Much of home brewing is waiting: we wait for the mash, wait for the boil, wait for wort to chill, and so on. So I frequently find myself filling those periods of waiting in a brewday with various diversions. I'm all for sitting in a chair and watching steam rise while having a beer, but these days, the weekends are less filled with watching steam, and more with getting things done.
It might be some fixing various things, changing the oil in my rad Ford Escort, or (if I'm lucky) a brewing project that I've been putting off. Crossing things off the to-do list while getting a brewday in is great, but I'll also over commit myself at times, which can be risky when the beer is on a schedule. A recent attempt at transferring a beer from a carboy, bottling said beer, and then sanitizing the recently emptied carboy for the wort I had been producing left me wanting for time. It also left me in the middle of a kitchen with chilling hoses running every which way, bottles and bottling implements all over the counters, and mash tuns and various scientific measuring devices strewn around like the Nutty Professor. So, lesson learned. Bottling is not something that fits in the middle of a brewday. Now I know.
So, what sort of brewday diversions do you partake in? Is in the relaxing mode, or the tinkering mode? Or perhaps another?
I'll get some laundry done and that's about it.
ReplyDeleteMy brewhouse is in my backyard detatched garage. I usually do some yardwork or practice guitar.
ReplyDeleteI have to force myself to not to let the devil on my shoulder convince me to throw in any spices, extra hops, etc. Just staying focus on the plan is my mission. Diversions lead to expermental beer, not always a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI'll also do some dishes and fit in some guitar-strumming.
(Chip with Brewing TV)
Detached Garage Brewer as well here. I catch up on Brewing Network podcasts, organize the mess, small carpentry or electrical projects. Anything I can drop at a moments notice when the timers go off. But I'm kegging, so racking a beer is an easy thing to do. :)
ReplyDeleteI usually help out with our son and give my wife a break. She's always cool with me turning half a Sunday into a brew day.
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