I hate pipleline

[Chenslee]

Well, maybe I complained too soon.
If I limit beer drinking to about 4 bottles a day (which is fine, I don't drink THAT much), 5 gallons should last me 2 weeks. Well, I checked the calender and I should have beer on tap though March 31. PHEW.

I had mistakenly assumed that having multiple beers on tap would multiply my consumption. In reality, it just makes the kegs last longer. Accounting for overlap, I'm going to have a very wet couple months.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I know others will respond that their beer is ready to drink in 3-4 weeks, but I just plan on a minimum of 8 weeks from brew day for low to mid gravity brews. Between weeks 6 and 8, there is a huge change as the flavors meld and the green tang diminishes. Really, 9 weeks is just about peak flavor. I do four in primary, two in the keg at cellar temps, and two on the gas.

Hear hear!

For a real brew, drinking it young is abrewing sin. Just to break in 3 kegs however, I did 3 calculated session brews to be drank at the 4 week mark. Still a sin, but I had to get ahead of the game.

Its hard when you are first starting off. Give it another few months and your pipeline will be fine.

NOT SO.

It is difficult to get ahead of the game, and at some point SOMETHING will keep you from brewing for a while, good or bad, and if you are ahead, you might be just a little behind, if you are just keeping up, you will have empty kegs.

Get WAAAAAAY ahead before you consider slowing down!

if you have friends or family who drink your beer, or if your spouse drinks some.....YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ENOUGH BEER!!!!!!!

 

[Golddiggie]

I hope to have a pipeline soon... Right now I have only a few bottles left from my first two brews. One of those, a 1L of honey porter, I want to keep for a few more months before having it. That way, I'll see how it is after 4-6 months bottle aging.

I also have two brews aging on oak chips (one vanilla honey porter, and one old ale) with two more brews in primary (a English pale ale and an Irish amber ale)... As soon as one carboy is free, or I get something else to brew in, I'm going to brew another batch. Thinking it will be a Boddington's Pub Ale clone.

The hardest part of all this, is I'm now using longer primary fermenting stages (and not using secondary except for aging elements). The pale ale should be ready to go into bottles within 1-2 weeks (so either this weekend, or the following) with the Irish being maybe a week behind that. I'm using the 2-4 week primary stage mode right now (longer for bigger brews). I'm also gearing up to start kegging...

Oh, and since I brewed the English pale ale with someone else, I won't get the full 5 gallons. The English and Irish are my first two AG brews... I have enough grain/base malt on hand for one more brew before I'll need to get more... I hope to be able to get a crusher/mill by the time I need more grain. Then I'll just get 55 pound sacks of base and 5-10 pounds of specialty grains at a time... Then, a few more primary fermenting vessels to add to what I have and I'll be good to go...

My plan is to always have at least one brew about to be bottled, or carbonating, every two weeks. I'm looking to keg, so that it will be easier for me to move to a new place in 6-8 months. Won't need to worry about dropping full bottles. Oh, and I will be making a keezer within 1-2 months. A fermentation chamber will be on the books in the next 3-4 months... If I hit those targets, then summer heat won't be an issue, or reason to make me slow down my brewing cycle... Warmer weather brews will also be nice to come home to.

 

[FireBrew63]

Between Christmas and New Years parties my pipeline of 30 gallons was decimated. Things are looking up now though, have 20 gallons fermenting right now with 10 ready for kegging next Monday and a 10 gal. brew day scheduled the same day. This is the year of pipeline for me.

 

[Golddiggie]

Between Christmas and New Years parties my pipeline of 30 gallons was decimated. Things are looking up now though, have 20 gallons fermenting right now with 10 ready for kegging next Monday and a 10 gal. brew day scheduled the same day. This is the year of pipeline for me.

Did you start all 20 gallons in 2011??

My only 'concern' is that I'll brew the '100 gallon legal limit' before the year is out... Since I live alone, I don't have the extra 100 gallons from a spouse, or another adult in my home/apartment... Luckily, 10 of the 20 gallons I have in process now, were actually started in 2010.

