Frustration ...

[SleepySamSlim]

not impatience - just frustrating that is takes so long to get the results of your brewing efforts. This is probably more a problem for new brewers like myself still trying to get the process somewhat nailed down.

I am truly spoiled in that I have a close friend who has become not just a decent coffee roaster - but a very good coffee roaster. Basically designed his own motor driven roaster and does about 10lbs a week. Thru trial - error - meeting other roasters - and a note book he has things fairly nailed down. Of course he's always tweaking and experimenting ... but he can go from tweak to a taste test in a couple of hours ....

But yea ... we will keep plodding on brewing - bottling - hoping - learning. Of course on the flip side - my friend also loves good beer

[UselessBrewing]

Brew like a mad man! Then you will have more beer to drink, which in turn will console your restless spirit!

Patience Grasshopper! [or] Patience my Padawan learner! (for the younger generation)

LOL

Cheers
Preston

[Rep]

not impatience - just frustrating that is takes so long to get the results of your brewing efforts. This is probably more a problem for new brewers like myself still trying to get the process somewhat nailed down.

I am truly spoiled in that I have a close friend who has become not just a decent coffee roaster - but a very good coffee roaster. Basically designed his own motor driven roaster and does about 10lbs a week. Thru trial - error - meeting other roasters - and a note book he has things fairly nailed down. Of course he's always tweaking and experimenting ... but he can go from tweak to a taste test in a couple of hours ....

But yea ... we will keep plodding on brewing - bottling - hoping - learning. Of course on the flip side - my friend also loves good beer

I am finishing up my 29th batch as I type this.  If you look around this forum I have helped some people and I also ask others for help.

It is not a race or a competition.  It is a hobby that I enjoy learning about.

There is always something to learn and something to contribute. 

Eventually, you will have a storage area in your home that holds five, six or more styles of beer in various stages of aging.

Patience will be easier to obtain when that happens as you will be surronded by good beer and planning to make even more of it.

Hang in there, take a deep breath and have a home brew.

[SleepySamSlim]

I have recently picked up a second carboy so we can have two batches going. That will help move things along.

Will brew our 4th batch this weekend. Our first batch turned out great and tasty. Second batch (in bottles) may have to go down the drain - incomplete fermentation I believe. Batch 3 had some minor issues and is in the secondary. So this next batch is really critical in my mind as a check on our process etc.  ... can we repeat that first success ? The only real changes are a minor tweak to lower IBUs a bit and this time I will hydrate the dry yeast versus just sprinkling it on the wort.

We're having a lot of fun with this - we already have 2 mature Willamette hops plants in the back yard (we had them just for decorative purposes --- nice long vines) - and will plant 2 other varieties this Spring. 

[UselessBrewing]

I am finishing up my 29th batch as I type this.  If you look around this forum I have helped some people and I also ask others for help.
It is not a race or a competition.  It is a hobby that I enjoy learning about.
There is always something to learn and something to contribute. 
Eventually, you will have a storage area in your home that holds five, six or more styles of beer in various stages of aging.
Patience will be easier to obtain when that happens as you will be surrounded by good beer and planning to make even more of it.
Hang in there, take a deep breath and have a home brew.

Well Said!
If I stopped learning about this hobby, I think I would get bored.

Cheers
Preston

[SOGOAK]

I have recently picked up a second carboy so we can have two batches going. That will help move things along.

Excellent!

SSS-patience is the most difficult part.  I haven't brewed in about a month and I'm jonesing.  But before that I did like 4-5 batches in 6 weeks.  So I still have 2 in fermentors.

So I'm up to 5 right now...OH I have that justified for when I go to 10 gallons batches!  But sadly there are 3 empty carboys calling me right now.  Having a few spares is nice, because there is no rush to move beer to bottles before its ready.

[SOGOAK]

OH Rep said the same thing! DOH! And he types like I do with the 1 line double spaced paragraphs.  Must be a midwestern thing.

[Rep]

OH Rep said the same thing! DOH! And he types like I do with the 1 line double spaced paragraphs.  Must be a midwestern thing.

Could be a Catholic education thing.  Except I was at St. Francis before the PC was invented.  Hell, I was at St. Francis before the typewriter was invented.

[SOGOAK]

No.. State Schooled all the way-can't you tell by my poor spelling, gramar, and punctuation?  OK I think email and blong speak comes out like Christopher Walken talks. 

(He typically deletes all punctuation in his lines, which gives him that herky jerky cadence)

Awe Rep don't feel bad, I was one of the last classes to learn typing on a typewriter.  I learned to cheat my way to 35-40 WPM.  Then in college, I managed to learn to type a little better which is good because the partying greatly reduced my short term memory.

