Have you ever heard of Shipwright’s Disease? Though I don’t have a ship (or even a boat) it is something that I have been plagued with my entire life, and I personally consider Shipwright’s Addiction to be more appropriate. I was made aware of the affliction years ago, and I am seeing its effects more and more as I grow older. In lieu of an actual definition, it was explained to me this way:

• You have a boat with a light bulb that needs changing.
• You remove the light bulb to discover some corrosion.
• You figure that if the light bulb is corroded, the rest of the wiring might have issues.
• To remove the wiring, it is necessary to remove some of the paneling.
• While the paneling is off, you decided to go ahead and replace it.
• The new panels make the carpeting look old, so you decide to go ahead and replace that.
• You realize that you can’t have a boat with new panels and new carpet but an old engine, so you decide to rebuild the engine.
• If you are already taking apart the engine, why not make a little more power.
• If you are going to make a little more power, why not make a LOT more power.
• The inside of this boat with new carpet, paneling, and a more powerful motor is great, but it just doesn’t match that old faded gelcoat on the outside.
• AND, it goes on. I am sure you get the point.

So I explained the boat half of the title. How does it relate to beer? Most recently, Shipwright’s Addiction has surfaced through my whim to brew beer. I decided it would be fun to drink a beer that I made myself, so I wisely bought only the most basic brewing kit… pretty much some buckets, some malt extract, and some yeast.

That’s when things started to go pear shaped.

I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen too much while brewing, so I found a propane burner on Craigslist that came with a mash tun for brewing all grain.

In order to utilize the mash tun, I needed a better way to cool the wort. My Craigslist purchase of a wort chiller came with some more brewing “stuff”. The volume of beer I need to brew to justify the equipment required a way to dispense a larger volume of beer. I went to Craigslist and purchased a kegerator. The kegerator wouldn’t fit the size of keg I had acquired, so I built a bigger kegerater. My bigger kegerator had empty space, so I needed to  more kegs… and CO2 bottles… and a CO2 filling station… and it kept going. It is really not my fault. Craigslist is obviously to blame.

In the end, things went from two buckets, some malt extract, and some yeast to almost everything shown in these pictures, and more. I even had to obtain an extra tool box and make shelves to hold all of the beer paraphernalia.

While I typically try to make  my posts helpful for the DIYer, this one isn’t. It isn’t even about boats or beer. It is a Public Service Announcement for those related to DIYers.

If your loved one is afflicted with Shipwright’s Disease, you can’t fight it. You can’t stop it. The best you can do is to keep them away from hobbies and sources of enjoyment, limit their internet usage and access to Craigslist, and give me all of their stuff when it becomes too much to bear.