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geek_chaser

geek_chaser

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here is my problem, and i was just wondering what your opinions are. I am the home brewer in the house. I have 15 gallons (10 in the secondary and 5 in the primary). the ones in the secondary have been in there for about 4 weeks, and the one in the primary has been there for maybe 2/3 weeks. I cannot bottle any of these right now because my husband is an accountant and will be working ridiculous hours, so he cannot help me lift any of this. will everything be OK until the end of April if it just sits there? or should i suck it up and hope i don't slosh when moving things? I really want to drink it all and it would be nice to have it all done before taxes are over, but i know that if i do it by myself, things could get messy. suggestions?:confused:
 
i like to minimize / eliminate headspace in secondary for storage more than a month or two. seems to reduce the likelihood of contamination.
 
If you can't lift it yourself, maybe consider getting a pump? I don't make more than 6 gallons in a carboy at a time, and use two fermenters for ten gallon batches, to help reduce the weight. But if you simply can't lift the fermenter yourself, I'd either ask him to take 10 seconds on his way to bed one night to lift it for me or buy a pump for myself. The have them for winemaking and filtering, and are under $200. They can be expensive, but if you brew alot it would be like $1/batch or less.

I've found that as I get older, the fermenters get heavier and heavier! I tend to use primary only fermenters, in a bucket, so that it's easier to lift. I'm going to be 50 in a few weeks, and weigh about 135 pounds, and it seems like the fermenters weigh nearly half of what I do sometimes! But I can lift a 50 pound bag of dog food, so lifting a plastic fermenter is not so bad. Glass carboys make me nervous, though, so I'd put those in "milk crates" with handles if I had to always lift them by myself.
 
Being 57 with a bad L2 disc,it's tough for me too. I have my son's carry wort kettles into the man cave/brewery for me. Lifting a bottling bucket full of 5/6 gallons of beer to the top of the fermenter stand is about all I can do. Get help for brief episodes like lifting or carrying. It wouldn't take him long to do before heading out the door or to bed. For me,lifting a full bottling bucket on top of the fermenter stand is a lot like a weight lifter doing a "clean jerk"...sorta like power lifting. I have to put more bycepts into it than legs at this point.
 
I am in a similar situation. I have difficulty lifting buckets from floor to counter height. My husband has a stool that has a little hydrolic lift (cheap from auto-parts store). I get a step stool (one or two feet off ground) and stand on it. I lift the bucket to the stool in the lowest setting and then lift Stool to full height. I can now transfer beer by auto-syphon to bottling bucket, that sits on floor. Now repeat by putting the bottling bucket on stool when full and start bottling.

Not ideal, but I usually brew and bottle on my day off while my husband is at work. Lifting the pot off the stove to near the sink to use my wort chiller is a bit harder. I pull up a flat topped bar stool right by stove and slightly lift pot and slide to stool. Then I slide stool slowly over by the sink and use my chiller.

I am getting kicked out of the house for brewing, so most of my difficulties will be addressed. My husband is building me a 3 tier brewing rig:mug:
 
I also have a hard time believing if your husband sleeps in the same house there isn't some time he can spare 1 minutes to help you, just have him move the fermenters up onto a table, bench, stool or whatever. I only move my fermenters up onto a 24" high coffee table and siphon to bottling bucket from there so it's pretty easy.

If this is going to be a problem for you I would suggest just using buckets to ferment in because of the handle, makes lifting 10X easier. Otherwise with carboys get some of these:

echa.jpg
 
i will try these techniques. the problem with him helping me is that he leaves before i wake and comes home so late. i think i will try some of this and see what i can do. if i feel i cant do it, i will see if my step dad can come down and help for a day. (this time of year everyone is so busy). thank you all for your suggestions. :)
 
Brewtah said:
I am in a similar situation. I have difficulty lifting buckets from floor to counter height. My husband has a stool that has a little hydrolic lift (cheap from auto-parts store). I get a step stool (one or two feet off ground) and stand on it. I lift the bucket to the stool in the lowest setting and then lift Stool to full height. I can now transfer beer by auto-syphon to bottling bucket, that sits on floor. Now repeat by putting the bottling bucket on stool when full and start bottling.

Not ideal, but I usually brew and bottle on my day off while my husband is at work. Lifting the pot off the stove to near the sink to use my wort chiller is a bit harder. I pull up a flat topped bar stool right by stove and slightly lift pot and slide to stool. Then I slide stool slowly over by the sink and use my chiller.

I am getting kicked out of the house for brewing, so most of my difficulties will be addressed. My husband is building me a 3 tier brewing rig:mug:
Click to expand...

Awesome advice!

My husband was still working when I brewed indoors, so he didn't see me. But one day, it was a nice day and I was brewing outside. He saw me put an end table on top of the picnic table and then crawl up there with boiling water to fill the HLT. He freaked, and said "What will it take so that you have pumps and not do this anymore?!?!" and I now have an all-electric indoor set up with two pumps!

