10 gallon batches - only 2 people drinking it

I recently acquired a setup to to 10gal batches.

I also acquired a few extra 6.5 and 5.0 carboys.

My problem is now that I have about 20 gallons of beer coming on ( only 2 different styles) and I still have ~8 gallons in my 2 5.5gallon corneys in my tiny haier kegerator.

4 gallons Pale
4 gallons Irish Black Lager
10 gallons scotch
10 gallons porter
---
28 or so gallons.

What do you guys do with your large 10 gallon batches? I should mention I have 2 growlers.

Just give it away at my LHBS? Try to bottle it and give it away to friends/family? Also this weekend is a huge beer tasting thing in my area, so I won't be drinking much/anything on tap at home.

I don't think I'd spend the money on 10G batches worth of ingredients if I didn't want to drink it. Your 10G capable setup should be able to handle smaller batches.

10 gallons? that should last about 3 days if you really want to get rid of it. come on, show some dedication!

Drink faster. Cook with beer. Give it away.

I started doing a monthly dinner with friends and family -- that has really helped increase consumption.

I don't know that I have ever heard of this problem. Too much beer?

IrregularPulse said:

I don't think I'd spend the money on 10G batches worth of ingredients if I didn't want to drink it. Your 10G capable setup should be able to handle smaller batches.

Click to expand...

True, it is ~$30 more than the 5's I was making previously.

dbreienrk1 said:

10 gallons? that should last about 3 days if you really want to get rid of it. come on, show some dedication!

Click to expand...

Lulz~ My liver. ; ;

rhamilton said:

Drink faster. Cook with beer. Give it away.

I started doing a monthly dinner with friends and family -- that has really helped increase consumption.

Click to expand...

Good ideas!

12thKnight said:

Lulz~ My liver. ; ;

Click to expand...

Oh, come on...its totally doable

10gal/2people = 5gal/person
5gal/3days = ~1.66gal/day
1.66gal*128oz/16oz = ~13.25pints a day

you can do it!

I was doing 10 gal batches because I figured that it wasn't much more time to do 10 than 5 and my time was more valuable than the cost of the ingredients. But, like you, it wasn't being drunk fast enough. So I switched to 5 gallon batches. Since I have to do some lifting during the brew day, 5 gallons is also easier to handle on my own.

There are a few times I wish I had done 10 gallons, but for the most part I enjoy the brew process more when I'm only doing 5.

make friends, and if you cant, make drinking buddies.

Get some corneys and keg the beer with priming sugar, just like bottles (but less priming sugar). The beer in kegs will be good for a few moths/years just like in bottles, so you can just put it away for later.

Ziggy Zaggy, Ziggy Zaggy, oye oye oye !!

Sounds like, to me, you got 1 too many people per 10 gallons of beer.

Even if you have a small kegerator, you can get larger kegs for storage, and just do a keg-to-keg transfer under a small amount of pressure when you're ready to move some to one of your serving kegs. There are several descriptions around on how to do that, but basically it's just putting a piece of beverage line together with a liquid QD on each end.
I'm betting used/reconditioned 5gallon cornys are a LOT cheaper than the 2.5gallon ones, which you're probably buying new, and you'll only need half as many with the greater capacity.

Tasting party?

dbreienrk1 said:

Oh, come on...its totally doable:

1.66gal*128oz/16oz = ~13.25pints a day

you can do it!

Click to expand...

...

Spartan1979 said:

I switched to 5 gallon batches. Since I have to do some lifting during the brew day, 5 gallons is also easier to handle on my own.

Click to expand...

I did a 5 gallon marzen this weekend, it being the last weekend of marzen and all. my 15 gallon keggle for hot liquor doesn't like anything under 5 gallons to prime the suction. So the 20minute 120' 3gallon protein rest and the 2 gallon sparge didnt' work at all. Need to get a sight glass and use a lot more water in the tank... 5 gallons are doable, but tougher with the current system.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Sounds like, to me, you got 1 too many people per 10 gallons of beer.

Click to expand...

I did laugh out loud reading this one ; )

Raenon said:

Even if you have a small kegerator, you can get larger kegs for storage, and just do a keg-to-keg transfer under a small amount of pressure when you're ready to move some to one of your serving kegs. There are several descriptions around on how to do that, but basically it's just putting a piece of beverage line together with a liquid QD on each end.
I'm betting used/reconditioned 5gallon cornys are a LOT cheaper than the 2.5gallon ones, which you're probably buying new, and you'll only need half as many with the greater capacity.

Click to expand...

I have 2x 5.5 gallon corneys in the fridge, and 1 5.5 holding a mead, and 1 5.5 holding a barley wine (those 2 are not in the fridge). They're all commercial sized stainless 5.5's using sankey fittings.

