How do you guys do it?!?

[justbrewit]

I'm just now just starting to get my pipeline going, I have 10g of house ale and 10g of wine. That's not near enough to keep me from buying beer. I can knock a keg in a week or so. I love my beer and I'd love to drink noting but my homebrew but as of yet i have not been able to fill my pipeline enough to kep me sustained. Now that I've stepped up to 10g batches, I'm hoping the pipeline will be sustainable soon

 

[crammer]

I usually give at least two litters of every batch of home brew to my father-in-law. I also give at least a six pack of every batch to friends or neighbors. My wife says that I drink too much as well, even though I don't drink to get drunk.

 

[Matrix4b]

I hardly ever drink. I make mead. Mead is like wine. It gets better as it ages. I only have about 10 5 gallon batches made but when I retire in a few decades I wont have to buy alcohol in my old age. Just go down to my cellar. I end up taking a six pack of 12 oz bottles to freinds parties and giving some here and there away but I plan on having 6 to 10 dozen batches when I am 70 or so, all diffrent flavors. That is going to be about 30 years away. Meanwile, I can test a sixpack or two to see what batches are good and deserve repeating. I only have a six pack of my first brew left and that was 3 years ago. So yeah, 40 years or so of brewing. When I am 70-75 I wont be brewing much and I will be able to give my equipment to my kids and teach them to brew. An heirloom brewing system, sounds good. That and they can if they wish pickle my dead body in my mead when I am dead. Wont matter to me as I will be dead.

Imagine that inheritence. Several carboys and a few cases of homebrew and notes on it.

 

[Tonedef131]

I drink a little, sell some and give a ton away.

 

[shortyjacobs]

I drank my first batch in 2 weeks, by myself, (wife hated it). 2nd and 3rd batches, (st paul porter and a honey weizen, both from NB), came on tap at about the same time, last thursday. We had a pint or two from each.

Then we had 6 people over on Sat. Night. That's right, just 6 measly people.

I'm out of beer now. (but have Cent. Blonde ready to keg, a Brown Ale a week away, and my 2 hearted clone is boiling as we speak)

So 6 people plus me and SWMBO killed 10 gallons in a night. Plus a bottle of red wine. Plus a bottle of sherry. At least I know I can brew good beer that non homebrew drinkers like!!!

 

[jds]

I stopped updating my sig, 'cause it's too much work. I only brew around once a month, but about half the time, it's ten gallons. With six corny kegs and about that many carboys, I could theoretically have 60 gallons of beer going at any time.

Truthfully, I usually range between 15-20 gallons finished and ready to drink at a given time, with another five or ten bulk aging. I give away a fair bit of my beer, and somehow, I manage to go through the rest.

 

[Picobrew]

I stopped updating my sig, 'cause it's too much work.

Yeah!! I used to have the inverse problem of the OP. I was brewing like a madman with no beer to drink. Now things have stabilized. I drink some, friends drink some, I give a lot away to coworkers. I have 2 filing cabinets full of bottles, a couple kegs in the kegerator, and a few batches on the way. This is where I wanted to be 6 months ago and I finally have it dialed in - except that i should have alternated bottling/kegging instead of doing each in bursts.

 

[bierhaus15]

Most people move up from 5 to 10 gallon batches, but I have actually started brewing 3 gallon ones. I don't drink nearly as much as I did in college and I like the fact that I can brew 3-4 times a month and not have tons of beer sitting around, waiting for my friends to drink it. Also, since I have started entering competitions pretty frequently, I can brew a few recipes at the same time and enter the better beer without having lots left over.

 

[rico567]

I fall into the category so well described by "Revvy." It's all about the pipeline. I enjoyed the cool Summer here in the Midwest, because it allowed me to fill the pipleine spang up. That will come in handy now, because I won't be able to brew again until after Thanksgiving, and maybe I won't be able to brew between the holidays at all, and that means no brewing until January.

