End of the world supply

[Jako]

The virus made the impossible happen, border controls! Unbelievable, but true. I think there is not a real impact here yet, except for people freaking out and buying all the toilet paper and noodles that they can get. Economically, this will be a desaster. Shops are forced to be shut down except for supermarkets etc. And all events cancelled.

Same for us as well. My wife waited in the cold and snow for an hour so we could get toilet paper.. MVP for sure. It I was worried about anything it's my grandparents but they are holding up great.

 

[Jako]

My homebrew supply in SWFL hinted about shutting down earlier this week. I said NO until i could get a good supply of goods in for the long haul. I don't mind making recipies on the fly if i have to, but I want some brews planned before the shutdown. I will go stir crazy if do not have any malt and hop on hand! (I always have a supply of yeast)

Mine shut down for today after the earthquake. I was told they plan on staying open untill forced to close

 

[Jako]

Just noticed you are in Bremen now. I was there a couple of years ago visiting a colleague/friend at the MPI. Had a lot of fun paddling the river.. ..but the beer was really boring (sorry....). Had to get my buddy to take me to a beer bar downtown on the last night. Had a blast at this place.. ..huge variety on tap, including North American styles. His whole research group got completely liquored-up.

OK, regarding the OP.. ..I'm good. Got a sack of MO, a sack of generic pilsner, 1/2 sack of Weyermann pilsner, 2/3 sack of Weyermann Vienna, and a variety of different yeasts. My neighbours are relying on me to get through the apocalypse

Regretting my one grain buy. But I was in such a rush to finish up an appointment get to the city double back and get ready for work then make it to work on time. I also had my 3 year old with me but she is pretty good it hardly slowed me down.

 

[Bbeck8386]

I agree about the weather. I also have a fear my C02 tank will run out.

I had the same fear. I have no idea how much is left in my 20lbs tank, so I took my old 10lbs in Monday for an exchange.

Overall I have around 70lbs of base malt and 20lbs of specialty malts and flaked grains. I only have one strand of viable yeast at this point. Around 6lbs of hops. I should be ok for a while.

 

[Dave Sarber]

Just finished the grain inventory, 300 pounds on hand, with a rough split of 200 pounds base malts, and 100 pounds of various specialty malts. All that's left is a hops inventory. Kinda reluctant to go there, but if I get bored enough, I will.
So, has anybody taken stock of empty bottles/kegs/casks?

What I have bottle conditioning right now. Along with 10 cases of bombers in cellar storage.

 

[TheMadKing]

I've got 3 low kegs on tap, 5 gallons fermenting, 5 gallons aging, and I'm brewing another 5 gallons tomorrow

My stash includes 25lb of Pilsner, 15lb of 6-row, 10lb of grits, 10lb of misc specialty malts, 5lb of leftover base malts (maris otter, golden promise, vienna, munich) and about 6lb of hops (I have an entire freezer drawer dedicated to hops and it's packed full). So I estimate I have about 30-50 gallons worth of beer supplies on hand if things get really bad and I keep my OG under control. Maybe that's not enough...

 

[Dave Sarber]

My only "brewing space" is a patio that is currently rain drenched. Hopefully later today.....

 

[Jako]

Just finished the grain inventory, 300 pounds on hand, with a rough split of 200 pounds base malts, and 100 pounds of various specialty malts. All that's left is a hops inventory. Kinda reluctant to go there, but if I get bored enough, I will.
So, has anybody taken stock of empty bottles/kegs/casks?
View attachment 671630
What I have bottle conditioning right now. Along with 10 cases of bombers in cellar storage.

dang i am slacking. i thought about calling local breweries to see if i could buy some grain or run some growlers off since its all shut down.

 

[shoreman]

You can always keg condition and just use a touch of c02 to push the beer out. I've been doing that this winter with a mini regulator and it works great. I should have been doing that when I had my 5lb tank. A fill would have lasted a couple years.

 

[gnef]

I try to stay well stocked throughout the year, so I didn't actually have to do anything special for this pandemic.

Right now I've got over #500 of base grain, and I keep about 2 dozen varieties of specialty grain in gallon plastic screw top containers that can hold up to about #4. I also have about #30 of hops in the freezer. I have some dry yeast and slurries on hand as well, but I would definitely need to grow them up - I also have about 5 cases of canned wort in 1 qt mason jars.

In the walk-in, I have 14 taps flowing right now, and I have a total of around 70 kegs in there filled with something (mostly beer, but some wine, mead, cider, and a few sodas).

I forgot to mention CO2 - I have two #50 tanks and five #20 tanks, all filled. I think one of the #20 is getting a bit low, but I should be good on CO2 for a while too.