Good idea on just aging in kegs though, and then force carbing them later. Do you know of any places to get the standard 1/6th barrel sankey kegs on the cheap?

12thKnight said:

Lulz~ My liver. ; ;

Click to expand...

Wouldn't you rather be a good liver than have one?

12thKnight said:

I have 2x 5.5 gallon corneys in the fridge, and 1 5.5 holding a mead, and 1 5.5 holding a barley wine (those 2 are not in the fridge). They're all commercial sized stainless 5.5's using sankey fittings.

Good idea on just aging in kegs though, and then force carbing them later. Do you know of any places to get the standard 1/6th barrel sankey kegs on the cheap?

Click to expand...

Ah, I misread your first post- thought it said you had 2.5 gallon kegs in the fridge, not 2 (two) 5.5's...

I don't really know what's cheap for those, looking around, seems new sixth's run about the same as new cornys- $130 here:
http://breweryparts.com/index.php/e...pment/beer-kegs/1-6-bbl-sankey-beer-kegs.html

Came up with a handful of classifieds results over on probrewer.com for $85-95 apiece.

Sounds like used cornys are still going to be cheaper, and you can carb using simpler/cheaper equipment. I actually picked up a second tank and regulator to do just that while I'm aging warm.
If I decide to devote a bit more space, I could also put in a thermostat controlled freezer or big fridge in the basement to hold them while they carb up, but I actually rather like the idea of aging warm, carbing, and only having to wait 8-12 hours to chill and pour from the kegerator

Found a place called plastic kegs america by browsing those classifieds you mentioned.

looks like $45 for a plastic keg in a sixth barrel size.

http://www.plastickegs.com/

edit: says on their site, minimum order of 5, and they claim their kegs are unsuitable for home brewing Wonder why.

I do 10 gallon batches and I see a few options for you here.

1) Keg 5 and bottle 5 of each batch. Set those bottled aside and start building up a collection of aging beers for way down the road or if your pipeline ever dries up.

2) Drink more

3) Brew 5 gallon batches using your setup

4) Buy some cubes or winpacks and start no-chilling. Then you can choose to only pitch yeast in 5 gallons at a time and save a cube of the wort sitting somewhere until your pipeline dries up from not having time to brew or until you feel like fermenting/drinking that beer again. With this you can brew 10 gallons and only have to keg/bottle 5 at a time.

12thKnight said:

Found a place called plastic kegs america by browsing those classifieds you mentioned.

looks like $45 for a plastic keg in a sixth barrel size.

http://www.plastickegs.com/

edit: says on their site, minimum order of 5, and they claim their kegs are unsuitable for home brewing Wonder why.

Click to expand...

There are many threads about those kegs and I believe plenty of people use them.

I keg 11g batches to fill 5 and 3g kegs. I brew primarily in the fall/winter. I brew enough to last all year. I hate brewing when flies are at there peak. The point I'm trying to make is there is nothing wrong with stocking up.

H-ost has a good point , you should keg and bottle. It will allow you to be portable and put some away for over a year.

H-ost said:

There are many threads about those kegs and I believe plenty of people use them.

Click to expand...

Ok cool, I'll look into getting 5 for future batches.

JesseRC said:

I keg 11g batches to fill 5 and 3g kegs. I brew primarily in the fall/winter. I brew enough to last all year. I hate brewing when flies are at there peak. The point I'm trying to make is there is nothing wrong with stocking up.

H-ost has a good point , you should keg and bottle. It will allow you to be portable and put some away for over a year.

Click to expand...

I am brewing 2-3x/month. When I was doing 5's, it definitely didn't last longer than the next batch was ready, but with double the output I am getting some overproduction.

More kegs seems to be the answer, plus then I can try filtering from 1 keg to another using CO2 at low psi.

12thKnight said:

Found a place called plastic kegs america by browsing those classifieds you mentioned.

looks like $45 for a plastic keg in a sixth barrel size.

http://www.plastickegs.com/

edit: says on their site, minimum order of 5, and they claim their kegs are unsuitable for home brewing Wonder why.

Click to expand...

H-ost said:

There are many threads about those kegs and I believe plenty of people use them.

Click to expand...

I think that PlasticKegs has made a business decision that they are not going to pursue, and perhaps even try to scare off, the homebrew market, and instead is reaching out to craft/micro/nano breweries and brewpubs.
It's an incredibly shortsighted approach, especially since most nanos and micros start as homebrewers these days, and homebrewers don't do anything purely based on price- we just weigh price versus performance.

Despite what their website says, I'd agree that the number of people using them quite successfully shows that they are perfectly suitable.