Too Many Fermenters?

[llazy_llama]

I have 6 at the moment. First I thought three would be enough. Then I got three, and realized that I needed 3 more. Now I have 6 and am realizing that I need 6 more.

It's going to be like a Better Bottle showcase in my living room soon. I might have to ditch the sofa to make room.

 

[Chello]

This thread makes me depressed...

I only have ONE primary! So i brew every 2 weeks and rack to corny's, but this has worked for the past 2 years just fine!

 

[BierMuncher]

This thread makes me depressed...

I only have ONE primary! So i brew every 2 weeks and rack to corny's, but this has worked for the past 2 years just fine!

You just think it's worked fine. Imagine having 4 fermenters that last 2 years....huh???....yeah???....now what are you thinking????

 

[velotech]

I have 5 fermenting now with 2 empty for secondaries for this weekend and next weekend. As soon as they free up I fill them. I need to pick up four more kegs next week to store more brew. I love this hobby so much I brew way more than I can consume. I don't think you can have too many fermentors, unless you don't have room to store them.

 

[TexasStu]

Double your pleasure!...

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

3 primaries and 4 secondaries. 2 each are being used right now and I'll be filling the 3rd primary tomorrow.

 

[Halaster]

I started out with 2 buckets and 2 carboys. Right now I have 1 carboy open and the following going.

Carboy - Ed Worts Apfel(1 week old)
Carboy - Dog Fish Head 90 Min (6.5 weeks, botttling it tomorrow)
Carboy - Brewers Best IPA (started 4 weeks ago)
Carboy - Dog Fish Head 90 Min (started 3 weeks ago)
Carboy - Russian Imperial Stout (started September 2008)
Bucket - Brewers Best Scotch Ale (started 2 weeks ago)
Bucket - My own Amber Recipe(started 1 week ago)

It gets addicting, and my new problem is I will have run out of empty bottles after this weekend.

 

[nosmatt]

6?

yeah, six seems about right for me.

but, i am a bottler, and i do not secondary. i have a brew in the garage crashing now for 12 days... i got lazy and did not wanna bottle last weekend. im outta time, i got brews to make, and no fermenters!
6 full, and one bottling bucket.
500 empty bottles to sanitize tho.... and no homebrew ready to drink, cuz i got lazy about bottling a month ago too....

 

[beesy]

not trying to get in a pissin' match with anyone by any means. hell i only been brewing just over a year. Within 4 months of first brew, had 6 10.5g primary buckets, 6 carboys and 11 pin lock kegs. trust me, i have a very addictive personality.

 

[BierMuncher]

...trust me, i have a very addictive personality.

The first step to recovery is admitting it...

Not that we want to recover from this addiction...

 

[Bopper]

I have a confession to make...I have 7 fermenters and ALL are empty right now . I've been DIY renovating my bathroom and that's had all my attention. I do have 2 cornis on tap and 3 on deck but da*m, I gotta get brewing!

I think I'll brew on sunday

 

[AnonyBrew]

I have a confession to make...I have 7 fermenters and ALL are empty right now . I've been DIY renovating my bathroom and that's had all my attention. I do have 2 cornis on tap and 3 on deck but da*m, I gotta get brewing!

I think I'll brew on sunday

Brew Foul!!

 

[ohiobrewtus]

/waits for Evan! and ohiobrewtus pictures.

Ask and ye shall receive. I'll have to post an actual pic later, but here's one from a couple of months ago that looks pretty similar. I currently have 2 kegged and waiting for an open tap, 3 in primary and 4 in secondary.

 

[CBBaron]

I don't need that many fermenters for my ales. I drink about 1 batch a month and could keep up with that with a single bucket. However sometimes you want to brew several batches in the same week or back to back weeks. That takes a couple extra buckets. Then you make an Imperial Stout and/or Barleywine and you need a secondary for a month or 3. And a sour ale sounds good, that takes an extra carboy for a year. Then you start making wines and meads which take a year before you really even think of drinking them. Now you need another bucket or 2 for the primary and several more carboys.

I own 3 6.5gal buckets, a 7.9gal bucket, 2 5gal carboys, 3 6gal carboys, 2 3gal carboys and 4 1gal bottles for mini batches.

Currently: in use
2 6gal, 7.9gal, 6.5gal, 4 1gal, 1 5gal, and 2 3gal for a total of 10 fermenters and 31 gallons. Will have another 5gal batch going Sunday. And I don't make near the volume some do.

