30 Days of Beer

[msu09]

I am going to make 30 beers in 30 days. Over the next month I plan on becoming a better homebrewer. I’ve been brewing for a year and a half and really want to understand the process more. I’m reading Yeast by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff and really want to learn what makes great beer. I am going to outline my process in hopes that you guys (and gals) can provide some guidance…

I don’t have an elaborate system… but it’s not that bad. Currently I have a 15-gallon keg, 5-gallon pot, 10-gallon cooler mashtun and a 13-gallon cooler mashtun.

My hope is to make 30 days of 2-gallon batches. I had planned on purchasing 3-gallons of water for each batch and I wanted to ferment in the actual water containers themselves. I would buy stoppers and airlocks for them all. I’d prefer not to break the bank, but I have no problem spending money on this little experiment. In fact, one of the reasons that I’m doing this is to convince my wife to let me buy new brew stuff…

Due to the small size of most batches I had planned on doing a BIAB setup in the 5-gallon pot. A few of the batches will be 5 or 6 gallon and I will use the keg for those.

I plan on keeping this thread updated and hopefully someone will be able to learn something from my experiment. I am also going to be posting pictures and tweeting throughout the process with my new Twitter @BrewScientist It’s lame, I know, but it was all that I could think of on the spot.

I do have a few questions…

Does anyone have any advice for me? It’s an undertaking and the mass knowledge of HBT is bound to help me along.

Does anyone have recommendations for beers to make? I’ve got 3 or 4 in mind but I’d love suggestions. I’d like to save on yeast and only use 5 or 6 throughout the process (make big starters and split them between batches).

Any suggestions on what yeasts to use? Hops? I’ve got 50 pounds of 2-row and Marris Otter for the grains.

Any other advice?

 

[isleofman]

I applaud your tenacity, but do you have a way to temperature control all of the ferementing beer? If you want to become a better brewer, temp control is a big step.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Dont think making 30 beers in 30 days is going to make you a better brewer, what happens on day 25 when you taste day 1 batch and its horrible? Instead develop 4 recipes and brew one each week. On the first week of the next month take the previous months first week recipe and swap grain % around, swap out grains, add different grains, use more/less hops or even different hops. Develop each recipe to your liking till you "perfect it", that IMO make you a better brewer.
Knowing what happens during fermentation and how different compounds/flavors are created.

Also i dont think creating an army of fermenters is going to convince your wife you should stay with this hobby!!

 

[HeyNoPie]

Johnny is really right. By brewing 30 consecutive days, you don't know if day 1 went well until day 30. If you're trying to become a better brewer, there's probably a better approach. Is there a specific aspect you're looking to improve?

On the other hand, if you're just looking to have fun brewing every day, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[biochemedic]

You could try out differences or variations on a theme and then eventually you would be able to compare all of them. I see what the nay sayers are saying...you won't be able to use your output to change your technique during the time course of the experiment. Sure, worry about temp control...run one of your batches with temp control and compare it to one you just set in your basement. Do 5 different SMaSHes and change only the hops...or only the grains, if you prefer. Brew 3 of the same hop heavy recipe with three different water profiles. Regardless of when you get the data, you could run a hell of a lot of data points and then spend the next 60 days "analyzing the results" and then make necessary changes.

Overall though, it sounds like a hell of a lot of work...you will be doing a lot of cleaning, sanitizing, yeast starter making (although with small batches you will easily get good pitch rates with dry yeast). You Must Take Meticulous Notes!!! I'm not on Twitter, so I hope if you do this you will periodically post some of your results to HBT!

 

[JohnSand]

Ahh, yer mad then. Good company.

 

[Braufessor]

I am going to make 30 beers in 30 days. Over the next month I plan on becoming a better homebrewer.

I do have a few questions…

Does anyone have any advice for me? It’s an undertaking and the mass knowledge of HBT is bound to help me along.

You asked.... so, if I am being honest, I think this is a horrible plan for becoming a better brewer. As pointed about above, your #1 problem is that you will "learn" nothing between batch #1 and batch #30....... You will be brewing batch 30 with all of the same habits you had brewing batch #1. You will have no time to taste/test/evaluate anything you brewed before brewing the next batch.......so, what was the point?

If you want to do this for the hell of it, or for a challenge - go for it, I guess.... but, it will require a crazy amount of time, $, equipment, etc...