 

[SumnerH]

It will get easier down the line after you've brewed some of the long-conditioning beers (barleywines, wee heavies, ris', big belgians, etc.). When those beers start getting ripe you'll prob be trying to finish off kegs just to get them INTO the rotation (and the big beers tend to be consumed much slower as well).

Bottle the big ones, that way you're not stuck for months with a huge barleywine on tap. They'll improve with age, too, and it's fun to do a vertical of a few different vintages you brewed. At any given time I only have 3 things on tap, but I usually have 8 or so options of different brews if I decide to reach for bottles.

 

[munche]

The holidays combined with rain here causing me to work a ton of OT have meant that my pipeline is utterly demolished. I have 4 taps and only one with a half full keg on it!

Luckily, I've got:
Zee German Heff grain at home
Dead By Dawn IPA grain at home

And I just made a massive order from AHS:
Yellow Fever Blonde Ale
Guinness Clone (for St Paddy's)
Bell's Two Hearted Clone
AHS Nelson Sauvin IPA
AHS Citra Pale Ale

Now, it's time to brew *cracks knuckles*

 

[cheezydemon3]

The holidays combined with rain here causing me to work a ton of OT have meant that my pipeline is utterly demolished. I have 4 taps and only one with a half full keg on it!

Luckily, I've got:
Zee German Heff grain at home
Dead By Dawn IPA grain at home

And I just made a massive order from AHS:
Yellow Fever Blonde Ale
Guinness Clone (for St Paddy's)
Bell's Two Hearted Clone
AHS Nelson Sauvin IPA
AHS Citra Pale Ale

Now, it's time to brew *cracks knuckles*

Dead by Dawn IPA??

They had me at "Dead".

Damn. a Knock off IPA could be the "I'll Swallow your Soul" IIPA

LOVE IT.

 

[FireBrew63]

Did you start all 20 gallons in 2011??

My only 'concern' is that I'll brew the '100 gallon legal limit' before the year is out... Since I live alone, I don't have the extra 100 gallons from a spouse, or another adult in my home/apartment... Luckily, 10 of the 20 gallons I have in process now, were actually started in 2010.

Just brewed last week....all in one day...never gonna try that again! I brew with my brother-in-law and a buddy from work so between 3 households I'm not worried about exceeding the "legal limit". Our goal is to brew 10 gal. every 2 weeks or sooner, just need more fermenters.

 

[mattmcl]

I throw in a batch of apfelwein a couple times a year. It's stupid cheap, fast and easy, but takes a while to ferment and condition. Once you get some of this in bottles, you'll always have something to fall back on.

I picked up a couple six packs last week just for variety and almost told the cashier to forget it- $20 for 12 beers? I can make 48 of them for that!

 

[Walker]

My only 'concern' is that I'll brew the '100 gallon legal limit' before the year is out... Since I live alone, I don't have the extra 100 gallons from a spouse, or another adult in my home/apartment... Luckily, 10 of the 20 gallons I have in process now, were actually started in 2010.

Relax. No one is enforcing that law to the letter. It's really meant to prevent people from running large bootlegging operations out of their homes.

Besides, assume you brew *and consume* 50 gallons a month. In a year, you will have made 600 gallons. Way over the limit, but at no time did you have more than 50 gallons in your house.

How on earth could anyone prove you brewed more beer than you currently have on hand?

 

[munche]

Dead by Dawn IPA??

They had me at "Dead".

Damn. a Knock off IPA could be the "I'll Swallow your Soul" IIPA

LOVE IT.

I like your style, and I'm totally stealing that name.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I like your style, and I'm totally stealing that name.

Steal away!

I'll make one too. And yes, that name RULES!!!!!.



But why stop there?

It's a trick, get an AXE Marzen

Swallow THIS Black IPA

Exmortus Necromonicon, loosely translated:, Imperial Stout

Book of the DEAD IPA

"Pillow Talk" Blonde

 

[Golddiggie]

Besides, assume you brew *and consume* 50 gallons a month. In a year, you will have made 600 gallons. Way over the limit, but at no time did you have more than 50 gallons in your house.

