Longest You've Gone Without Brewing Beer

So, simply due to a combination of time, bottle space and perhaps a bit of laziness I let a batch of saison sit in fermentation a bit more than two weeks longer than intended, the beer turned out fine as far as I can tell before bottling (even better than normal, perhaps) but it got me thinking. I won't be able to brew another batch until the coming weekend, making it over a month since I last brewed a beer, my longest since starting the hobby was a three month gap after foot surgery. So, what has been the longest time you've gone without brewing before starting the hobby and why?

Six years or so.

Brewed yesterday for the first time since March 29. By far the longest gap since I started brewing about 6 years ago.

Probably 3-4 weeks. Became addicted in January of 2014 and I think my currently batch is no. 12 or so. Good thing I won my fantasy football league last year. The winnings from that obsession/hobby created this one...

Couldn't tell you the actual time, only that it was far too long.

2 weeks. It's an obsession...

I try to brew every 3 weeks, but when football kicks in, I have to keep the pipeline going for parties, so I brew every other week. Longest (recently)? Probably 5-6 weeks

19 years and counting. If all the planets align just right, labor day will be the first since then.

Beginning of May. Been busy with school for the past 4 months but I should get some time this fall to make up for that


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I would say about 4 months since I started brewing in 2011. It was last summer, since I moved to a desert and without temp control my house is a balmy 80. Sooner or later I plan on getting a chest freezer to temp control.

57 years, then I brewed my first.

Since then maybe about 3 months. I hate it when the pipeline runs dry and it will still be 2 weeks before the newest batch is carbonated.

5 months, after my second son was born. Couldn't believe I went that long, and I've jumped right back in with 1-2 batches a month since.

2months last winter. -20 was too cold. Not our usual winter. Brew 5gal every week with my cousin. He has recently built a kegerator and sworn off BMC. So it will become 10gal to cover his daily beer consumption.


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25years... Brewed back in college in 89 then stopped till this year.

Around 24 years. Started with a couple extract batches in1990 and then hung it up. Putting the equipment together now fow all grain. My how things have changed in that time (for the better.)

the first 49 years of my life!

Quit making wine about age 30. Then in January 2011,started brewing. Then I went some 6 months without the money to brew. Started again April 24th when we re-financed this utility guzzler & I've been brewing 1-2 a month since.

20 yrs. I used to brew in the 90(s) laid off while in the Army, then started again last Aug. Every 2-3 wks all grain since.


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I am a HS Football and Basketball coach so from February until August I typically brew once a month. Once football season and school rolls around I do not have the time to brew so I am lucky to get one in. I am usually able to get a few batches in during basketball season.

Last year I brewed 11 batches throughout the year. My goal is 15 this year. I am up to 12. It will be tough to get those last three in.

Just under 4 weeks. But I've only been brewing a year so it's all shiny and new still.

I took a year off after brewing for about 6.5 years straight. Other obligations hit the wall and honestly: my brews were less than awesome. These two things really made me set everything down for a while.

Nobody puts brewing in the corner, so I took it to the dance floor over the last two months and have been really taking my time with things. I missed it, but overall I think the break has led me to brewing better and caring more about the whole process.

You can always build/clean something in place of a brew day, like a new stir-plate, mash paddle, etc. This seems to help a bit with the separation.

I didn't brew at all for nearly 2 years. 08-09

I've been going to Texas in the winter, for two months. I don't brew in Texas, but some of my friends do so I can go over there and "help" sometimes. It's about 10 weeks total that I'm gone, so I don't brew at all for nearly 11 weeks each year.

That's one reason I don't enter competitions anymore- I don't have anything ready in March and April when the Nationals and other competitions require entries. I try to make up for it the rest of the year, though!

Longest gap in beer making since I started over 2.5 years has been 6 weeks. I bought an expensive 6 week wine kit last Christmas when my LHBS was offering wicked holiday specials to subscribers of their online news letter.

My pipeline took a serious beating due to those six weeks.

In the last 2 years of brewing, I had a good 5 month gap where I wasn't really drinking much and the pipeline was overflowing (6 kegs + 200-300 bottles), so I just sat back and enjoyed my beers and planned/plotted for my return to the brewery.

Brewing in the winter is kinda ****ty, so I brew like 2-3 times through the winter, tops... -40 and human flesh don't mix.