Swimming in beer

[Protos]

In the last year, I brewed 82 batches 5L /1.5G each. 5 dumpers because of acetic / diastatic infection (discarded them by pouring on the ground in my backyard). Gave out like 2 batches, the rest gulped myself.

Before taking on the hobby I'd never imagine I'd drink so much beer

 

[GoodTruble]

Too much beer can be a good problem to have. Just share beer with people who will enjoy it. It doesn't last forever and is meant to be to be consumed and enjoyed.

I've probably given away half the beer I've brewed. I've also often been surprised by who liked what. A beer that I thought was "meh" turned out to be my brother in law's favorite beer (ever). So I just share it with anyone who is interested. If they don't like it, oh well. It was free beer.

 

[madscientist451]

I'm way too cheap to dump out drinkable alcohol, and thus I have way more than I need. I've switched to 3 gallon batches, but its still too much. I'm considering a counter-pressure bottle filler to free up keg space, any recommendations? I figure I can give away beer to some guys at work and get rid of accumulated bottles at the same time.

 

[hotbeer]

128 oz is about (10) 12 oz bottles. I’ve never done it but wonder if I would even get 10 after losses to waste and such. I don’t know what I’d use for equipment, probably would have to be brew in a bag.

Now that I'm not using recipe kits, I have been able to scale recipes to about 1¼ gallons (5.2 litres) at the end of boil.

Somewhat less goes into the fermenter because of the wet solids that get left in the kettle. However I now and get a full 10 bottles and more plus have plenty to take samples for SG and dispose of without worrying about not getting that last full bottle.

I found some 5 liter jars that I use for fermenting so there is plenty of headspace for a little over 1 gallon in the fermenter to kraeusen without getting spit into the bubblers.

 

[bwible]

[EDIT -Mod]
We do homebrew club exchanges. Everybody puts out their beer, you bring your beer and we trade as we want. Its a good club activity. We also have “the travelling 6 pack”. Its one of those fancy wooden 6 pack holders you only see being sold around Christmas time every year. Every meeting somebody brings the six pack filled with their beer. We ask a trivia question, whoever gets it gets the travelling 6 pack and its their obligation to take it home and fill it with their beer and bring it to the next meeting.

 

[Oldskewl]

I scaled back to 2.5 gal for the most part. Like others have said, not as many family and freinds over to the house to help consume. And my wife seems to be drinking more wine than beer these days. I also like to buy some craft brews from time to time. I feel like I am swimming in beer at times as well.

 

[bwible]

I’m finding the lower gravity beers go quicker. I brewed a Scottish 70, an Irish Red, a Dry Stout and a Bitter recently. The 2 Irish beers are supposed to be for a club competition in March. I have about 18 left of my 30 on those already. The Scottish I brewed 5 gallons of at the end of Nov and I have about 15 left of the 50. I brewed the bitter early Jan, bottled it mid Jan in 16 oz bottles. Started out with about 22 bottles each. I have 8 or 9 left of each of those.

The bigger beers hang around. I have barleywines from 2019, 2020 and 2021 in cases now. There are 14 of the 2019, 22 of the 2020 and 24 of the 2021. I haven’t brewed 2022 barleywine yet. I also have a case of maple wine, my best guess is thats about 14%. 22 of those left. None of those are going anywhere soon.

 

[bwible]

 

[Miraculix]

Let me sing you one of my girlfriend's favourite songs which goes like:

"Why do you want to brew, you have so much beer! Who is going to drink all that?"

 

[Protos]

Some day, I had to be honest enough to confess to myself:
"Hi, I'm Protos and I have Beer Overproduction Disorder".
I embraced my disorder and accepted that I brew not so much to have more beer (I don't really need to have 20 to 40 different homebrews in my cellar at any time) rather than to try new varieties and educate myself.

 

[DuncB]

I'm way too cheap to dump out drinkable alcohol, and thus I have way more than I need. I've switched to 3 gallon batches, but its still too much. I'm considering a counter-pressure bottle filler to free up keg space, any recommendations? I figure I can give away beer to some guys at work and get rid of accumulated bottles at the same time.

@madscientist451
I have the williams warn counter pressure bottle filler which some microbreweries down here use as there bottling rig. It's quite pricey ( cheaper than canning),but does fill against balanced pressure of CO2 after purging the bottle with CO2. Very easy to use, and not messy or stressy. I cap on foam with it and have had good longevity with some beers provided they are kept cool. Big beers / barley wines I still bottle condition.

 

[Mad Hornet]

That was the main reason I started scaling down batch sizes early on. A five gallon batch took forever to drink and even if it turned out well I wanted to brew so much more often. I think it's good to brew a lot early on and have fun exploring and experimenting but inevitably you'll end up with too much beer no matter how small the batch. Distilling will help reduce liquid volume but it's the same alcohol so unless you only care about calories you haven't solved any problems--just given yourself a secondary hobby to brewing.

