Rule number one of homebrewing: YOU MUST BE CLEAN.
Now, I’m not saying Hubby and I are slobs. We’re not. But we’re definitely not Martha Stewart with a dustpan either. We do routinely clean down our place, but once we started homebrewing, we discovered that our idea of “clean” needs to be notched up to OCD standards. Why? Because all it takes is dirt, dust, or whatever else that’s lying around your work area, inside your carboy, bottles, or equipment to make a potentially tasty brew not so tasty at all.
So when Hubby and I start a homebrew, we get manic. We bust out the Clorox and we start attacking our kitchen and bathtub (the place where we clean the carboy and bottles). We’re kneeling on the floor on our hands and knees and scrubbing so hard that it feels like exercise.
Let me be honest here. I’ve never cleaned so much in my life.
Again, I’m not a slob. Hubby is admittedly the taskmaster when it comes to cleaning. He’ll tell me what to clean and I’m on it. But in general, well…I’m a hoarder. No, it’s not so bad that I need to be on the television show. But I have a really bad habit of never throwing anything away. As a writer, pages and pages pile up on the desk, which is already full with my printer and computer. The pages then spill over to the couch, and this all happens to be in the den/writing room/beer storage room. I never know what to throw away, which essentially means I should probably chuck it all.
See, my writer’s mentality is messing with my new beer mentality. After hours of scrubbing certain parts of our apartment to death, I face the den/writing room/beer storage room and I think, How can I live like this? How is Hubby still married to a hoarder like me? This got me thinking. What was it about homebrewing that inspires me to clean when I need to? Well, creating a tasty beer is really an astounding motivator.
Hubby and I each have our tasks when we clean. Hubby takes the kitchen and most of the equipment. I clean the bucket and all 50 some bottles. It’s a daunting task, wiping 50 some bottles clean. But despite the fact most of my body smells like cleaning solution and my hands are in the water so long, they become wrinkled and worn down, I don’t mind how long cleaning takes me. Why? Because I always think, It’s not worth messing up a potentially tasty beer for laziness.
I believe my new beer mentality is perhaps telling me — Let go of the hoarder in you. Because really, what do I need all these random papers for? When it comes to writing, my mind gets caught up in the words, and I think of little else. I’m also always writing and working several nights a week to constantly finish one assignment after another. The work builds up and then at the end of the day I think, I just don’t want to deal with the paper. But since my writing room/den has melded with our new beer life, maybe my writing mentality needs to meld with my beer mentality as well. Maybe I should start thinking, It’s not worth messing up a potentially good writing piece by being so cluttered.
Perhaps if I free the den/writing room/beer storage room from the clutter, then my writing in general will feel less cluttered, and I’ll be able to focus more on each writing assignment as it comes. Who knows? But it’s an experiment worth trying. At the very least, I know Hubby will be pleased if I make more of an initiative in the cleanliness factor. After all, it doesn’t seem fair for him always to be the taskmaster.
It’s funny how much homebrewing has motivated me to take a look at the other parts of my life. Homebrewing takes so much work, patience and care that it’s never worth rushing the process. Like I learned in our first brew, it’s always better to wait then to crack open a beer before its ready. Let it mature to where it needs to be. Maybe I’m the beer. Just growing up a little bit more.
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