On brew day, what do you do during the wait times?

[Burt de Ernie]

Hey all,

Just wondering what everyone does when waiting needs to be done for example during the mash?

Usually I will try to wash some clothes or hang em out so I can keep the Mrs on-side however today was different.

Because I have now completed my new brewery I thought it deserved a new mash paddle.

This took me 3 hours to knock up out of an off cut of floor board.



Might do some more of these next brew!

What do you get up to? or is it all product quality assurance AKA drinking you beer?

 

[slcmorro]

I drink beer.

 

[surly]

Nice paddle.
I applaud your productivity :beer:
I tend to get involved in some product testing, might read a book and basically relax. Brew day is my day.

 

[Burt de Ernie]

I drink beer.

I also did manage to do a wee bit of this too.....

 

[TimT]

Look at all the pretty colours in the mash.

 

[bradsbrew]

Nice work on the mash paddle. It depends on the time I brew, if it's an early brew on a weekend I will do some yard work, mow etc.
If it's a Friday night brew, I will usually have a few whilst setting the rig up,watch the footy and by the time I am cubing I am mumbling to myself thinking about how many pints I've had and I'm not even pissed. Then I wake up Saturday and realise how pissed I was.

Edit, oh yeah there tends to be a lot of staring and thinking.

 

[Smokomark]

Yesterday I mowed and whippersnipped, trimmed all the hedges and washed 2 cars. Also had a couple of beers and was all washed up and packed away by 11.30am when the missus got home from work.
As a bonus there was 4 cubes sitting on the bottom of the pool

 

[Burt de Ernie]

Yesterday I mowed and whippersnipped, trimmed all the hedges and washed 2 cars. Also had a couple of beers and was all washed up and packed away by 11.30am when the missus got home from work.
As a bonus there was 4 cubes sitting on the bottom of the pool

I like this answer.

To me, doing this sort of thing will never give the mrs a chance to rag on your ass about brew days!

 

[Dips Me Lid]

I brew every fortnight so I'm kegging, cleaning, rinsing yeast and brewing a new batch on a brewday, usually ends up being a pretty solid day, always like to have some meat on the smoker as well but the most important is to have some fresh beer and good tunes cranking all day.

 

[sp0rk]

Oil changes on the motorbikes, drink, play games on my phone, drink, clean my shed, drink, etc...

 

[pedleyr]

When I first started I was paranoid and would read and re read over the recipe and the process to make sure I wouldn't stuff anything up.

After a while I got sick of that and just started drinking during the down times, with some interesting results.

These days I tend to brew Saturday nights after the kids go to bed, so I watch the footy and cook my lunches for work during the week. And do QA work on previous batches.

 

[jlm]

Clean. The answer is clean. And drink beer.

 

[Gavo]

Today I brewed a double batch, mowed the lawn, had some lunch, afternoon smoko with some friends, cleaned the gear while cubing. If the friends didn't visit I would have done the edges and done the roundup during the brew also instead of afterwards.

 

[TidalPete]

Does it really matter?
Most times I keep flicking back to AHB looking for threads like this. :lol: :lol:

 

[TimT]

There's usually a lot of cackling at what I'm doing and saying 'phwoar' and 'ooh la la' and 'hubba hubba' going on from my end too to fill in the time. Sometimes I even do work...

 

[Not For Horses]

Brew days are usually food days as well. So making bread or pizza, smoking a chicken or rolling tortillas is good break work. Obviously accompanied by beers. Often too many...

 

[Danwood]

Oil changes on the motorbikes, drink, play

Oil changes on the motorbikes, drink, play games on my phone, drink, clean my shed, drink, etc...

Drink, drink more, get affected/confused, drop the hydrometer into the spent engine oil, feel elated it's reading a few points higher than the recipe predicted, add 200ppm CaS04 to the fresh oil...this Duccattis gonna be a hoppy one!...fall over.

 

[acarey]

I brew on friday evenings. Usually start work early after the gym so I can knock off at 3 or 3:30.

