How much beer do you keep on hand?

Tonight I find myself fighting the sleepy munster pretty bad and it's still 9-10 hours before I'll see the bed. I've prowled and searched this forum till my head is bouncing off the desk trying to stay awake.

I'm curious how much beer you guys keep on hand. I'm not a heavy drinker and if you were to try to justify the $$ spent on making beer for the little that I drink, I would be called foolish. But with that said, I find the process of brewing beer fascinating.

So far I've made a few batches since November of last year. Of that, I've probably wasted 5 combined gallons from the various brews just being impatient and checking bottle carbonation. At most, I might have consumed 4 gallons. Will I ever justify the expense? No, but my friends sure like it. lol

There is no way in God's green earth I'll find a way to drink this before it goes bad, but I've already got the next 3-4 recipes picked out. lol

So anyway, for the sake of me staying awake, how much do you guys keep on hand at any given time?

I try to keep the pipeline going. I will try to have 2- 3 gallon batches in bottles, usually my higher gravity brews. Then I rotate my 3 kegs around. So at any given time I will have between 10-12 gallons.

minimum 20 gallons on tap or i just dont sleep right

If I thought I could drink 5 gallons from a keg before it went bad, I wouldn't mind having a small keggerator in my house. What kind of shelf life would five gallons of a light bodied beer give you in a keg once you started to use it?

I have never had a batch "go bad" due to time. If you have enough friends the beer goes rather quickly. My longest 5 gallons lasted a little over a month.

bigken462 said:

If I thought I could drink 5 gallons from a keg before it went bad, I wouldn't mind having a small keggerator in my house. What kind of shelf life would five gallons of a light bodied beer give you in a keg once you started to use it?

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Why would your beer in a keg kept on CO2 differ from a beer in a bottle. I have some in bottles that is over 2 years old and it's fine, in fact some is much better now than it was at 3 months.

I'm just getting my pipeline setup. Right now I have one keg full, a few bottles, and a batch in the fermenter. Fermenter space is my bottleneck so I ordered another bucket yesterday. With some planning I should be able to keep the fermentation fridge full and a keg on deck and ready for when I kick one.

RM-MN said:

Why would your beer in a keg kept on CO2 differ from a beer in a bottle. I have some in bottles that is over 2 years old and it's fine, in fact some is much better now than it was at 3 months.

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Yes, it does seem that kegged beer kept on CO2 should last a while...
(Good to know since I'm thinking about starting to keg!)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/how-long-will-your-beer-last-corny-keg-109473/

Normally around 10 gallons, in the kegs and finishing. As for bottled beer, they never last long, anywhere from a 4 pack to a case. Only thing is I drink the bottle beer as I get it.

The correct answer is as much as swmbo will allow. With that said I have 2 kegs in the fridge, 2 kegs conditioning, 2 carboys in long term aging and another 5 gallons ready to rack over to keg. When we move into our house in march and I build a keezer then I'll have 6 kegs in it with 2 on stand by plus aging at all times. And I don't drink that much either. A beer or two a night tops. Some nights none.

Too much and yet not enough!

I don't even brew nearly as much as a lot of people on here, but at one point I counted I had the equivalent of 500 x 12 oz bottles (counting 22 oz'ers as 2 bottles). That's almost 47 gallons (I might have a problem).

The problem is I'm constantly buying commercial beer - just bought 2 sixers of Hopslam two days ago and whenever we travel, we load our suitcase up with beer we can't get at home. And we still go out to bars at least a couple nights a week, so it doesn't leave that much time to drink at home and when I do, I really try to limit myself to 2 or 3. So what we end up with is way too much beer. And I don't see anything changing anytime soon.

Ideally I would have two batches fermenting, two kegs on tap, one keg ready to tap, and some bottles of a batch that I want to age.

Realistically I usually have two kegs on tap and something fermenting or conditioning.

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RM-MN said:

Why would your beer in a keg kept on CO2 differ from a beer in a bottle. I have some in bottles that is over 2 years old and it's fine, in fact some is much better now than it was at 3 months.

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I guess you're right. I have always considered kegging to be a bit beyond my reach so I have not done any homework on it. Mostly because I have other brewing needs which must take priority if I continue this hobby. i.e. fermenting chamber, equipment for AG etc. I keep looking at how little I drink, but that nagging reminder of how much fun it is; is always in the back of my mind.

