Do you always make a mess?

[MichaelBD]

So I've been brewing already for about 3 years and have continuously tried to improve my procedure and processes along the way, BUT I still ALWAYS make a mess on brew day (always wet floors lol) so I'm just wondering if others have the same problem, is it normal, and if anyone who manages a nice clean brew day can throw in some tips

I'm currently using a single tier E-HERMs setup (2 march pumps) and am quite happy with it. It is a dedicated brew room (used to be a kitchen and I cannot change the layout) and right now I am using only silicone hoses, no hard plumbing yet. Actually would hard plumbing be worth the effort?

 

[anticrapple]

i too make quite a mess when i brew. i do it in a garage with a smooth floor. i just hose it all down at the end of the day.

ive been doing this for a while too and ive never been able to not make a mess. youll notice at most pro breweries they have drains in the floor etc. they make a mess too, they just have the right equipment so that clean up is simple!

i got a nice rubber apron, and a set of brewing clothes, and just count on everything being a mess at the end! We should start a thread called "show us the mess you made today!" but id be afraid of people posting poop pictures.

 

[andrewf1985]

It wouldnt be a brew day if there wasnt flour and grain husks on the floor mixed in with a few hop pieces all glued together by some sticky wort thats escaped from somewhere.

I clean as i go along. Flour is the main one that gets everywhere though and i dont think theres a fix for that. I think its difficult to not make a mess unless your system is totally closed. Keeps you occupied during the waiting stages

 

[verysupple]

Until recently I was brewing in my kitchen and I ALWAYS make a mess - particularly the floor.

I brew approx. every three weeks. I figured that was a good interval for mopping the kitchen floor. The down side was it was ALWAYS my turn to mop the floor. Oh well, I love brewing so it was worth it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I brew in a finished basement with carpeted floors. I don't like to clean so I have adapted to making very close to zero mess. My corona mill is totally enclosed within an HDPE bucket, and spills zero dust and grain. I don't use pumps, so there are no hoses draining on the floor, or no leaks while changing hoses.

If batch sparging with a cooler MT, I am careful that every drop makes it to the kettle via gravity.

When BIAB brewing, I hoist the bag above the kettle and let it drain and drip to the kettle below for 20-30 minutes, then place the grain bag in a large Rubbermaid tub adjacent and below the kettle, maybe one errant drop of wort on the kettle rim

Sure, I spill a bit of water or star San, but that dries up on its own.

With planning and careful execution it is possible to keep the brewery clean.

Prior to basement brewing, I brewed both in the kitchen and outside, but moving and setting up equipment, and then moving the finished beer was more work than the actual brew session.

 

[Jim311]

Like many things in life making a mess is part of the fun.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

If by "mess" you mean grain powder all over the counter, burnt whatever next to and all around the burner, hop pellet snot in the sink, if the floor isn't sticky it's slippery, StarSan foam all over the faucet, Food Saver bag remnants strewn about, little Tupperware containers everywhere, and no room anywhere for the wife to start dinner?

Then yes...I make a mess.

 

[firerat]

Not as bad as I used to be, but yeah.

I usually manage to soak myself with the hose while cleaning out my kettles and what not.

 

[SirSpectre]

My brewing tradition is to make a mess every time when bottling. When actually brewing, I have to burn something. This last time was this:



:cross:

 

[Natdavis777]

I brew in the garage, and always expect a little wort to spill on the floor during hose changes. So at the end of the day when Im cleaning out the kettles and recirculating cleaner through the pumps, I run some off on the floor at the end and broom it up.

 

[Firewalker11]

I am brewing on a concrete pad right outside of my office right now and am making a brew room in a three season porch on ground level with a water proof floor (vinyl planking). I plan on hosing it down after i am done just like I do on the concrete pad. Maybe somebody can do this without making a mess but I am not one of them!

