how many batches?

[amaier48]

how many batches do you have going at a time?

I have sort of a problem maybe. i own two plastic buckets used as primaries. Both have beer in them, and then I own a glass carboy... with a beer in it right now in its secondary phase. Both beers in the plastic buckets are still fermenting. But just about done... luckily i won a another bucket on ebay. Just waiting for it to arrive.

i need to figure out what to do with all this beer. i did so many at one time so that i could enjoy the first one and allow the other two to sit for a good bit of time. before when i was doing one at a time, by the time one was ready i had the last one gone and i wasn’t letting it age as much as i was wanting too.

i think tomorrow night i may bottle the beer that’s in my carboy... that will open that up.... then clean that bucket and transfer the other one to the clean bucket to get that beer off the yeast bed?

I am thinking i should invest in a "better" bottle... that way I will have 3 buckets and two carboys? And can start letting things sit longer.

LET’S DISCUSS

 

[user 84304]

You don't really need a secondary fermentor unless you're adding fruit/dry hopping/wood aging. This is obviously a ridiculously battled subject, but at the end of the day you really don't have to do that.

As far as how many batches at once...it's only limited to your imagination and equipment. Invest in as many carboys/bottles/kegs as you want. Sky's the limit.

Just my two cents.

Cheers!

 

[waldoar15]

Four buckets (primaries) and two glass secondaries that I only really use when brewing lagers in the winter.

But, I really tend to brew in sort of fits and starts I'll brew a bunch when the weather is nice for it, then slack off for a while when it's not.

 

[OhioBri]

I have a batch of pale ale and 5 gallons of apfelwein going. I also have 5 gallons in a keg. I own a few buckets and three carboys. I rarely use the buckets and quit doing a secondary some time ago. I seem to keep up just fine. Many people skip the secondary without any negative reports with quality.

 

[amaier48]

so ya all do the primary for the week or so(until fermentation is over) then bottle or keg, and thats where your ageing comes in?

 

[lumpher]

it's been debated to h@11 and back on here as far as secondarying or not, but i usually have 2-3 primarying at any 1 time. sometimes i have a secondary, like right now i'm secondarying a kolsch with blueberries. i figure if i have 2-3 primaryingm and a few kegs full, no matter what the social "emergency" (thirsty friends coming over), i can handle it, and still not run myself out later

 

[mattmcl]

I ferment for three weeks in primary, then keg. A week would be pushing it. 99.9% of the folks on here will tell you to use a hydrometer and let your beer tell you when it's ready.

Personally, I let everything sit for three weeks. In 23 years I've never used a hydrometer for determining when to bottle/keg.

 

[amaier48]

isent it bad to leave the beer sitting in with that yeast? i thought something said about the yeast breaking down and giving off bad flavors? or how much time are you looking at before that will take place?

 

[Revvy]

Most I've had going at one time was 7 or 8.

 

[amaier48]

i made a batch august 8th,14th, and 17th. i am hoping to have everything to keg come about the 18th of september.... can i just leave them untill in the buckets there in untill then? anything i should do? that will be about a month on some of them.

 

[msa8967]

Having beer in your buckets for a month should be no problem at all assuming you had given the buckets a good cleaning and sanitized them well. I typically leave my beers in the buckets for 4 weeks (or more if I get busy) and I have never had any problems with the beer being on the yeast cake for that long. Going beyond the "2 weeks" of primary fermentation will give the beer time to clean up after itself even though much of the fermentation may have already taken place. When I started brewing i did the 2,2,2 rule of primary, secondary then bottle. My beer was Ok and then I found this forum where some brewers recommended leaving the beer in the primary for at least 3-4 weeks and perhaps secondary if you plan to dry hop or add fruit. Using this as a guideline my beer is now much better than OK to the point that friends ask if I can bring it over to cookouts and such.

If you have the ability to do either small batches (4 gallons) or larger batches (like 8 gallons) you might try buying a few 5 white gallon food grade buckets and lids from the paint dept in Walmart. A 5 gallon bucket and lid is $4 plus the grommet and air lock raises this to $5.50-6.00. I use then buckets for 4 gallons brews or 8 gallons brews then get split into two 4 gallon buckets where I might try different yeast for each one. This was a lot cheaper than buying extra 5 gallon brew buckets.

You can also find food grade white plastic buckets at your local bakery that have been used for icing. These will often go for about the same price as Wallyworld.

 

[amaier48]

perfect, if thats the case then... i will leave everything where its at for now, because i was really looking forword to starting up the kegging. but then i got nervous about leaving it where its at and thought i would need to bottle what i got. because it will still be a few weeks before i have everything together to keg.

 

[dcHokie]

perfect, if thats the case then... i will leave everything where its at for now, because i was really looking forword to starting up the kegging. but then i got nervous about leaving it where its at and thought i would need to bottle what i got. because it will still be a few weeks before i have everything together to keg.

If you've already decided to invest in kegging equipment you'll be able to brew more batches, faster. Sounds like you've got the bug! If you can afford it, you will never regret buying extra fermenters. Having broken 2 glass carboys, Better Bottles are my favorite (everyone has their preference & will happily give their $0.02), but having a mix of glass, better bottles, and buckets allows for great flexibility in your brewing.

my $0.02, cheers

 

[jonmohno]

I have 3-2 gallons in rotation usually brew weekly but with doing lagers and strong ales or dubbles,im going about every other week,which is fine for me because i stocked up before summer and ill get more ingredients shipped in the fall during cooler weather,which was my plan.I think getting stuff shipped ground in the summer isnt a great idea.My rhizomes didnt survive their trip in May either.

 

[amaier48]

oh ive got the itch bad. i dont know if im ready to do all grain yet. i want to get setteled doing multipal batches, probably going to set up a 3 tap keg system in a fridge in the garage. thank god for being a bachelor and having a roomate help pay my mortgage!!! hahaha life is good.

 

[ozzy1038]

2-3

 

[tangofoxtrot308]

I've got one just bottled and three in three diffrent stages of fermenting. I do 3 weeks in primary then bottle. 7-10 days ferm temp and then 2 weeks room temp (73).

 

[LVBen]

I've got room for 3 to ferment in my freezer. Right now is the 1st time I've ever actually had 3.