Brewing for wedding!

[Brewzorback]

Hello! I'm recently engaged and I want to brew all the beer and make the wine for the wedding. I was wondering if anyone has ever took on the task or give me an idea of a time frame I should get started in and maybe give me a rough idea on how much to brew? There will be approximately 125 guests and I want to do something along the lines of a Boston lager, a wheat beer and an IPA.... All session of course. Any tips are greatly appreciated. The wedding won't be until May or June of 2016.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

First, is it legal to do so at your venue? Many venues aren't legal to serve homebrew.

Second, are you going to bottle or keg? If you keg then you'll need a way to make the beer cold. Perhaps rent a jockey box or take this opportunity to build one.

I did this same thing and I started brewing about 6 weeks before the wedding. I brew larger batches though. If your group are moderate beer drinkers then figure one keg to about 25 people. Not everyone will drink. Also guessing what your guests will drink is a bit of a game. My expefience, based on some weddings I have served at, is thst the ipa is the fastest beer to tap.

Good luck and congratulations!

 

[mhurst111]

Congratulations. There are a couple of threads on here discussing what others have done.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/7-tips-brewing-100-beer-loving-friends-family.html

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/my-homebrew-my-wedding-489271/

 

[NervousDad]

First, is it legal to do so at your venue? Many venues aren't legal to serve homebrew.

Second, are you going to bottle or keg? If you keg then you'll need a way to make the beer cold. Perhaps rent a jockey box or take this opportunity to build one.

I did this same thing and I started brewing about 6 weeks before the wedding. I brew larger batches though. If your group are moderate beer drinkers then figure one keg to about 25 people. Not everyone will drink. Also guessing what your guests will drink is a bit of a game. My expefience, based on some weddings I have served at, is thst the ipa is the fastest beer to tap.

Good luck and congratulations!

+1 and I'll add if you do keg make sure you cold crash and rack off of the sediment to a new kegs. You can also deliver the night before and let the kegs settle out. Otherwise You'll have cloudy beer.

 

[cernst151]

I did this myself, though I don't know that I'd be much help on the quantities since our celebration was a week long so we had to brew a ton. How much do you know about the drinking habits of your guests? My family likes to drink and most of them are beer snobs so I brewed a lot of IPA, a tiny bit of stout (we were also summer) and some red and wheat. The wheat was surprisingly popular and we ran out early. If you're in an area that gets hot in the summer then lean heavily on the lighter beers.

For the wine, get started ASAP! The first time we brewed wine was for the wedding. Maybe not a great idea but it worked out. Wine takes a lot longer than beer. We had to have all of our wines at least started before the first one was ready which made us very nervous.

Again, lean towards more white since it's summer and more people will want something light and refreshing. DO NOT buy the cheap **** on this. Seriously. The single step up from the bottom makes a dramatic difference in taste and especially body. I'd say for your wedding don't waste your time with a kit that costs less than $100. If you can get something with skins that helps even more.

Luckily you have plenty of time but get started on those wines now. Here's the rough schedule I'd use. Brew reds, then whites then dark beer (if any), then any reds or wheats then finally the IPA's in the last months. Good luck!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I am on a computer now and I can type more efficiently than my phone...

A couple things: don't be afraid to serve full-strenth beers. I would much prefer to drink a good 7% IPA at a wedding than a session IPA. It is a time to celebrate. Some people take that to mean get hammered. I just want to drink solid beer.

Next, start brewing beer recipes now that you plan to serve. The more experienced you are in the recipes the better they will go over at the wedding. You can tweak them over time to really hit the perfect beer.

What kind of equipment do you have? Prior to my wedding I was in a position of building a brand new eHERMS and that posed some problems. I finally got everything back together and my first test batch brewed 2.5 months before the wedding. Talk about a rush! Now is a great time to invest in some quality items. Make starts, buy an aeration system, preferably pure o2, and make sure you have precise temp control on your fermentations. Also, start looking around for the the pieces to build a jockey box or see if anyone has one to borrow. I have a 2-tap and a 4-tap box that are always available to borrow. You aren't around me so that won't work. But I bet you can find another brewer around who can help you.

The advice about letting the beer settle was good advice. At the very least stock up on kegs and cold crash and then transfer to the new keg. That will limit the amount of crud that needs to settle onsite.

So, now some questions for you:
1. What does your current brewing equipment look like? What size batches? Where are you weaknesses?
2. What are your skills? Experience?
3. What type of crowd are you inviting? Do they all drink BMC or do they have rare beer cellar collections? Somewhere in between?
4. Are you going to serve other alcohol than what you are making?
5. Have you found a venue? Do they have a liquor license? What does your state think about homemade alcohol parties?