Now, if you are serious about becoming a better brewer..... read more, study more, listen to the podcasts on the brewing network.... take 2 hours a day and learn..... Then apply those things weekly on carefully planned batches of beer - not shotgun approaches to mass production of beer after beer.

Check list of things to make your beer better:
*Sanitation - are you doing it right? PBW/Star San? Process
*Yeast starters - are you making them? Stir plate?
*Temperature control - do you have a means of doing this?
*Understand your water (may be a bigger or smaller issue depending on what you are working with).
*Tried and true recipes - rebrew. "Brewing classic Styles" (as an example) for base recipes and then rebrew the same recipes, minor tweaks if you desire change

This is just a start of things..... and maybe you already do some/all of these. But, if you don't, you have zero chance of reaching your potential as a brewer..... So, no matter what you do - make sure you have the above under control at an absolute minimum

 

[Piratwolf]

I'm with Brauprofessor--read/listen, and brew every week, and temp control every batch for that week, than switch in the new batch.

If you haven't yet, learn to do yeast starters and to rinse/reuse yeast. That'll save you a LOT. And only change ONE thing (ingredient OR process) each time you change a batch, and take very careful notes/records so that you can identify the cause/effect relationships in your final products' changes.

It takes a good while, but makes a huge difference in your brewing skillz.

Oh, and did I mention temp control?

 

[AmandaK]

You asked.... so, if I am being honest, I think this is a horrible plan for becoming a better brewer. As pointed about above, your #1 problem is that you will "learn" nothing between batch #1 and batch #30....... You will be brewing batch 30 with all of the same habits you had brewing batch #1. You will have no time to taste/test/evaluate anything you brewed before brewing the next batch.......so, what was the point?

If you want to do this for the hell of it, or for a challenge - go for it, I guess.... but, it will require a crazy amount of time, $, equipment, etc...

Now, if you are serious about becoming a better brewer..... read more, study more, listen to the podcasts on the brewing network.... take 2 hours a day and learn..... Then apply those things weekly on carefully planned batches of beer - not shotgun approaches to mass production of beer after beer.

Check list of things to make your beer better:
*Sanitation - are you doing it right? PBW/Star San? Process
*Yeast starters - are you making them? Stir plate?
*Temperature control - do you have a means of doing this?
*Understand your water (may be a bigger or smaller issue depending on what you are working with).
*Tried and true recipes - rebrew. "Brewing classic Styles" (as an example) for base recipes and then rebrew the same recipes, minor tweaks if you desire change

This is just a start of things..... and maybe you already do some/all of these. But, if you don't, you have zero chance of reaching your potential as a brewer..... So, no matter what you do - make sure you have the above under control at an absolute minimum

I agree with all of this.

Also, you should listen to Brauff. He is one of the best brewers in the Midwest. I have unknowingly judged his beers - I am impressed every time.

 

[TriggerFingers]

+1 to what was said above....
but if you are set on brewing 30 for 30 I can offer a suggestion--instead of 2 gallon, try 2.5 gallon batches (if you have the 3 gallon carboys or better bottles)--I do this all the time and you will find if one batch isn't amazing, oh well. For some beers you should consider a water adjustment (probably one of the single best things that made my super hoppy beers better).

Ok so my tip?
I would get some gallon glass jugs (maybe 3 or 4) and get some pretty big starters going....you can decant, pitch some and then feed the starters again in rotation for use in the next few days.

Personally, I would use a clean strain like Chico (keep some US-05 dry just in case)--maybe get 2 jugs of 1056 going, possibly a Whitbread strain for all your British beers, 3711 for just about anything Belgian or maybe a White IPA, and either a Kolsch/California Common yeast for some of your Lager or Hybrid styles (the Kolsch one works really well if kept cool). Sure the hybrid strains won't be exactly like Bavarian lager yeast, but you can get some convincing lager characteristics with them if kept cool. Which is probably the biggest concern--temps. If you can't keep a room between 60-70 (like a dry basement) it may be tough. For some yeasts, you don't want to push them much past the mid 60's. 3711 on the other hand will ferment well low or into the low 80's.

Another tip, if you are doing secondaries you can keep some of your beers on primary for 2 weeks (probably your quick turn around styles) and pitch some of your bigger styles (Barleywine, R.I.S., Dopplebock) on the primary cakes from the early batches.