How on earth could anyone prove you brewed more beer than you currently have on hand?

I really like that logic... I seriously doubt I could even keep 50 gallons (right now) on hand at any time. I could see having 30 though (that's only 6 corny kegs after all)... Besides, who's to say that some are not left-over from previous year brewing, and are just aging. I actually have two beers aging on oak chips that were started last year. Plus, about 11-12 gallons of mead that is still in process (aging now, won't be ready to drink for months)... Need to get some corny's for long term aging of the mead.

I'll do my best to keep under 50 gallons on hand (in any state) that's made in that calendar year. I plan on moving to a larger place in the next 6-8 months. I'll be looking for a place where I can brew more easily. Basically, a ground floor apartment, that's at least a two bedroom. Second bedroom will be the brewery/tech-central (computers/servers/etc. in there too)...

BTW, I thought "Pillow Talk" was towards a brunet... So maybe a brown ale?

How about a Housewares Cream Ale...

Boom-Stick Stout

 

[r8rphan]

How on earth could anyone prove you brewed more beer than you currently have on hand?

This Thread?

One day, the things we say on the internet may be used against us in a court of law, by govt intelligence agencies, by our employers, and by the banking industry...... In fact, it's already happening...

 

[Monkey55]

.....
Now I've got 15 gallons in some stage of undrinkability loafing around my house mocking my unfortunate logistic decisions. I open the pantry at least once a day and yell at my carboy and kegs "F****** FISNISH FERMENTING!! I WANT TO DRINK YOU!" I don't think it's helping......

Definitely not helping.. Poor beer. Remember - the yeast are living organisms. I'm sure they have feelings too.

I think you need to give you fermenter a hug...

E

 

[Conan]

Slight resurrection here, but I was just toying with a way to figure out my brew schedule the mathy way. Here's an excel sheet I drempt up, if I can get it to post. First column is labels, second is the actual answer you'd get, and third is the formula used. Only use 2 columns in excel, as the middle one in this case was hand-typed. Couldn't paste a spreadsheet into the forum. Let me know how this works out, I was just messin around. Kyle

Gal 5 5
Glass 16 16
Frequency (per day) 1 1
Lasts (days) 40 =(C1*128)/(C2*C3)
Brewed On 1/8/2011 40551
Condition/ carb time (weeks) 1 1
Secondary 1 1
Primary 2 2
Total Beer Age (days) 28 =7*(C6+C7+C8)
Ready 2/5/2011 =C5+C9
Empty 3/17/2011 =C10+C4
Brew Again 2/17/2011 =C11-C9

 

[cheezydemon3]

Lost me Conan.

 

[Chenslee]

Hey, conan, I'm having trouble parsing that. Copy it to google docs, then publish to web and post the link here.

 

[jlpred55]

I know others will respond that their beer is ready to drink in 3-4 weeks, but I just plan on a minimum of 8 weeks from brew day for low to mid gravity brews. Between weeks 6 and 8, there is a huge change as the flavors meld and the green tang diminishes. Really, 9 weeks is just about peak flavor. I do four in primary, two in the keg at cellar temps, and two on the gas.

This is bad advice for certain types of beers. British Bitters (low gravity) for example. 4 weeks in primary is drastic overkill, unless there is something really wrong with your process and the yeast need to clean up something that went haywire (green tang)??? The beer should taste great after a week. I can make a bitter and drink it within 12-14 days. 5-7 days ferment, 7 days on gas and it is fantastic. If I waited and drank a lot of my British beers after 9 weeks I would lose all that good flavor that you get from the yeast and hops. I had a rotation screw up and lost a keg of Bitter in the rotation, found it 3 months later and it is not the same.....not even close. Same can be said for hefes and IPA's. I am drinking those as soon as they are carbed and after about 12 weeks they start to diminsh. I just don't get the homebrewers advice of give it X time in primary....that is BS.

 

[cklages]

I just don't get the homebrewers advice of give it X time in primary....that is BS.

