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Chenslee

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The biggest mistake I made on my first batch (Nov 18)was not starting a second as soon as my primary was cleared. My second biggest mistake was then making a porter as my second batch, which after 5 weeks still isn't quite ready for the gas. I've been out of beer for 3 weeks.

My lack of experience prevents me from accurately predicting when a beer will be ready to drink, how long 5 gallons is going to last, or even knowing if a beer is ready to drink based on flavor. All I can do is brew my balls off until I run out of cash, cornie, or carboy and hope it pays off later.

Now I've got 15 gallons in some stage of undrinkability loafing around my house mocking my unfortunate logistic decisions. I open the pantry at least once a day and yell at my carboy and kegs "F****** FISNISH FERMENTING!! I WANT TO DRINK YOU!" I don't think it's helping.

I'm an impatient person and the homebrewing experience is teaching me patience and planning. You reap what you sow.
 
I know others will respond that their beer is ready to drink in 3-4 weeks, but I just plan on a minimum of 8 weeks from brew day for low to mid gravity brews. Between weeks 6 and 8, there is a huge change as the flavors meld and the green tang diminishes. Really, 9 weeks is just about peak flavor. I do four in primary, two in the keg at cellar temps, and two on the gas.
 
Been over 2 months, and my first batch (the smoked porter) is ready to drink. Very yummy! But it'll be another 2-3 weeks for the second batch to age, and I'm brewing the third batch tomorrow........Gotta brew more often.
 
I have 20 gallons in kegs and 10 in carboys. Looks like I need to throw a party. I'm trying to brew a beer from each BJCP category this year but I can't drink the beer fast enough on my own.
 
Don't break it though, I made the mistake of inserting a beer that needs long aging into my usual brewing schedule and I have just run out of beer ;-(
 
richc said:
Don't break it though, I made the mistake of inserting a beer that needs long aging into my usual brewing schedule and I have just run out of beer ;-(
Click to expand...

How much do you drink a month compared to how much you brew?

If you brew every other week in 5 gallon batches, you would have to drink a case a week before your pipeline would start taking hits. Thats a lot of drinking!
 
i hosted a Christmas party...I wasn't adequetly prepared for the toll on my homebrew...Lesson learned, I need 4 full kegs next year lol.

My pipeline was destroyed and I'm just now recovering. I thought 2 1/2 kegs would be enough to supply my guests and leave enough for me before I had a new batch done...I was wrong.
 
the pipeline is great, and it's even sweeter if you hit a nice stride. I've found that brewing 5 gallons every 2 weeks works perfectly for me, and it allows me to do ALL brewing related stuff at once.

On brewday, I will:
- remove an empty keg from the kegerator that was brewed 10 weeks ago (there is another half-full keg still in there that was brewed 8 weeks ago)
- tap into a new full keg that was brewed 6 weeks ago
- keg a batch that was brewed 4 weeks ago
- rack a batch to secondary that was brewed 2 weeks ago
- brew a new batch

The kegging and racking time is hidden inside "down time" on brewday. Meaning: I keg the 4 week old while mashing and I rack the 2 week old while boling.

This is pretty fortunate for me, because it means I spend only about 8 hours a month in my brewery. There is constantly something in my primary fermenter, secondary fermenter, and two kegs on tap to drink from. Nothing ever sits empty for very long.
 
I'm still nursing the remnants of a keg of chocolate brown while waiting for the 20 gallons sitting in primary to be ready. We blew through nearly 20 gallons at our winter solstice party. I'm getting tired of the brown so I stopped by the store and spent $20 on 2 sixpacks to tide me over for the long weekend. It sucks to think that that $20 is almost what I spend on a 10-gallon batch...
 
This will be my second year brewing and last year I didn't have a pipeline nor a solid strategy on when to brew seasonals or beers I want to take on beach vacation, etc.
This year though I have listed the beers I want to brew and then plotted them on a calendar and slotting seasonal beers when they need to be brewed by. Then I filled in the remaining brew days with other beers understanding that I need to brew additional beers in the months that I brew a seasonal that I may not drink for 3-6 months. I plan on brewing a barley wine that I will age for a long time so I need to have something else planned that month as well.
 
I'm going to need to sit down and plan how to get a decent pipeline going in my house. I keep running out of stuff to drink, as my brew-days are so far apart (recently due to financial difficulties!). So...

