What do you do with all your beer?

[kerklein2]

The couple threads about how many fermenters going at once some of you guys have got me thinking, what in the hell are these guys doing with all that beer? I think one primary and one secondary going at any time would be more than enough for any person to drink. So, are you guys giving tons of it away to friends, having parties all the time, drinking your ass off, or just storing it and you always have a large cache of brew?

 

[ScottyT]

With 5 fermenters going now and the first two batches bottled, I expect to have a steady supply of about 2 cases (1 batch) per week. Most of that is in preparation for a couple huge parties my friends and I are planning for the year. Much of it will be given away to friends and coworkers. The rest will probably be consumed while just hanging out with friends.

 

[user 22118]

It is a joy to make the beer and I am always more than happy to let friends enjoy it. I drink about 5 gallons a month by myself. Add in one other person and that number can get down to every two weeks. Then if I have a friend that is having a party, it turns into 10 gallons. So essentially I am trying to have a minimum of 10-15 gallons on hand at any one time.

 

[SumnerH]

5 gallons is 40 pints. You can go through that easily if you and SWMBO have 2-3 pints a night and have a few friends over once or twice a week. We drink slightly less than that on average but we have friends over often so we probably go through that much.

If it's about 6 weeks a beer from brew to tap, you'd need at least 6 containers (2 primaries, 2 secondaries, and a couple cornies) going at any time to match that. That's without accounting for bottles that you give away and such, and without trying to amass a little extra here and there to have some choices available.

If someone has a weekly poker game or football night or something and gets 6 people over who have 6-7 beers a piece, they could easily double that.

 

[kerklein2]

I didn't mean one primary then wait and drink it all. I meant if you always have one primary and one secondary going in 5 gallon batches, then you'd have about 10 gallons a month. Without having people over to help drink it, I just don't see myself ever drinking that much. I may have one or two beers with dinner a couple nights a week, and then more on the weekends. Just seems like I'd have to do a ton of beer drinking to keep up with how much brewing I'd like to do. Not that I wouldn't enjoy that, buy I don't think my gut can keep up.

 

[llazy_llama]

I drink mine. What do you do with yours, water your garden?

 

[Revvy]

I drink mine. What do you do with yours, water your garden?

Only AFTER I drink it .

 

[PhlyanPan]

You're just not trying hard enough if you don't drink 5 gallons of beer a month.

I used to live with 2 of my college buddies. We were going through a half keg of commercial beer about every 3 weeks or so. And that was without parties or people coming over and we weren't drunks or anything. It was just that we'd sit down and watch tv for a couple of hours and have 2 or 3 beers a night each. When it becomes part of your routine you'd be surprised how fast you go through it.

 

[SOB]

I have 4 carboys and a bucket and 6 kegs. I've never had everything full at once but it's better safe then sorry!

A keg usually lasts me 2 weeks. I usually drink 4-6 pints a night and a lot more on weekends. Beer is my drink of choice. Some drink lemonade on the weekends, I drink beer. Unless friends are over I dont get $hit-face drunk or anything but I love the taste so I cant put it down.

So drinking like that I usually have 2 carboys and the bucket full, plus a carboy (and in the future more) for Apfelwein.

 

[Reverend JC]

The couple threads about how many fermenters going at once some of you guys have got me thinking, what in the hell are these guys doing with all that beer? I think one primary and one secondary going at any time would be more than enough for any person to drink. So, are you guys giving tons of it away to friends, having parties all the time, drinking your ass off, or just storing it and you always have a large cache of brew?

Why, drink it of course!

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I drink what I can, but I brew way more than I can drink so I end up sending out beers to Evan, Pseudochef and Reverend JC (soon).

 

[homebrewer_99]

Well, I drink mine...and share whenever anyone shows up...

I currently have:

2 kegs on tap
8 in the keezer
3 outside the keezer waiting to go in
4 more kegs in my storage room
6 cases of assorted brews
over 75 bottles of apfelwein and meads
8 batches in primaries and secondaries
...and 6 EMPTY cornies soon to be filled...:rockin:

 

[ArcaneXor]

I drink it!

50 bottles per batch
- 6 for archiving
- 2 that may be oxidized/infected/otherwise inferior and get dumped
- 5 to give away to friends
= 37 bottles per batch for me to drink.

Assuming an average consumption of 2.5 beers per day, one batch lasts for just about two weeks. Since I brew about every two weeks, I have an ever-changing but not increasing rotating stock of beers available, as well as an archive for special occasions.

Many people also have multiple fermenters because they make high gravity beers, meads, wines, etc that may take multiple months of bulk storage to clear and mature.

 

[Runyanka]

I dont seem to and never will have the problem of having to much beer! I figure 12 average over the weekend. Thats 5 gallons gone over a month. That is why a pipeline is so important. Never another commercial brew bought!

 

[Homercidal]

Most of these posters are drinking much more than I do. I drink usually a glass or two a night (less than a pint each) and maybe a bit more on the weekends. I'm not getting drunk, mind you, but that's a bunch of caloric intake! I don't generally drink soda anymore and prefer water or beer. Most people give me a funny look when I tell them I've cut back on pop and drink beer instead, but I'd rather have a glass of beer each day than a glass of sugar water. Plus I drink more water than I used to with soda.

