I need your support - brewing one beer a day for a year!

[tripplehazzard]

I have had the same idea . 365 days of the beer!! I wish I had yhe money and time fir something like this! Good luck buddy. I fully support this

 

[matthewmurray]

I fully support your idea. I would recommend joining any brewing clubs you have in your area to gather local support. There is no liver in the world that could take the punishment of such an aggressive brewing schedule. So local support would help in removing extra volume. Also on this line you may find that a lot of the people would be willing to donate bottles, ingredients, and ideas as well. Along this line you may be surprised with special guests being interested. If you do commit, remember you don't need to brew every day at home. Remote locations also count.

I like the idea of doing big beers. Doing one a month would surly suffice to keep the big beer coffers full. I would also recommend picking your favorite that you have done, maybe that you consider a session beer, and do that once a week throughout the year. This would help you in repeatability, and making minor changes would be very observable.

All I can say is good luck. I will be following your blog.

Thank you for a very encouraging post. There seems to be a great homebrewing community in Charlotte and I am looking forward to learning from some more experienced brewers.

Off site would be fun. I've already planned how I can go camping with my sons and brew over a camp fire. In theory. That one might require some video footage.

 

[matthewmurray]

I have had the same idea . 365 days of the beer!! I wish I had yhe money and time fir something like this! Good luck buddy. I fully support this

I will make the time, but, if anything, money will be the limiting factor. I have already reached out to some local businesses who are saving food grade buckets for me to store a couple thousand pounds of grain (LHBS also offered to hold my overflow in a grain bank). Any other ideas for bootstrapping are greatly appreciated!

 

[Hopinista]

Do you not have a job? I have a hard enough time trying to brew once a month between family, work etc. Good luck all the same...

 

[matthewmurray]

Do you not have a job? I have a hard enough time trying to brew once a month between family, work etc. Good luck all the same...

Full time job managing one small store of a Fortune 500 Company. And I am a freelance musician. But I cook dinner every night. Brewing beer is not so much more difficult than a side dish.

Thank you for the encouragement!

 

[matthewmurray]

I have had the same idea . 365 days of the beer!! I wish I had yhe money and time fir something like this! Good luck buddy. I fully support this

Do you know if anyone has done it? Or even attempted? I would love to get advice from someone who has walked this path before.

 

[Facinerous]

Watch the movie Julie and Julia

 

[JayDubWill]

Thank you for a very encouraging post. There seems to be a great homebrewing community in Charlotte and I am looking forward to learning from some more experienced brewers.

Off site would be fun. I've already planned how I can go camping with my sons and brew over a camp fire. In theory. That one might require some video footage.

A smoked porter, ale, or rauchbier would be a great one to do over a campfire. You probably wouldn't even need any smoked malt!

 

[lotusworker]

If you are ever in Raleigh, you can guest brew at my place. This will be a good learning experience doing this every day.

 

[matthewmurray]

If you are ever in Raleigh, you can guest brew at my place. This will be a good learning experience doing this every day.

That's a great offer. Thank you. I hope that I can take you up on that! Maybe a tour of the Carolinas if there is enough hospitality offered!

I know that I can fit a one gallon jug inside of a 5 gallon bucket with several inches of water and some ice packs to keep fermentation at a reasonable temperature for a few days, so travel is possible. But I think either way Raleigh could be a day trip. I will get in contact as the time comes near.

 

[Valtyr]

This is an awesome idea. Sounds like a great way to get a feel for every aspect of brewing. Are you planning on using different styles, extract, BIAB, things like that? Might make for an interesting comparison. Good luck with this brewing adventure.

 

[CUrchin]

Are you going to invest in some kind of automation? Might make the task easier if you don't have to babysit a brew the whole time.

I wish you luck. Not an easy task.

 

[djevans3]

Thanks for the comments! It's great to connect with another local brewer. Please plan a day to come brew and taste with me - beer isn't made to be enjoyed alone!