Craig

 

[mnadamn]

I have 5 6.5 gal carobys, 1 5 gal carboy, 1 3gal carboy, and use my kegs as backup secondaires. I have nothing fermenting now, but will be brewing a RIS as well as a jasmine IPA this weekend to fill 3 carboys, my girlfriend is excited, she likes the sound and smell of the bedroom when beer is fermenting (part of the reason for my brewing this weekend)

 

[nathan]

I like ohiobrewtus's style. Instead of finishing the basement out, he nailed shelves between the open studbays and made his-self some brewing space.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Here's how it looks now:

nathan, the basment will get finished if I can keep the water out. I'd much rather have the basement done and have to find a different place for my fermemters than use what will be the bar to store fermenting beer.

 

[Christian]

Christian, which LHBS set up did you see? Art's? Did they have anything cool like a conical?

Yeah it was Art's setup and he did have conicals but those were the ones not being used.

 

[HSM]

This thread makes me depressed...

I only have ONE primary! So i brew every 2 weeks and rack to corny's, but this has worked for the past 2 years just fine!

So why be depressed? Sounds like you are brewing exactly what you need. Brewing more to impress teh internet... pointless.

 

[GNBrews]

BierMucher, aren't you worried about skunking with the huge fluorescent fixture above your carboys?

 

[frolickingmonkey]

Brewing more to impress teh internet... pointless.

Sure, but I'm still impressed...

I've got three of my six carboys full of delicious liquids right now. Currently, I only ever drink off one keg at a time, so I've got my pipeline timed to tap a new keg every couple of weeks when the previous one blows... But I've got big dreams (and a few empty carboys to help facilitate those dreams)!

 

[dagamore]

Dont know where i found this pic, but damn thats alot for a home brew to be ferming at once.

and this sadly is my little neck of the woods.

But i will have another 6 gallon in primary tomorrow(possibly monday)

 

[SkewedBrewing]

Sadly?

I have a primary bucket, a glass carboy, a better bottle and a bottling bucket. (And the latter 2 are stuck at my parent's house back in Cleveland until I can rescue them in a few weeks)

Everything is relative...

 

[nathan]

Ohiobrewtus,
are you having leaking in the foundation? Is it bad enough you'll have to pull away the fill around the foundation, put in a epdm liner and backfill with gravel? That helped water inflow in an earthburmed garage my family put together using a wooden-frame foundation setup. But it was only burmed on 3 sides, so the gravel and rubber encouraged the flow out and around and it could escape on the 4th side...

btw, what is up with your avatar? Is that what I think it is? Please explain.

 

[kharmajavah]

Everything is relative...

You're not kidding...I've been brewing for a couple of years, but have only one primary, two secondaries, and no kegs (I bottle, but some mini-kegging, but that doesn't really count).

It's great beer, but man...I couldn't drink it fast enough if I had six or seven primaries going. I need to build up my stock, though...only a few bottles left and an American Amber Ale in the primary right now. That's DEFIITELY not enough.

Luckily, SWMBO likes to help me brew and makes wine herself...so I got that going for me

 

[nathan]

once you start making lagers, it gets complicated. You have to start storing and aging things, then you realize that you can improve all your beers by aging at 32F in the keg for a while. Suddenly the beers you brew this weekend are drinkable mid-april or later. Now you have to ramp up and make sure that dedicated freezer you have for lager primary fermentations at 50F stays full, right? Otherwise you are wasting space!
ummm yeah....

 

[BrownsBrewing]

I have 4 buckets and 2 15.5 sankes for fermenters. All of the buckets are full. I will starrt a couple of ten gallon batches this weekend or during next week

 

[TxSpyderBrew]

I have 7 buckets, 5 6g BB and one 6g Glass carboy. lets see I have 3 batches of EdWorts Aplewein going in BB about 1 week apart(all a slightly different recipe) , An American-IPA that i just racked and dry hopping in the glass carboy(about 20 min ago). A Pale ale that just got put into a bucket yesterday. A dry stout that is about a week from bottling and a meed that has been in a BB(secondary) for about 4 weeks.

That comes out to 7 brews....

I live in a small apt, they all sit in my closet, which take up half of my walk in closet..... i am planing in closing in some of it in foam board with a small fridge. its hard keeping all those carboys cool in this texas heat... yes its already like 75-80 in the Fort worth area....

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

I have 4 buckets and 4 carboys going in my basement right now. Thats 8 brews in all.
My fiance wants to kill me but its all good. Hey I am not making crack...thats what I tell her.