Drinking on brew day

Do you drink while brewing?

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Wood House Hall

Wood House Hall

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This is a serious question - who drinks while brewing? Who does not drink while brewing?

I know, I know, relax, don't worry, have a homebrew...

When I first started brewing I thought it would be a relaxing hobby that allowed me to kick back and have a few beers and make something I could be proud of. I used to have a few while brewing but have stopped drinking on brew days this past year. I find its easier to concentrate and make the highest quality brews when I'm tuned in and focused. Besides it's kind of hard to "relax" having to do an hour of sanitation work before even getting started. My process is locked in, but I still find it easier not to drink while brewing and saving the tipping back for when I really am relaxing.

Thoughts? And yes, I take brewing way too damn serious and embrace it as very rewarding work :)
 
well all I can say is after a serious injury "3rd degree burns" and lack of good judgment Ive stopped drinking at brew day at least until i'm emptying into the carboys, drinking gives me that valium effect and I need to be on top of things
 
I drink more on brew days when I have guests over. Otherwise, maybe one or even none. I brew a 5 gallon batch size (6.5 gallon end boil). I brew in the garage, and chill in the basement. 2 steps up to the house, and 13 steps down to the basement, and back to the laundry room. That's why I don't drink too much when brewing.
 
jeffpn said:
I brew a 5 gallon batch size (6.5 gallon end boil).
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Your end boil is 6.5 gallons to get 5 gallons of beer? You're wasting a lot of wort, man. :)
I start with 7.5 to 8 gallons and boil down to 5.5 to 5.75 (with hop bags), put all but a half pint of break in the fermenter and get 5 or so to the keg pretty routinely.

Now that the thread drift is done...

Most often I tend to crack a beer after flame-out when the chiller is doing it's thing.

Unless somebody happens by during the boil. I'll usually join them for a pint while we watch the pot and yak about beer.

Or unless it's summer and it's hot as hell and after 3 or so hours of heating water, waiting for mash out and sparging I'm tired of drinking water and Gatorade and I'm ready for a very, very cold beer about the time the boil pot gets cranking and making it even hotter. ;)
 
I have a set up even worse, 15G to start and 12G to finish 90 minute boil at highest my heat setting, I do this because the best beer I tasted ended up like this by accident and every beer after the same so why change lol
 
There's a difference between enjoying some home brew while brewing and industrial drinking. Once we get to flame out and fire up the chiller I figure I'm safe to change gears if desired.

:)
 
Used to have a few while brewing. Now no brews until flame out at least. Get a much better product and remember what I did right or wrong.
 
J A said:
Your end boil is 6.5 gallons to get 5 gallons of beer? You're wasting a lot of wort, man. :)
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I knew someone would say that. I'm happy with my methods. I should've just left out my final batch size. My point was that I carry a stainless steel pot filled with 6.5 gallons of near boiling wort and an immersion chiller down a flight of stairs, so I don't like to drink while brewing too much.
 
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I rarely drink whilst brewing but sometimes I'll have a brew or two whilst she's boiling and chilling. But yea I usually brew in the morning and drink in the evening so I do them both at seperate times.
 
Trialben said:
I rarely drink whilst brewing but sometimes I'll have a brew or two whilst she's boiling and chilling. But yea I usually brew in the morning and drink in the evening so I do them both at seperate times.
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It probably makes a difference if you're soloing, etc. We usually sip a few while mashing, sparging, etc. But once we get to a boil we fire up the grill or load up the smoker. Ideally when the yeast goes in it's time to eat. Takes practice to time it all out.

We start mid afternoon.
 
Lager_Goggles said:
It probably makes a difference if you're soloing, etc. We usually sip a few while mashing, sparging, etc. But once we get to a boil we fire up the grill or load up the smoker. Ideally when the yeast goes in it's time to eat. Takes practice to time it all out.

We start mid afternoon.
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I've only brewed a few times with what I would call spectators and they drink while I work! Most all of my brew days are by myself and usually run 5 hrs prep to clean up. But I'm like a few folks who replied so far, I will crack a cold one once the batch is put to bed and everything is cleaned up and put away.
 
I brew with my son-in-law mostly. We're setup to run 10's but usually run 5 gallon runs. Splitting the work and the beer makes it fun. But not everyone may have that option. My wife, daughters are all cool with us doing the brew thing because they know they will get fed afterwards. ☺
 
jeffpn said:
My point was that I carry a stainless steel pot filled with 6.5 gallons of near boiling wort and an immersion chiller down a flight of stairs,
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I feel for you, man...I was lifting and carrying from one place to another without stairs and it was bad. I've got things set up now so that though I have to carry up to 3.5 gallons of heated water to the mash tun a couple of times, I don't have to lift and carry the full volume pot for the most part. My intermittent hernia thanks me for it.;)
 
Yep that would suck heck I was even bitching about lifting my fermentor out of my chest freezer let alone carrying it down a flight of stairs. Positive is probably good airation by the time you get to the bottom:D.​
 
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Lightweights !
Even after 4 imperial pints I'm still on the ball , they may be spread over the entire brew but can't recall last time I didn't have a beer while brewing or bottling (unless its a morning job .....not even i can have beer for breakfast )
I don't have more than 2 stairs to navigate with my kettle and rarely spill a drop
 
I can drink a beer for breakfast, my breakfast choice is hofbrau winter special or hofbrau Mai bock. Is that bad, I don't do that on work days though, only my weekends.
 
Of course I don't go overboard drinking on brew day, I keep it in a gear I can control.
 
I usually brew in the morning so I don't drink while brewing. If I brew in the afternoon I will usually have a few once I get the boil started.
 
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