One gallon batches, all BIAB so far. I actually quit brewing about a year ago because I am a perfectionist and bought into the lie that my beer wasn't good enough because I didn't have a cooler-converted mash tun, a hot liquor tank, and a thermostat controlled fermentation fridge. I made a spreadsheet of all of the gear that I needed to brew my next batch, and when I couldn't afford any of it, I waited and waited, and eventually "I haven't brewed in a while" turns into "I don't brew anymore."

I would love to try brewing with a three vessel setup, but right now I have the cheapest pot I could find at W**m***, empty jugs from drinking a ton of apple juice, and a five gallon paint strainer from a hardware store. And I make great beer.

For this project, I will need to offer a little more consistency for my project to be of any use to the brewing community, so I do plan to have a few temp controlled chest freezers, but I don't plan to make any outrageous equipment upgrades. I might upgrade to a set of accurate hydrometers, because reading that cheap triple scale is probably the most time consuming part of my brew day.

If there is a huge interest in comparing equipment setups, I will gladly brew with any setup that I can borrow and return gently and lovingly used and sanitized.

I don't have a 3 vessel system, but use a cooler mash tun and keggle so 10G batch capacity. Maybe we can put together a brew day together for you to take some wort home. I'm currently building a house and don't have much space to brew at my rental, but we can make it work. You could take home a few gallons which you can add different yeast or adjuncts to.

 

[HomebrewCraig]

Boy.. After a year of that, I just might be tired of brewing! The part about relying on Kickstarter would worry me, especially if I were sticking to a firm start date. There's no guarantee that you will take in as much as you are trying for, which means the rest becomes an out-of-pocket expense for you.

I think you will definitely need some help in drinking it, just for the fact that you will need the bottles back! The number of bottles you'll need alone is staggering..

365 gallons of beer, makes about 2920 12-ounce bottles of beer. If you drink two beers a day, you will still have 2190 beers in bottle by the end of your goal. And if you brew bigger batches... Whew! 2190 bottles of beer is 91.25 cases, which is roughly 74.35 cubic feet of storage space, or, lining a ten foot wall of your basement floor to ceiling, which will shrink that living space by 16 inches.

And then there's the ingredient cost. Just looking in BeerSmith at my one-gallon recipes, the cost range is about $3 to $8, and that doesn't even factor in the yeast. You have SMaSH recipes on one end of the spectrum, and Barleywines and RIS and bourbon-aged stouts on the other.. Your average cost for a one-gallon batch may be $5, excluding yeast. I live in Chicagoland with a half dozen LHBS within an hours' drive, and I can guarantee you that I will not be able to find every ingredient for every brew when I plan to brew them.. I would imagine that you will run into the same issue, and will need to resort to ordering at least a portion of your ingredients online. So now you have to factor in shipping cost and shipping lag time which may impact your timeline.

You'll also need to become quite adept at washing and reusing yeast to keep your production costs down.. Even splitting a vial into 2 or 3 fermenters will still add $1 to $3 per batch.. Using dry yeast is an option, but is a limiting factor.

Are you planning a brew every day? Or 365 brews over the course of a year? Do you have a plan for when you get sick, or lose power, or the kids get sick, or need to travel for work, etc?

I fully support the mission, so I hope this doesn't come off as pessimistic. My background is in supply chain logistics, so these are things I work with regularly. I understand that this goal is quite lofty and time-consuming.. Between actual brewing, clean-up, photography, blogging, bottling, this can be an 8 hour day, seven days a week. I wish you luck! And I will be watching your blog. I hope that you post up your recipes as you brew them.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[Giezer]

Good Luck!

 

[matthewmurray]

This is an awesome idea. Sounds like a great way to get a feel for every aspect of brewing. Are you planning on using different styles, extract, BIAB, things like that? Might make for an interesting comparison. Good luck with this brewing adventure.

