how do you people stockpile??

I wish i could figure it out, lost here about this. Between the suggested times i hear for conditioning and whatnot, i cant keep even one 5gal batch around long enough to have different beers around my place.

There was a post about this yesterday.. get more fermentors and keep them full. Brew bigger batches if you need to. It's pretty easy if you have the time to brew. Heck, a new bucket fermentor only costs a few bucks if that's all that's stopping ya.

+1 to brew brew brew. My Home Depot now sells white, food-safe buckets and yours might too. I've also found a restaurant that provides me with free sanitized 5 gallon buckets, so my fermenters are down to being about $1.50. After that, you have to find a recipe you like and brew a lot. You'll save on cost/shipping if you by in bulk anyway.

I have 5 fermenters - two are usually tied it with mead, the other 3 with beer at all times. I plan brew days to bottle and brew at the same time so they're never empty.

I have a freezer with a temp controller that can hold 4 6.5 gallon fermenting buckets. There have been times it was full. I usually brew every two weeks. Sometimes I'll brew up to three batches in one week.

I try to keep a few extra pounds of grain on hand.

i am about to start brewing a ten gallon batch a week! but i drink a lot...

Well you brew one pretty bad batch your first time around, then nobody wants your beer after trying that one. Bam, 5 gallons all to yourself every time.

Been working out pretty well for me so far.




But seriously, more fermenters is what you really need.

That's ridiculous, Ed. How are you supposed to play basketball?

Im trying to convince the SO that i need another fermenter, she drank the majority of my first beer, and she already said she doesnt want to wait for my chimay to be ready in december/january so it looks like i need more a) space or b) fermenters...

Awesome. Buckets are inexpensive. Get 2 or 3 more!

Riddick said:

I wish i could figure it out, lost here about this. Between the suggested times i hear for conditioning and whatnot, i cant keep even one 5gal batch around long enough to have different beers around my place.

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There is a very simple solution.

Let X be the greatest amount of beer that you would go through in a given amount of time (t).

Let Y be the the amount of beer that you brew in time t.

Whenever Y > X,
Whenever Y = X,
Whenever Y < X,


For example, let's say that you go through 5 gallons of beer in two weeks:
X = 5 gallons
t = 2 weeks

Y must be greater than 5 gallons.

Therefor, you must brew more than 5 gallons of beer every two weeks.

Brew something with a quick turn around. Biermuncher Centennial blonde, or a wheat and then get another started right away.

LVBen said:

There is a very simple solution.

Let X be the greatest amount of beer that you would go through in a given amount of time (t).

Let Y be the the amount of beer that you brew in time t.

Whenever Y > X,
Whenever Y = X,
Whenever Y < X,


For example, let's say that you go through 5 gallons of beer in two weeks:
X = 5 gallons
t = 2 weeks

Y must be greater than 5 gallons.

Therefor, you must brew more than 5 gallons of beer every two weeks.

Click to expand...

Einstein! You're alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

don't stop drinking commercial beer

The recipe I'm brewing this weekend cost me $15 including yeast and hops. I could still bring the costs down more by re-using yeast, buying hops in bulk and base malt in 55lb sacks and a few other things. Of course that is an intentionally cheap brew, I probably average $25 per 5 gallons. All grain is definitely the way to go for the long term.

Between me and my SWMBO and whatever social gatherings I might be providing beer for I only need to brew 2-3 times a month

The most expensive kits I get with tax are right around $60. That $60 makes 2 cases of beer, sometimes more. That same $60 kit that makes two cases of beer is the type of beer that bought in the store would run you $10 or more for one bomber.

i was thinking about the cost too, but i found a local place that has a LOT of kits that are pretty damn cheap, like $30 all in, so for $30 for two cases, i/she can deal. Its the turnaround time thats key. I dont mind the 3-4months for something like chimay, its the OTHER beers that i dont really want tot wait for.

With a few buckets and little cash outlay for ingredients, it's really not that hard to get a pipeline going. For example, lets say you get yourself 4 additional buckets (try asking the local bakery if they have empties). You buy enough ingredients to make 4 batches of beer ($120). Then brew every week for 4 weeks. By the 3rd or 4th week, the first batch is ready to bottle or keg, freeing up a bucket for another batch. You'll need another month for bottle conditioning, so 7-8 weeks before you're first batch is ready, but after that, as long as you keep brewing as fast as you drink, you're set.

Depending on how fast you typically go through 5 gallons, you might be brewing every two weeks or once a month from there out. If your not dry hopping or adding fruit, each of those additional brews can sit in your bucket as long as needed until you're ready to bottle or keg (no need to transfer to a secondary). Of course if you're bottling, you'll want to get another two cases of bottles.