Back to the brewing part-I had a nut brown tonight.  I made the kit I bought.  When I got it with my gear I shelved it for several months because I was unimpressed by the difficulty.  I did about the poorest brewing job possible and even tried the "no rack method."

With minimal effort and plenty of time, I have tasty beer.  I learned that simple beers can just stay in the carboy for a month and a half and be fine. 

Now I just need to get my belgian in bottles.

[Rep]

No.. State Schooled all the way-can't you tell by my poor spelling, gramar, and punctuation?  OK I think email and blong speak comes out like Christopher Walken talks. 

(He typically deletes all punctuation in his lines, which gives him that herky jerky cadence)

Awe Rep don't feel bad, I was one of the last classes to learn typing on a typewriter.  I learned to cheat my way to 35-40 WPM.  Then in college, I managed to learn to type a little better which is good because the partying greatly reduced my short term memory.

Back to the brewing part-I had a nut brown tonight.  I made the kit I bought.  When I got it with my gear I shelved it for several months because I was unimpressed by the difficulty.  I did about the poorest brewing job possible and even tried the "no rack method."

With minimal effort and plenty of time, I have tasty beer.  I learned that simple beers can just stay in the carboy for a month and a half and be fine. 

Now I just need to get my belgian in bottles.

What a coincidence.  I popped a nut brown open an hour or so ago.  I got the all grain recipe out of, Brewing Classic Styles.  It is good, but heavier than I wanted.  A good sipping beer.

Good luck on the Belgian.  I have not wandered that way myself yet. 

[SleepySamSlim]

Back to the brewing part-I had a nut brown tonight.  I made the kit I bought.  When I got it with my gear I shelved it for several months because I was unimpressed by the difficulty.  I did about the poorest brewing job possible and even tried the "no rack method."

Well it looks like I'll be pouring 50 bottles of Nut Brown down the sink (damn) --- after 4 weeks in the bottle its true taste came out -- soapy. It was our second batch and I was sort of flying blind on fermentation completion (not checking SG). I racked too early as the TG I measured at bottling was 1.021 ... should have been around 1015. In all a cheap lesson - but I really wanted a darker Ale !!

Next up will be a Black Butte Porter (local micro brew - Deschutes Brewery) clone. Very dark somewhat creamy porter.

[Rep]

Back to the brewing part-I had a nut brown tonight.  I made the kit I bought.  When I got it with my gear I shelved it for several months because I was unimpressed by the difficulty.  I did about the poorest brewing job possible and even tried the "no rack method."

Well it looks like I'll be pouring 50 bottles of Nut Brown down the sink (damn) --- after 4 weeks in the bottle its true taste came out -- soapy. It was our second batch and I was sort of flying blind on fermentation completion (not checking SG). I racked too early as the TG I measured at bottling was 1.021 ... should have been around 1015. In all a cheap lesson - but I really wanted a darker Ale !!

Next up will be a Black Butte Porter (local micro brew - Deschutes Brewery) clone. Very dark somewhat creamy porter.

I have dropped two batches and it is not easy.  A sadness settles into my home for a couple of days as I ponder and waiver my decision.  Finally, realizing I am NOT going to drink this stuff out it goes because I need the bottles for the future.

Wait another month.  Then, do what you may need to do.

[SOGOAK]

I have had 2 mishaps too.  1 was a Bock that boiled over and the activator never did get super puffy.  I know wyeast says that doesn't matter, but it lagged a long time too.  It was my second session at my friends and he fermented there. So I am not sure of temps, etc.  But it definately had the soapy/wet dog/cardboard thing going on.  We tried our darndest to drink it.  Added sprite to make it a shandy, still bad.  Finally, We wanted the really nice 17oz Steigel Bottles back and dumped.

The other was high school science letting me down.  I was using blow off hoses.  I also was using the cross your fingers approach of leaving fairly hot wort (90-100) in the cool basement overnight, Then pitching in the morning.  So when the wort cooled, it contracted as did the air in the tube which reverse siphoned the sanitizer in.  brutal.  The yeast still went off, but i poured it out.

The good news is I did a redux of that recipee and it was great.  So I'm converting it to aG.

[Rep]

........

The good news is I did a redux of that recipee and it was great.  So I'm converting it to aG.

I have had a hard time redoing those styles.  The first a FAt Tire clone I just do not want to do.  I am maybe not all that interested.

But I did pull myself together enough to rebrew the second bad batch.  That cream ale went into the bottle 29 days ago.  (And yes, I did taste it green.  It will be a very good one.)