Going to start with a nice blonde with a quick turnaround to get started, and brew something that requires more time on the same day, just to get a pipeline started. Then going to try to get at least a batch of something every other weekend.
 
tjp68 said:
I know others will respond that their beer is ready to drink in 3-4 weeks, but I just plan on a minimum of 8 weeks from brew day for low to mid gravity brews. Between weeks 6 and 8, there is a huge change as the flavors meld and the green tang diminishes. Really, 9 weeks is just about peak flavor. I do four in primary, two in the keg at cellar temps, and two on the gas.
Click to expand...

Beer can be ready in a short time after brewing, but that doesn't mean all beer is. Glad to see you're letting you palate decide for you.

*sigh* Christmas was hard on my pipeline too. I need to brew this weekend.
 
Find a local brewpub that fills cornys if you keg. My kegging kit came in a month before we were able to fill all 4 kegs, so for the interim we paid the $35-40 to have the keg filled with Michigan Brewing Company's beers.

We've got 3 of the 4 in the fridge now full, one ready to keg this weekend, and two more that have a few weeks left. I'll be brewing again in short order though, because we have 4 fermenters, and in my mind that means I should always have at least 2-3 of them working for my pipeline.

My brother and I put away our first keg in 5 days. We've realized how expensive that was, and probably how not great for us it was, so we've slowed down quite a bit. We've also got some heavier beers in the rotation too, so they're not consumed nearly as quickly. I have 9 corny kegs, and my eventual goal is to have most of them full at all times so when one gets kicked, I can immediately swap in another.
 
I just started brewing last year. Brewed my first two batches a couple weeks apart and then I just sat back to enjoyed. The beer ran out and I had to follow the same waiting game. Now I have a brown ale ready to bottle this weekend, a blonde next weekend and just brewed up a pale ale last night. I figure I need to brew at least one a month.
 
See I have the opposite problem, brewing is my stress release, so I brew often (twice a month or so). But I live far enough away from most of my friends they don't stop by often, so my pipeline is overflowing. Good problem to have IMO.
 
I recently returned to brewing after a 10 hiatus brought on by several moves, career changes, the birth of two kids, etc, etc. To try and avoid the dreaded pipeline this time around I have been brewing a 5g extract brew about every 3-4 days and spending the rest of my free time reading up on all the new techniques and gadgets that have became available over the past ten years.

December 30th I brewed a Brewer's Best American Pale Ale kit that Santa brought me. While I waited for that to ferment I planned my second and third batches and ordered some new equipment and supplies. On January 7th I brewed BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde and kegged the Pale Ale which shoud be carbed and ready for tonight's brew session. On the 11th I brewed the Centennial Blonde again. According to BierMuncher, the Centennial Blond can go from grain to glass (if you keg) in about two weeks which is sweet when you are first starting up the "brewery".

I will be brewing BierMuncher's Nierra Sevada tonight. During tonight's boil I will rack the first batch of Centennial blonde to secondary (for clearing with gelatin) and keg it Sunday night. Another batch of Nierra Sevada will follow on Tuesday or Wednesday night and the second batch of Centennial Blonde will be racked to secondary (with gelatin) during the boil phase on Tuesday or Wednesday night.

My plan is to brew two 5g batches each week (one batch getting kegged and the second batch getting bottled) until spring. That should get the pipeline established and hopefully allow me to keep enough kegged beer available so I don't break into the bottles until we open the pool. By spring I hope to have enough equipment on hand to be able to start brewing single 10g all grain batches out by the pool each week :)
 
It will get easier down the line after you've brewed some of the long-conditioning beers (barleywines, wee heavies, ris', big belgians, etc.). When those beers start getting ripe you'll prob be trying to finish off kegs just to get them INTO the rotation (and the big beers tend to be consumed much slower as well).
 
No pipeline problems here....these were taken just before new years:

Pale Ale, Belgian Dark Strong, Oktoberfest, Dopplebock, Imperial IPA


Apple Wine, Barley Wine, Belgian Wit, Dortmunder


Plus a couple of sours not shown.
 
I'm drinking beer pretty green right now to keep the pipeline semi-going.. Between money, time, and continually tearing everything down to make the next improvement, it seems I can't brew often enough..

But very soon, I'm hoping to settle into a brewing schedule... I only have 4 cornys and two carboys.. but I want to start adding another corny or two with every brew...

The goal is to get twelve cornys, and rotate the brews.. brewing 10G every other week until they're all full.. Then things can properly age and condition.. Can't wait!

