Brewing for a wedding

[rlindsley]

Hello everybody,

I have been homebrewing for about a year. I have been an extract brewer up until a couple of months ago, when I went all-grain via brew in a bag. I definitely want to upgrade to the full HLT and Mash Tun but I'm not quite there yet. I'm still doing 5 gallon batches, but will be going to 10 gallon soon.

My brother-in-law asked me if I could brew the beer for his upcoming wedding (July 2013). He wants me to use a couple of my recipes (Honey Wheat beer and a Guinness-type stout) for the event. Here are some details:

- The wedding is at a vineyard/winery that his fiance owns. There will be a lot of 'wine people' there. So I want the quality of the beer to be high.
- He wants 2 full kegs of each type of beer (1 BBL of the Honey Wheat and one of the Stout).
- I am in Massachusetts and the wedding will be in New York (eastern Long Island). This is more of a logistics issue than anything, but wanted to throw that out there in case there's anything I need to think about.

So my question is, how am I going to scale up to a 1BBL system from my current 5 gallon system? Should I try to figure out a tenant brew scenario? Or would it make sense to do 6 5-gallon batches of each (which sounds like a nightmare to me)?

Assuming I can find a 1BBL brewing system to rent/use, what are other things I need to worry about? Assuming I can scale my recipes is there anything else I need to think about (i.e. hop utilization, etc)? My 5-gallon batches have been pretty delicious but I think I may want to do a test run of a larger batch prior to making the wedding beer.

Thanks in advance for your help on this! This is my first big brewing gig and I'm super excited.

Thanks!
Robert.

 

[kylevester]

Since you're upgrading to 10 gallon batches, that's only 3 of each. And that's pretty doable.

Have him buy you the extra buckets you'll need along with the airlocks and other whatnots you'll need.

For the stouts, begin brewing them in late Feb or early March. Primary each for 2-4 weeks and then keg. Then brew your honey ales maybe at the start of May, primary for 2-4 weeks and keg.

You could do 1 batch each weekend or 2 followed by 1. However it works out, but it's very doable.

I don't see a need to brew them on a 1 BBL system when you've got plenty of time to work out a very doable schedule.

 

[y2jrock60]

Damn, that must be a huge wedding. 60 gallons of beer seems a little excessive. I attended a wedding a few weeks ago with around 120 heavy beer drinkers and only went through maybe 20 gallons of beer.

 

[bja]

120 heavy beer drinkers and only went through maybe 20 gallons of beer.

They weren't "heavy beer drinkers". That's less than 1-1/2 pints per person.

 

[d_striker]

One bbl=31 gallons. One keg=15.5 gallons.

Does your buddy want a keg or a bbl of each beer? What does your system consist of? Be specific with the size of your mash tun and boil kettle.

 

[TopherM]

You are going to keg these beers, not bottle them, correct? Trust me, you don't want non-homebrewers to have to deal with natural carb yeast sediment.

I recently went to a homebrew wedding where about 1/3 of the people there were homebrewers. There were really only a dozen or so people that weren't somehow affiliated with our homebrew club, either directly or by marriage/dating. At the wedding, they served 5 gallons each of:

1) American Wheat
2) Bavarian Hefewiezen
3) Marzen
4) DFH Midas Touch Clone (made specifically for the groom, as it was one of his favorites)

They also had 6 bottles of white wine, 6 bottles of red wine, and 6 bottles of champagne. There were about 45 people at the reception.

The Wheat and Hefe were tapped about 3/4 into the reception. There was about 1/2 a gallon of Marzen left at the end of the reception. Surprisingly, we went through 3 gallons of the Midas Clone. Maybe not surprisingly, since I drank about 1/2 a gallon of it myself (and got to take a gallon home!).

Anyway, my point is that even among a wedding of lots of homebrewers, virtually everyone went for the "vanilla" styles. If I were you, I'd plan on brewing twice as much wheat as stout.

If you want high quality, at the least plan on brewing the stout about 8-10 weeks before the event, and the honey wheat about 4 weeks before the event to get each beer at its peak. Crush the grain the same day you brew. PAY ATTENTION TO YEAST PITCH RATES. Fermentation temp control, especially on the Wheat!! OXYGENATE OXYGENATE OXYGENATE when you pitch. If you don't have an O2 setup, get a big whisk and plan on whisking like a fiend for about 15 minutes after you pitch.

That'll do'er.

 

[rlindsley]

Hi d_striker and TopherM,

My brother wants 2 kegs of each type of beer. I am planning on force carbing into corny kegs (no bottles).

Also, I have a 1 micron cartridge filter. Should I filter both beers, or just the honey wheat? I'm not sure if the stout should be filtered.

