Most hated job in HB

[smiggins55]

Cleaning out the fermenter i reckon.S**t of a job but has to be done
properly.Any ideas to make this job easier would be appreciated

[warra48]

Buy commercial beer, they do all the cleaning for ya.

Seriously, it's not that hard to do? 5 minute job only.
All I do is as soon as I've emptied the fermenter (and don't wait, which allows the crud to dry out and harden), I unscrew my tap, dismantle it, empty the sludge onto the lawn (yeah, it feeds your grass), and take to it with the hose, a sponge, and a soft plastic scrubby. I give it a swirl with no rinse sanitiser, and store it upside down to drain and dry it. All done and dusted in 5 minutes.

Oh yeah, I don't use the lid. I cover mine with gladwrap. You get to see what's going on, and it saves cleaning the lid with all its grooves.

[gregb]

Warra hit the nail on the head with "don't wait."

Neo pink will get pretty much anything off.

Cheers,
Greg

[Bizier]

I use caustic or sodium perc (nappisan) and boiling hot water from a jug to attack/dissolve krausen crud. Then I go in with the soft sponge. I rinse it again with hot water, sanitise and dry. Then I sanitise again before use. I like it to be SUPER SQUEAKY clean.

I am halfway though the "Brew Strong" episode on cleaning, it is good info with a 5 Star rep there taking about PBW.
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong

[chadjaja]

Not paying for JG fittings and trying to get 4mm beer line onto the barb ends....

[drsmurto]

Yeast is a great cleaning agent. Its slightly abrasive.

Next time you are cleaning your fermenter scoop up some of the yeast cake and rub that along the krausen line.

Instant clean.

Most hated job in HB is disconnecting an empty keg.

Man i hate empty kegs.

[Longwood-65]

My most hated job was cleaning the bottles, main reason for me to get the kegs happening.

I find cleaning the fermenter easy empty it into kegs pour the left over out and washout with jet setting on hose connection.
Sponge with hot water, Sanitize, dry and fill with water put in fridge.

Once 1 made a fresh wort, empty the fermenter into kegs pour out left over dregs and filled with water and dumped in the fresh wort, had another brew happening in no time and no extra yeast was required.
was one of my better beers.

Cheers
Ron

[Gym_]

MMM I find bottles suck also so that’s why I went to kegs BUT !!! This is what I found to save time….

I don’t use the barrels, barrels suck because they have threads and handles and indentations and curves and concaves and all thous charming places to make it pain in the ass to clean and also that lip at the top that always manages to cut you when u have your arm stuck deep inside it..

I use the brew buckets perfectly strait walls no threads and heaps of room to get my big arm inside with no probs ..

Also I have like 3 going at a time so what I do is just give the bucket a quick hose out to get the sediment out then fill the bucket or brew barrel (if u must use thous things) with water right to the very top and leave it for a day or so ..

Then when you go to use it all the dried crud from the wort head Is complete gone and the bucket or barrel is ready to give one rinse and sterilize.. with no need for any scrubbing..

[Slash]

+1 for intense hatred of washing the bottles, though I'm a lot quicker now than when I first started. I can't keg because I wouldn't drink it quick enough!

[warra48]

+1 for intense hatred of washing the bottles, though I'm a lot quicker now than when I first started. I can't keg because I wouldn't drink it quick enough!

Once you have your stock of bottles, all you need to do is to rinse them with ordinary tap water 3 or 4 times straight after emptying them. Drain them and store until needed. I find sticking them upside down on the prongs of the dishwasher racks is a perfect way to drain them until dry (don't run the dishwasher when you do this).
Before use I set out a batch worth of bottles ready for bottling. I mix up 2 to 3 litres of no rinse sanitiser, fill 3 or 4 bottles, and using a funnel, transfer from bottle to bottle. Just drain them as much as you can, no need to dry or rinse them, and you're ready to go.
Easy.

[Slash]

+1 for intense hatred of washing the bottles, though I'm a lot quicker now than when I first started. I can't keg because I wouldn't drink it quick enough!

Once you have your stock of bottles, all you need to do is to rinse them with ordinary tap water 3 or 4 times straight after emptying them. Drain them and store until needed. I find sticking them upside down on the prongs of the dishwasher racks is a perfect way to drain them until dry (don't run the dishwasher when you do this).
Before use I set out a batch worth of bottles ready for bottling. I mix up 2 to 3 litres of no rinse sanitiser, fill 3 or 4 bottles, and using a funnel, transfer from bottle to bottle. Just drain them as much as you can, no need to dry or rinse them, and you're ready to go.
Easy.

