How does everyone plan their brew schedule?

[catdaddy66]

Just a question out of curiosity more than anything else...

When I was a new extract brewer I brewed very infrequently (4-5 per year) so I just brewed whatever kit caught my eye at the time. For this last 18 months I've brewed about twice that pace since going all grain.

I've made a list of styles I want to brew and the list currently has 10 styles and recipes I want to try!

I also make ingredient lists for experimenting with including grains, hops and yeasts to try.

Anyone go that far and schedule brewing so far in advance?


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[unionrdr]

Well, with no temp control, I brew porters & stouts for cold weather. My hybrid lagers in winter for warm weather. Pale ales, saison, wheats in warm months. That's about it.

 

[Braufessor]

I tend to brew for seasons (like others) - starting to think about browns, porters, stouts in the next month or so for instance.

I consider any competitions or events or parties I might enter/host and when I should brew beers for those.

The other thing I consider is yeast - I try to brew a "small" beer that is low alcohol, low hops and then harvest that yeast to brew 2-3 other beers that can use the same yeast that may be higher in alcohol/hops/etc. That way I am not always totally building starters from scratch.

Mainly though, I just think about what I want to drink and when.

 

[HopfulAddiction]

I tried to put together a timetable that accommodated when my carboys were free and when things would be drinkable. It overwhelmed me. So bought more carboys now I just say OK I want a spiced ale for Christmas. It will take say 4 months to age so I need to brew it in august so it is ready in December.

 

[TopherM]

If the fermentation fridge is empty, I'm planning my next brew! I don't always get to them as quickly as I'd like, but I have my next recipe figured out like clockwork the week the fermentation fridge is free!

 

[j1n]

I just think about what I want to drink and when.

^This

Plus i brew for events. last two batches are for a beach trip with the family. gonna be roughly 25 people at the beach house so im bringing a couple kegs and some bottles of IPA & DIPA.

 

[steveoatley]

I brew my Double Bock in December
To take advantage of a Lagering outside in the garage in Jan & Feb

This last winter Michigan saw record snow fall & record cold days in a row
My Double Bocks came out Crystal Clear !! almost 1/2 gallon of trub fell out
and that is Secondary !

I brew my Oberon Clone in February so it is ready for Spring

I need to plan further ahead, and brew smarter.
But some times you just want a Heavy Porter in July....

 

[Roadie]

If the fermentation fridge is empty, I'm planning my next brew! I don't always get to them as quickly as I'd like, but I have my next recipe figured out like clockwork the week the fermentation fridge is free!

^ This.


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[Phunhog]

I brew a lot for charity events so I try to keep in mind what others will want to drink. But like other guys have said I too brew with the seasons. No matter what you brew though it is important to keep the pipeline full!!

 

[beersk]

My brews are planned around what yeast I have. I like to buy a vial or pack of yeast, brew beers with the harvested yeast until I'm ready to brew something different. Which is usually at least 4 or 5 beers with the same yeast. Right now I'm doing beers with WLP300 hefeweizen yeast. Not sure what will be next...maybe a British yeast. But, for the most part, my brews are sort of planned out a couple recipes in advance. Sometimes I'll brew spontaneously.

 

[kh54s10]

I have a backlog of recipes. I brew when I have, either a low pipeline and/or space in my fermentation chamber. But yesterday I had to take a fermenter out to put the new batch in. My chamber holds 3 fermenters at a time. Right now I have 4 beers and 2 wines in process, with another 3 beers in kegs.

As to planing ahead for seasons... I am not to good at getting that done. I brew what strikes my fancy, or something that fits a yeast I want to use. I have 13 styles in my frozen yeast bank. I also keep dry yeast on hand for when I don't plan a stepped starter in time.

 

[Hello]

I do not brew for seasons, technically. Stout is not a season…they're yummy all year. However, what I've noticed since kegging is that I want a little variety and I brew for that.

I have a very sweet coconut stout just put in a keg, a blackberry wheat that is going to kick before the month is up, a saison that will go with the same quickness and an empty tap that will get a mosaic IPA that will be brewed next weekend.

Short answer is every 2-3 weeks and whatever keeps me in supply of a variety of styles.

 

[catdaddy66]

My brews are planned around what yeast I have. I like to buy a vial or pack of yeast, brew beers with the harvested yeast until I'm ready to brew something different. Which is usually at least 4 or 5 beers with the same yeast. Right now I'm doing beers with WLP300 hefeweizen yeast. Not sure what will be next...maybe a British yeast. But, for the most part, my brews are sort of planned out a couple recipes in advance. Sometimes I'll brew spontaneously.

This is kinda where I'm at right now. I was lucky enough to find half priced White Lab products and want to use them in certain styles. Have an Irish Red ale percolating on wlp004 now, later I want to do my first RIS with wlp090...



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[Roadie]

and an empty tap that will get a mosaic IPA that will be brewed next weekend.

I've been wanting to brew a mosaic IPA. Where did you get your recipe?



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[youngdh]

I've been wanting to brew a mosaic IPA. Where did you get your recipe?



Almost Famous Brewing Company

I've done NB's Hopquila twice now which is an all Mosaic brew and can't keep it around it goes so fast. I'm going to do a third batch in the next couple of weeks.