I wish I knew more people who drink my beer! My friends are either not beer drinkers or prefer Labatts and Heiny or something like that, which I don't brew. (well, I suspect he might not care for my homebrew anyway, because I believe he would not believe that a person could make as good at home as they can buy from the store, but since he only drinks that other stuff I probably will never get the chance to change his mind.)

 

[Mutilated1]

I drink it of course - duh

 

[bluehouse]

I wish I knew more people who drink my beer! My friends are either not beer drinkers or prefer Labatts and Heiny or something like that, which I don't brew.

Here in the alternate universe where I live most friends like free beer or wine.

We also give away alot of wine & brew as gifts & donate to our church auctions they have gotten big money for homemade wine at auction.

As far as having multiple fermentors if you brew wine or any beer that takes long term aging it is important. I only have 2 regular beer fermenters and probably will never have more than 3. The rest of my room is for things that take a long time so I need the extra room.

The wine I am drinking now I vinted in July of 2007 so it was bulk aged for a year before it was bottled and then set in the bottle about 6 months before we started drinking.

 

[springer]

also have to take into account that most of use don't drink green beer so we need to have a supply that ages while the aged beer is drunk.

I always have a few going at the same time reason being it gets a little boring for lack of a better word if you only have 1 type of beer on tap.

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

Party all the time. But realistically speaking, only having 10 gallons going at any 1 time, and assuming that there will be a 2 month period from brewday to being ready to drink, thats only 96 beers and 60 days in which to drink the 2 batches. Or, about 1.5 beers a day. Which is not much. I drank about 10 beers last night, 2 the day prior, 2 prior to the prior, etc. I should have 4 batches going at all times to keep up with my friends/parties/and me.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Most bizarre thread title ever IMO

 

[david_42]

I used to brew with a real guzzler, he probably drank 80% of what we made. And was 6'2", 170 lbs! So, I have way more gear than I need and only brew 5-6 times a year, plus some cider and mead. Sometimes I'll make a batch expressly for the purpose of taking it to club meetings.

 

[Revvy]

Many people also have multiple fermenters because they make high gravity beers, meads, wines, etc that may take multiple months of bulk storage to clear and mature.

also have to take into account that most of use don't drink green beer so we need to have a supply that ages while the aged beer is drunk.

This is pretty much my answer, I have usually 1 or 2 batches that I'm drinking from at any giving time and if I have been keeping my pipeline up, and brewing different things (I brew a lot of 2.5 gallon experimental batches on top of 5 gallon ones).

So I'll have things going at different stages of the process...some beers I may not be touching for 3-6 months...

Most of us who have things going like that aren't guzzling our batches, we tend to leave our beers in primary for a month, and we know that any given beer might still be green in 3 weeks or 6 or several months depending on what it is...

kerklein2, I don't know how long you've been brewing...but when I started out I couldn't conceive of what I'm doing now, having 9 vessels of various sizes and several filled, plus cases and cases of bottles conditioning...Heck I even used to think that 2 cases (or 5 gallons) was a lot of beer, and I'd never be able to drink all of it....(Of course I used to believe in the tooth fairy too, and look how THAT turned out. )

 

[remilard]

Never another commercial brew bought!

Interesting goal.

 

[Marko73]

I tend to have a lot of beer on hand at any given time and a cold cellar really helps it keep. In the spring or summer months, SWMBO and I often have people over every week and they love the homebrew. I always send them home with some as well. Also, we alway give gifts of beer, cheese, bread, etc so a lot of times it is gone pretty fast.

But as to the drinking part, I probably drink between 6 to 10 pints a week and do a good job going through my beer. 2 cases goes a lot quicker than you would think. . .

 

[McKBrew]

It's all about variety more than anything. When I first started brewing, I'd make a batch and not start another one until it was almost gone. I realized that I'll be in the mood for certain beers. Some days I want an IPA, some days a stout, some days both. I like having that option when I go out to the keezer. Once I get a couple more batches done, I'll have 4 taps and probably another 6 or 8 commercial varieties available at any given time.

I am starting to consider cutting down on buying commercial beers though. I want to try everything, and for the longest time I was buying different beers almost weekly. I though it was necessary to try every IPA I could get my hands on. I'm starting to realize that while variety is good, instead of spending $10 on a 6 pack of IPA, I can spend $20 and make a decent IPA. This really hit home when I spent $14 for a 6 pack of Bigfoot Barleywine recently. While having a big beer cellar is a future goal, why can't I just make a good beer myself, bottle it, age it and enjoy it like anything else. Spending big bucks for beer doesn't bother me, but if I put that money towards ingredients I could probably get away with brewing more often, and having just as much variety. I can save buying the commercial stuff for when I go to a pub or on a special occasion.

OK, that was long winded.

 

[Glibbidy]

Drink & share it.

 

[McGarnigle]

Most of these posters are drinking much more than I do. I drink usually a glass or two a night (less than a pint each) and maybe a bit more on the weekends.