He does help out when he's home, by helping to mash in and dumping the grain. I do everything pretty much by myself, though. I fill the kegs and kegerator and move what I need. I like feeling independent even though I'm not very big or strong. I am not looking forward to the day that I'm dependent on someone else to do things for me physically. :(
 
Yeah,I find that part embarrasing. I was used to doing everything myself that the man should be doing. Fixed or built my own cars,landscaping,wine, beer,etc. Then old injuries came back to haunt me. Working on the car,especially getting under it is now quite painfull. Not to mention hard getting up & down like that. I'm not a double jointed chimp anymore. The kids get frustrated with me needing help,but what's an old fart to do?...:mug:
 
:D i wish i could attach a pic. i totally did it. :) two very young, very awake kids, and no help. i was able to sanatize, bottle, cap, lift, everything all on my own. :) thanks for the vote of confidence everyone. :) :) :) im naming it 'super mom ale'
 
I just want to point out that you are one bad-a$$ mom to have small kids and brew your own beer! Most mom's these days are complaining about their hectic lives on facebook and dreaming of being crafty like the people on Pint-rest. Not you, you're brewing beer. Freakin awesome. :mug:
 
Congrats on that but be careful about heavy lifting. 10 gal of beer not lifted straight up can do a number on anyone's back. I hope you didn't do that. 5 gal is bad enough depending on one's stature.
 
they are 5 gallon batches. i have another 5 gallons to bottle, and should transfer 5gallons then bottle. yeah, i quit facebook. i have a pintrest, but i have a beer board. lol. i prefer to be active and DO then just sit around. and it helps to have encouragement from people like you guys, so thank you. i just hope that my boys see that i push myself and they will too when they are older.
 
We can only hope these things rub off! But dead lifting 5 gallons is no easy feat either. It's about all I can do to dead lift it to the top of the fermenter stand.
 
Jayhem said:
I just want to point out that you are one bad-a$$ mom to have small kids and brew your own beer! Most mom's these days are complaining about their hectic lives on facebook and dreaming of being crafty like the people on Pint-rest. Not you, you're brewing beer. Freakin awesome. :mug:
Click to expand...

Absolutely!
 
Since the 5 gallons in the primary have been in for so long, should i just bottle it? Or should i clarify it first?

Sent from my DROID4 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Brewtah said:
Stand on a step stool crouch down a little and lift with you legs. It is much easier.
Click to expand...

Can't do that either,as I have a bad L2 disc in my lower back & my hips are goin' south...& not with Jack Nicholson! :D Darn Quadracepts are yankin' on my hip joints pretty bad,so bending,stooping or even laying on my back is quite painfull. I need to build a rolling cart the same height as my fermenter stand...
 
I have been lifting to a chair, then from the chair to the counter. Its easier to get a better grasp. But for those with bad backs, a lift would be awesome. I want a lift. :)

Don't sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things.
 
Out of curiosity I just googled "cart with lift" and came up with several that could be useful.

They might ge a bit of overkill, and the cheapest I saw was $180 but if the alternative is messing up your back or dropping a full carboy it seems like a wise option.
 
Brewtah said:
How about a modified auto/ truck jack. With a platform, it could easily lift a 10 gallon fermenter.
Click to expand...


Yeah, a scissor jack can lift a car, but weights less than 10 lbs. put a platform, 4x4 sheet of plywood on one and you can should be able to lift 5 gallons at least 4 foot by cranking a handle
 
geek_chaser said:
i will try these techniques. the problem with him helping me is that he leaves before i wake and comes home so late. i think i will try some of this and see what i can do. if i feel i cant do it, i will see if my step dad can come down and help for a day. (this time of year everyone is so busy). thank you all for your suggestions. :)
Click to expand...

You're breaking my heart. Wish I could help. I have bad feelings toward your husband. I know I shouldn't say that, and it doesn't help anything, but maybe you should sit him down and speak your mind. He was born with muscles, not you, and those muscles weren't just for scratching a piece of paper with a pencil.
 
i admit i didnt read all responses so i dont know if this has been said or not but if you have a neighbor or a friend that could help offer them a brew in return
 
passedpawn said:
You're breaking my heart. Wish I could help. I have bad feelings toward your husband. I know I shouldn't say that, and it doesn't help anything, but maybe you should sit him down and speak your mind. He was born with muscles, not you, and those muscles weren't just for scratching a piece of paper with a pencil.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing.
 
He gets it to where i can move it before he goes to work. Unfortunately its tax season. But normally everything is done together. And hey, i carry a 4 year old and 2 year old at the same time, so why not a 5 gallon? :) i have new neighbors that moved in yesterday that i think are interested in helping. I brought them some "welcome to the complex" beer. So that might be fun. Maybe they will want to brew with me too.

Don't sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things.
 
So my goal today is to move all my beer stuff to the closet next to the kitchen. I have cleared it out of all junk and moved that stuff to my garage. Now to just move the beer stuff and i wont have as far to go. :)

Don't sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things.
 
geek_chaser said:
So my goal today is to move all my beer stuff to the closet next to the kitchen. I have cleared it out of all junk and moved that stuff to my garage. Now to just move the beer stuff and i wont have as far to go. :)

Don't sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things.
Click to expand...

Good plan, would it help at all if you kept your carboy on a small rolling cart? It would be easier to shuffle it around and you could rack directly from it.
 

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