Hit a wall tonight (maybe before now)....

[khannon]

I think I either need to:

1) find more friends that drink.
2) brew smaller batches.
3) brew what I like and bottle some for aging.
4) develop a relationship with the college renter around the corner so I can provide them with sixtels 1-2 times per month.
5) more taps, more kegs(!!!).
6) find a different hobby.


I brew 10g(ish) batches. I love the process.. I do pretty well, happy with my brew, won a few medals etc.. My "pipe-line" has been pretty good since I got back into it in earnest post(?)-Covid. Pre-covid, I used to clean kegs ~once a year, I have ~30.. Just went and filled 2 kegs, and they were 2/3 of the last kegs clean, and realized I only have 8 empties to clean.

So, I ask you, noble home-brewers, what do I do? Are there options to the above I have not considered? I'm in my late fourties, kids help with some brewing, have expressed interest(one even went to homebrew-con).., but my liver may not be able to handle 10g/mo(and I love my Belgian triples..).

Or do I just hang it up and say "There are some good breweries where I live, buy the 4-packs and move along"?

I'm also looking at ways to expand our home-brew club (Western MA, SPARGE Homebrew Club or find us on facebook)(dm me, I'll send you a sticker..), maybe that will help?

Kevin

 

[_HH_]

Can you not just brew smaller batches Kevin?

 

[khannon]

I suppose I could, but all my equipment is "dialed-in".. I suppose the other option is to look into distilling..

 

[_HH_]

Re-dial to 5G! Distilling is worth a pop, but it won’t do your liver any favours!

 

[Red over White]

I'm in your exact situation. I brew 11 gals high gravity with a 9 gal boil tun and dilute in the fermenter. I develop recipes that work for different dilution ratios and different yeasts in 2 different fermenters. I have plenty of 3.5-4.25% abv beers on tap and 1 higher abv per brew cycle. Plenty of flavor without the abv. Just a different approach than most that is worth mentioning.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Or do I just hang it up and say "There are some good breweries where I live, buy the 4-packs and move along"?

I suppose I could, but all my equipment is "dialed-in"..

Hanging it up is preferable to dialing in a smaller batch size?

 

[AlexKay]

Or smaller still. I brew 0.25-2.5 gallon batches, sometimes several a week. I still have too much beer and too many kegs, but I get a lot of variety (and practice!)

 

[Sammy86]

1) find more friends that drink.
2) brew smaller batches.
3) brew what I like and bottle some for aging.
4) develop a relationship with the college renter around the corner so I can provide them with sixtels 1-2 times per month.
5) more taps, more kegs(!!!).
6) find a different hobby.

My choices would be:

1, 2, 4 and 5 in that order.

 

[seatazzz]

I would ramp it down gradually; try a few 5g batches, then work on getting your recipes dialled down to 2.5g. I recently bought a 2.5g corney keg (it is SO cute) for smaller batches, since I really can't stand bottling. Probably going to invest in a couple more. 5g in my house lasts about 2 weeks for beers I want to drink fresh; I have a kegerator that holds six cornies so I can have a couple aging/lagering if I want. I'm assuming, like many of us, you find the actual brewing more fun than the drinking!

 

[Dland]

I'm in same boat, brewing wise. 10-11 gallon batches all dialed in. Plus I got to keep it going when doing continuous batch brewing. Fortunately or not, I do manage to enjoy most of my brew product.

A 12-15 keg "pipeline" also helps. This is especially good with lagers, so they get to full potential before the beer is "needed". Most ales benefit from not being too "green" as well, at least according to my taste.

One bit of advise, stop buying any beer and only drink what you brew, that helps, also gives one incentive to constantly improve.

I need to make a point of sharing more, but got to keep in mind not getting friends involved with a DUI or some such, after enjoying my brew.

 

[Big_D]

I like the idea of slowly ramping down to 5 gal batches.. look at it as a new challenge, similar to what you dealt with when you first started out.

 

[bracconiere]

say what!?! 30 kegs? start a public utility for the neighborhood!

 

[Big_D]

say what!?! 30 kegs? start a public utility for the neighborhood!

I thought I was bad with 20!

 

[bracconiere]

I thought I was bad with 20!

you're both bad! i only have 8!

 

[moreb33rplz]

+7 for keep brewing just do 2.5 or 5 gallon batches, it just seems like the obvious answer

and good lord 30 kegs?!?

 

[505-Brewer]

Same issue here. I mostly brew Saisons. Some get kegged to drink. Some go into my solera before bottling or keg conditioning which buys me time. Having two wine fridges for ‘cellaring’ is nice when they’re not completely full of wine. I brew more intermittently now - mostly around competitions. Saisons age really well.