That's about what I do, and I always dedicate one day a week to drinking no alcohol whatsoever.

I also love trying all sorts of commercial brews. When I first thought about getting into brewing, people would say "it's great, you never have to buy commercial beer again," and that was always a big turnoff for me.

I sympathize with the OP. So much beer, so little time, so few liver cells.

 

[ericm]

if you like variety and don't drink all that much try smaller batches.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I perform several chemical processes to my beer where I extract the base consituents from the product. Everything gets passed through an organic filter. At the end of the process I am left with amino nitrogen, trace minerals, and varying volumes of water.

I often use the byproducts to hydrate and feed plants.

 

[starrfish]

Drink most, give some away, share with friends on dart nights, and share with neighbors.... Found 5 gallons is NEVER enough, it goes WAY too fast. Started rationing my last American Brown Ale! (really peaking in flavor!)

Just moved up to brewing the ability to brew 2 5 gallon batches (2 primary buckets) at a time and have a glass carboy to secondary if needed for extended aging or dry hopping, or herbal infusing.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I drink almost all mine. I have a watchtower outside my house. I sit up there at nights on a throne made by crates of homebrew. I am armed with a machine gun and will fire a hail of hellfire on any numbskull BMC drinkin' SOB that comes within sniffing distance of my beer. They refuse to be edumacated, so I will shoot them.

I'll give some to my son in law though. He understands about ale and stuff.

 

[TexLaw]

I drink and share it, like the other folks. However, I do not drink an average of 2-3 beers each day. It's not that I don't like to drink beer, mind you, but beer has a lot of dadgum calories in it (as Homercidal mentioned). I just don't like to work out that much, and I don't want to wear size 88 pants.


TL

 

[Evan]

i brew two 5 gallons batches about every two weeks give or take. i have 3 carboys, two full right now. i usually do alot of switching up between batches so i have a few very different styles bottled at any one time. i drink about 1 or 2 beers Sunday-Thursday, probably 3 or 4 friday/saturday. my girlfriend will drink some too, usually any blondes/APA/IPA i have, and whenever i go visit my family, i'll take almost a case of various homebrews up for my cousin and my friends.

 

[Yooper]

I drink a lot of beer. If a friend comes over, they have a beer too, but overall it's mostly me. I work out quite a bit, and eat very healthy (no junk food, no sugar, no white flour, no fried foods, no pastries, etc) so I can afford to have 3 beers a day, more on the weekend. A keg of beer is only 40 pints- so it's only about two weeks worth of beer. With two adults in the house, it goes fast!

 

[polecreek]

I have 5 dogs, I think they must be drunks. It cant be me draining a keg every 2-3 weeks.

 

[Dennis1979]

I'm drinking it mostly right now but I'm finally comfortable enough with my product to share with friends without fear they will hate it.

It's the time involved that is a limiting factor for me. I haven't added it all up but between brewing, secondary transfer and bottling including the sanitizing and cleaning everything up, I figure, what, 6 - 8 hours per batch in total? Less I suppose if you keg but still it takes a lot of time. My life is such that free time is hard to find so that's my big deal. Also, with 5 batches in various stages of completion, I have bottles of beer everywhere. I have run out of closet space so I'm putting it wherever I can but this is not pleasing SWMBO.

Dennis

 

[Coastarine]

I do my best to drink it buy I'm getting a little behind in my beer drinking. Or maybe I'm getting ahead on my beer brewing...either way I need some help here.

And before all of the smart***es in the room say "huhuhuh I'll help you drink it lolz", good! Man up (or lady up) and start driving south! PM me from the first wifi rest stop you hit and I'll send you my address! I'll feed you so much homebrew, you'll wish you hadn't!

Not only do I have all six beers in my sig on tap, but the stout and the ESB and kegged, chilled, and carb'd waiting for a tap. The orange kolsch and dopple o-fest are both just waiting for free kegs. All this, and I'm brewing on Saturday! I can't stop! At least I can start lagering without worrying about how long it will take.

 

[skeeordye11]

One thing that I haven't noticed come up (I only skimmed over some of the posts so forgive me if someone already mentioned it) is that I know of quite a few people that are more seasonal brewers in the warmer states. Meaning they may hit it hard brewing through the winter and into the spring when it's cooler to build up a stock to get them through the winter because for some odd reason they don't enjoy standing next to 5-10+ gallons of boiling liquid when it's 100 degrees outside. Personally, I think they're weak! But then again, I'm small time and brew in my air conditioned apartment in the summer, so call it what you will.

 

[SOB]

And before all of the smart***es in the room say "huhuhuh I'll help you drink it lolz", good! Man up (or lady up) and start driving south! PM me from the first wifi rest stop you hit and I'll send you my address! I'll feed you so much homebrew, you'll wish you hadn't!

You're on!!! But since you're calling us out why dont you man up and pack up your 6 kegs and bring them up here to cloudy Ohio? I'm sure you're about sick of the weather down there in FL anyways...

huhuhuh lolz!

 

[BierMuncher]

I drink it just fast enough to keep my pipeline moving.

Since I don't brew that much...there's no real chance of me drinking too much.