What do you do with all your brew?

[BrewdyQuah]

Especially interested in the homebrewers that brew in 5+ gallon batches. Do you drink it all yourselves? Invite others over? Give it out to family/friends?

I commonly see systems build for brewing 5-14 gallons. Seems too much for personal consumption, but too little for commercial use. How much do you brew, and what do you all do with it all?

 

[eadavis80]

Drink about 90% - give about 10#% away.

 

[beernutz]

How much beer do you drink?

 

[jschein]

Drink it all. Some with friends and family.

 

[BrewdyQuah]

How much beer do you drink?

Ugggh, too much if I don't watch it!! Try to keep it to a pint or two a night on average. A bit more on the weekends.

 

[brewbama]

5 gal is only 32 pints (20 oz imperial). At a pint a night and three on Sat and Sun that's only ~3 weeks worth of beer. That means I have to brew every 2-3 weeks. If I share, or drink four on Sat and Sun, I definitely brew every two weeks. Cheers!

 

[soccerdad]

I pi $$ a lot of it down the terlet

 

[BeerAddikt]

I give out quite a few 12oz bottles to friends and fam but keep all the 22oz bombers for myself or serve them when company comes over. Bombers are harder and more expensive to come by so I tend to hold on to those.

If you don't share your beer you don't know how good it really is. Feedback is key if you want to really dial in your technique and recipes.

That said, I drink about 80% of the beer I brew (5 gallon batches). It doesn't last as long as you'd think. I'm assuming you started brewing because you love beer. If that's the case you'll be lucky to have a bottle on hand that's older than 2-3 months.

 

[Jtk78]

I usually give at least a 6 pack a week away. And drink the rest. I like to have variety around though. I brew 10 gallons, usually 5 of one beer and 5 of another at one time. I already have all the stuff out, so the extra 5 only adds about 2 hours, if that, to my day.

 

[kh54s10]

I too would say I drink about 90% and give 10% to friends. At my height I was brewing about twice a month until I had a lot then I might go a month without brewing. Lower ABV might be 4 a night so it doesn't last that long. Bigger beers take longer. I have a couple last for a couple years before they were gone.

So far my liver is surviving....

I've been on a hiatus while preparing to move. Can't wait to get back to brewing.

 

[Gonefishing]

Apparently, I shared a lot of my last brew because it sure didn't last long.

 

[rhys333]

I convert all my brew back into something that resembles Budweiser.

 

[catdaddy66]

Mostly I drink it, but some I give to houseguests, family and friends. I do drink a lot of it (80%), but recently my adult daughter has a friend over frequently that likes most of my brew. Oh, and she's an alcoholic... So there's that.

Since she drinks so much I have had to step up my brew schedule quite a bit.

 

[day_trippr]

Mostly personal consumption. I consistently enjoy four pours each day (one could set their watch to the schedule) so ~2.5 gallons per week by myself.
When a son or two comes by they'll put a ding in the taplist, visitors will take their share, and the Spousal Unit will have an occasional low-octane selection (she's more into wines and mixed drinks).

fwiw, I do 10 gallon batches, run six taps, and strive to keep six kegs carbed, chilled and ready to go in the pipeline...

Cheers!

 

[Elkobrewer]

I used to always have 4 kegs on hand but now that my son moved back in it's hard to keep up. He needs to start pitching in. Or I will have to brew every week.

 

[jrgtr42]

Mostly drink it myself - I have a couple kegs if I;m brewing for a party or something but I bottle most. I'll share whenever I have people over who will appreciate it, and I'll give a bit away.

 

[Coathanger]

Also in the 90% me, 10% giveaway camp. I'll usually limit myself to 2 homebrew, but they're often complimented by other beers in between.

 

[pdxal]

Wow, people sure do drink a lot here.
I'm in the minority, I guess, since I drink perhaps 10-20% of what I brew and my wife drinks a bottle or cup here and there. The rest I share with friends and family when they visit or if there is a party. I brew less when I don't have the chance to share. I also rarely brew 5 gallon batches. 3 batches of beer, plus 6 batches of rice wine this year.

 

[cabron99]

I have a 15 tap kegerater on the patio. Once a month I have my 1964 classmates over for a BBQ and beer. Not much actually goes there. I give beer to charities. As you know we can't sell it, but they can. I try to help veteran's causes as much as I can. Its good to help your brothers. Probably about 30% goes to personal and friend consumption.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

5 tap keezer with 2-3 on backup. Lots of friends family over that enjoy free beer as well as fresh growlers brought in to coworkers every Friday. And I drink a lot too. It goes by just fine.

 

[Master]

3 tap Kegerator, with bottles if I have enough left over after kegging to be worth it.

Usually have 1 cider and two beers on tap.