Rush to MHB, grab the brew.

Say hi to the wife and kids.

Set up, get to strike temp. Mash in

Feed and bathe children (2yo and 6mo)

Mash out and crank birko

Children to bed. Open beer

Grain over the fence to the neighbours chooks

Beer

Dinner

Hop additions

Beer

Beer x lots

Goodnight to wife

Beer, listen to my brew song on repeat (Don't stop me now by Queen)

Cube, burn hands, spill wort on floor.

Sleep

Hangover

 

[spog]

Been over a year since I did an all grain but usually hang out the washing,mow the lawn,drink,weed the veggie patch,drink,listen to podcasts,while having a drink....
Cheers....spog...

 

[nathan_madness]

Keep the production line going:
Keg from secondarys
Rack from primary to secondarys
Sanatise all the fermenters
Prep chillers and hop rocket
etc...

 

[paulmclaren11]

Pretty much the same as everyone else, have the Ipod going, cleaning equipment, mow the lawn etc.

Try not to start drinking until hops go in but my will power is often weak. With the Braumeister I sometimes start the mash and go out for a few hours with wife and kids and then finish the boil when we get home. Keeps everyone happy. Then I drink.

 

[danestead]

On my last brew day, which was a double brew day I woke up when the gf got up to go to work at 4.30am. I mashed into the braumeister then set my alarm for 6.30am and went back to bed. Double brew day was all done and washed up by 2.30pm

 

[hathro]

I talk **** on home brew forums

 

[Phoney]

I usually brew during the week in the evenings so sometimes I juggle cooking and serving dinner during the wait times, it's all about getting the timing right. Otherwise if it's not my turn to cook, I play Xbox.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Measure hops
Keg previous batch
Drink beer
Listen to music
Read brewing books or socialise if people are over
Set up equipment

 

[Truman42]

While my HLT is heating up my water I print out my recipe and weigh and crack my grains and get my water salts measured out.

Then when I'm doing my stepped mash I'm getting my hops, whirlfloc and yeast nutrient measured out ready to go.

During the boil I'm cleaning my Mash tun, HLT, pump and most hoses. Sanitising my fermenter and plate chiller and trying to get everything cleaned up.

 

[DU99]

when i brew i put the water on and prepare the grain.once the grain is in the pot get the hops ready according to recipe.sanitise the fermenter.surf the net till mash is complete.set the wort to boil,hops as required,do any cleaning up that's needed.end of the day clean the pot and any other equipment used,put gear away..then have a beer

 

[Screwtop]

Grain milled and water prepared the night before (filter and PH adjust). Power on the Brew Controller, set start time. In the morning at the set start time the Brew Controller heats water in the HLT and strike water in the MLT in readiness for mash in.

Wake and mash in around 7am and check the system.

So during the wait time:

Have breakfast while the controller steps through the protein and beta rests.

Mow the lawn or clean up around the shed/brewery etc while the controller steps through the alpha saccharification and mash out steps until the alarm indicates mash out step is complete.

During the first 30min of the boil weigh up hop additions, and wash out the mash tun.

During the final 60 min of the boil I have to hang around the brewery for hop additions so I sanitise the fermenters, start the pump and recirculate to CIP the pump and hoses using PBW.

While chilling and running to the fermenters I clean up and rinse everything.

Fermenters into the fermentation fridge and clean the kettle............Done

All up a pretty cruisy half day.

Screwy

 

[Forever Wort]

I clean etc. but when bottling I usually watch an episode of a television series, something that goes for around 40 minutes. At the moment it has been House of Cards.

 

[madpierre06]

At the moment I'm still kit 'n' bit based brewing so can intersperse with roasting a few batches of coffee beans (I usually do around half a dozen batches every 3 weeks or so), once I start AG I'll probably be hanging around the pot like an old hen until I get comfortable with my processes. Music playing, re-reading through 'how to' notes, recipes, surfing AHB/ebay, drinking beer.