A break in the line...

So it's been 3 weeks since bottling my first brew, a Blonde Ale, and I only have 3 22's left of that. It's been a hit with everybody, especially in the last couple of days. Now I've bottled my Cherry Wheat and Pumpkin Spice ales, and will not have any homebrew to last the 3 week conditioning phase of those pretty soon. Back to buying some local brands until my next batches are ready to drink.

Now I know how it feels to have a break in the line....never again!

I just got a bonus from work though, so I'll be building my fermentation chamber and some new brews with that.

I had this problem when I first brewed. I didn't like it. So after the second beer, I brewed one 5 gallon batch every weekend for 6 weeks. After about 3 months, I had more beer than I knew what to do with. I don't drink that fast anymore, so I slowed down a bit. I've been brewing about once a month now, or when a keg blows.

I have this same problem right now - I was supposed to be drinking a brown ale right now, but the batch didn't turn out too good so I am letting it sit for a few months... Waiting for two more batches to bottle condition, so back to buying craft brews.

I have seven corney's in the keezer right now, and I have five gallons of hard cider fermenting, and Yooper's Dog Fish Head clone in a carboy perking away.

Having good beer on tap is like having four cords of firewood cut and stacked in the wood shed. It's like having all of your summer garden frozen or canned for winter.

The only commercial beer that's drinkable (for me) are the better quality microbrews. So if you do run out, you're going to have to pay the freight for good commercial beer.

I try and brew once a week to keep good beer in the pipeline. The dog days of winter are on the way...

Don't get your hopes up that it will NEVER happen again, it happens to all of us on occassion.....mostly depending on family and other commitments that prevent us from being able to fit in brew days. (Ask my buddy who is running for re-election on city council) or any other things, like busy summers, family illnesses etc. I just lamented my situation here;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/how-do-you-guys-do-138869/#post1574485

Besides, iirc isn't SOMEONE on here trying to do their master's right now? I sure as heck couldn't brew or do any hobbies that required time commitment when I was doing mine...of course I was working full time during the day.

Revvy said:

Besides, iirc isn't SOMEONE on here trying to do their master's right now?

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Haha, yeah, that's me. Working about 50 hours per week too with my job, and married for just over a year. But I can't complain, I'm getting a bonus this week for all the overtime I do that will pay for about 6 months of brew and my fermentation chamber, so I'm totally stoked

When it's something you love doing, I don't mind the time. I'm finishing my Ph.D. in which I'm in lab 50 or so hours a week, work 25-30 hours at a second job, and am at the point where I still brew most every weekend.

I just have the process honed where I'm done in 4-4.5 hours, so I even get the majority of the day to relax and kick back.

I tend to brew more in the winter, because I tend to "nest" more in the winter, and am usually going to music festivals and doing the vintage B-ball thing in the summer.

I'll do entire Sat. or Sundays where I'll cook a bunch of food for lunches during the week and brew a batch of beer on my stove at the same time. Most of the times it's 2.5 gallon AG batches, but I'll also do 5 gallon PM's or even 5 gallon allgrains where I'll use the dillution tool in beersmith, overcompensate 18% for hop utilization and do a high OG 3-4 gallon wort which I will dillute with water down to the 5 gallon OG I am aiming for. I did my Belgian wit that way and it turned out to be one of the best beers I ever brewed.

So I am looking forward to November when things slow down and I can get some brewing in....I hate to say I want winter to come, but my pipeline does.

Yeah, I'm in overdrive because I didn't brew at all this summer. Just too hot.

That's the whole reason I switched to 10g batches. I never get to brew 2 weekends in a row so I've been tring to step every thing up. I'm going to try and start making a batch of wine alongside every 10g batch of beer I make. That way I always have some sort of homemade beverage just in case it takes a while to get a brew in the fermenter

Much to my excitement (and my wife's stern looks :cross: ) I'll be building my fermentation chamber this weekend...all I need are the 4' x 8' x 2" insulation boards, 4 of them. At less than $100, I'll have a chamber large enough to fit all my conditioning bottles as well as 4-5 buckets / carboys. I'll also be bottling my Oatmeal Stout the same weekend.

Wow...I can't believe I started brewing only 45 days ago and will already have 25 gallons made (20 of those bottled) and a fermentation chamber to step-up the process. This is getting to be wonderfully insane!

Would it be possible for you to share how your building your chamber? I need to build one too, it'd be great if you could post some pics in the DIY section.

Thanks!

corvax13 said:

Would it be possible for you to share how your building your chamber? I need to build one too, it'd be great if you could post some pics in the DIY section.

Thanks!

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I'll post picks when I'm doing it, but I already have a thread showing the area. I'm using an already-in-place closet that's in my garage, insulating it with 2" insulation board, and cutting an attic-style door on the top of it for the window A/C unit to blow cold air down. Then extending the wire lead for the A/C's temperature sensor (no need for a temp controller then). The only thing I have to buy is the insulation.

Make a couple batches of wine. They'll eat up any pipeline downtime you encounter.