I gotta slow down!

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nathan

nathan

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I think I have maxxed out on my current setup. With one turkey frier burner, one big pot, and an igloo marine cooler with a copper manifold I've been doing two five gallon batches a week for a while now. Yesterday I did 3 in a row. My body is killing me today from bending, lifting, and just generally having been standing up on the concrete floor of my garage for 17 hours straight.

:)

So I decided I need to slow down to a max of one batch per weekend and spend more time working on the brewing rig so I can graduate to using pumps and doing 15 gallon batches so I save time and stop torturing myself physically.

I'm already feeling twitchy about not brewing 2 or 3 batches this coming weekend, though. It's like quitting heroine! :tank:
 
Everybody talks about how much I drink but nobody talks about how thirsty I am! However, I dont know to many people that brew that many batches a week. Either you've got a thirst that cant be quenched or alot of friends! If it's hurting your back maybe bigger batches witha pump setup so you dont have to brew so often and dont have to lift.
 
You're Pushing up on Mr. DogfishHead Guy that started a commercial brewery brewing 3 times a day on a single tier system.

So Really..What the hell do you do with 6 cases of beer a week?
 
Right now I'm packing a ton of kegs into a 25 cubic foot chest freezer in prep for a party in early September.

My brother also comes down to visit and takes away a keg or two at a time and gives me new equipment he makes or buys for trade, or does something else, like fix things at my house. That of course saves me time... so i can brew more.

I realized last night, though, that I'm basically at full capacity for fermentation. I have five carboys in the guest bathroom tub, 2 in the guest bedroom, and two out in my lagering freezer, so all that space is full. I have one carboy laughing at me empty! maybe I should through together another apfelwein...

economy not too bad here. I ahve a government job, so not an amazing salary, but I am frugal and grow a lot of my own food, and bargain shop and cook and can food and I don't really spend money on anything else, since I have no hobbies besides beer.

And my goal is to open my own brewery one day, after I finish some schooling next year.

THe single tier 3 vessel system is welded... just needs to be finished. A couple weekends of work ought to do it!
 
I've got an idea, just keep feeding that little thing you've got in your avatar some of that homegrown food and pretty quickly he'll be big enough to do all the heavy lifting!
 
I was brewing that much for a while. I am taking a step back though. I am going to start sharing less and making more, taking time for each one to be done 100% right and hopefully not ending up tired at the end of days. It just isn't worth it. It isn't really about economics for me, more just amount of beer I really need to be making and quantity that I don't really need.
 
That's a good idea! He LOVES anything related to brewing. I hope in a year or two he'll get big enough to understand not to run and grab things, so I can have him out when I'm brewing. Right now he'd just run up and touch hot things.

He loves sneaking into the guest bathroom to smack my carboys or any warm-priming kegs I have in there.
 
StunnedMonkey said:
I'm not so much impressed that you had the stamina to brew three batches in a row so much as I'm impressed that you had the fortitude to CLEAN ALL OF YOUR EQUIPMENT three times in one day.

Caps off to you buddy. :mug:
Click to expand...

:) Yeah... that was crazy, but I leave my garage spotless when I brew, and everything is broken down and cleaned in between batches (at least pots, manifolds, etc.). I can't have a clean doppelbock brewed after a rauchbier without that sort of special attention.

I have a wicked-cool setup, though, at least the work space, and a nice big work sink. When there's a big single-tier rig in it, it should be the envy of every homebrewer.
 
Your brewing is totally hardcore. I'd be happy to have the space and resources to brew once a month consistently.
 
Even I don't brew that much. I always get in 2 or 3 batches a month minimum and max out at 5 or 6, but I can't imagine doing that weekly.
 
That would hurt the pocket book a little too much for me. I bought two batches on my last trip to the LHBS and it ran me over $80. That hurts.
 
I aspire to brew that much! At this point, I am on the deck so I am limited to weather permitting. I am also a bit limited at the moment by finances. SWMBO is out of work due to a chronic illness and we are getting caught up with Dr bills & what-not. I am trying to brew whenever I can.

