Thursday, January 22, 2009

You know you're a homebrewer if...

There are a ton of these posted all over the internet. This is a pretty extensive list.

You know you're a homebrewer if . . .

  • If you visit old monasteries while on vacation in Europe and badger the tour guides with questions about yeast strains and the exact temperature of the cellar.
  • If you go appliance shopping and take carboys along for sizing.
  • If "coming out of the closet" means that the next batch is getting bottled.
  • If you incorporate a 3 tier system into the design of your new deck.
  • If you can't make tea without thinking about sparging grain.
  • If you find hop leaves in your dryer lint.
  • If you have 3 new coolers in the brewery, but 1 crappy old one for picnics.
  • If you have more types of beer glasses than you have plates and bowls.
  • If you perform a 'mash-out' in the shower to halt enzyme action.
  • If all your tupperware smells like grains and hops.
  • If people ask if what is in your glass is beer or wine.
  • If you watch your primary fermenter with the same intensity that a cat watches an aquarium.
  • If the only time you clean your kitchen is just before brewing a new batch.
  • If your bridal registry is at a home brew supply store.
  • If you've ever taken your dog to the vet to treat a burnt tongue because she lapped up a boil over.
  • If it started out as a hobby then ended up as a habit.
  • If you and your beer buddies dream that your wives are beer nymphs dancing naked around a boiling kettle singing praises to the beer gods.
  • If Tastybrew.com has a short cut on your desktop.
  • If you've ever made your own beer.
  • If you've ever packed empty beer bottles home from camping.
  • If you wonder what random things would taste like mashed, boiled and fermented.
  • If you know the cheapest place in town to refill propane and CO2 tanks.
  • If you are producing beer faster then you can drink it.
  • If you hear the song "Monster Mash" and think it is about a beer made for Halloween.
  • If you can tell if a bottle on the side of the highway is recappable at 65 MPH and turn around to get it.
  • If you are happier watching your air lock than TV.
  • If you're a guy and you go to the bar to meet guys to talk homebrew with.
  • If your tankless water heater has two settings: mash and sparge.
  • If you have had a serious conversation about whether or not bottles will explode at altitude.
  • If when someone asks who your favorite author is, you say "Papazian".
  • If you rush to your closet if you hear the sound of glass breaking.
  • If you're completely unaware that there's a Michael Jackson other than the beer writer.
  • If you have returned beer to the grocery store because it was a bad batch.
  • If you have plans to turn a large portion of your basement into a refrigerator for long term lagering.
  • If you have all the local homebrew stores on speed dial.
  • If you are the designated driver because you prefer not to drink mass produced beer.
  • If you've added iodine to a sample of your morning oatmeal to test for adequate starch conversion.
  • If you have ever found yourself rinsing out empty beer bottles at someone else's party.
  • If you've installed a quick disconnect on your sink so you can hook up your wort chiller more easily.
  • If you correct the tour guide on brewery tours.
  • If you buy beer according to ease of label removal or the type of bottle it comes in.
  • If you wonder about the absorption rate of your breakfast cereal while you pour the milk.
  • If you have a picture of a carboy on your desk instead of your family.
  • If when you ask for a sample at the local brewery, you mean yeast slurry, not beer.
  • If you know 6 different ways to start a siphon.
  • If you've ever had a party where more beer was brewed than was consumed.
  • If you've planned the landscaping at your new house around the location of your Cascade Hop trellis!
  • If the workers at the hardware store ask how the latest homebrew is coming along.
  • If your 4 year old asks Santa for a refractometer for you.
  • If you find that the "Homebrew" budget is larger than your "Grocery" budget in Quicken.
  • If you do a protein rest when cooking spaghetti.
  • If the local brew supply store knows who you are by voice alone.
  • If the majority of your shirts are brewing or beer related.
  • If you've ever taken a final gravity reading of a commercial beer.
  • If you have ever stared glare-eyed in the bulk spice section of the grocery store dreaming of Belgian beers with Orange peel and coriander or spiced Christmas ales.
  • If you have ever hugged your primary fermenter.
  • If you spend more time thinking about beer than drinking beer.
  • If you have ever had an intense argument about corn.
  • If you sparge your tea bags with 170 degree water to prevent astringency.
  • If you wish you could buy your significant other a perfume with a malty aroma and hints of toffee underneath a nice bouquet of citrus and pine fragrances.
  • If a slinky reminds you of a wort chiller.
  • If you actually look for cruddy sediment in the bottom of a beer, before you buy it.
  • If you've ever received a shipping quote from a malt distributor.
  • If everytime you are in the grocery store you look at the beer selection even thought you have 10 gallons of beer ready to drink at home.
  • If you take a personal day off from work to brew on a Wednesday to have an adequate yeast starter for the 1.100 Specific Gravity Belgian being brewed on Saturday.
  • If you refuse to pay $8.00 for a beer in a restaurant because you can make 5 gallons for that much.
  • If you scan the Belgian Ales at checkout yourself so the clerk won't disturb the yeast sediment.
  • If you live in a small one bedroom apartment, and you have two refridgerators.
  • If you wonder what everything would taste like if mashed, boiled and fermented.
  • If your computer passwords are all related to beer.
  • If you make hummingbird food by boiling the sugar water for 1 hour and then sanitize the feeder with Iodophor.
  • If your house doesn't have air conditioning, but your beer room does.
  • If your pet rabbit will only eat crushed German pilsner malt.
  • If "pick up CO2" is on your shopping list.
  • If you see the acronym R.D.W.H.A.H.B. and know what it means.
  • If you get all your exercise from moving carboys.
  • If you take your wife out to garage sales in hopes of finding brew gear.