I've slowed way down on brewing for years to the point that I'm only brewing a handful of times per year which makes me sad but I still have homebrew going back to 2011 and commercial beer slightly older than that. I'm sitting on about forty cases of beer in my house despite slowing both brewing and buying. I don't have a good answer to this problem.

That's my kind of hoarding right there! Bourbon, beer, and banjos!

 

[GoodTruble]

@madscientist451
I have the williams warn counter pressure bottle filler which some microbreweries down here use as there bottling rig. It's quite pricey ( cheaper than canning),but does fill against balanced pressure of CO2 after purging the bottle with CO2. Very easy to use, and not messy or stressy. I cap on foam with it and have had good longevity with some beers provided they are kept cool. Big beers / barley wines I still bottle condition.

I keep seeing everyone state they still bottle big beers. Why is that? Just because it takes so long for them to age/mature?

And I use a nukatap cp bottle filler. It's hit and miss so far, but I'm still getting my process down.

 

[bwible]

I keep seeing everyone state they still bottle big beers. Why is that? Just because it takes so long for them to age/mature?

And I use a nukatap cp bottle filler. It's hit and miss so far, but I'm still getting my process down.

Because they usually don’t get drank quickly. If you keg them, they not only occupy a keg but that keg has to occupy a place in whatever cold storage you have for kegs. You really can’t leave a keg at room temp. Many of us have stories about a barleywine or a RIS occupying a keg for a year and a half or two years.

For me, I mostly only drink bigger beers in the winter when its cold outside.

 

[micraftbeer]

Pre-COVID, I was on a similar path of deciding I would go to 2.5 gallon batches. Didn't drink enough of the beer, hated pouring it out, but didn't want full kegs stopping me from brewing. Then COVID came, Work From Home started, and all activity outside the home ground to a halt and I had loads of time to brew.

I reached out to neighbors that used to occasionally get together with and share some beer when I had something spectacular, and asked if they wanted a free 6-pack from my batches. I got 4 people initially, then 5 say they would. I pick what I brew and when I brew, I brew 5 gallons, and then I share 30 bottles of that with neighbors.

I'm glad it's worked out this way because brewing smaller batches, a small variation can have a bigger result on your beer. A miscalculation of water by 0.5 gallons becomes a major ABV shifting event, etc.

I use the TapCooler bottle filler and I think it's great. I keg and carbonate in keg, then fill bottles when the beer is ready. It takes me about an hour from start of bottles soaking in bucket of sanitizer, to 30 capped bottles and everything cleaned up and put away.

 

[FunkedOut]

I drink to support my brewing habit.

 

[bwible]

Pre-COVID, I was on a similar path of deciding I would go to 2.5 gallon batches. Didn't drink enough of the beer, hated pouring it out, but didn't want full kegs stopping me from brewing. Then COVID came, Work From Home started, and all activity outside the home ground to a halt and I had loads of time to brew.

I reached out to neighbors that used to occasionally get together with and share some beer when I had something spectacular, and asked if they wanted a free 6-pack from my batches. I got 4 people initially, then 5 say they would. I pick what I brew and when I brew, I brew 5 gallons, and then I share 30 bottles of that with neighbors.

The neighbor across from me is one of the owners of the brew pub in town. And he’s one of the few neighbors here we know.

You’re right in that some of the small batch measurements can get a little silly. Scaling down some recipes you come up with hop additions that are .187 ounces or something like that. I also have found recipes don’t always scale up or down exactly and I like round numbers, so .187 oz becomes 1/4 oz, etc. Or you’re measuring out 1.5 oz of acid malt or melanoidin malt. Water salts .5 gram of this or that sometimes. Stuff like that. I bought a good accurate little digital scale.

 

[micraftbeer]

The other benefit of this neighborhood group is when I make something I don't really care for, I usually have someone that will take extra bottles of it, or will take the last 1/4 of a keg and picnic tap and finish it off. So as long as I don't have a defect/infection, and it's just something that I don't like, usually someone will be excited to finish it off.

 

[NightFlight]

I still bottle a few for family and friends if there is beer in the fermenter after the keg is filled

ALL THIS TIME I'VE BEEN THROWING IT OUT! *smacks forehead*

 

[bracconiere]

so unless you only care about calories

yeah i've been slackin on protein, but all in all pretty good......and before you try to tell me you take a pill, the reason i drink in the first place, is because i like that i won't be taken advantage of....

edit: i really should have hypeanated that filename, lol....just pretend it's "suckin-but-not-to-bad"

 

[JAReeves]

I also love to brew more than I love to drink; lately I have been doing a lot of session-strength beers so that I can drink more and therefore make more.

I also have a core group of friends/neighbors/coworkers/family that request certain beers and so they get a growler or a 6-er when it comes around in the rotation. Most are willing to taste any of the new brews I make, sometimes, those recipes get added to the rotation. I try to give away half or more of any keg. I think now that COVID seems to be on the decline (or at least its virulence for the vaccinated), I should be able to entertain/host and give more away; and produce a lot more beer! It's tough when you have three kegs on tap, three kegs waiting in the lagering fridge, three barrels aging in preparation for the keg, and four carboys full of sours also waiting their turn for a keg. Then the closet full of bottles (big beers, wines, ciders, meads, and mixed fermentations).

