Brewing Spurts?

[unionrdr]

Does anyone else brew like mad for a while,then start drinkin' on the pipeline & get into other things? Or bills & finances in general stop you to where you just say F'it for a while? I've been there since November/December. Utilities through the roof,but had big pipeline to work on. Finances got worse,I got out of the habit of brewing after a couple years straight. Refinanced the house for 1/3 off & car's being a royal pita to get fixed & through E-Check. Tax money comes in & nearly 1K goes for car exhaust & 1hp sump pump.
Well friends,we all know this is the point where ya just haveta say "F'IT"! I got two More Beer E/SG kits ordered that came in promptly. The Irish red was up first. Funny how ya never forget the process. Like ridin' a bike. For a while,I just got used to buying whatever beer & a jug of cheap vodka I could get. Then I gave up the vodka for Lent. Starved a bit too. Lost a little weight & feel a bit better. I even drink less beer more often now. 2 or 3 bottles & I'm good.
Anyone else brew like mad,then slow down or stop for a while for any reason? What's your story?

 

[Homercidal]

I do this. I'm generally busy with this and that, fitting a few hobbies in here and there. Homebrewing ws the hobby that got in the way of other hobbies, but the past two years I've slacked off a bit on brewing due to having most equipment.

I will go a month or two without really doing anything, then bang out 2-3 or more the next month and take a while off. I don't go through my beer as fast as most, and I'm the only one drinking at my house.

I've got a stout to bottle, and a BGSA, and a Cinnamon Mead. And I've got plans to brew a few different beers very soon. I hope to brew a beer right after the laundry room gets tiled and finished. Probably a Pale Ale or something. I've got Bells yeast that needs a starter to live in for a short while.

I'm guessing after the laundry room I will have yard stuff to do and I've got to get back into the Mustang Restoration and now my daily drivers both need some TLC.

 

[Hammy71]

I brew with the seasons. Last year we had a pretty mild winter so we brewed non-stop. This year....worse winter in a while. Hell it's a few days from May and its in the 40s outside still. So this year I think we brewed once from November to March. Thankful for a good pipeline. We never ran dry.

 

[jonmohno]

Yeah. I haven't brewed in a year but it feels like less than that. Still have pipeline. Having a first baby next month so that put a damper in getting more ingredients and brewing. I have bigger priorities now plus I need to cut back on the brew in terms of money and health. But I basically quit in the summer late spring due to temperature change and lack of control of temps. So Im more a fall/winter/early spring brewer that likes to take breaks knowing that I can always brew something when I feel like it. I wanted to get a brew kit in and keg and bottle half of it but I never got around to doing it,no big deal. I can always brew it when I get around to it.

 

[Beernik]

I used to do this. I'd get all my buckets and carboys full. Then it would take me 4 or 5 months to drink my pipeline down.

Then the recession hit and brewing became sparse because of finances. Then finances came back and I started picking brewing, but my back started giving me grief and I took most of six months off to fix it.

I'm still fighting some back problems, but I'm trying to brew two 4 - 6 gallon batches every two or three months and get a series of meads in the works so I have some long term projects. That should be frequently enough so that I don't run out of homebrew.

 

[JohnSand]

I'm getting started again. Last year I brewed 25 batches (many 2-3 gallon). This year only four, two in the last couple of weeks, none for over two months! The basement was too cold to ferment, I had the flu twice. I only brewed yesterday because rain prevented boat work. It bothered me not to brew, but I have the solution.

 

[unionrdr]

I got a bad L2 disc & bad hips now myself. I can't carry the brew kettle to the man cave anymore. I have my sons help me with that stuff,or when I need an extra pair of hands. Good thing I'm saving some 30% per month on the house now. At least I'll be able to brew again. Brewing an ESB for National Home Brewer's day today.

 

[Beernik]

Did you refi your house?

I did mine last year, from 6.25% to 4.25%, and knocked my payment down from $1,050 to $750.

To stay on topic: almost all the upgrades that I'm thinking about right now are focused on reducing the amount of lifting I have to do on a brewday.

 

[unionrdr]

I went from 6.825% to 4.75%. Payments from $1,841+change down to $1,183+change. So I can buy craft beer more often & brew twice a month. It also means I can take advantage of those beer ingredient/equipment sales the 3rd week of the month I was always forced to miss before! I definitely need a cart the height of my fermenter stand & bottling table to haul everything from the man cave to the kitchen. My back & hips have taken far too much punishment at Ford to keep it up anymore. "old brewer's never die...they just can't lift their sack!"!! lolz

 

[Beernik]

Haha !

 

[copyright1997]

I brewed a bunch last year through June/July, then just stopped until March of this year. Why? Busy summer doing other things plus I had a large pipeline. This winter here in the North East was pretty wicked (both cold and snow). Since March 15th, I'm back and have done 7 batches in 7 weeks, with most of them done in a 2 week period...had to stop as most of my primaries were full. Did a batch today for National Homebrew day, and hope to refill the primaries soon while the weather is cool enough to require me to heat the fermentation chamber (aka downstairs bathroom) instead of using a fermentation chamber to cool (which would limit me to a single primary).

 

[JohnSand]

I got a bad L2 disc & bad hips now myself. I can't carry the brew kettle to the man cave anymore. I have my sons help me with that stuff,or when I need an extra pair of hands. Good thing I'm saving some 30% per month on the house now. At least I'll be able to brew again. Brewing an ESB for National Home Brewer's day today.

You have my genuine sympathy. If I may be obvious, be really careful about your back. I suffered badly for years, literally crippling bouts that left me on the floor for days, and then required both hands on a cane. I got (mostly) past it by stretching, caution, occasional chiropractic. I no longer carry a wallet in my back pocket, or wear anything that presses on my spine (when possible). Soft soled shoes help too. Good luck with it.

 

[unionrdr]

I can barely walk with a cane. My pelvis is so messed up I can't really rotate it to get in the car anymore. forget SUV's,pick ups & the like. My left hip is murderin' me & I can't even lay down to sleep. I thought I had gout in my feet,but Dr says arthritis. IDK what ya call it,it hurts like all to be damned when I'm trying to relax or go to sleep. I do what I can. Gotta go do flavor & aroma hop additions...

 

[catdaddy66]

I have had mad, crazy spring and summer brewing seasons for a couple of years now, by far my most prolific output since I began brewing in the mid 1990's. But holidays and money crunches certainly put that on the back burner. Brewed 8 times last year and already have 4 done this year. I should get at least 12 brews done by Xmas! I give gifts you can drink... Lol


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[geouy0523]

Was brewing every other week for a bit then I ran out of bottles and had to wait while I emptied my pipeline. Just brewed two more batches with two more planned this month.

 

[unionrdr]

I'm waiting for one of my two fermenters to open up so I can brew my saison that's waiting in the wings. Good thing finances got better recently so I can brew again!

 

[drainbamage]

I've got most of my bottles full right now, so I guess I'm on a break, at least until the summer. A lot of it is taken up with 5 gallons of Belgian quad that I have aging until my birthday in July. Plus, most of my brewing time is getting eaten up by work right now.

 

[Upthewazzu]

Brewed seven batches from Jan-Jun of 2013, then only twice from July-Jan. It's really hard to keep control of fermentation temps during the summer in my house so July, August, and the 1st half of September are pretty much off limits. Also, winter brewing is a pain in the ass.

 

[unionrdr]

The bitter cold winter we had would've been great to brew my hybrid lagers with the WL029 I got washed in the fridge. No money screwed that up. Soaking a FV now to brew the saison,maybe Wednesday. I have to pull a padded bar stool up to the stove,but at least I can do it that way.