  • If you hate to wash the family dishes, but think nothing about standing over a sink for hours cleaning empty bottles.
  • If you have used a bottle opener on a twist-off cap.
  • If your wife starts buying two of every kitchen utensil so she doesn't have to search the brewery when it's time to cook.
  • If you ask the guy at the hardware store if something is "food grade".
  • If you've ever spent the afternoon in a hardware store staring in to space, trying to improve your wort chiller/fluid transfer.
  • If you pre-heat your thermos cup to have a thermal mass of zero.
  • If a "beer run" is now classified as a 3 hour escapade at the local homebrew shop.
  • If you have ever parked your car in the rain to keep your beer out of it.
  • If you have never taken a microbiology course but you know all about Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.
  • If you measure purchases with how many batches of homebrew you could have brewed.
  • If your children believe that Santa Claus would rather have a glass of homebrew than milk.
  • If you worry about channeling when you "sparge" your coffee.
  • If your asked your phone company if they have a phone number ending in 1056.
  • If you can estimate hair color in degrees Lovibond.
  • If you have a separate email folder for homebrew.
  • If you can name at least 10 different varieties of hops, but can't name 10 congressmen.
  • If you understand how water chemistry and pH affect the mash, but barely passed high school chemistry.
  • If your wife left you for someone who doesn't brew.
  • If you have your local homebrew supply shop on speed-dial right above 911.
  • If you own a stock-pot big enough to bathe in.
  • If you have more varieties of beer on tap than your local bar does.
  • If you take two fermentors with you shopping for refridgerators.
  • If a smelly, moldy, disgusting college-dorm fridge is a gift from the gods.
  • If you tackle your wife in the kitchen before she sneezes.
  • If you have moved clothes out of your closet to make room for more fermenters.
  • If your child's science project is on fermentation.
  • If you've ever got up to check an airlock in the middle of the night.
  • If you have more refridgerators for beer than you do for food.
  • If going to a brewfest is part of your honeymoon.
  • If you plan your family vacations by which breweries you can visit.
  • If you and the local bottle-grannies have come to an accord over collection zoning.
  • If you have more airlocks than the international space station.
  • If you've tasted the finest commercial beer and said, "I can do better."
  • If you have more kegs than your average fraternity.
  • If staring at a bubbling airlock is more exciting than the superbowl.
  • If you pour your coffee carefully to avoid hot side aeration.
  • If you bring a 3-gallon corny to a cook-out with its own neoprene jacket.
  • If you've kept a log of the temperature in your basement for the past 5 years.
  • If the presence of a basement was a major factor in the selection of your new home.
  • If you have room in your fridge for 7 different types of beer, 6 packages of hops, 4 vials of yeast, and two cans of rice syrup, but no room for milk for the kids.
  • If you schedule your lunch break around trips to the homebrew store.
  • If you start asking questions about other people's worts.
  • If your 5 acre yard is completely mulched with spent grains.
  • If you have multiple propane tanks but only use charcoal grills.
  • If you own more stainless steel than your local hospital.
  • If you get up in the middle of the night to dry hop.
  • If you plan your days off around when the homebrew supply store is open.
  • If you have 45 gallons of bottled beer in the basement and wonder if you should double the batch you are brewing on Saturday.
  • If your basement looks like the set of a 1930's horror movie.
  • If your 5 gallon propane bottle has never been connected to a barbecue.
  • If you don't brew much until your wife leaves town for the weekend, then you brew 30 gallons.
  • If you have more than two refrigerators.
  • If you have bottles of bleach and no white clothes.
  • If you hear someone say "sock hop" and you think they're dyslexic.
  • If your neighbors think you started a bottle recycling center.
  • If you use old, leftover hops as potpourri.
  • If you've got more cooking utensils and gadgets than your spouse does.
  • If you return from New Year's Eve parties with a trunk full of empty champagne bottles.
  • If you always make sure to take the truck, rather than the car, to the brew supply store.
  • If you name your new puppy "Fuggles" or "Growler".
  • If you send a holiday card to the owner of your brew supply store.
  • If your house smells like a brewery.
  • If you buy more pantyhose than your wife (...for hops!)
  • If you kidnap the family thermometer to test the temperature of the wort.
  • If you hear the term 'malted milk' you think they are talking about a stout.
  • If you've ever bought a case of beer saying, "I paid for the bottles, the beer comes with them for free."
  • If you've ever had 6 or more cases of EMPTY beer bottles in your house before you had a party, not after.
  • If you've raided the boy scout bottle collection/recycling for old bottles.
  • If you've ever left your local soda bottling company with your trunk and back seat full of 5 gallon cornelius kegs.
  • If you give clothes to Goodwill just to get more room in your closet for beer and equipment.
  • If someone says they've had a yeast infection and you ask what they were brewing at the time.
  • If you get crown seals and hop bags for christmas presents.
  • If you've ever bought returnable beer bottles with no intention of EVER returning them.
  • If you're surfing the net at 3:40 am looking for homebrew websites or recipies.
  • If you cancel a date because your wort hasn't reached pitching temperature yet.
  • If you can't remember that last time you popped open a flip-top beer can.
  • If you think the term pitch has nothing to do with baseball.
  • If your cupboards have more brewing items and bottles than they do food and plates.
  • If you don't think that 10 gallons of beer is a lot.
  • If you've ever cut a hole in a refridgerator.
  • If walking across the kitchen floor sounds like velcro.
  • If you've ever asked the question, "by weight or volume?"
  • If you've ever used a mop on a ceiling.
  • If you own a sterile trash can.
  • If you've ever tried to improve a Budweiser by stirring in a hop pellet.