I’d recommend scaling down to 5 gals or less unless you find another outlet.

 

[McMullan]

Smaller batches. Running most brewing systems at half capacity or less isn't a bad idea at all. Makes life a lot easier. Brewing smaller batches provides much more scope to experiment so is more in tune with home brewing as a hobby. I'd try to rediscover that before deciding to quit. We should all express a little concern about our livers and try to respect them more, I'm sure. Brewing lower gravity beers is an interesting challenge to aim for.

 

[youngdh]

Brew 2.5G batches. I switched from 5G to 2.5G years ago. I’m constantly amazed how at our monthly homebrew club the same people show up with yet a different style beer or two and they’re brewing 5 and 10G batches. Who’s drinking all that beer and when do they have time to brew that much and keep a day job LOL.

 

[hottpeper13]

I went from 5 gal extract to 10 gal all grain ,but had a partner to split batches with. When that ended i found mashing 1.050 or smaller beers in a square 15 gal cooler to have too small of a filter bed. I got a bag for my BK and did 5 gal BIAB. Still having a HLT allows me to use any mashing regimen I choose. I'm not sure why but the only thing I had to compensate for was reduced hop bittering in the BIAB,otherwise it's pretty much linear.

 

[Grizwold1]

Like many I started with 5 gallon batches, soon began brewing with my son and went to 10 gallon batches. His work schedule heated up, so I was back to brewing alone--still at 10 gal. That meant that unless I became an overweight alcoholic, I only brewed 3 X/year or so. Each time was like starting over, no "muscle memory". Finally decided to invest in the Anvil 6.5 and am finally getting it dialed in. Brewing more often helps me with consistency and the new system saves a little time overall.

 

[HopSing]

I have the opposite problem! I'm doing 5 gallon batches every 2-3 weeks and I'm running low on "hobby time" so I was thinking about upgrading to do 10 gallon batches. My 4 tap beer fridge will only hold 6 kegs, so I'll need to add a few kegs to the 7 I own.

Any advice on kegging then not refrigerating the 2nd keg for 6+ weeks? I have a second CO2 tank & regulator, so I could put it on CO2 while it is warm for a few weeks.

~HopSing.

 

[monkeymath]

I usually brew one 20 litres batch per month and split the beer with my brewing buddy. It's still too much for me. I'm always curious to try new things; not so interested in downing the same beer every day.

 

[hottpeper13]

Well HopSing,we're gonna find out! My current system is full..........4 tap kegerator at 38*.side by side with 3 on CO2 at 33* and 2 with picinic taps at 50*. So now I have besides those,4 on the outside at ~ 68* but on 20 LBS of CO2. I like to put them in the 33* side for at least a week,but I have an Uber bock (2) until, Oct. so kinda full.

 

[Cgeern]

Start a new adventure brewing 2-3 gallons, and do some experimental stuff.

 

[Broken Crow]

Sounds like you enjoy doing as you've been doing...If it's just a matter of surplus: I just looked up Amherst MA and noticed you have a thriving film/music/arts community.... maybe put together a portable rig and donate the odd keg or two at some of the events, ..art openings, reception parties..that sort of thing. It's a great way to catch some 'free culture' as well as helping out your local community, which if it's like most towns, will always be underfunded and mostly get by on what the people involved can put into it.

 

[mashpaddled]

Cut down to five gallons. The difference in brewing isn't terribly different between five and ten gallons, so if your system is dialed in you shouldn't see much change in process or output. If that's still too much, you could cut down to two and a half gallon batches but you might need to tweak your processes.

 

[BrewZer]

5 gallon batches, and put it in 22 oz bottles. that'll give you two cases and a couple more. Plenty for two months or so.

 

[onno]

I brew 20 gallons at a time, got 40 ready now, used to use kegs, but now I don’t have that problem. I went back to bottling. Easy to store, share, give away, drink. My beers are all 8% or above, and age well.

 

[505-Brewer]

I have the opposite problem! I'm doing 5 gallon batches every 2-3 weeks and I'm running low on "hobby time" so I was thinking about upgrading to do 10 gallon batches. My 4 tap beer fridge will only hold 6 kegs, so I'll need to add a few kegs to the 7 I own.

Any advice on kegging then not refrigerating the 2nd keg for 6+ weeks? I have a second CO2 tank & regulator, so I could put it on CO2 while it is warm for a few weeks.

~HopSing.

You could keg condition it w sugar and yeast. Would keep well that way. Let it sit at ambient two weeks to carb up sitting 6 weeks should be fine. First pull or two will clear the yeast.

 

[GBRbrew]

I’ll be your friend, send the kegs to me and I’ll send em back back empty and clean and ready for your next brew.

Cheers