How often do you have to postpone brew days?

Almost never..when using liquid yeast and watching the weather report..disclaimer:I'm retired

 

Fairly rarely here. I try to plan it out well in advance. It has happened a couple time though, things came up that couldn't change. Once last year, end up having to go to NH for a weekend and put off a brew for a week.

I usually have to put off bottling... Like this last weekend, went to bottle my stout after having to wait a week due to a flooded basement, only to find that someone tosses my bottling bucket and broke the spigot. Managed to get to it last night and got called out on my feeling "exhausted" when I got home from work....

 

It happens a lot. Pretty much every time I brew.

 

Pretty much never since I almost never plan to brew. When I have time, the weather sucks, or I have taxes to do I brew using whatever I have on hand.

 

Happens to me a lot, usually because I'm busy with my kid. In the past I've worried about my grains getting stale (since I buy them crushed), but I can't say I've ever really noticed a problem, even if I leave them sitting around for several weeks.

 

Quite often, unfortunately. Wife is pregnant, so I have higher priorities right now. I wish I could brew more, but gotta take care of the important things first.

 

Yes, beer **** comes first

 

This guy knows what I'm talking about

 

I started this as a hobby to share with my oldest son. At first it was free and breezy because we didn't care too much about last minute substitutions because the LHBS didn't have exactly what the recipe called for, be it yeast or grains (we just do all grain). Then I realized that starters help, and began trying to nail down other details in order to make improvements. This required PLANNING and a SCHEDULE. More important to share the hobby sometimes than to ram rod the whole thing and have great beer and unhappy people.

 

Daily.

 

Have to postpone on a regular basis...yeast starter goes in the fridge, malt goes in a bucket....very minor setback. Patience and a leaning towards the ideology of rdwhahb is a good mindset to be in. It's not rocketscience....your growing & nurturing some fungi

 

Trying to brew my first batch in a while, planned on doing it last weekend. looks like hopefuly this weekend. Who goes to the to the store, buys everything they need, and forgets yeast!?!

 

My tongue in cheek response meant to reflect that I spend a fair amount of time thinking about brewing every day but only manage to brew about 12x a year, so I'm always postponing. But even those 12 days are often postponed due to unpredictable professional responsibilities. I have had concerns about ingredients staying fresh when I postpone. Here are my current thoughts on the matter.

One of the biggest pains is the liquid yeast. The viability declines with time, starters get made but not pitched, and so on. If I had a nearby supplier that I could shop in a moments notice, I could buy relatively fresh yeast when a clear window in my work schedule appears. Since I don't have an lhbs, I buy a lot of dry yeast, which lasts longer.

I used to worry about malts going bad but they seem to be pretty forgivable. A couple years back I bought a grain crusher so I could crush my own on brew day to keep them fresher, but I have brewed with grains crushed 6 months prior, and not detected a compromise (mind you, this was not a controlled experiment, just thought the beer seemed fine).

I keep hops in the freezer. Up until a month ago, opened packages were in Ziploc style bags. To maybe help preserve hops better, I recently started using a Ziploc brand vacuum sealer (the bags get heat sealed; branding it Ziploc is just marketing). I can't say I ever detected my hops going bad, but now I sleep better.

 

Man,

A LOT. Since I´m married and have a little son.

But if I was single...jesss

 

As long as my wife knows a week out, I'm good to go! Stuff still comes up and I've had to cancel before, but usually once I get the yeast starter going there's no turning back.

Bottling day on the other hand.... that gets postponed numerous times until it absolutely HAS to happen. Thankfully kegging has kept me from having to do that as often

 

When I first started brewing, I never postponed brewdays... I postponed everything else though... Including attending classes