Buying grain and hops in bulk will help a lot (after I brew the 5G kit I have waiting until my rig is usable again, I'll be getting my first 50lb bag of 2 row, and ordering 3-5 lbs of hops on line).. as that is much cheaper than the kits... Want to plant a few rhizomes this summer, and that will pay off sometime down the road too...

The key will be settling into a routine.. then things become reasonably automatic and much easier... at which point I can concentrate on the 'nuances'...

but for right now, I'm drinking the beers way too early.. And I'm thinking I'll stay with APAs and what not until I can allow more time for the beer to do it's thing.. as they're lower in GUs and more forgiving if you rush them...
:mug:
 
Chenslee said:
I open the pantry at least once a day and yell at my carboy and kegs "F****** FISNISH FERMENTING!! I WANT TO DRINK YOU!" I don't think it's helping..
Click to expand...

Probably not. Try opening the pantry and hug the carboy instead! After all, you do love beer right?
 
i'm in the same position. i've brewed and drank 6 cases, but i'm out of homebrew right now. even though i have several carboys of beer fermenting, none will be ready to drink in the next month. i havent ordered my kegging equipment yet, so that can't help speed things up either.
 
lol sooooooo jealous. no pipeline here 2 speak of atm. got a munich helles lagering. will b ready on the 5th of feb and no cash for another brew day in the forseable future.
 
Right now I have a chocolate oatmeal stout in secondary, a parti-gyle (from the stout) fermenting, I brewed a black IIPA last night. The problem is I brewed a Clone of Racer 5 in december that I chould be drinking right now. however, i have had priming problems and it's still not quite ready. I am only a couple of weeks away from being out of home brew. pipline works great until something goes wrong. Guess I'll just have to brew more in the future!
 
I had been brewing for a year before I started to get a good handle on the pipeline. Once I got it organized, I actually enjoy the time the process takes. In a world of instant gratification, it's kind of nice to deal with a thing that just can't be rushed.
 
Well, maybe I complained too soon.
If I limit beer drinking to about 4 bottles a day (which is fine, I don't drink THAT much), 5 gallons should last me 2 weeks. Well, I checked the calender and I should have beer on tap though March 31. PHEW.

I had mistakenly assumed that having multiple beers on tap would multiply my consumption. In reality, it just makes the kegs last longer. Accounting for overlap, I'm going to have a very wet couple months.
 
tjp68 said:
I know others will respond that their beer is ready to drink in 3-4 weeks, but I just plan on a minimum of 8 weeks from brew day for low to mid gravity brews. Between weeks 6 and 8, there is a huge change as the flavors meld and the green tang diminishes. Really, 9 weeks is just about peak flavor. I do four in primary, two in the keg at cellar temps, and two on the gas.
Click to expand...

Hear hear! :mug:

For a real brew, drinking it young is abrewing sin. Just to break in 3 kegs however, I did 3 calculated session brews to be drank at the 4 week mark. Still a sin, but I had to get ahead of the game.

coypoo said:
Its hard when you are first starting off. Give it another few months and your pipeline will be fine.
Click to expand...

NOT SO. ;)

It is difficult to get ahead of the game, and at some point SOMETHING will keep you from brewing for a while, good or bad, and if you are ahead, you might be just a little behind, if you are just keeping up, you will have empty kegs.

Get WAAAAAAY ahead before you consider slowing down!

if you have friends or family who drink your beer, or if your spouse drinks some.....YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ENOUGH BEER!!!!!!!;)
 
I hope to have a pipeline soon... Right now I have only a few bottles left from my first two brews. One of those, a 1L of honey porter, I want to keep for a few more months before having it. That way, I'll see how it is after 4-6 months bottle aging.

I also have two brews aging on oak chips (one vanilla honey porter, and one old ale) with two more brews in primary (a English pale ale and an Irish amber ale)... As soon as one carboy is free, or I get something else to brew in, I'm going to brew another batch. Thinking it will be a Boddington's Pub Ale clone.

The hardest part of all this, is I'm now using longer primary fermenting stages (and not using secondary except for aging elements). The pale ale should be ready to go into bottles within 1-2 weeks (so either this weekend, or the following) with the Irish being maybe a week behind that. I'm using the 2-4 week primary stage mode right now (longer for bigger brews). I'm also gearing up to start kegging...

