Who drinks your creations?

Just started brewing with a little Mr. Beer setup. Been reading all the posts and it seems some people create 5 gallon batches, one after the other. Unless you have a really large extended family, who shares in the results of all your work and care?

I'm sharing about 4L out of 19L and consuming the rest within 2.5- 3 weeks

chefs, bartenders, and random people get to sample my beers Most of my family are too conservative to drink home brew and think I'm going to poison myself. I should disown them to be honest

Epimetheus said:

Just started brewing with a little Mr. Beer setup. Been reading all the posts and it seems some people create 5 gallon batches, one after the other. Unless you have a really large extended family, who shares in the results of all your work and care?

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I've been wondering that myself. Me, I brew about once a month, and as I do a lot of high-gravity brews I let them age sometimes for as much as six months. If I want to regularly drink six-month-old beer that means that I need to have six months worth of beer on hand at any given time. I think I have about 40 gallons back there right now.

Just looking at that quantity of bottles and carboys is impressive but misleading. It gives me and my wife about a pint or so a day, and twice on Sundays!

Mainly myself and my wife. However, I did bring some of my first brew to a family gathering and it was pretty well recieved, so I plan to continue with that and hope people enjoy my future brews. Got some porter in the fermenter now that's coming with me to Thanksgiving dinner

Are you saying I can't drink 5 gallons of beer?

Mostly ME and a few friends from time to time. That's why I brew small batches. I get about 16 bottles each brew and always have a selection in the fridge so I don't have to drink the same beer daily.

I drink the vast majority of what's on tap (4 faucet keezer) with my wife helping a little. If I bottle, it goes fast due to my dad, father in law, neighbor, and a coworker.

My wife drinks maybe a pint a month.

I have some non-homebrewing friends that are beer lovers and enjoy my homebrew, except for certain styles. IPAs are no problem finding willing consumers. Stouts & porters, not so much. Sours are hit-and-miss.
I also belong to a homebrew club, and as such we occasionally do events where we serve beer on tap. Stuff like parties, conferences, and festivals. I usually bring at least one keg and sometimes as many as three to these events. That certainly helps to finish off kegs.

Other than that it's pretty much just me drinking whatever I've got on tap until I'm kind of sick of it, at which point I will swap out with another keg. Sometimes I will eventually put the original keg back on tap and finish it, and sometimes I'll end up dumping it several months later. And some beers I make are really huge, like 12-14% ABV, so I will put it on tap for a while and drink a few pints, and then take it off so I can have a breather.

I brew a 5 gallon batch per week. Half of them I keg, and the more unique ones that I don't expect to drink very often go into bottles. I have a few coworkers who I'll share a few bottles with each week, family that really enjoys it at gatherings, and a group of friends that come over for beer, cigars, and pizza once a week. Beyond that, my wife and I usually drink one a night, although sometimes its wine, whiskey, or vodka. With all that, my pipeline keeps up with the consumption rate.

5 Gallons is only about 2 cases of beer. But, once you figure this beer making thing out....the friends come out of the wood work. Just sayin.

I usually brew about 15 gallons a month and share with everyone, neighbors, family, club members and even the occasional stranger that passes by on brew day thinking I've got a meth lab going! 2 of these strangers now brew their own as well

Even the mailman has stopped by after work for a beer as well as my HVAC guy and a couple if cops, for Halloween we hand out Jell-O shots and pints so we can keep all the adults happy while they tote their kids around, we are everyone's favorite trick or treat stop on the route!