I do something very similar, when I finish the bottle I do what you do and rinse them 3-4 times in hot water to get all the sediment out, but then I stand them upside-down on a piece of paper towel. They usually dry overnight, then they go into the garage until bottling day, I never store them when still wet... but... When I do bottle I always put 5L of neo pink solution in the kitchen sink, give a quick scrub with a bottle brush just to be sure, then rinse 3 times and place on bottle tree.

It sounds like overkill but I'm more than a little pedantic when it comes to cleaning! I might do it your way next time though as I already use Breweiser no-rinse sanitiser on the utensils I use in the brew so I have an abundance of it - it'll save me a hell of a lot of time. Thanks very much mate!

[Clean Brewer]

I can't keg because I wouldn't drink it quick enough!

Rubbish, how long would it take to drink 2 cartons? Your set-up would be cheap then, youd only need to buy 1 keg..

Oh yeh, most hated job/s in HB..

Making Beer(A.G), Fermenting Beer, Kegging Beer, Drinking Beer..

Not..

Probably spending too much time on the Forums is what I hate the most, other stuff just doesnt get done..

[wambesi]

+1 for intense hatred of washing the bottles, though I'm a lot quicker now than when I first started. I can't keg because I wouldn't drink it quick enough!

I don't understand why so many people have trouble or spend so much time on bottles, I give them a quick rinse under hot water a few times straight after emptying and then let dry (or maybe into the dishwasher), store upside down in the garage and then just before brewing a quick shot of no rinse sanitiser.

My most hated job in HB is having to discard a brew if there's an infection - luckily only once so far, cleaning is not so bad really only takes 20mins or so to clean up all the AG brewing kit.

[Gym_]

Washing bottles sucks big time … total pain in the ass + some.
That’s the No#1 Why I went to kegs
I hate dealing with them bottles full stop..

Hate washing them..
Hate storing them,
Hate cleaning them..
Hate serializing them ..
Hate filling them ..
Hate priming them ..
Hate capping them.. '
Having them sitting around ..
Hate drinking out of them..
Hate hate hate..

Kegs,,
luv luv luv,, lol…
Only thing I don’t like about kegs is how much I tend to drink when it’s on tap..
Anyone out there with kegs do this one,,
oooooo I don’t feel like a whole glass ill just have a ¼
mmm ok another ¼
mmm I guess 1 more ¼
and before ya know it you have had 20 x 1/4s ..lol

[Longwood-65]

Anyone out there with kegs do this one,,
oooooo I don’t feel like a whole glass ill just have a ¼
mmm ok another ¼
mmm I guess 1 more ¼
and before ya know it you have had 20 x 1/4s ..lol

Nope, I always pour a whole glass, Although if I make a beer batter there is not a whole glass that goes in to it.

Cheers
Ron

[drsmurto]

+1 for intense hatred of washing the bottles, though I'm a lot quicker now than when I first started. I can't keg because I wouldn't drink it quick enough!

What has speed of drinking got to do with not being able to keg?

I've had beer in kegs for well in excess of 6 months. I have a cider that is getting close to 6 months.

I regularly take a keg off tap before its done and swap another one in. 3 taps and 8 kegs means i get a good rotation of beers.

Am about to start brewing a few stouts/porters for the colder months so they have plenty of time to age and smooth out the rough edges. Might be time to get some more kegs......

[Shaun]

Anyone out there with kegs do this one,,
oooooo I don’t feel like a whole glass ill just have a ¼
mmm ok another ¼
mmm I guess 1 more ¼
and before ya know it you have had 20 x 1/4s ..lol

Nope, I always pour a whole glass, Although if I make a beer batter there is not a whole glass that goes in to it.

Cheers
Ron

No always pour a full glass just change the size of the glass. I have about 5 different sized glass.

Most hated job was washing bottles, now have kegs.

[wrighty]

The dreaded boilover ,man it blocks up ya burner leaves stickey s@$t everywhere and every ant from 2k comes for a feed.
Learnt from that one real quick,get a bigger pot and keep a close eye on it

[Slash]

+1 for intense hatred of washing the bottles, though I'm a lot quicker now than when I first started. I can't keg because I wouldn't drink it quick enough!

What has speed of drinking got to do with not being able to keg?

I was under the impression that once you tap a keg you had a specific amount of time before the beer went flat?

[James L]

I had to bottle 51000 bottles of beer today...