I think that advice is meant for those who have to ask the question. Once your brewing chops get a little more refined, you are in more of a position to let the beer talk to you, or use the Force or even try tasting hydrometer samples. When a newb asks you long to primary, 3 weeks is a pretty solid standard answer. When someone is ready to ask the question why is my malt or hops expression sub-par, they probably have progressed past that particular bit of advice, and know better how to listen to their beer.

Of course for me, its still just the 3 weeks in primary

 

[Golddiggie]

I think that advice is meant for those who have to ask the question. Once your brewing chops get a little more refined, you are in more of a position to let the beer talk to you, or use the Force or even try tasting hydrometer samples. When a newb asks you long to primary, 3 weeks is a pretty solid standard answer. When someone is ready to ask the question why is my malt or hops expression sub-par, they probably have progressed past that particular bit of advice, and know better how to listen to their beer.

Of course for me, its still just the 3 weeks in primary

It also depends on what you're brewing... A moderate gravity brew, with an ABV target of 4-5% could be ready in two weeks. Something in the 4.5-6.5% range, usually benefits from another 1-2 weeks in primary. Once you pass 7-8% you'll need to let the yeast decide when it's ready to let go of the wort.

To get a decent idea of how long some brews can take, look at the clone brews book... There are more than a few that are considering in their prime months after being bottled (higher ABV typically). While others are best as soon as they are carbonated.

Personally, I can't stand fresh, high IBU IPA's... ~45 IBU is pretty much my limit there. I plan on setting aside a pair of my "Hoppy Accident" brew (was supposed to be an ESB, turned out to be an English IPA) for a month or so. I'm hoping that the hops will mellow out some, so that it's more enjoyable to me. That was in primary for 20 days, so it was probably even harsher when younger. I plan on trying out my Irish Red Ale tomorrow evening (bottled it almost two weeks ago now)... We shall see if it's on target for what I wanted.

Best advice I could probably give is to brew what YOU like to drink. Figure out how long it takes for your brews to develop into what YOU want to drink. Everyone else can get bent.

 

[bbrim]

More carboys!

 

[Conan]

Sorry for the delay, https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AkgL-9fSbx7bdFdHTEM1WUpfZU92c1BFdXpZZjNJaFE&hl=en&output=xls is the link, I hope. I was trying to figure out how to do that....never thought of Google Docs. Anyway, this is currently set up with 2 brew schedules. The only difference between them I believe is the "Lasts" amount, either 80 or 40 days. I also changed conditioning time to days. Kyle

 

[Chenslee]

Oh, man. I love google docs.

 

[Rotgut]

I need to figure out a good pipeline as well. I drank my last bottle of oatmeal stout last night. Fortunately the local liquor stores tend to sell good brew and I have several bottles of Hop Stoopid and Ruination in my frig.

I currently have a Belgian Strong Ale in the primary with a few more weeks to go before bottling. I have a Sweet Sundae Stout to rack into the tertiary this weekend (racking on top of chocolate. I only racked into a secondary already to add some DME for a little more kick after a not so efficient mash.. seems to have worked great.) Then there is the Smoked Scottish Strong Ale which still has a few more weeks before bottling. Lastly, a Black IPA is bottled but still has another week or so to bottle condition. And I'm brewing a simple Blonde Ale this weekend.

So my pipeline is currently dry. All of the above combined looks like I'll have a crap ton of beer pretty soon. But not right now. So for now... Lagunitas and Stone brews are being kept in stock. IMO.. next best thing to home brew.

 

[Golddiggie]

Labeled up my English IPA (Hoppy Accident, 42.4IBU, 5.47% ABV) and Irish Red Ale last night. Taking some to a party tomorrow, but I'll have some of both still here. Not as much of the English IPA since I split the 5 gallon batch with another brewer. The Irish Red Ale still has another week on the schedule for bottle conditioning (bottled almost two weeks ago now), but it should be good enough for the people at the party. Those two brews were started on 1/2 and 1/10, bottled after three weeks in primary. So, six weeks from grain to glass is reasonable for brews.

I would avoid secondary unless you're racking off of one flavor element, that you need to stop the contribution to the brew of, onto another one. If you need to free up a primary, and what's in it is not ready for bottles, get another primary.