If you like to brew all the time, then don't do 10 gallon batches.

Then you will be like me right now. Wanting to brew this weekend, but unless I want to ferment my beer in tupperware containers (which I doubt is a good idea) I just dont have the space. Im even forced to pour my Apfelwein from the garage, being that my Kolsch is taking up fridge space. Good thing the garage is almost freezing cold

5 gallons may just be the way to go. Then I can still brew every weekend, and leave the 10 gallon batches for when I brew for parties and what not. I guess it could be worse....I could actually have some real problems to ***** about besides having too much beer in the house atm.


my little rant for the day

You know, it is not the brewing that i like so much as it is the drinking and sharing of my home brew. Brewing actually takes cleaning and swift attention to sanitation, not that i mind that, but when the boil is actually going on i then relax and drink some home brews.

Now that i have thought about it a bit, i suppose brewing right now sounds like fun.........................damn it all!!!!!!!!!

My problem is the pint glass! What does it equal 16.something OZs in a pint? If you do some quick math you will see there is only 50 beers then in a 5 gallon keg, thus leaving me only 50 days at a beer a day for drinking, then you factor in when i have 2 day, ok so im down to 30 days, then there is the sharing so now im down to 3 weeks......................son of a b!tch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now i have to brew again and its no fun again cuz there is all of that cleaning and.................................................................

Its a vicious cycle

Reverend JC said:

...Its a vicious cycle

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Did you say it's a "delicious" cycle...???

I could only see myself brewing my chaos IPA in 10g batches. I almost always have it on tap and would like to have another waiting in the wings but in 5g increments that's harder to do as I tend to experiment with my second tap. Yea, 5g for me too until I get my next "signature beer" that I may want around all the time but that'd require a 3rd tap in the fridge.

My goal is to move to 10 gal batches now that I'm doing AG. I would like to be able to get ahead of the game once in a while. Also this way I would be able to bottle 5gals and keg 5gals if I want to.

just curious what type of Mash tun you guys use to brew a 10 gal batch with?

right now I think I'd like to move to 10 gal. SWMBO would freak out if I start brewing every weekend

nkonkle said:

just curious what type of Mash tun you guys use to brew a 10 gal batch with?

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10 Gallon Igloo Cooler

Or you could just...buy more carboys.

Evan! said:

Or you could just...buy more carboys.

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I thought about that.....I have 7 now. Not sure SWMBO is gonna go for that

I really like 5 gallon batches. I'm way out in the sticks, so sharing out extra beer means taking a keg to a club meeting. Having 10 cornies aging or on tap, each different, is great.

My brew isn't good enough to do in 10 gallon batches. When I get to that point, I'll gladly upgrade my brewery to accomodate. As it is now, I get bored with the full 5 gallons.

I could see myself doing 10 gallons of mead since it takes so long, or 10 gallons of mapfelwein next time I make it.

7 carboys too many? Get some more cornies. They age just as well!

Spyk'd said:

7 carboys too many? Get some more cornies. They age just as well!

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Man
I'm with Spyk'd on this one I don't have any real experience at this point as I'm just getting started. But it seems to me cornie's are the way to go. They are light weight and rugged. You can rack using pressure and don't have to worry about them shattering or getting scratched. For my money nothing else comes close at least as far as a secondary.

So, if you use cornies as secondaries, can you just hook them up straight to the CO2 once your done with the secondary fermentation?

JnJ said:

So, if you use cornies as secondaries, can you just hook them up straight to the CO2 once your done with the secondary fermentation?

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That's a good question. That's what I was planning but I don't really know. I think we should start a new tread and post the question.

I've got one beer that most of my family seems to like and they wipe it out pretty quickly when I have it. I think I'm going to set up my AG system so that I can do a 10's and 5's. That way, I can go big for the fast movers.

your problem is not that you're brewing too big of a batch - your problem is that you aren't drinking enough

just curious what type of Mash tun you guys use to brew a 10 gal batch with?

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converted keg

You couldnt get me to go back to 5 gallon batches if you paid me.

I like the drinking, not the brewing.

Cheers,

knewshound

knewshound said:

I like the drinking, not the brewing.

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See I'm torn, I think I love brewing just as much.

I set my system up so I could brew with friends. Sometimes I end up brewing for friends. But I also like to make BIG beers and so they can stack up a bit without any problems. My problem is cooler space. My batches are at least 15 gallons, which fills 3 kegs. My draft box has 7 handles and holds only 7 kegs. Because of my beer engines 2 beers can serve 4 handles, but still unless I have the same beer on multiple handles I have problems. More is not always better seems to be the point here.