 

[eric19312]

I just ordered 200 pounds of grain. Won't get here for a week or two but I'll not need it till late April at the earliest.

 

[Broothru]

Yes that's Germany! Boring beer! I try to tell this to people, but they all want to believe the romantic beer country story. Doesn't matter that I'm actually German myself and know what I'm talking about

If you go to Bavaria, there's slightly more going on, but still it is limited to very few styles and only very few brands per pub.

We do the native German beers from from ok to very very good, but you can count them on one hand and most of them are some type of lager.

I hope your comments are tongue in cheek! I've had a love affair with your homeland and especially it's wonderful beers since I first traveled to Germany in the mid-70s. I really have no idea how many times I've been to Germany in the last 45 years, but it must be at least 1 to 2 times per years, and generally more frequently in many years. From Koln and Dusseldorf in the north to Frankfurt to Stuttgart to Munich in Bavaria I've loved it all as well as the distinctive beers in each region.

For the current 'brewpocolypse' I've stockpiled more than 50# of various Weyermann pilsner base malts, along with carapils, acidulated and several Munich malts. Also numerous Crystals and aromatics. All told more than 75# total.

Hops galore, but most are Nobles: Spalt, Mittlefruh, Tettnang. Plenty of fresh and banked yeasts for alts, ales and lagers. When I run out of ingredients for 'dedicated' recipes there'll be more than enough leftovers to brew a couple American IPAs or Pales, but first things first.

So bring it on! I've got two empty conicals and a new glycol chiller just itching to make lagers. All that's missing is friends and family to share it with. See you on the other side.

Brooo Brother

 

[Robert65]

Yes that's Germany! Boring beer! I try to tell this to people, but they all want to believe the romantic beer country story. Doesn't matter that I'm actually German myself and know what I'm talking about

If you go to Bavaria, there's slightly more going on, but still it is limited to very few styles and only very few brands per pub.

We do the native German beers from from ok to very very good, but you can count them on one hand and most of them are some type of lager.

Everything else......... Mostly not worth a try. Ratsherrn Brauerei from Hamburg for example, great Pilsener, tried to do multiple ales, failed miserably, they are just really bad ales. They don't know how to and that's the end of the story. But best thing is, most Germans never had a good ale, so they just don't know how it can taste and so they still buy the crap....

I'd happily trade places with you. Those "boring" German beers are what I love, and just can't get here. I don't at all care for 99.99% of American "craft" beer. Maybe that should be craft "beer." One of the main reasons I brew.

 

[Jako]

I try to stay well stocked throughout the year, so I didn't actually have to do anything special for this pandemic.

Right now I've got over #500 of base grain, and I keep about 2 dozen varieties of specialty grain in gallon plastic screw top containers that can hold up to about #4. I also have about #30 of hops in the freezer. I have some dry yeast and slurries on hand as well, but I would definitely need to grow them up - I also have about 5 cases of canned wort in 1 qt mason jars.

In the walk-in, I have 14 taps flowing right now, and I have a total of around 70 kegs in there filled with something (mostly beer, but some wine, mead, cider, and a few sodas).

I forgot to mention CO2 - I have two #50 tanks and five #20 tanks, all filled. I think one of the #20 is getting a bit low, but I should be good on CO2 for a while too.

dam do you brew professionally?

 

[day_trippr]

If you saw his loooong tap board and walk-in fridge you'd definitely wonder

Cheers!

 

[Jako]

If you saw his loooong tap board and walk-in fridge you'd definitely wonder

Cheers!

Haha I wish! That's very cool funny how the hobby can be simple or a long long rabbit hole of gear.

With luck drywall and paint will be done in my brewery tomorrow. Planning on staying up 24/7 to finish it. I received the last parts today in the mail.

 

[gnef]

dam do you brew professionally?

Haha, nope! I've just been accumulating gear for about 15 years now.

I'm also paranoid about running out of anything, so I make sure to keep a good amount on hand, and when I find good deals, I buy as much as I can (this is how I ended up with around 30# of hops). My wife is also a saint for putting up with me (it isn't just brewing that I am into!)

 

[bracconiere]

In the walk-in, I have 14 taps flowing right now, and I have a total of around 70 kegs in there filled with something (mostly beer, but some wine, mead, cider, and a few sodas).

LOL, rub it in if you want.....


the only "walk-in's" i've ever been in are at the grocery store i worked at...

 

[gnef]

Haha I wish! That's very cool funny how the hobby can be simple or a long long rabbit hole of gear.

