Oh Noz! I'm brewing for my company!

So the unthinkable happend; my bosses bosses boss found out i'm a homebrewer. He wanted to start "beer fridays" and well tracked me down and asked me to head it up. I said yes, but i'm not 100% where to start.

What do yall think would be the best beer for everyone to enjoy on a friday afternoon at work?
How many batches do you think i should make for a company of about 130ish people, (you can assume not everyone'll be there)?

any other advice brewing for alot of people?

Cheers! (i need advice quick i want to have my first friday the 25th so i need to brew tonight!)

ed's haus pale ale works great

you''ll have to keg it though

Holy crap, is that even possible? 20 days? You need a low gravity mild. like a 3.8% deal that will ferment out in 5 days and then you have 2 weeks for carbing and conditioning. Or maybe a german wheat. those are best drank fresh.

First off I want to move and work with you... I remember the days when my bosses would buy beer for us on Fridays. But with all the laws and crack-down on drinking and driving they no longer do it.

If I was you I would not get into this. Not sure but I think that if something was to happen after of during drinking your beer you "could" be held responsible in a round-about way.

But to answer your question I would brew a brown ale and a pale. Both are light and sweet not to hoppy and most BMC drinkers will like them if they try it.
As for amounts you will need to be brewing at least 10 gallons a week to keep up if you have any good drinkers in there.

But like I said, I would not do this.

Work up a budget now.

Of course you need a dedicated tapping system in the office.

I'm assuming he means January 25th (kinda mean to make everyone work on Christmas, even if there is beer served ).

Probably what, two kegs? Pale ale, Ed's or something similar, then maybe something a bit maltier (maybe a brown or a porter). I might be inclined to always have one "core" crowd-pleaser batch, then bring something else that's a little more experimental in the other keg.

The best news? Your boss can't yell at you for surfing HBT at work anymore!

Along with "beer Fridays" and a keg of decent HB, why not do a mass brew session, and get a few more people hooked on this addiction? Kinda like show and tell. "This is how I made this beer and you can too.":rockin:

2 kegs = 10 gallons = 80 pints.

Not enough for 130 people, in my opinion

More like 4 kegs, or 20 gallons.

Which means if you do this more than 5 times a year, then you will be making more beer than federal exemptions allow, and might grab the attention of the wrong people.

We have margarita fridays almost every week where I work, and I sometimes bring in half a gallon to a gallon to share with some folks, but there is no way I would agree to regularly cater a 130 person party without going through the process of paying taxes on that beer.

Tell your bosses, bosses boss that you need a beer scuplture. And they're pricey enough where they can depreciate it over 5 years. Then you can brew for 130 peeps.

Wait a minute...are you sure he expects you to brew beer for everyone in the company? I'd confirm that before you do anything else.

I'd ask about bringing commercial beer, maybe from a local microbrew or brewpub.

If he does expect you to brew for this event, then the company should provide a budget, like olllllo said. you should be allowed to brew on company time, too.

I'd say Ed's Haus ale or any pub ale would be good for a large group. How big a batch are you capable of making? 2 10 gallon batches should be more than enough.

not everyone likes beer. some likely won't touch it, and others will likely only want a 'taste' of 3oz or less.

maybe you should whip up a quick survey of micro brews that people can vote 'yes or no' as to if they like it.

malkore said:

maybe you should whip up a quick survey of micro brews that people can vote 'yes or no' as to if they like it.

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That was my first thought about what you should brew. Ask around a little and see what folks like. You don't exactly have a shortage of good beer around there. You could supplement your brewing effort with some local micros (Real Ale, Independence, Live Oak all have some yummy, yummy stuff). Maybe your boss^3 would like to do something at the Draught House, too.


TL

That's a lot of personal time to devote to something for work. I don't think I'd be willing to do that on a regular basis unless I was being compensated in some way.