Here are some of the key components of my system:

- Stir plate/1000ml flask
- Outdoor propane burner
- Keggle (15.5 gallon)
- Immersion wort chiller
- Simple aeration system (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/aeration-system.html) with diffusion stone
- 3 5-gallon buckets
- 1 bottling bucket
- 2 5-gallon carboys (one with a spigot, one without)
- 1 micron cartridge filter
- 5 corny kegs
- 1 5-pound CO2 tank with dual regulator
- 1 Johnson controls digital temperature regulator
- Danby 4.4 Cubic Foot fridge - Can store 2 corny's or 1 carboy
- Lots of various airlocks, bungs and other gadgets

The only all-grain brewing I've done has been via Brew in a Bag. So I don't have a HLT or mash tun.

Good advice on brewing more of the honey wheat than the stout. My brother prefers stout-type brews, but everybody I've asked to taste the honey wheat loves it, so I expect to go through a lot of it.

Thanks for your help on this!
Robert.

 

[TopherM]

You don't want to filter the wheat. It's the proteins and yeast in suspension in the wheat that make it a wheat. It won't taste the same if you filter that stuff out. You don't want to clean up a wheat!

For the stout, I'd just plan on letting it sit in the keg at serving temps long enough to clear instead of filtering it. Given 2-3 weeks, all of the heavy proteins and yeast will settle to the bottom of the keg and come out in the first pour. Just due to the SRM, though, there's not much to be benefitted from filtering or even clearing a stout that you are going to force carb.

I wouldn't filter either one.

 

[gswartley]

Robert,

My sugestion is to join a brew club. They can help with any knowledge for the big brew and possibly can help with the equipment.
If your lucky some of them may even help with the brew day so you could possibly brew it all at once.

Good luck

 

[d_striker]

It's going to be hard to brew a 15 gallon batch with just a keggle without brewing a higher gravity beer and diluting to desired volume. While this is possible, I imagine it would be challenging to really nail a recipe on your first go around. You don't want everyone at the wedding drinking beer that you're not proud of.

You could easily do a 12-13 gallon, no-sparge full volume BIAB batch though. Go for as big of a batch as possible, depending on your grain bill, and split the finished wort three ways amongst your carboys and buckets. Since you can only fit two fermentation vessels in your ferm chamber, I would ferment them in the basement or somewhere else cool. Now that it's getting cooler out, I doubt you'll have ferm temp issues like you would if it was summer.

If you brew the stout now, it will start getting really good by July. If your buddy is truly looking for a Guinness type beer, he may be disappointed as it's impossible to really get a close clone of Guinness with CO2. (Guinness sucks BTW )

You can do the same thing for the honey wheat but brew this one a little closer to the wedding. Wheat beers are at their peak much earlier than other beers. I would brew this one maybe 2-3 months before the wedding.

You will need one more corny keg by the time you're ready to keg your Honey Wheat. Add another regulator body, if possible, to carb all three beers at the same time. You will also eventually need somewhere cold to store all six kegs full of goodness.

If you can settle with 10 gallons of each style, your logistics become a little more managable for your current situation. You could get away with your current CO2 tank and dual body regulator from carbonating to serving. Being able to keg in Sankey kegs would make it even easier, except when it comes time to transporting them.


ETA-Oh yeah, I personally wouldn't filter either beer.

ETA2-I just re-read your post again and realized that you did indeed mean to say 1 bbl of each. The above post was assuming you wanted 15 gallons of each. I heard somwhere that reading is fundamental.

 

[dcp27]

how big is this wedding that you need 2 BBLs worth of beer if they're mostly wine people? i'd guess he means 2 corny kegs of each not full kegs

 

[bja]

My brother wants 2 kegs of each type of beer. I am planning on force carbing into corny kegs (no bottles).

how big is this wedding that you need 2 BBLs worth of beer if they're mostly wine people? i'd guess he means 2 corny kegs of each not full kegs

Reading is fundamental.

 

[dcp27]

- He wants 2 full kegs of each type of beer (1 BBL of the Honey Wheat and one of the Stout).

Reading is fundamental.

it sure is

 

[bja]

My brother wants 2 kegs of each type of beer. I am planning on force carbing into corny kegs (no bottles).

it sure is

Do you not understand what this means?

 

[rlindsley]

Whoops! My bad. My brother wants 2 FULL kegs of each beer (totaling 30 gallons of each type of beer). I need to force carb into full kegs -- but right now all I have is corny kegs.

If that's too much beer (it very well might be), maybe I do 20 gallons of the honey wheat and 10 gallons of the stout. If corny's are the way to go, I will need to buy more but I have a good source. Otherwise I will need to somehow acquire the full kegs.

Sorry for my typo!

 

[d_striker]

Now that I understand that you're looking for 1 bbl of each style......

I would advise against doing six 5 gallon batches or even three 10 gallon batches for the sake of consistency and sanity.

But if you really want to do it on your system, you will have to brew at least 3 times to yield 31 gallons.

And I would forget about Corny kegs for 2 bbls of beer. You are in no way capable of handling the logistics of carbonating and cooling 12 corny kegs of beer with what you have currently.

BUT..

Let's say you say F it and you're going to do it anyway. Brew three 10 gallon batches and get yourself one of these:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/12096/104258/Speidel_Plastic_Fermenter_-_120L_317_gal?a_aid=hbf

or if you have money to throw around get a nice stainless conical.