With luck drywall and paint will be done in my brewery tomorrow. Planning on staying up 24/7 to finish it. I received the last parts today in the mail.

That is one of the best things I enjoy about this hobby, you can approach it however you want, with any inclination, and design it so that it suits you exactly. You can delve deeply into topics that you find interesting, but that others may not ever want to deal with (water chemistry comes to mind for this). Also, right now, there are so many more options for equipment and vendors than there were when I started (there wasn't such a thing as BIAB when I started, and no barrier tubing that we could use at our scale, etc.).

LOL, rub it in if you want.....


the only "walk-in's" i've ever been in are at the grocery store i worked at...

Haha, I've definitely been blessed in many ways! Building the walk-in cooler was a fun project that I did with help from other homebrewers. It has two chambers, one for cold storage and serving, and the other a bit warmer for ale fermentations. The warmer chamber is where I am also keeping my multi-vessel barleywine solera as well as where I hang my charcuterie for air curing (I have two prosciutto's nearly two years old now in there, and often do duck prosciutto as well).

 

[_BullDog_]

I have about 8 gal in the kegerator split between 3 kegs, 5 gals of Maibock lagering and will brew another 5 gal of Scottish ale this weekend. Along with 5 gal blueberry Cyser and various commercial bottles and wine around.

Should be good until June, even if I don’t brew again in April.

 

[Jako]

well i brewed 10G today my first time using my new set up.

uh some bugs to work out but no leaks and the hardware didn't have any issues just some user error kinks to figure out.

but soon i will have 10 gallons of beer 5G of cider and 5 of mead. i am set! also working from home now last week has been insane.

 

[user 62649]

I have three beers on deck to brew over the next few weeks. I'm making an Irish Red Ale, Hazy IPA and a Red Lager. I have nothing in kegs right now as I donated my last 10 gallons to a local distiller to help out making hand sanitizer for my brothers and sisters in the pre-hospital fire and medical fields. I have some of my Sweet Stout in bottles I'm drinking though.

Stay safe out there everyone!

 

[Jako]

I have three beers on deck to brew over the next few weeks. I'm making an Irish Red Ale, Hazy IPA and a Red Lager. I have nothing in kegs right now as I donated my last 10 gallons to a local distiller to help out making hand sanitizer for my brothers and sisters in the pre-hospital fire and medical fields. I have some of my Sweet Stout in bottles I'm drinking though.

Stay safe out there everyone!

What a great way to use the last 10 gallons. If we had something like that going on in Utah I would totally contribute

 

[deuc224]

LOL i only have about 60 total pounds of grain. im gonna stock up now, thanks for making me feel like a lightweight guys.

 

[Jako]

My LHBS is shut down for now.

They said customers wouldn't make online orders or call in. It started to be high risk for them. Also SlC is shut down now. But I'm more than okay for now

 

[deuc224]

i went to the LHBS and grabbed a 55 of MO and 50 of Briess 2 row, question though, how do you guys store ur grains? The LHBS guys said to store them in the fridge because they have a tendency to hatch weevils and the fridge keeps them from it? Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[gnef]

I typically don't worry about it much, but in the past when the sacks didn't have the inner plastic layer, I did get an infestation and had to take care of it. I haven't had any problems since then, and I still keep mine stacked in a dry place:

I find that the avangard is sealed well enough for me. The one I had problems with in the past was canada malting, and their closure wasn't sealed very well, especially when they didn't have the inner plastic liner. I also have too much grain on hand to keep in a fridge.

I would also be concerned about moisture if you were to store it in the fridge.

 

[deuc224]

Gnef, yeah thats my biggest problem too, i dont have enough fridge space, m probably gonna get some of the Vittles Gamma buckets and just purge them with co2 and close the lid, hopefully itll be enough to keep them in check until i use all the grains. Didnt think about this problem until i got the bags, lesson learned.

 

[gnef]

Gnef, yeah thats my biggest problem too, i dont have enough fridge space, m probably gonna get some of the Vittles Gamma buckets and just purge them with co2 and close the lid, hopefully itll be enough to keep them in check until i use all the grains. Didnt think about this problem until i got the bags, lesson learned.

the vittles vaults are a good option. Once I open a sack of grain, I use 5 gallon buckets with the gamma seal lids for storage. One sack is a bit more than two 5 gallon buckets, but usually I use enough that it is ok.

 

[Jako]

i went to the LHBS and grabbed a 55 of MO and 50 of Briess 2 row, question though, how do you guys store ur grains? The LHBS guys said to store them in the fridge because they have a tendency to hatch weevils and the fridge keeps them from it? Any help is greatly appreciated

I have a large cold room, I haven't made use of it but shortly