Continuing this example, if you go through 5 gallons a month, you'd have two cases bottled and ready to drink, two cases conditioning, and at least five gallons in the fermentors. It's better to have more than one beer fermenting, in case you miss a scheduled brew session. Then, as long as you brewed and bottled at least once a month, your pipeline would always be going.

terrapinj said:

don't stop drinking commercial beer

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+1. Gotta keep some commercial in the mix or you'll blow your precious load too quick.

dfc said:

The most expensive kits I get with tax are right around $60. That $60 makes 2 cases of beer, sometimes more. That same $60 kit that makes two cases of beer is the type of beer that bought in the store would run you $10 or more for one bomber.

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Check out the recipes on here plenty of extract ones 33Lbs. of LME is 72.00 by me add some seeping grains, bulk hops keeping yeast cultures and you can brew for 2/3rds of a kit. My most expensive bath is a Barleywine at 23# of base grains...Or go all grain and save.........my.02

I just started in April but I have now accumulated a 6 gallon better bottle, 2 Ale Pales, 2 5 gallon better bottles and a 3 gallon glass carboy. I plan to use the 3 gallon for strong beers I might not need 5 gallons of, for example the barley wine I am going to brew in a couple weeks. When I first started reading this site I didn't get the pipeline idea but now I do. I think of some of my beers as session beers and some as big beers than need some time. I always try to keep a session beer around and brew those often. But I also figure I will usually have a bigger project going too, like an imperial stout or stock ale or something. Right now I have 2 cases of a SMaSH beer for session and need to brew an oatmeal stout soon to go with the pumpkin and get me through the fall and winter. I also have an imperial stout and a winter warmer in carboys aging, those will also be holidays gifts so they will go pretty quick.

first go all grain a bag of bulk grain(50-55 pound sacks) run 35-40 bucks a sack in group buys stock up with 4 or 5 sacks. each sack will make 25 gallons on average. buy hops buy the pound cost 8-14 dollars a pound. brew at least 10 gal batches. harvest and reuse yeast. I'm electric so energy cost is about $2.00. per session. my cost for a average 10 gal batch is about 30 dollars. I keep 6 taps and 4-6 kegs in reserve at all times, its cheap and easy by brewing large batches.

beaksnbeer said:

Check out the recipes on here plenty of extract ones 33Lbs. of LME is 72.00 by me add some seeping grains, bulk hops keeping yeast cultures and you can brew for 2/3rds of a kit. My most expensive bath is a Barleywine at 23# of base grains...Or go all grain and save.........my.02

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I'll be going all grain soon. I was waiting to get Beersmith and since 2.0 just came out I can use it on my mac. Next on the list is a keg or two and then all grain.

1. Drink less so you have to brew less.
2. Brew more than you can drink.
3. Find cost cutting techniques.

Everybody has hit on #2 so I won't touch on it further. #1 is obvious, but as you may or may not have already discovered, brewing makes you want to enjoy your beer frequently which means you will drink a lot. There may be some health reasons (e.g. weight) why you may want to limit your drinking. Alternatively, you may be comfortable with the amount you drink, in which case you will have to accept that one way or another you are going to expend cash on beer/alcohol.

Ok, so on to #3. Extract is a very expensive way to brew. I know people will point out the equipment costs with all grain but you don't have to constantly upgrade or buy expensive equipment. You can do BIAB techniques for the cost of a paint straining bag and a second kettle (if you don't already have one). Even the igloo cooler route is not very expensive and over time you will recover costs. (I am not hating on extract brewing -- just looking at the cost.)

Lots of brewers (myself included) like to make big beers, special brews, etc. that add expense. While there's nothing wrong with making that 200 IBU RIS with oak, cherries, fifteen yeast strains and then soured for 20 years, you probably don't need to drink something so elaborate all the time. Mixing in session beers into your pipeline will help lower expenses.

Yeast washing will help lower the cost of yeast (if you are using liquid). Once you go all grain you can patch together simple session recipes like SMaSH brews that are inexpensive. You can also buy hops in bulk, which is a huge cost saving. If you are making several similar types of beers, especially not highly-hopped beers, you can use one or two types of hops, bought in bulk, where the recipes may call for ounces of 4-6 different types of hops. I bought a pound of Fuggles a year ago and used it in wheat, porter, saison, tripel, dubbel, belgian golden strong, sour, pale ale, kolsch, and brown ale in different ways over about 30 gallons of beer (and I still have some left). That was about $22 with shipping. If I had bought that much hops from a HBS by the ounce I would have easily spent $32-64 plus tax. You could buy 2-3 types of hops and easily get plenty of variety for low cost.

