Can I brew for my wedding?

I have just been presented with an opportunity to brew all the beer for my wedding in October. If I started Brewing next week and got everything into fermentation by Friday I would have exactly 7 weeks for fermentation, bottle carbonation and aging. Is this enough time for several normal SG beers (1.04-1.06) to mature and be "good" beer for my guests to drink? I am thinking brown porter or brown ale, ESB and IPA for the styles.

I am really excited about the though of brewing my own wedding beer and thought it wouldn't be an option. I would love to do this but I want it done right. Any thoughts?

IMHO, 7 weeks is plenty to have good beer ready for your guests. 3 weeks primary, 3 weeks bottle just to make sure it's properly conditioned leaves you with a week to spare. Or 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, 3 weeks bottle. Either way you'd be good. I say go for it. Congrats on your impending marriage. Cheers!

How many is "several"...???

My bad...didn't read your whole post.

Do you have the equipment and time to brew 4 batches in quick succession?

You have plenty of time, but I'd be cautious if you haven't brewed before. Lots of people put a lot of pressure on everything going right on this one day.

Find someone in your area that has lots of experience brewing and ask them to help. If you are new to brewing, your best bet to have good beer for the wedding would be to get help. I'd also suggest that you provide some commercial beer as well, since not all of your guests will be likely be as adventurous as we'd all hope.

If you're planning to do them one after another, I don't think you've got enough time. If you've got the fermenter space to brew them simultaneously, you've got more than enough time. They may not hit their sweet spot in time, but as long as you're pitching right and controlling fermentation temp, they should be fine.

Forgot to say--congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

7 weeks is definitely plenty of time for those styles. have fun, brew away, and get ready for the big day

Congatulations! May you have a long and happy marriage. If it was me, I would need 5 or 6 months to get enough beer brewed and ready for a wedding being that I am of mostly Irish decent. now seriously, 7 weeks should be enough time to get a good amount of quality beer brewed and bottled or kegged to serve at your wedding reception.

Do you know anyone who kegs? It would be much easier to keg the beer and serve it that way. Not a big deal to bottle....just a little bit more time consuming. Congrats!!

To answer a few questions: yes I have brewed before. I started in January with extract and brewed about 8 batches that way. Switched to AG and am on about my 10th batch that way. I do keg but I want bottles because I don't want to add the expense of glasses to my large bill. Not to mention the logistics of serving.

If I do this I will need 400 beers! That's 8 5 gallon batches (I wish I had a 10 gallon system). Thank you for all the advice and well wishes.

Have fun and congratulations! A custom label would be nice for your brews if you are bottling. Sometimes just a few bottles done up is nice for a wedding. "homebrew2012" coupon code gets you 20 percent off The Studio Pub. Sláinte.

Homebrew out of the bottle. Ick.

logan3825 said:

Homebrew out of the bottle. Ick.

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Good point.

Given that you can keg, you should consider kegging a few to ensure that you have at least a couple of pre-tested brews. Carb in the keg then transfer to bottles a few days out from the wedding.
Congratulations, good luck and go for it.

I brewed and bottled 45 gallons this year in a short time, i think you can do it! here is a pic er 2 from our bottling project

Can you get some kegs?

I brewed 170 bottles of beer for my brother's wedding which was 2 weeks ago.

With a crowd you really should do at least half of the beer as a lighter, cleaner tasting beer as most BMC drinkers are going to turn up their noses at Porter, ESB and IPA.

For my brother's wedding we brewed 55 bottles of an American Pale Ale 36 IBUs, 4.5% abv and 115 bottles of Biermunchers "Cream of Three Crops" (Cream Ale). Do a search to find that recipe.

Well not only did all 170 bottles get consumed during the 3 hour reception party but at least 15 people came up to me and commented on how good the beer was and most of those people were talking about the cream ale! It's up to you what styles you do for a wedding but I guarantee you that most beer drinkers at a wedding have very "light beer" tastes.

Congrats to you!

Run as fast as you can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DirtyHaus said:

Run as fast as you can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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In which direction?

Rehlgood said:

In which direction?

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toward the beer?

My suggestion, enjoy your day. Leave the beers to the catering company or reception hall. See if they can order up a few cases of your favorite brew to serve to your guests along with their normal selection.

You will have WAY too many other things to worry about in the coming weeks and SWMBO may not like that fact that you are spending all your pre-wedding time brewing, while shes running around making final payments/details/etc. Believe me...I'm speaking from expirience here.

Not to mention what others said about drinking homebrew out of a bottle...

Whatever you decide...congrats and good luck!

MZRIS said:

toward the beer?

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Literally, just run away and never come back!

Kidding, congrats man. I say get a keg of PBR for your guest and keep a hidden stash of your favorite brew for yourself.

Well, I decided against it. A local brewery will provide 9 cases of good bottled beer for $250. Can't beat that. If I had known 2 or 3 months ago I might have been able to make it work. Too much stress in such a short time. Thanks for all the advice. Now I will now focus on brewing for new years.

Best to you and your fiancee, probably a good call. There will be plenty of things to stress about until the date- brewing should not be one of them.

I started brewing for my wedding at the end of May. The wedding is Friday and I'm doing the final bottling run today. I bought a blichmann beer gun and it kicks ass. I definitely would have kegged everything, but for some inane reason, the venue doesn't allow kegs. They told us they didn't want to create a "party atmosphere". I did a pale ale, ESB, porter and IPA. I'll buy 3 or 4 cases of BMC for the inevitable games of beer pong though. I'll end up with about 15 cases, so 360 beers for about 75 people. Should be enough, in addition to her dad making 60 bottles of wine

Sorry you decided not to do it, because it's a great excuse to upgrade your gear. "Baby, if I'm going to brew all this beer, I'm gonna need all this new equipment"

Eighty2Fifty1 said:

Sorry you decided not to do it, because it's a great excuse to upgrade your gear. "Baby, if I'm going to brew all this beer, I'm gonna need all this new equipment"

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Exactly. I am brewing 15 gallons for my brothers wedding next year. Im already getting to upgrade and buy more kegs for this. Don't know if im gonna jockey box the kegs or just do the bucket of ice and picnic taps.

I just got everything kegged last week for my wedding, which is Sept. 8th. I know you didn't do it, but for anyone else that reads this, it is definitely doable. I did 6, 5gal batches over 3 weeks using 4 primary fermenters. It worked out really well, and I'm excited to hear some reviews. I did a Rye IPA, Ed Worts Haus Pale ale, Rasp. Wheat, hopsun clone, Dry stout, and an american brown. I also had an apfelwein kicking around, and 5 gal of cider I pressed last fall, so we should be rockin' all night long. I brewed all of that for ~$160 by reusing yeast and getting the hops and grain in bulk. I tried to overlap the hops as much as possible, and I only used 2 yeast strains.

I am also getting married this year (Oct 6th), and we wanted to brew some of the beer for it. I decided to keep it mellow to just brew three good 5 gallon batches for the couple days before the wedding when our best friends will be hanging out in cabins nearby. Then for the actual wedding day we are having a commercial keg or two and wine. This way I'm not stressed, but still get to provide some (hopefully) awesome homebrew to some of my best friends while they come hang out.

Congrats, and have a great wedding.