 

[Brewzorback]

Thank you for all the responses so far! I'm not sure about what the state thinks about serving home brew but as far as a venue goes we aren't going to choose a place unless we can serve it there. My brew equipment is nothing special just a basic equipment to make 5 gallons all grain. I have a fridge for fermenting as well. I do plan on making some upgrades to equipment to accommodate larger batch sizes. I would say efficiency is probably my weakest point in brewing (as far as my experience level goes).I don't have a ton of experience but I'm completely confident in my ability as long as there is a guide line to follow with each batch.

The people invited are probably in between. That's why mainly I wanted to stick with a wheat and a mild lager, the ipa for the folks who appreciate something a little more bold. Something close to your standard Pilsner but enough maybe to get some of friends and family that choose not to drink as well to think outside the box!

 

[Brewzorback]

We may have a few bourbon or whiskey selections as well

 

[Brewzorback]

I did this myself, though I don't know that I'd be much help on the quantities since our celebration was a week long so we had to brew a ton. How much do you know about the drinking habits of your guests? My family likes to drink and most of them are beer snobs so I brewed a lot of IPA, a tiny bit of stout (we were also summer) and some red and wheat. The wheat was surprisingly popular and we ran out early. If you're in an area that gets hot in the summer then lean heavily on the lighter beers.

For the wine, get started ASAP! The first time we brewed wine was for the wedding. Maybe not a great idea but it worked out. Wine takes a lot longer than beer. We had to have all of our wines at least started before the first one was ready which made us very nervous.

Again, lean towards more white since it's summer and more people will want something light and refreshing. DO NOT buy the cheap **** on this. Seriously. The single step up from the bottom makes a dramatic difference in taste and especially body. I'd say for your wedding don't waste your time with a kit that costs less than $100. If you can get something with skins that helps even more.

Luckily you have plenty of time but get started on those wines now. Here's the rough schedule I'd use. Brew reds, then whites then dark beer (if any), then any reds or wheats then finally the IPA's in the last months. Good luck!

I appreciate the advice on wines I was questioning about the price of kits to use as I read somewhere that generally with a kit you really do get what you pay for. I have a lot of friends and family that enjoy drinking. I'm more worried about brewing to little than to much because I can always have a couple parties or store some just for my drinking purpose!

 

[Brewzorback]

First, is it legal to do so at your venue? Many venues aren't legal to serve homebrew.

Second, are you going to bottle or keg? If you keg then you'll need a way to make the beer cold. Perhaps rent a jockey box or take this opportunity to build one.

I did this same thing and I started brewing about 6 weeks before the wedding. I brew larger batches though. If your group are moderate beer drinkers then figure one keg to about 25 people. Not everyone will drink. Also guessing what your guests will drink is a bit of a game. My expefience, based on some weddings I have served at, is thst the ipa is the fastest beer to tap.

Good luck and congratulations!

According to the Arkansas state statute a person is allowed to make up to 200 gallons a year for personal or serving to friends and guests without selling so I think I'm in the clear there. Thank you for the congrats!

 

[skw]

Brew something that you've brewed successfully before. A wedding is not the place for experiments. I've had my best friend tell me which one of my brews was his favorite and served that at the wedding.

 

[Brewzorback]

Brew something that you've brewed successfully before. A wedding is not the place for experiments. I've had my best friend tell me which one of my brews was his favorite and served that at the wedding.

Unfortunately I'm a stout fan and normally brew stouts! Most people I know don't like stouts and it will be on average of 85+ degrees here when we have it. I'm hoping since I'm planning a year ahead I can get an early start and work any kinks out.

 

[m00ps]

I got to do a wedding of about that size in November, but I was only able to have a month to prepare. I knew there was only going to be wine and my beer at the wedding and figured 2 beers per guest would be good (since probably 60% maybe would want beer anyway or be old enough)

I made 4 5gal batches: a American Wheat (similar to Gumballhead), a house Pale Ale with golden syrup thats been popular, a sweet potato molasses Porter (for darker fans), and my Global Warming Saison for those want something a bit more complex. The wheat sold out first and only about 1gal of the Porter was left after all was said and done. I've got posted recipes for the pale ale and saison

Anyways, thats my advice for brewing to people's palates at a wedding. You've got time on your side though, so use that to your advantage. I had to start the weekend I found out and was lucky to have 90% of all the ingredients I needed on hand or a simple trip to the grocery store away. In my rushing I ended up switching half the hops for the Wheat with the Pale ale and had to scramble to fix it. No one seemed to notice though. Best part of the wedding was when the brides mother-in-law, who had been stressing out for months about planning the wedding, came into the bar right after the vows and just started pounding down beers