7 replies to this topic

[SchwanzBrewer]

So my dad's friend called and asked that I brew him a red ale for his Christmas party. Sure, why not. I found a recipe and ordered the ingredients and I planned on Brewing on Saturday.Well, my dad called and I ended up going to his place to help work on his boat instead. I was so exhausted by about 5 pm on Sat that I decided not to brew. Instead I figured I would brew after my soccer game on Sunday.Well the first thing I forgot to do was make a starter. I usually make one the day before and let it go for about 18-24 hours before pitching. So instead I smacked the pack Sunday morning and I hope it will be enough to ferment nice and clean. I am thinking about going to the LHBS and getting another smack pack and adding it too just in case.Next, I had to go and get the pump and chiller from a buddy of mine. He made an imperial IPA and said he clogged the chiller a little bit. I sprayed it out and it seemed ok.So after my game, I get home and its about 5pm. I figure it takes about 5 hours usually, 6 if I really mess up. Well, I used a little too much sparge water and had to boil for an extra 40 minutes, and had to clean out everything because it was so dusty. I didn't mash in until about 9 pm. Hour long mash, and I figured I would be boiling by 10:45 at the latest.I didn't finish my boil until about 1am. Then I got my chiller and everything ready and I couldn't hardly get a trickle out of the chiller. I disconnected the hoses and held the chiller in my hand for an hour just to get enough cold wort so that I could dump the rest straight from the kettle.So 2:30am arrives and I finally have all my wort collected. Didn't bother taking a sample reading, and dumped in the yeast and put it in the swamp cooler. Did some minor clean up and finished up enough to go to bed by 3am!I basically started cleaning and getting things together at 6pm finished at 3am. Its a good thing I drank a five hour energy at 8pm because I was ready to fall over by the end.I gotta get a new chiller. That thing worked well, but I think 50 feet of copper tubing submerged in ice water with the wort running through it would work just as well, not get clogged, and would collect about 5X faster, then I wouldn't need a pump either (unless I wanted one on the wort side).I feel like a zombie today.Cheers,Rich

[Beejus McReejus]

I've had many a brewday like this, finishing up at 2:00 AM. Not sure why, but I find it hard to motivate myself to brew on the weekends, so I usually end up doing it on a weekday after work. It's almost become a routine now and I slightly enjoy the punishment.

[djinkc]

A few years ago I decided a little after midnight that it would be a great idea to brew. Finished up right when the Sunday morning paper showed up. Surprisingly the session went well - 10 gallons of something.... that Sunday was pretty much a total loss..........

[Jimmy James]

Cheers to getting 'er done. Glad you survived and good luck with that chiller. If you find yourself in the situation where you forgot the starter you can do what I do - leave the carboys out to sit overnight with airlocks in place, and pitch the next morning. This works great for me - is more or less my SOP now. It has the added benefit of requiring less chilling time/water as I can stop around 90 degrees F and the next morning they are down to pitching temp.

[Beejus McReejus]

Did it to myself again last night. Had to transfer 20 gallons and had some nice yeast cakes left over that I just couldn't let go to waste. Finished at 2:00 AM this morning with 12 gallons of APA in the fermenters. The yeasties were going NUTS this morning when I got up, 5 hours later.

[BrianBrewerKS]

I somewhat feel your pain. I've been needing to get a couple brews 'on their way' for Christmas time beer, but I had a busy weekend so they got put off till this week. We're going out of town this weekend, so I knew I had to brew 'em during the week...'sokay. Well, Monday I didn't brew...brewed one of 'em Tuesday right after work. Had everything finished up by 10:00pm. Then I was going to brew the other one tonight (Thursday)...but yesterday I found out that the lil lady had to be somewhere tonight at 7:30, so I'd be in charge of looking after the lil guy (son). Not wanting to have him around all of the brewing 'stuff' (boiling wort, etc) I decided I had to brew again yesterday. Got done with yesterday's brew around 9:30.Two weeknight brews in a row after long days at work. *yawn*

[Beejus McReejus]

Damn B, I wish I could finish up that quickly. Transferring and cleaning kegs in between did slow me down a bit though. You doing 10 gallons?

[BrianBrewerKS]

Damn B, I wish I could finish up that quickly. Transferring and cleaning kegs in between did slow me down a bit though. You doing 10 gallons?

5 gallons. I get off work at 3:30...and I get my grains/mash water ready during my lunch break, so when I get home ~ 4:00, I just jump right in. Still makes for a 5-5.5 hour brew session by the time everything's cleaned/put away...which is prolly pretty normal.