Last Friday I purchased two extract kits to save myself from having to make the 65 mile drive to Birmingham on my next weekend off to get supplies. Once I seen how long I would be having to wait before the carboys freed up, I stopped by the more-local HBS, paid the premium price for a 5 gallon carboy and hope to brew that other batch a week early My wallet is quivering at the thought of another hobby. lol

Typically I like to have 3-4 different 5 gallon batches bottles up and ready to drink and a couple more 5 gallon batches fermenting away.

I always have 3 kegs on tap. Obviously those are in various stages of fullness. After that, my goal is to always have at least 2 more kegs full and waiting, while I have at least one more beer fermenting. So at any given time, I could have 30 or so gallons in various stages.

Unfortunately, with holiday parties, and just getting together with friends, the holidays and intense cold in the midwest, took a big toll on my pipeline. I finally got it somewhat back together the last couple of weeks, So I have two kegs that are fairly freshly tapped and a 2.5 gallon keg tapped. And this weekend, I'll be able to keg another 5 gallons that's in will have been in primary 3 weeks. And I have an IPA that is in primary now as well, but I'll wait for my IPA I have on tap to get a little lower before I dry hop it.

I guess the crazy thing is, I have plenty, but without having extra full kegs sitting around, I start to get antsy about not having enough beer. I know it sounds dumb, but all it takes is for everyone to decide they are watching the Super Bo... - woops, I mean "Big Game" at my house and that pipeline gets hammered again.

It's not really that I even drink all that much, but it doesn't take that many guys, who like to drink, to come over and kill a couple of gallons.

Never enough...

Right now I have about 7 cases worth of bottles ready to consume, 2 five gal kegs on tap, 2 - 3 gal batches fermenting and a 5 gal batch fermenting.

Can only make 15 gallons every 3 months per state law.

I have LOTS of beer. Kegs on tap, kegs aging. A closet full of bottles. I actually turned down taking home more from a comp I was in recently. I did not make it all at home either, I made some at work. This is the main reason I am going to buckle down and get my 6 tap keggerator online soon.

I'm at about 10 gallons in bottles right now, and I plan on setting some of that aside to start "cellaring" a six pack from some of my brews to test on down the road.

My pipeline went dry at the source this previous summer and is just starting to fill up again (10g in primary, 5 bottle conditioning) but 20 gallons on hand ready to drink seems like a great volume to store in the basement and would provide great variety.

Right now I have 4 full fermenters, 3 kegs, and 24 cases of bottled beer. I brew a lot of Belgians so a good portion of the bottled beer is Belgians that are aging. Several are up to 3 years old. I could quit brewing and drink for quite a while.

I currently have 3 cases ready to drink. That's the short term... I had been planning on brewing for a while and stuck with drinking beer that had pry off caps as part of my master plan. I now have 15 cases of 24 pry off and went impulse shopping and ended up with 8x24x500ml swing tops. I only ever make 20-23L (5-6gal) batches depending on carboy availability and that works out to 9 batches. Likely more if one were to math it out but I'd prefer to avoid mixing different batches within the same box. Necessity being the mother of invention it may come down to that one day.

Assuming all were full I'd have a grand total of 270L (71gal). I may have more than I need now that I took a moment to calculate that. Assuming I start making some things that need a long time to condition (6-12 months), well there's really no explanation at this point. It's a whole lot. I did mention that it was short term.

I've currently got my lone primary bucket, with two secondaries (or clearing vessels if you'd prefer) beside it. One slated for bottling this coming weekend, the other likely around mid Feb. My next 3 brews are lined up, and I'm working on filling the pipeline and reserve closets. I'm thinking I'll embrace winter a bit and try to get some pale beers bottled before it starts warming up.

I have thirty gallons on hand, ten more in the fermenters. I am not a big drinker either, but really do enjoy the process.

About 20 gallons kegged right now with another 100 bottles or so. Personally, the highest I've ever been is about 30 gallons kegged, 150 bottles and 4 fermenters.

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In terms of bottles I'd say I've probably got about 10 or 12 gallons at the moment. I have a habit of skipping the labelling for some of the batches though, so figuring out what the hell is in some those bottles? Good question.

Right now, I have 4x5gallons of bo-pilsner,helles, dortmunder, german pilsner lagering.

I have 5 gallon kegs of amber, APA, porter on tap. 3 gallons of british bitter and 5 gallons of british mild carbonatingand about on tap.