Well, I am a US Navy Sailor and happen to be a subject matter expert on beer day Friday. Back in my younger days, I would routinely bring kegs for beer day. I would ask around and get a general idea of what style of beer people liked. I would then plan a schedule to hit the most popular styles. Some people did not like stouts...some people did. We always had the BMC people; someone always brought a 12 pack to please them. Everyone always tasted my beer. They really liked the idea of tasting something new each week even if they did not like it. I converted a lot of people’s tastes to darker more flavorful beers. My house ale was the biggest hit and I had to brew 30 gallons of it for a Christmas party one year.

I would check and find out if the b/b/b is asking that you organize them and procure beer (because all homebrews have great taste in beer ) or if (s)he expects you to brew. Pointing out that the latter is not exactly legal.

Yah, agree with the general concensus that you could end up in a lot of trouble.'

1. Are you being paid to make this? Your personal expemtion is for amatuers only. Ask if you are being paid in-directly somehow. If they give you the afternoon off to brew, and pay you for that time...

2. Who is serving this brew to people with car keys? 'nuff said.

If you give the beer to your boss^3 (nice shorthand somebody) and your boss serves it to his employees you are out the price of your ingredients and your time. Plus a chunk of your annual exemption...

Man, my kneejerk response is: "Holy dogsh*t, beer Fridays?!? Send me an application!"

After that though...
1. Really, it'd be hard to crack down on a homebrewer on "hey, he brewed more than his exemption" grounds if it's just for personal use in the home. Supplying weekly beer for company parties = lots o' people who could say "Yes sir, joe bloe brought in 4 kegs a month last year..."

To avoid that kind of problem, I'd do what someone above said: feed/nurture/cultivate the addiction in others. If it's something that's spread around 10 or so people, it wouldn't be as big of a deal, legally. How awesome would it be to have "Homebrew Fridays"?

It is awesome that your boss wants to have beer Fridays, but I am with everyone that says I would not do this. If I did though, at the very least the company would have to pay for the ingredients. If I could have the ingredients paid for, and brew on company time it would be tempting, but I wouldn't b/c I can't get over the legal ramifications if somebody gets a dui or even worse gets in an accident and hurts someone. OUt of 130 employees, there has to be a couple idiots there that will get hammered on your brew and drive home even though it is meant to be social, responsible, moderate drinking.

TheDom said:

...To avoid that kind of problem, I'd do what someone above said: feed/nurture/cultivate the addiction in others. If it's something that's spread around 10 or so people, it wouldn't be as big of a deal, legally. How awesome would it be to have "Homebrew Fridays"?

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I think this sorta thing is a good idea.

Two things I would do though is make it a monthly event and brew it on the premisis - which may be hard depending on the equipment you need to take along, but you could buy a cheap fermenter to leave at work.

If you made it to be a monthly event, and on a Sat/Sun got 5 - 15 people together at work who would, as the law sees it, all be brewing the beer you may be able to bend the law. Also by brewing at work you would be using their water/power.

I'd also ask for them to supply ingredients and gas for your burners.

I did this once last year for a group of 25 people. I carefully crafted, brewed and bottled two batches. One was my house ale, and one was an amber ale. The event was a training session for my Six Sigma training and I had actually done a yeast DOE on one of the batches. It fit in very well because I presented the process and results of the experiment about an hour before the beer was consumed. I got oohs and aahs from about a half dozen people. About a dozen drank the first one and switched back to bud light, and the other half dozen were less than impressed, but they were hard liquor drinkers. I am glad that I did it because I was able to share one of my hobbies with my peers. However, I would not do it again. I have a hard enough time brewing for myself and my few regular customers. I do not need to get more experience with brewing for BMC drinkers who do not want to develop a taste for homebrew.

rdwj said:

That's a lot of personal time to devote to something for work. I don't think I'd be willing to do that on a regular basis unless I was being compensated in some way.

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Yeah, but time spent homebrewing is "free" ,doesn't cost anything right? er, uh, nevermind.