All grain in the long run is the most economical. 48 beers for $20.00 is tough to beat. Odds are you have most everything you need to do BIAB or all grain. I drink 3-4 beers a day so I need to make sure I need to brew enough to meet that requirement plus a little more for the days they are going down too easy.

My tricks:
All-Grain, buy in balk, brew 10 gallon batches of session, only occasional 5 gallon batches of fancy. Almost always use good ol reliable... and cheap Nottingham yeast.

And by far the most important move to make:

Tell your brothers and sisters, your parents, SWMBO, SWMBO's parents, SWMBO's brothers and sisters, your kids, and all your friends that you only have one thing on your birthday/christmas list from now on.... And that is gift certificates to your favorite online brew store. And then send them the link straight to the gift card on the website every time someone asks "what do you want?" In the last 3 years I've probably gotten around $750 in gift certificates and not one single F-ing sweater.

bruin_ale said:

There was a post about this yesterday.. get more fermentors and keep them full. Brew bigger batches if you need to. It's pretty easy if you have the time to brew. Heck, a new bucket fermentor only costs a few bucks if that's all that's stopping ya.

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That was my post!!
I got the same advice you did; then I ordered some more carboys & picked up a couple of buckets!!
I think it's sick irony to say "I'm a homebrewer, but I'm drinking commercial". I also come from a long line of beerdrinkers/alcoholics so the whole fam wants to "try" a brew. The waiting does pay off it really does. But damn if patience wears thin!!
By the way....I'm planning a 3 in 1 brew day next week!!! I'm just going to load em' up!!
Good Luck!
Sarah.

EdWort said:

I try to keep a few extra pounds of grain on hand.

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Nice!!!

+1 for brewing more, and adding some commercial beer to the mix. My wife and I both drink lots of beer, about half homebrew, half commercial (that includes cheapys like PBR), we brew two or three times a month and keep a decent pipeline going. Ideally, we'd brew weekly and cut out some purchasing of beer, but time and space don't always permit that.

im pretty limited by space for everything(along with juuuuust about every other kind of beer besides ales) so my choices are pretty limited, but many thanks for the suggestions/heads up everyone!

If space is the issue, how about Corneys as fermenters. I have been thinking of doing that. The footprint of a corney is smaller, but they are taller. I could put 3-4 in my fermentation chamber, but just 2 buckets.

BeerWard said:

If space is the issue, how about Corneys as fermenters. I have been thinking of doing that. The footprint of a corney is smaller, but they are taller. I could put 3-4 in my fermentation chamber, but just 2 buckets.

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I've been thinking about doing this myself, but how do you get an airlock on a corney keg?

LVBen said:

I've been thinking about doing this myself, but how do you get an airlock on a corney keg?

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Remove a post, insert airlock with appropriately sized stopper.

If you do this, you're going to want to shorten the dip tube so you're not sucking up trub when you jump the beer into a serving keg.

Riddick said:

I wish i could figure it out, lost here about this. Between the suggested times i hear for conditioning and whatnot, i cant keep even one 5gal batch around long enough to have different beers around my place.

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Haha. I was coming here to post just such a thread. I started my first five gallon batch about a month ago, started opening the bottles up a few days before they were supposed to be done (I opened one up and it wasn't so bad, and there's no other beer here to drink) and we ended up drinking nearly the whole five gallons in less than three weeks. It was just about two weeks, in fact.

I have 4 in the closet to age longer and two six packs to give away to some people who loaned me equipment.

The sad thing is that we are totally out of beer/alcohol/brewing money for this month and I absolutely can't start another batch till next month. I do have two fermenters, though, and I think next time I will get both going at once. I just need to find more bottles.

It also helps to keg and have a big Keezer to keep your stock pile chilled and ready for action.

Why cant EDWORT be my neighbor ..........

D-MOTITAN said:

Why cant EDWORT be my neighbor ..........

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No kidding...I'm off to Bee Cave TX!

Figure how much you go through in 3 weeks. I go through about 1.5 5gal kegs or 7.5 Gal per three week period (friends, SWMBO, and me at 4+ pints a night...never mind.. )

.....it takes 3 weeks to replace 5 gal if doing 5 gal batches. So I need to brew and always have ready (2) 5 gal batches (that are not in the kegs) in other words "backups" to my on tap two beers (10 gal total).

If you have 2 more go to beers ready to be kegged, the first thought for me is which one on tap to drink dry first..... and who's it's replacement ? :rockin: