I use a twin tap which I got from the Homebrew Shop but I've also got a picnic tap. Malt Miller have got a good range of beer line and John Guest fittings. You won't regret it. I had too many failures with my pressure barrel so it went in the bin.

 

[MyQul]

I've got some pressure barrels and a corny. But not got all the gear for the corny set up. Got regulator and a 4 tap splitter. Need to get gas and some dispense method.

Go mini keg! Relatively cheap way to keg

 

[Sonnal]

Go mini keg! Relatively cheap way to keg

Very true. I have about 3 and they're a great way to condition and dispense your beer. Portable too. I can't take my corney keg set up anywhere but mini kegs get taken in holiday in the caravan and to parties.:thumb:

 

[MyQul]

Very true. I have about 3 and they're a great way to condition and dispense your beer. Portable too. I can't take my corney keg set up anywhere but mini kegs get taken in holiday in the caravan and to parties.:thumb:

I've got 8 now. There also great for (pseudo) lagering as I can put them in my domestic fridge. 1 keg holds the same amount as about 15 of my 330ml bottles but I dont think Mrs MQ would be too happy if I put 15 bottles in the fridge for a month but doesnt mind if I put a mini keg in there

 

[Covrich]

I've got 8 now. There also great for (pseudo) lagering as I can put them in my domestic fridge. 1 keg holds the same amount as about 15 of my 330ml bottles but I dont think Mrs MQ would be too happy if I put 15 bottles in the fridge for a month but doesnt mind if I put a mini keg in there

Being a bit thick here but do you force carb them?

 

[MyQul]

Being a bit thick here but do you force carb them?

Are you asking can you or do I?

a) Yes. As you can use the party star tap which is essentially force carbing
b)No. I haven't got the PS tap and just use the integral gravity tap. After about 3 days thebeer in the keg gets quite flat but I dont mind that at all. If I did I'd buy a PS tap