Kegged beer goes FAST!

Holy crap! I just kegged my 1st batch 2.5 weeks ago. I picked up my keg yesterday and is REALLY light. Its almost kicked!

I've never consumed a 5 gal batch in this little time. Maybe its becuase its a session beer, maybe because I had some pals over for a brew day, but DANG it went fast.

That is all!

 

That's what happens to me every time I brew my favorite style, gone in a flash.

 

I was kicking a keg every 6 days not too long ago. Between me, the wife and friends, I was flying through it. Lately I have been monitoring my intake a little better and can almost make a keg last 2 weeks. Closer to 10 days probably. 64 oz per day flowing out of the kegerator really isn't all that much.

 

I have decided to keep plenty of my favorite affordable commercial beer on hand to help assist in preventing this. Unfortunately it only seems to be preventing me from drinking mass quantities of the home brew & does nothing to prevent the wife & friends from consuming....doh.

 

I figured that out as well. I figured it was probably because when I pour from a keg I use a pint glass and pretty much fill it, where as a 12 ounce bottle of beer is just that. Doing some simple math I learned I was getting 40ish pints from the kegerator vs 52ish bottles. Its the same amount of beer, just served at different volumes.

 

3 words.

Pipeline, pipeline, pipeline!

 

My pipeline got destroyed at our superbowl party. I have three batches in primary's that won't be ready for 2-3 more weeks and none in a serving kegs. Next year I must prepare better.

 

You and me both. I went from three almost full kegs to three 1/4 full kegs with a stout sitting in primary. Might have to buy some microbrews while I replenish the supplies.

 

Wedding killed my pipeline. I was too busy to brew for a while but still pulling off 1-2 beers a night. Ive currently got 2 in 2ndary; 1 in primary - trying to get the pipeline back in order.

 

Yup....two primaries isn't doing it for me. Just when I think i'm caught up I have three empty kegs. I just picked up a third primary, I hope this will help keep my pipeline going!!!

Eric

 

If you brewed every week this wouldn't be a problem.

 

Summers are brutal for supply-- the stuff just doesn't last in a keg. With bottles, I always had some idea, but kegs are so convenient. A growler her, a growler there, and the keg is spent..

I really need to step up to 10G batches

 

My pipeline always gets destroyed around the holidays when I'm A) short on time and 2) brew two batches as holiday gifts (um, to myself of course, not to give away). That being said, when I have a keg of pale ale (which I try to brew every few brew days) it goes fast. Bigger brews I'm able to keep around longer, maybe because after two I'm like "Whoa, ok, I'm done."

I currently brew in a minifridge, I either need to get another one of those or build a fermentation cabinet off of it so I can ferment multiple batches at once. I've gotten into the habit lately though of putting a big beer in my 6gal ("primary" fermenter") and then a week later putting a faster fermenting and smaller volume batch in my 5gal ("secondary/aging" fermenter). This way by the time the bigger beer is ready for bulk conditioning or dry hopping, the smaller brew is ready to be thrown into the keg.

 

^ This!

 

Yup, this is where you need to be heading... ^^

It's a great feeling knowing you have another keg when you pull that last pint of a really good home brew.

 

10 days i can float a keg solo and not even really trying that hard! my record was 7 days if i recall correctly.

 

Fastest my brother and I wrecked a keg was 5 days. I had just gotten my keg setup, and my first brew wasn't ready so we headed up to the local brew pub for their nut brown. We liked it, and the kegging setup was exciting, and well, we just couldn't help ourselves.

We've both since cut back our intake quite a bit and depending on the styles we have in the fridge. The stout my brother brewed lasted oh, a month and a half, and that included a large party. At that same large party, we destroyed a brand new 5-gallon keg of a cream ale I brewed, along with a third of another 5-gallon pale ale.

Because of the aforementioned party, I've just did my first 10 gallon batch of the cream ale. Its fermenting right now, and if my pot was large enough I'd have gone for a 15 or 20 gallon batch. Its good stuff for a relatively light beer, and I've got the keg space. It'd also give me more time to brew different beers before i need to rebrew the cream ale. I'm going to start doing 10 gallon batches of our favorites so we've got a keg in reserve when the one in the fridge is kicked.

 

Four primaries and four kegs works for me. My kegerator only holds three kegs. When one kicks, I have another one ready to chill.

If you are drinking faster than you can brew I think you have a serious drinking problem which concerns me. I can offer a couple of solutions.

You could start brewing 10 gallon batches and splitting them into two primaries.

You could consider supplementing your beer intake with bourbon or whiskey.

 

I think I'm going to try and start brewing two batches at a time. I'm only set up for brewing 5g batches or I would do 10g. I figure If I have all the stuff out might as well keep rolling. We see.

 

So apparently the answer to "I'm drinking way too much beer" is "I'd better brew more beer", and not "maybe I shouldn't drink so much every day".

 

My bro and I drained a keg and started another one good saturaday watching football

 

Brew Bigger Beers they last longer that way!!!!

 

My problem is trying to determine how much is left in the keg..... I run a KANBAN system on my four kegs...empty one and fill it. So far it works but as summer approaches I'm sure my lead time to produce is going to exceed my time to consume. So I really need to forecast some requirements.
Anybody know how to measure a keg contents....other than a scale?