We are going to be building a house on a 3 acre country lot that my parents have for us. The plan is to put up a pole barn for auto shop space with an 'addition' to the side for the brewery. I have it planned out tentatively in my head ~ have yet to put it down on paper... At that point, I'll be in a better position to brew more than I need. Till then, it'll be whenever I can.
 
Since I got everything set back up in late April this spring I've run about 25 batches through. I had been out of commission for a while since we had our little boy and I've been crazy busy at work.

3 batches in one day is really too much for me. I'm sore all over today.

2 I can handle well enough. One night I had the bright idea to pressure can some starter wort as I was running my boil on batch 2. Only after I got the starter boiled and into jars did I realize the pressure canner takes almost two hours to cycle, and I had two loads of jars for it, so I was up another 3-4 hours that night. :)

I download brewing podcasts and listen to them while I work. Sometimes I'll use my brewery with it's glass cooktop and brewing propane burner to can some pickles, or something like that while I'm out there.
 
btw, big kahuna, I followed your mead suggestions and she's bubbling away. When it's 1 year old and I bottle it, do i need fresh yeast for carbonating it in the bottle? How's that going to work?
 
My understanding was 200 gallons per year UNLESS there are two adults in the house. Then the limit becomes 400 gallons per year max. Right?
Of course, with four children, I don't have time to get anywhere close to the max anyway.
 
bull8042 said:
My understanding was 200 gallons per year UNLESS there are two adults in the house. Then the limit becomes 400 gallons per year max. Right?
Of course, with four children, I don't have time to get anywhere close to the max anyway.
Click to expand...

Not quite. It's 100 gallons for an individual, 200 (max) for a multiperson household.

Rumor has it "a friend" of mine did right at 450 gallonslast year.

Of course "my friend" has made most of the evidence disappear. :D
 
BierMuncher said:
Not quite. It's 100 gallons for an individual, 200 (max) for a multiperson household.
Click to expand...

OOPS!!! I missed that one a bit. Hmmm, I could have sworn I was right on that. In any case, I wouldn't think "the man" would give a person any grief unless there was money involved. As long as you don't start selling it, you should be OK.
 
State laws very!
Georgia statue § 3-5-4 represents a recent change in state law to include the lawful production of beer in the home provided that it does not exceed 50 gallons per calendar year free from state excise tax.
Click to expand...

ARRGGGHHHH!!!! That one isnt hard to break. Thats 10 batches in a year... SLUT MUFFINS in state congress!
 
I find that my lack of storage space self-limits me. I get antsy if I don't brew every weekend. But all my fermenters have been full for 3 weeks now (DAMN apfelwein, why did I start 2 batches at the same time?!?!) so my focus has been drinkin' as much as I can. Now I've got 3 empty kegs, quick on my way to a 4th one. Then it's oxy clean time. Then it's star san time. Then it's racking time. Then it's brewin' time! :D
 
I have enough family and friends that swing by to help out that I'm sure would step up to claim that many batches were theirs. My brother has had 5 kegs from me so far this year and some bottles and growlers as well. I also agree that the hassling from the gubmint goes hand in hand with trying to make money off of it. Since this is purely for my own entertainment and the enjoyment of my friends and family with no money exchanged at all, I doubt I'll attract any attention.
 
Wow...how the hell do u drink all of that? I'm lucky if I do 2 AG batches a month. Maybe I will throw an extract in there. But 3 a weekend is amazing! I tip my hat to you sir
 
I honestly do not drink it all. I have a few neighbors and friends who drink what they like when they stop by, and my brother plows through a lot of it (and I mean a lot).

And I've been on a several month upswing, so I do have 4 kegs ready to go in my storage chest freezer, and a lot of the beer in question is still in various stages of fermenting (see my signature).

We'll see how much of it disappears at a party we are having in 3.5 weeks.
 
Man, you are a brewing machine!

I've been brewing a lot lately, so now I have a 6 month supply of homebrew stockpiled in my basement. I'm going to take the fall off from brewing and concentrate on gardening, camping, and other pursuits.

Going forward, I think I'll limit myself to one or maybe two brews a month. Any more than that is tiresome, actually. I'm past the point where I feel the need to brew every style under the sun as soon as I can. I'm more interested in having a few good beers around to enjoy than I am in accumulating a basement full of beer specimens.
 

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