A lotta beer...

[McCall St. Brewer]

Based on photos others have posted of their homebrew "stash," I know I'm probably in the minor leagues when it comes to my inventory, but I was just doing a little calculating and I realized that I currently have enough beer made that I could have one beer a day for a an entire year before I would run out. And that assumes that I don't make any more during the course of the year.

Doing a little more math, I find that if I really wanted to drink, I could drink a 6-pack a day for 2 months or a 12-pack a day for a month straight.

Hmmm. Maybe I should take a vacation and start working on drinking down my inventory.

Seriously, though, my carboys and my keg are all currently in use, so if I want to brew more I need to either

1. drink a lot of beer fast

2. have a party

3. buy another keg

4. buy another carboy

5. (gasp) bottle some beer (I don't really feel like doing that, though-- hence its place on the bottom of the list).

Let's see.... so far #1 sounds like the best choice, followed closely by #2.

 

[Warped04]

#2 Will probably be the quickest method.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Whenever I have a backstock of beer that I know I won't get around to finishing myself I invite 3 or 4 friends over to help me polish it off. They're always more than happy to drink free beer.

 

[Blender]

NFL playoffs are coming up so that should be a good way to reduce inventory.

 

[brauhaus]

NFL playoffs are coming up so that should be a good way to reduce inventory.

+1 invite over some friends, offer up some beer and it'll be time well spent...

or have a sampling party and try to unload some on your friends to take home...

 

[98EXL]

+1 invite over some friends, offer up some beer and it'll be time well spent...

or have a sampling party and try to unload some on your friends to take home...

+2 on that....that's how I get rid of it

 

[Warped04]

+1 invite over some friends, offer up some beer and it'll be time well spent...

or have a sampling party and try to unload some on your friends to take home...

How do you get the bottles back?

 

[Beerthoven]

How do you get the bottles back?

Just ask for them back.

I have my friends trained now, so they just return them without having to be asked anymore.

 

[talleymonster]

#2 Will probably be the quickest method.

Ditto. It's a good way to get all of your friends to try your brew and get some fedback. I brought the remnants of my last 4 batches to thanksgiving dinner. Everybody demolished my homebrew and there was still a whole cooler full of commercial left.

 

[Fingers]

Doing a little more math, I find that if I really wanted to drink, I could drink a 6-pack a day for 2 months or a 12-pack a day for a month straight.

3. buy another keg

4. buy another carboy

The way I see it, you need some more equipment to help you get your stocks up. A six pack a day for 2 months is nice, but if you run into an infection or some personal issues that keep you from brewing, you really don't have that big a buffer before you're out of homebrew and are waiting for a batch to age.

Err on the side of caution. When you're dumping batches because they've gotten too old, then you've got enough.

 

[Brew Runner]

....But how old is too old?

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

How do you get the bottles back?

Well, you could ask for them back. Or... what better excuse to have to go out and buy some beer so you can drink it for the bottles? Lots of folks just give them back, though.

 

[Kevin Dean]

Buy "fancy" swing tops and ask for them back. I've found that passing out beer in those bottles seem to make people really sit up and take notice that this is a hobby you put time and $$$ into. They don't make it into the trash or recycle bin nearly as often.

 

[Bruscar]

Funny, but I never seem to have your "problem". I'm always thinking, "Oh, crap! I'm almost out" or "Oh, crap! This will only last until _____!"
Jeez, how often do you brew? Every weekend??