Oh, and since I brewed the English pale ale with someone else, I won't get the full 5 gallons. The English and Irish are my first two AG brews... I have enough grain/base malt on hand for one more brew before I'll need to get more... I hope to be able to get a crusher/mill by the time I need more grain. Then I'll just get 55 pound sacks of base and 5-10 pounds of specialty grains at a time... Then, a few more primary fermenting vessels to add to what I have and I'll be good to go...

My plan is to always have at least one brew about to be bottled, or carbonating, every two weeks. I'm looking to keg, so that it will be easier for me to move to a new place in 6-8 months. Won't need to worry about dropping full bottles. :D Oh, and I will be making a keezer within 1-2 months. A fermentation chamber will be on the books in the next 3-4 months... If I hit those targets, then summer heat won't be an issue, or reason to make me slow down my brewing cycle... Warmer weather brews will also be nice to come home to. :D
 
Between Christmas and New Years parties my pipeline of 30 gallons was decimated. Things are looking up now though, have 20 gallons fermenting right now with 10 ready for kegging next Monday and a 10 gal. brew day scheduled the same day. This is the year of pipeline for me.
 
FireBrew63 said:
Between Christmas and New Years parties my pipeline of 30 gallons was decimated. Things are looking up now though, have 20 gallons fermenting right now with 10 ready for kegging next Monday and a 10 gal. brew day scheduled the same day. This is the year of pipeline for me.
Click to expand...

Did you start all 20 gallons in 2011??

My only 'concern' is that I'll brew the '100 gallon legal limit' before the year is out... Since I live alone, I don't have the extra 100 gallons from a spouse, or another adult in my home/apartment... Luckily, 10 of the 20 gallons I have in process now, were actually started in 2010.
 
SpanishCastleAle said:
It will get easier down the line after you've brewed some of the long-conditioning beers (barleywines, wee heavies, ris', big belgians, etc.). When those beers start getting ripe you'll prob be trying to finish off kegs just to get them INTO the rotation (and the big beers tend to be consumed much slower as well).
Click to expand...

Bottle the big ones, that way you're not stuck for months with a huge barleywine on tap. They'll improve with age, too, and it's fun to do a vertical of a few different vintages you brewed. At any given time I only have 3 things on tap, but I usually have 8 or so options of different brews if I decide to reach for bottles.
 
The holidays combined with rain here causing me to work a ton of OT have meant that my pipeline is utterly demolished. I have 4 taps and only one with a half full keg on it!

Luckily, I've got:
Zee German Heff grain at home
Dead By Dawn IPA grain at home

And I just made a massive order from AHS:
Yellow Fever Blonde Ale
Guinness Clone (for St Paddy's)
Bell's Two Hearted Clone
AHS Nelson Sauvin IPA
AHS Citra Pale Ale

Now, it's time to brew *cracks knuckles*
 
munche said:
The holidays combined with rain here causing me to work a ton of OT have meant that my pipeline is utterly demolished. I have 4 taps and only one with a half full keg on it!

Luckily, I've got:
Zee German Heff grain at home
Dead By Dawn IPA grain at home

And I just made a massive order from AHS:
Yellow Fever Blonde Ale
Guinness Clone (for St Paddy's)
Bell's Two Hearted Clone
AHS Nelson Sauvin IPA
AHS Citra Pale Ale

Now, it's time to brew *cracks knuckles*
Click to expand...

Dead by Dawn IPA??

They had me at "Dead".

Damn. a Knock off IPA could be the "I'll Swallow your Soul" IIPA ;)

LOVE IT.
 
Golddiggie said:
Did you start all 20 gallons in 2011??

My only 'concern' is that I'll brew the '100 gallon legal limit' before the year is out... Since I live alone, I don't have the extra 100 gallons from a spouse, or another adult in my home/apartment... Luckily, 10 of the 20 gallons I have in process now, were actually started in 2010.
Click to expand...

Just brewed last week....all in one day...never gonna try that again! I brew with my brother-in-law and a buddy from work so between 3 households I'm not worried about exceeding the "legal limit". Our goal is to brew 10 gal. every 2 weeks or sooner, just need more fermenters.
 
I throw in a batch of apfelwein a couple times a year. It's stupid cheap, fast and easy, but takes a while to ferment and condition. Once you get some of this in bottles, you'll always have something to fall back on.

I picked up a couple six packs last week just for variety and almost told the cashier to forget it- $20 for 12 beers? I can make 48 of them for that!
 

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