Fermenting - 5 gallons of scottish, 5 gallons of wheat, 5 gallons of IPA, 5 gallons of British bitter.

Various bottles.

2 yeast starters going for this weekend....


Yikes - 60-70 gallons of beer and more on the way. I have issues. Seriously though, I brew A LOT in December/January/February and again over the summer. I "survival brew" in the spring and fall when I am really busy.

You guys are awesome! I just finished bottling up 55 12ounce's with a Light House beer. It was clear as apple juice coming out of the bottling bucket. Can't wait to see how it is in 2 weeks. Got a Mirror Pond and SNPA coming down the line in a few weeks. I'm hoping to have a "Beer Tasting" to help chase down some mud bugs in another cpl months. Hope to be able to share my bounty with my co-workers and friends.

Right now I have 2 (5 gallon) batches left that I've drank about half way through and 3 move I haven't got into yet and also 27 bottles of home brew kit red wine. I bottle all my beers, I find it rewarding to open and pour however I have never had a Kegerator. I'm sure that's pretty damn nice to pull a pint out of a keg also. Getting ready to brew 2 more batches next weekend. I say keep as much on hand as possible but I love to drink, so if I'm not brewing then I have to go to the store and find "any" craft brew and around here that's a tough task unless you're into Boston Lager.

I make (and drink with my girl) 3 gallons every two weeks or so depending on my schedule. If we bender and run out, I supplement with some store bought.

shelly_belly said:

Can only make 15 gallons every 3 months per state law.

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What state are you in??
That's just inhumane if you ask me.

I have 10 g on keg. 5 of a cream ale and 5 of a chocolate nut brown ale. I have a Scottish ale aging with bourbon and oak
And I'm about to start a strong Belgian ale. I drink my home brew along with miller lite so my kegs last a little while.

All my beers are English ale types , currently I have three brews bottled to drink from that's about 120 - 500ml bottles and four one gallon brews nearly ready for bottling.
I am starting to panic about drying up, my wife don't understand that I need to get brewing again immediately to keep my flow line going.

I hate seeing my FVs empty !

Beer Prepper . A man who keeps a minimum of 20 gallons of drinkable beer on hand at all times for emergencys .

Corey_SS said:

In terms of bottles I'd say I've probably got about 10 or 12 gallons at the moment. I have a habit of skipping the labelling for some of the batches though, so figuring out what the hell is in some those bottles? Good question.

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I've taken the habit of writing a batch code on the cap after they're crimped. Gives it that good hand made farmers market style. OK, it looks cheap. The great thing is that you can tell in a moment what it is, how old it is, find it in your brew log very quickly, and there's no label removal afterwards. Wouldn't recommend it for a competition.

I try and have 10 gallons drinkable at any time --- right now just a little low - bottled Project X Tuesday night and kegged 5 gallons of it. I stepped up to 10 gallon batches over a year ago and would never go back to just 5. I was using 2 glass or better bottles - then the 60L Speidel arrived. My brewing has taken the next step ---

shelly_belly said:

Can only make 15 gallons every 3 months per state law.

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So you never speed either

Corey_SS said:

In terms of bottles I'd say I've probably got about 10 or 12 gallons at the moment. I have a habit of skipping the labelling for some of the batches though, so figuring out what the hell is in some those bottles? Good question.

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Do yourself a favor and pick up some 3/4" circle labels from Avery, download the template and print out some labels. I color code mine and put beer name, IBU, ABV and date made on each one. Let's me know at a glance what is what.

never let your supply dip below 5 gallons - and that's ready to drink, so not counting what's fermenting or aging. Nothing sucks more than going to craft beer store when you MUST buy beer at $10-12/six pack.

Drinkable..? 6-8 kegs on tap at one given time. Plus everything aging is more. Never over federal limits though. Nope.

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Corey_SS said:

In terms of bottles I'd say I've probably got about 10 or 12 gallons at the moment. I have a habit of skipping the labelling for some of the batches though, so figuring out what the hell is in some those bottles? Good question.

Click to expand...

I set6 my filled bottles in boxes and hang the recipe that I had printed from the end of the box if I don't have labels printed. When I take the bottles out for refriberating, I code then so I have a guess at what is in them. I try to print nice labels for any that I will give away with the name of the beer, the style, and the ABV so whoever gets them will have ideas of what they are drinking and whether they would like that style if they were to get adventurous and buy some craft beer.