You need to clear your schedule for a couple of days and brew consecutive batches. Or maybe play with the idea of using the first 10 gallon batch to build up your yeast.

After your near bbl is done fermenting, you need to keg in sankey kegs. That's a whole different post though.

 

[dcp27]

Whoops! My bad. My brother wants 2 FULL kegs of each beer (totaling 30 gallons of each type of beer). I need to force carb into full kegs -- but right now all I have is corny kegs.

60gals total is a ton unless this is a huge crowd or big beer drinkers. i just brewed for a wedding of 75 and brought 28gals. 8gals went after the rehearsal (no wine, about 20 people), but only 10gals more went the next day cuz the wine took a huge chunk of it

Do you not understand what this means?

u were saying?

 

[d_striker]

60gals total is a ton unless this is a huge crowd or big beer drinkers. i just brewed for a wedding of 75 and brought 28gals. 8gals went after the rehearsal (no wine, about 20 people), but only 10gals more went the next day cuz the wine took a huge chunk of it

Good point.

How many people are going to be at this wedding?

 

[bja]

60gals total is a ton unless this is a huge crowd or big beer drinkers. i just brewed for a wedding of 75 and brought 28gals. 8gals went after the rehearsal (no wine, about 20 people), but only 10gals more went the next day cuz the wine took a huge chunk of it



u were saying?

Only repeating what the OP had written.

 

[rlindsley]

Thanks d_striker. I really appreciate all the information and help!

Since I only have 1 keggle for my boils I would need to do 2.5 boils for each brew type (assuming 12 gallons for each boil), but as you said consistency and sanity are issues I'm ok getting the plastic fermenter you listed above so that would make it a bit easier. You're right, kegging in sankey kegs is a whole different post, but is something I will need to deal with soon.

Is there another solution that would make more sense (i.e. trying a tenant brew or seeing if anybody in my area has the capacity)?

Thanks!
Robert.

 

[dcp27]

Only repeating what the OP had written.

guess u missed the part where i did the same

Is there another solution that would make more sense (i.e. trying a tenant brew or seeing if anybody in my area has the capacity)?

you may want to convey to your BIL how much beer 2 BBLs is (about 640 bottles) before you put in all this effort. the average wedding size is about 150 people, so thats like 4/each, but being at a vineyard i doubt you get close to that kind of rate. you & him know the crowd better tho and there's not really such a thing as too much beer

 

[d_striker]

No worries.

Personally, I don't think that brewing it yourself is feasible with the resources you currently have. If you decide to get that Spiedel fermenter, though, don't delay. Those things just recently came back into stock and they go incredibly quick.

I can't help you with tennant brewing as I know nothing about the subject.

Your only other option would be to join a local homebrew club, as gswartley suggested, and do it quick. I know that I would be more than happy to bring my brewstand to a fellow brewer's place to help out in a situation like yours. Most people that have brewstands have portable brewstands and can brew at least 10 gallon batches. You just need to find two people with brewstands that will have a brew day with you. Then it would just be one brew day and a homogenous product once you combined everyone's wort into the one fermenter.

Is your buddy paying for ingredients?

 

[dcp27]

Your only other option would be to join a local homebrew club, as gswartley suggested, and do it quick.

if you want to go this route, our homebrew club has a meeting in the town over (cambridge) next week, you can come check it out and see if anyone can help out. i unfortunately don't have the capacity to do so, but I'm sure someone can lend a hand. I know at least one member has a BBL system and a few others own local breweries, but might be tough to get time in there

http://wort.org/

 

[rlindsley]

Good point.

How many people are going to be at this wedding?

I honestly have no idea how many people are going. They asked for 2 kegs of each type of beer, and I know there will be a ton of wine as well.

It's my wedding present to them so I would hate the possibility of running out of beer, but if it's WAY too much then maybe I should tone it down...

 

[Xpertskir]

Damn, that must be a huge wedding. 60 gallons of beer seems a little excessive. I attended a wedding a few weeks ago with around 120 heavy beer drinkers and only went through maybe 20 gallons of beer.

those were not heavy beer drinkers...

 

[d_striker]

those were not heavy beer drinkers...

Yeah, that's only 1.77 12 oz beers per person.

 

[TopherM]

On Sept. 25 I attended a wedding of 45, which included about 15-18 homebrewers. We went through roughly 13.5 gallons of homebrew during the 3.5 hour reception. There was also wine/soda, etc. available. I personally had 7 twelve ounce cups of beer.

You should be able to reasonably extrapolate that to the size of the wedding you are attending to figure out how much you need to brew.

 

[rlindsley]

Thanks everybody for your help. dcp27 I will definitely join wort.org. I met Dan Logcher through Craigslist (I picked up my corny kegs from him) and he recommended I join as well.

Based on this thread I think I need to bring in some big guns to help me out with this. In the meantime I'm going to perfect a couple of recipes. Hopefully I will be able to do a couple of small batches this week to get the recipes finalized before I make the big leap in the next couple of months.

Thanks!
Robert.