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[Oginme]

I plan my brews very carefully. My brewing season lasts from the beginning of November until some time in April. Generally, I can fit about 20 to 24 10 liter batches during my season. I have a series of recipes that I repeat and then a bunch of new recipes. I plan accordingly to take advantage of bulk grain purchases, yeast reuse, and when I want a certain recipe to be ready for consumption. It's probably one of the few things in my life that is planned so well

 

[JimRausch]

Only 2 1/2 years into this obsession, and I haven't brewed every variety that I want to try yet, but I have developed something of a routine:
Fall- Porter and Browns. Cider when fresh squeezed becomes available. Later fall- altbiers that benefit from cold conditioning. Winter- lagers so I can take advantage of true lagering environmental temps. Late winter- Irish red and Stout to be ready for St. Pats. Early Spring- altbier again, probably Kolsch would fit here. Spring- Ambers, Pale ales, and other summer type brews. I stop in early June. I'd rather drink a cold one when it's 80* than slave over a hot kettle! So I make sure I have enough to last until September.
I do plan 2-3 similar types back-to-back so I can reuse yeast.

 

[ktblunden]

I've got about 15 recipes sitting in Beersmith that I want to brew at some point. I also have a spreadsheet of all the BJCP styles and I check off all the ones I've made. Additionally, there are several recipes that I re-brew fairly regularly.

All of this is beside the fact that with two small children my brew schedule is basically whenever I can actually get the time to brew, which is very infrequently.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I like to keep 3 types on hand, something dark and malty, stout, or porter, something light and easy to drink, blondeor belgian, and something in the middle like a mild, brown, or dubbel.

 

[RonPopeil]

I greatly enjoy seasonal beers and having specific flavors available at a certain part of the year. I do try to brew a few season inspired batches but like Hello says, IPA's don't have a season in my house. I keep pales and IPA's going year round and mix in with seasonals, belgians and lagers when I can. The seasonal aspect is what makes some beers special.

 

[therealtricky]

I've seen some pretty good calendars out there that suggest what to brew and when, but I mostly try to brew one to drink now and one to age.. then repeat!

 

[beernutz]

I use beersmith2 to plan upcoming brews as well as keep track of what's been brewed. I typically only plan 1 or 2 brews in advance. Here's a screenshot of the beersmith summary screen with the last 2 entries being my plan:

 

[poptarts]

I tend to play pretty far out maybe like a year in advance to give some of my monster beers time to properly age. like last march i made a Belgian dark strong that should be ready here in a few months. or ill brew a giant RIS in december so it is ready in december. plus if I feel the need for something or there is a recipe i really want to try i either kick something out of the way or just squeeze it in.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I tend to organize my brewing based around purchasing ingredients in bulk and then using before they go stale, along with repitching my yeast. As I lack the equipment for long term "yeast bank" sort of storage, I'll plan an initial session beer as my "starter", and then repitch a number of times. Sometimes it's rinsing the yeast cake and repitching slurry, and sometimes it's top cropping. I'll usually pitch into an initial batch, and then harvest from it for two more. I'll often start with a session brew, repitching into a big beer and a session brew, and then repeat the process from the second session brew, and so on. Say I'd do an Ordinary Bitter, then I'd do a Robust Porter and a Best Bitter from the first cake. Then I'd harvest from the Best Bitter, and brew an English IPA, and a Mild. Then I'd harvest from the Mild and brew an English Barleywine and an ESB, and then call it good for that particular pitch. And then I'd start again with a bunch of Belgian, or American, or German styles, or whatever.

So basically, I plan my brew schedule around my ingredients. I use swamp cooler temp control, so I don't do STRICT seasonal brewing, but it is ultimately easier to brew Belgian and English beers towards the summer, and American and German beers in the fall and winter when it's easier to keep the swamp cooler cold.

 

[unionrdr]

I hear ya poptarts. I tend to alter the plan/squeeze in. Like the watermelon hefe. Gonna brew that up when I get paid again. Getting past E-Check took it's toll.

 

[Oginme]

I've got about 15 recipes sitting in Beersmith that I want to brew at some point. I also have a spreadsheet of all the BJCP styles and I check off all the ones I've made. Additionally, there are several recipes that I re-brew fairly regularly.

All of this is beside the fact that with two small children my brew schedule is basically whenever I can actually get the time to brew, which is very infrequently.

LOL, I have 81 recipes I've designed in Beersmith and only brewed 37 of them so far. BS is nice for designing and recording, but it puts me so far behind in the brewing

 

[Qhrumphf]

LOL, I have 81 recipes I've designed in Beersmith and only brewed 37 of them so far. BS is nice for designing and recording, but it puts me so far behind in the brewing

I've designed probably about 150 recipes thus far, and brewed about 100 of em. Hah. I still have a long way to go. Between my obligatory rebrews of my "house" beers, I plan on working through most of em over the next couple years. I've got a recipe for just about any style I'd ever want to brew, so I don't know how many more I'll end up creating that aren't just tweaked variants of past brews.

 

[brewbama]

Here 's what I use: http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/10/18/seasonal-beer-brewing/


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[elkshadow]

No temp control, big beers year round. Belgians in the spring and summer to be ready in fall/winter and DIPAs/Barleywines in fall/winter to be ready in the spring/summer/fall. Apartment all grain 3 gallon batches. Two a month usually. Supplement with small batches of rice wine and other homemade booze.

 

[MindenMan]

My wife and I prefer the darker/stronger styles of beer, Strong Scottish Ale, Black IPA's, & Chocolate Stouts, etc., we have an American Mild that is very drinkable now, our Taddy Porter is amazing, an American Stout that still needs a little time to mellow, and our Strong Scottish Ale that still has a lot of time in the bottle. Anyway, I love this hobby and all of those that have helped me.
I can not express how grateful I am for all the wisdom and previous experience available to a new-b as I once was. At 2 plus years, I am still a relatively new brewer with much to learn every day.