 

[ImpendingDisaster]

I brew on the deck and by the time I'm finished there is usually a mucky track from the patio door to the kitchen and the all sorts of sticky stuff on the deck. I've started running my wort chiller into my mash cooler, rinsing off the sides, and when it has several gallons in it, I open its valve and rinse the deck with the still warm water. After that, I rinse the deck again with the cooler, but cleaner water directly from the wort cooler.

 

[SupervisingChildren]

My brewing tradition is to make a mess every time when bottling. When actually brewing, I have to burn something. This last time was this:



:cross:

Apparently it was too hot!

I brew on my stove, and almost always manage to spill some wort on the floor when transferring to the fermenter. I get "the look" when swmbo walks in and feels any stickiness. I think I've probably had 10 boil overs which caked the top of the stove, and I've also burned a plastic lme can on the stove (forgot which burner I was using and set it down on it). So yeah, I make a mess.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I've also burned a plastic lme can on the stove (forgot which burner I was using and set it down on it). So yeah, I make a mess.

PSA
This is a cardinal rule major violation....never ever put something on a stove that can burn or melt....eventually you will get your ass bitten, or worse yet burn down the neighborhood.

Been there....don't ask. Girlfriend had the fire company grid locked around her house.

You don't even need to fire the stove, the oven vent is also on the cooktop and that gets plenty hot to cause havoc.

 

[sudbuddy]

Yes.

 

[SupervisingChildren]

PSA
This is a cardinal rule major violation....never ever put something on a stove that can burn or melt....eventually you will get your ass bitten, or worse yet burn down the neighborhood.

Been there....don't ask. Girlfriend had the fire company grid locked around her house.

You don't even need to fire the stove, the oven vent is also on the cooktop and that gets plenty hot to cause havoc.

Yup. I learned real quick to not put things on the stove... at least it was while I was still paying attention...

 

[beersk]

PSA
This is a cardinal rule major violation....never ever put something on a stove that can burn or melt....eventually you will get your ass bitten, or worse yet burn down the neighborhood.

Been there....don't ask. Girlfriend had the fire company grid locked around her house.

You don't even need to fire the stove, the oven vent is also on the cooktop and that gets plenty hot to cause havoc.

Oh man, I wasn't going to reply to this thread but I have a story similar to this.
I had just finished brewing on my ceramic top electric stove. My gf at the time came home with a bag of stuff she'd bought at a little Amish store out in the country and set it on the stove. I saw it too late and the bag had melted to the stove and a container with cinnamon had melted and broke open when we picked it up off the stove. Oh man, I was pretty pissed at the time, but it's kind of funny looking back on it. Took a bit to clean it off, but a good ole razor blade did the trick.
She should've known the stove was hot because I had just finished up the boil and the wort was chilling, I believe. But she was kind of aloof like that...

 

[MaxStout]

I manage to create a mess during every kind of operation related to homebrewing. Brewing, yeast starters, racking, bottling. The only time I don't make a mess is when drinking it.

 

[slym2none]

Do I make a mess?

Heh.

Ha-ha-ha!

*ROFLMAO*

 

[hunter_le five]

I keep it reasonable. I like to clean as I go.

SWMBO, on the other hand, can't even walk through the kitchen without leaving a trail of carnage and debris in her wake. It's the damnedest thing....

 

[Firewalker11]

I keep it reasonable. I like to clean as I go.

SWMBO, on the other hand, can't even walk through the kitchen without leaving a trail of carnage and debris in her wake. It's the damnedest thing....

Flip that around for SWMBO and I. If there weren't already a kid nicknamed pigpen in our neighborhood when I was growing up, That would be my name!

 

[fj605]

I keep it pretty clean when I'm brewing. I mill right on top of a bucket so dust/flour isn't bad and from experience, I double check that all valves are closed prior to transferring from vessel to vessel. I have a spot next to the driveway that feeds right into a drainage ditch so cleanup doesn't make a mess.

When I lived in an apartment, my wife got a cleaned and sanitized kitchen after every brew day.