Making your brew last

I myself, will buy a 6 pak or 2 of some good micro brew to keep my homebrew flow going. I would like to get a good stock of homebrew so I don't have to buy beer. I average 1 brewday every 3 weeks. I like to share my brew which doesn't help me keep the keg/ bottles full. Does anyone else go thru this? I hate buying commercial beer, but I can't keep up with the homebrew.

Make more time to make more beer!
Brew more.
Your grammar sorta blew my mind.

What I found was to not Brew two Lagers in a row. They tie up equipment and then take 6 to 8 weeks before you can drink. I had two kegs ready, then brewed two lagers and now one keg is empty and the other is almost (maybe a mug or two at most). And the two Lagers are not ready to drink, one is in fermenter and one lagering. I'm doing a Pale Ale using Ringwood Ale yeast which is known for getting good beer from Brew to Glass in 7 days to fill in the gap. I have three fermenters and 2 are full and my next beer needs a Primary and a Secondary. I have 7 corny's, goal is to have 4 tapped, 1 aging (can fit 5 in main kegerator, can fit 4 in other kegerator which will double as fermentation chamber at times as well).

Lol I love your dedication and schedule. I have a honey Weizen tapped ( probably 1/2 left ), a barely wine ( 9% abv ) which probably needs another 5-6 weeks in bottle conditioning, and a simple cream ale session beer in the fermenter now. The barley wine is the kink right now. I will try to fill the gap!

mulhaircorey said:

Make more time to make more beer!
Brew more.
Your grammar sorta blew my mind.

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Sorry for the grammar? I use my iPhone and am not submitting these forums to a college professor. CHEERS!

I have 4 batches that are being consumed right now, and yet I still like to buy me a little something special every weekend. I just buy a 4 pack or two, and usually it's an Imperial of some kind. I don't think that will change, unless I just get insanely good at making beer and have a pipeline from hell!

I haven't buy beer for over a year I brew every 2-3 weeks but 10 gal batches I guess this helps

Brew more. Simple as that. It's always good to have a mix of beers that are best drunk young (IPAs, wheats, etc), ones that can take a lot of aging (big Belgians, Imperial stouts, etc), and ones in between so you aren't always clearing out batch after batch. I haven't bought beer out of necessity (because we all know beer is necessary for survival) for months now, but I still do just because I always love trying something new. I currently have bottles from 8 batches in my basement, soon to be 7 once I finish up the last few bottles of an American IPA that I started drinking 6 weeks ago.

I actually once or two times a week will buy myself a 22oz bottle of guinness extra stout. Not just for a good 7.5% stout, but they are great bottles to save!

10 gal batches is the way I go about this and still have problems keeping up with demand. I have fermenters to have 5 10 gal batches fermenting, I also have 12 kegs and a 4 tap keezer. I always keg half and bottle the other half. Those bottles are key in making sure I always have beer. I try to brew every other week but I have exceeded that goal so far this year.

Throw a session batch in there. I brew an IPA regularly based off the Austin home brew session pale ale. Generally 6-8 days in the fermenter then about 7 days in the bottle and it's ok to drink..... A little rushed but not bad at all.

Polboy said:

I haven't buy beer for over a year I brew every 2-3 weeks but 10 gal batches I guess this helps

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Yeah, I only do 5 gallon batches only because I only have a 10 gallon boil pot for now :-(

I am always well stocked because I love to brew and don't buy nearly as much beer as I used to but I still buy, after all most craft beers started as home brews and I think it's important to support that aspect of the community. It's also a great research tool to try what's out there and bring what you learn back to your own recipes. There are a lot of amazing beers being produced out there, don't sell yourself short by missing out on them!

amen to the call for throwing a few session recipes in your pipeline, it's easy and frankly will seriously help span the gap between 'currently consumable' and 'needs lengthy conditioning time' brews.

just starting to get a pipeline going (two in bottles, two weeks apart; one in primary that could be bottled next week; one big beer that's gonna tie up a fermenter for the next several weeks), so i've been working on adding to my bottle collection. fortunately they tend to come with beer already in them!

thetragichero said:

just starting to get a pipeline going (two in bottles, two weeks apart; one in primary that could be bottled next week; one big beer that's gonna tie up a fermenter for the next several weeks), so i've been working on adding to my bottle collection. fortunately they tend to come with beer already in them!

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Dumpster dive in recycling bins. I swear by it.

hahaha I just did a raspberry mead which I hope will be ready for Christmas.

I brew beer because I like to taste beer therefore I will never quit buying commercial beer. I tell my wife it's "research."

Gotta brew more, or give away less, or both. Brews that I really like tend to go fast. Most homebrewers start off wanting everyone to like their beer so they give lots away. At this point I really don't do much of that--there simply isn't enough to go around.

I do double 5 gal brew days. Last one was a Dunkel and an Irish red. Time before that it was 2 hefes. Next week its an IPA and a SMaSH. Once I have capacity for 10 gallon batches I'll stop that.

It only adds an hour or so to the brew day, maybe less if you have a giant mash tun so you can mash once, boil twice.