Between me, my wife's soccer and kickball teams and some friends, I brew enough to keep my fermenter constantly in use when I'm home. I work 60 on 60 off offshore, so I usually brew a lager right before I leave, and then brew two ales and a cider when I'm home.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I brew up to 25 gallons. Usually do 20, drink a lot myself. I usually have a get together and
let the crew get their drink on. They bring the grill food. Works out well and it keeps all the friend families getting together. My 75 years young mother will only come if I have my Saison on tap. Yes, always a Saison on tap. My rig is NG, my gas bill was $52 this month!

 

[cubalz]

I gave 1/2 of it away for a long time, now that I am older I now only brew 3 and 1 gallon batches and keg them both. No waste and fresh beer on tap at all times....

 

[arcorey]

I belong to two home brew clubs. I take a sampling off the top of every batch for each club for critique. I do homebrew contests so I send some off there on occasion as well. I give some to friends or have some cold when expecting company. I probably drink 30% or less of what I make. I enjoy making it and seeing people enjoy it. I buy a lot of craft beer because I like trying a wide variety whenever possible. More variety than I have time to brew. I rarely enjoy sitting and killing a bunch of the same craft beer whether it be mine or commercial. I usually do 5gal batches but just upped my capability to do 10gal as some of my batches went so fast I barely got to try them. Plus I am starting to split batches and play with flavor infusions, so that leaves me more to play with. Once I go back to kegging, I'll probably start drinking my own more and do a sessionable house beer to keep on tap.

 

[brewcat]

5 gallons is only two cases. I drink it all usually. Share with family on occasion. Right now I'm completely empty but I have 4 kegs. Really probably should have more kegs just for lagering.

 

[Gibberoni]

I generally try to keep 2 beers on tap, otherwise they disappear fairly quickly. We have friends over almost every weekend and they are the ones that also help me brew, so they always want to enjoy their labors!

When it gets a bit colder I will probably do a brew every weekend to for 3 weeks to get beer in the fermenters. I have 3, but only room for 1 to be temperature controlled. In the autumn/winter I can easily put 2 of them behind our bar and they will stay in the upper 60's. Even then, the beer will disappear within 2 weeks of tapping!

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I brew 10 gallon batches and have a 6-tap kegerator, so I like to have variety on hand.

My issue is that I brew too infrequently, so I have trouble keeping the kegerator stocked. I'm trying to push really hard to fill the pipeline right now because I'd be going 6-8 weeks between brew days.

 

[Limbrizik]

I brew 10 gallons every 2-3 weeks and can never seem to keep more than 1 beer on tap at a time. I blame my band drinking it all during practice. If you have too much beer just join a band.

 

[triletter]

I brew 10 gal batches and do so almost weekly. If I don't, the 4 tap keezer gets tapped out pretty regularly. The main issue is that Wednesday night is Bike and Brew. Everyone brings their road, tri, mtb or cross bikes and we ride different routes and distances. We have some that just run or mix it up. The beer is the recovery drink/reward at the end. When 24 people show up, the beer goes pretty quickly. Then there is the better half that drinks more than I do. Retired life is good and the brewing keeps me busy.

 

[bolus14]

I would say i'm with most others. Still brew 5-5.5 gal batches and consume around 90% myself. I try to keep at least 3-4 different kinds in the fridge as I rarely drink more than 2 of the same kind in a day. I tend to drink 1 a day during the week and however much I feel like on the weekends. If we are at a party or have friends over I would say around a 6 pack on a Saturday or Sunday. If it's just me and my family it's 2-3 bottles.

I give away some to some co-workers, but honestly their feedback has gone to crap, they all say it's good, but when I ask for what could be better I don't get much of a response. Some aren't all that into craft beer so I expect that, others are and give a little more feedback so they get a little more slid to them.

Pretty much all of my family and friends that I do most things with prefer low ABV craft stuff or are stuck on Miller or Bud crap. I've started brewing some 4%-6% beers, but most of my stuff tends to be 7% or higher, with a few right around 6.5%, so if anything they'll have 1 and then switch to whatever their regular standby is.

 

[bobeer]

When I can brew on a schedule I drink 80% of it myself I'd say. Although when I bring beer to share I usually drink some it too so that cuts down the 20% shared ratio. haha.

If I brew whenever I can get it in, which over the past year hasn't been very often, I drink almost 100% of it myself! I'll give some to a real beer nerd but other than that it's all mine since I can't brew very often at the moment. My son just turned 1 last week so hopefully I'll get some of my life back!

 

[HopGobbler]

My gf and I drink most of what we brew, I like to give a few away to family and friends to sample and try, also age some in the basement and try them over time to see how they've aged

 

[keith1664]

I don't want to die of old age so drink most of it. Mind you I'm English so try to keep it below 5%.

 

[Brewer_Ben]

My wife and I drink most of it, give away to friends and family about 10 to 15%. Depends on how many like the style.

 

[spittybug]

I brew 10 gallons at a time. I keep 5, one of my brewing buddies takes the other 5 and we split the bill. Next brew day, another buddy does the same. Since I'm keeping more, I'm the one providing brew during brew day and with brew club, so my volumes go down....... 6 taps.