It's a lot of booze, now that I am going over it, sheesh; I wonder if I have a problem?

 

[bracconiere]

I wonder if I have a problem?

the only time it's a problem is when you have to kiss the ring!

 

[JAReeves]

the only time it's a problem is when you have to kiss the ring!

Depends on which body part the ring is in!

 

[bracconiere]

Depends on which body part the ring is in!

for some reason that creeps me out?

 

[DuncB]

Depends on which body part the ring is in!

or on!!

 

[bwible]

I also love to brew more than I love to drink; lately I have been doing a lot of session-strength beers so that I can drink more and therefore make more.

I also have a core group of friends/neighbors/coworkers/family that request certain beers and so they get a growler or a 6-er when it comes around in the rotation. Most are willing to taste any of the new brews I make, sometimes, those recipes get added to the rotation. I try to give away half or more of any keg. I think now that COVID seems to be on the decline (or at least its virulence for the vaccinated), I should be able to entertain/host and give more away; and produce a lot more beer! It's tough when you have three kegs on tap, three kegs waiting in the lagering fridge, three barrels aging in preparation for the keg, and four carboys full of sours also waiting their turn for a keg. Then the closet full of bottles (big beers, wines, ciders, meads, and mixed fermentations).

It's a lot of booze, now that I am going over it, sheesh; I wonder if I have a problem?

I have (2) 5 gallon kegs in the kegerator. One is about to kick. I have another 5 gallon batch in progress to go in that one’s place.

I have (12) cases of bottles, all have more than 12 bottles in them, some have all 24 because they were just bottled. I have about 7 extra six packs made up of the leftover beer from 3 gallons after filling the cases. My inventory adds up to (2) 5 gallon kegs and (276) 12 oz bottles. I also enjoy the brewing as much or more as the drinking.

I brewed 20 batches for 2020, 21 batches for 2021 and I have 7 in the book already so far for this year. Well on the way to 22 for 22. I plan to make 3 more batches of beer this month and 2 meads after that. That should put me at 12 batches before the end of April. Then I’ll probably take the summer off from brewing to do a bunch of drinking and then start up again later in the year.

 

[NightFlight]

Sun, lawn chairs and draft. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.

 

[bwible]

In the last year, I brewed 82 batches 5L /1.5G each. 5 dumpers because of acetic / diastatic infection (discarded them by pouring on the ground in my backyard). Gave out like 2 batches, the rest gulped myself.

Before taking on the hobby I'd never imagine I'd drink so much beer

If I’ve done the math right:
82 times 1.5 gallons times 128oz divided by 12 oz means that is 1,312 bottles. Taking out 5 dumpers its still 1,232 bottles. If you drank every day, its a little less than 3.5 bottles every day for a year for one person. That is awesome

 

[NightFlight]

Sun, lawn chairs and draft. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.

Maybe a little shade under a tree (a light breeze blowing dandelion seeds in the sky) for high noon and the smell of grass.. sniiiiiifffffff..... you can smell it if you try really hard.....holy bajezus I miss summer.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

I have gotten into aging beers through the years, I always have extra beer and I prefer not to dump, so I am going with higher abv and longer term storage / aging. Eventually I might be able to get a nice vertical tasting going. I also tried some brett on an unfinished saison batch from last spring, looking forward to seeing how that one came out 1 year later...

But I do think 5 gallons is a nice amount, forgiving enough, easy enough to work with, and the cost difference is pretty minimal vs a more palatable 2.5 or 3 gallon batch. Even if that means dumping or storing or getting creative with brett etc.

 

[bwible]

I have gotten into aging beers through the years, I always have extra beer and I prefer not to dump, so I am going with higher abv and longer term storage / aging. Eventually I might be able to get a nice vertical tasting going. I also tried some brett on an unfinished saison batch from last spring, looking forward to seeing how that one came out 1 year later...

But I do think 5 gallons is a nice amount, forgiving enough, easy enough to work with, and the cost difference is pretty minimal vs a more palatable 2.5 or 3 gallon batch. Even if that means dumping or storing or getting creative with brett etc.

3 of my cases are barleywine. I brew it once a year. I have 2019, 2020 and 2021. I haven’t made this year’s 2022 yet

 

[Dr_Jeff]

When we moved, I had in excess of 20 full kegs that I had to put into a temperature controlled storage unit, along with a bunch of cases of wine, mead, cider and beer. About half of the beer was beer that I had brewed and the other half was beer that had been bought or given to me as a gift, high end beers.

The movers wouldn't move it and I had to return to Alaska prior to the closing date and moving date.

 

[micraftbeer]

Wedding China, family heirloom, antique photo of my great-great-grandfather wrestling a grizzly bear- throw it in that cardboard box over there.

Beer- load that onto the refrigerated truck scheduled to deliver to my refrigerated storage unit...