Right now, everything's in bottles except for two batches ready to go into secondary this week- a Fuller's ESB clone and an India Brown Ale. On the shelves are batches of Imperial Stout, Winter Ale, Ed Wort's Haus Pale Ale, Hank's Hefeweizen, Amarillo Ale, Bee Cave Brewery Rye IPA and BCB Robust Porter. There are two or three sixes sitting around from a half-dozen other batches.

Seems like a lot of beer down there, but since I put away 2-3 bottles a day, and my wife 1-2, and when family visits over the holidays, by January that inventory will be pulled way down. Part of the secret to homebrewing is managing the pipeline and practicing "inventory control."

 

[Scut_Monkey]

It takes me a while to go through beer but lately I have blown through it because of parties and people now knowing that I homebrew and bring it with me. For what it's worth many people say the beer gets finished faster from friends when kegged for whatever reason. I still bottle however.

 

[velotech]

The more I seem to brew, the more friends come over and help drink it. I keep a case of growlers in the house so friends can take some home for later. But I do drink my fair share!

 

[mrmcdowe]

Well if I was living in London again I would not drink too much home brew either. The pubs are so awesome.

 

[Ksosh]

I still have boxes and boxes of bottled beer sitting around, so I'm pretty slow.

 

[the_Roqk]

I usually drink most of the beer that I make. I can finish a keg in about a month. Only because I don't drink as much as I used to. I still enjoy more than a few pints sometimes. I try and keep my 2 cornie keggerator full. I have on tap Bavarian Hefe and a Brown Ale. I like the two different styles to have. My fermentor is full and will be for atleast another two weeks with my RIS still in primary. I need to build a bigger fermentor so I can brew more. I like the beer I brew over commercial ones anyday. Except for craft beer and the brewpubs.

 

[boredatwork]

I'll even dump beer just to make room for more.

I like beer, but I don't drink it that often. And even then I get bored with the same stuff all the time. I would probably be better served just making smaller batches, but whatever. Its not like this stuff costs $100 a gallon.

 

[Tripod]

My lovely wifey doesn't drink beer so it's just me drinking about 2 per day...a LOT more on the weekends. Beyond that I have some friends that like to sample it and I give some away to coworkers because they'll give me an honest opinion, not a "friendly" opinion.

I also purposely set a sixer or so aside so I can forget about it and try it when I rediscover it 10 or 12 months later. It's like others mentioned before me...there is a pipeline brewing and not all of the listed beers are ready for consumption. The ones that are ready are shared and some are stashed away. I probably drink the other 80% alone though!



-Tripod

 

[petep1980]

Like everyone else says. Just drink a friggin TON of it. You'll need to stock up. Or buy in bulk and you'll be putting batches together every weekend to use up ingredients.

 

[Stuntman]

Pipe Line, my friend, Pipe Line.

Two or three HB types, on tap, impress a whole lot of people. When you tell them that you have this brew you made a month ago and you would like their opinion, the party turns into a sampling party.

petep1980 I think that batch is ready....It's staring at me!

 

[petep1980]

Mix in a couple LONG aging beers or wines. They'll fill up you primary, secondary, aging tag for MONTHS!!!

Seriously though. I find long aging things like cider and wine can really save a pipeline.

 

[Specs]

I have a friend who invested in all of my brew equipment. He lives with 3 other guys who are all enjoy beer. In return I brew them a batch a week at cost and I keep a bit of the beer myself.

It is a very nice arrangement.

 

[Ksosh]

Ok, slightly off-topic, but when do people take things off their tag? Upon drinking the final beer of the batch?

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

I usually bring 2 5 gallon kegs to large parties, (It makes certain I'm invited) a couple of times a year. I also tend to drink coffee in the morning, water during the afternoon and no liquid but beer at night.
Once the keg is kicked, or bottled it comes off of my sig.
If I'm low on bottles and need to clear out a keg I have a few friends over. It's amazing how light the kegs get in just one night.

 

[passedpawn]

I have a friend who invested in all of my brew equipment. He lives with 3 other guys who are all enjoy beer. In return I brew them a batch a week at cost and I keep a bit of the beer myself.

It is a very nice arrangement.

Cool. This is known as Beer Patronage. You are an artist, and they are your admiring sponsors.

I want a sponsor.