I currently use BIAB (I thought that I had invented it until I found out that there are thousands of other people doing it also) in a single vessel and no sparge. My efficiency is only 65%, but I haven't minded spending the extra few cents to make up for it, and it has been within one point either way the past five brews, so I can count on it. I am currently practicing on getting it a little higher with a finer crush and using a proper water profile, but I feel really comfortable with my one vessel system because it is so easy to set up and clean, both as a casual brewer, and especially once I start every day. Washing a pot at 2am after a brew isn't so bad, but add in a converted mini-cooler and some additional lines and I have doubled my work.

I am still open to different systems, though. I think it would be fun to do some comparisons. I have never made an extract brew and don't plan on doing it for this unless there is a lot of interest.

 

[matthewmurray]

Are you going to invest in some kind of automation? Might make the task easier if you don't have to babysit a brew the whole time.

I wish you luck. Not an easy task.

Because I use a single 16qt stock pot that can fit in my oven, I currently spend about 3 minutes hands-on time with mashing, a few more minutes bringing it up to a boil and pulling out the grain, and then I wear a timer around the house to remind me to throw in hops on schedule. No risk of boil-over because of the large pot. I pre-measure each addition while the strike water is heating up, so there isn't a lot of hands on time.

I am going to purchase an induction burner so that I can keep the beer away from the stove as I often brew and cook dinner at the same time. My biggest fear is accidentally using the marinara sauce spoon to stir the mash!

I have tried a few different techniques at bottling and am still looking for the most efficient process. I think I will get a rack or bottle tree as I currently use an empty dishwasher to hold the sanitized bottles, but I don't want to count on the dishwasher being empty every day when I need to bottle.

Thanks again for the support!

 

[matthewmurray]

I don't have a 3 vessel system, but use a cooler mash tun and keggle so 10G batch capacity. Maybe we can put together a brew day together for you to take some wort home. I'm currently building a house and don't have much space to brew at my rental, but we can make it work. You could take home a few gallons which you can add different yeast or adjuncts to.

That sounds really cool. I am sure that you have as much or more room than I do! So far I have an offer to brew in Concord, and one in Raleigh! I never anticipated people inviting me to brew with them, but I think it really epitomizes the homebrewing culture. Thanks again for your support, and I will be in touch as I start to put a calendar in stone.

 

[Airplanedoc]

Since it is not practical for you to brew with most of us who are more than a few hours away, have you considered accepting (a 1 gal beer in a box) someone builds a 1 gal grain bill, and mails it to you for your to brew.

Lots of us probably have misc amounts of specialty grains sitting around that would be more than enough to make a 1 gal batch when combined with a little bit of 2 row. Yeast might be a problem, for shipping, but if you provided a list of yeast strains that you had, that could work around that.

Also this could ease your burden of having to weigh and measure ingredients, just open the box and go.

You definitely need more than just a blog, Video posts for sure.

Have you contacted white labs or wyeast about your plan? 365 days of beer with exclusively using __________ yeast would be good advertising for them.

 

[geer537]

Liked the Facebook Page. Love the idea. I'd like to see you try the Lithuanian Beer discussed in this forum. I like the Prepackaged 1 gallon brew idea someone had mentioned. I think I could swing one but I'd need help on a one gl recipe. I currently do 15 gl. Sure I could figure it out.

Would you be willing to send a bottle to people who donate a recipe if you go that route? Think about that hard before answering- if you get 50- 100 people willing to donate, that saves you money on the recipe but shipping a bottle back to those who rquest it may be pricey and time consuming- but it would be awesome.

 

[matthewmurray]

Boy.. After a year of that, I just might be tired of brewing! The part about relying on K********** would worry me, especially if I were sticking to a firm start date. There's no guarantee that you will take in as much as you are trying for, which means the rest becomes an out-of-pocket expense for you.

I think you will definitely need some help in drinking it, just for the fact that you will need the bottles back! The number of bottles you'll need alone is staggering..

365 gallons of beer, makes about 2920 12-ounce bottles of beer. If you drink two beers a day, you will still have 2190 beers in bottle by the end of your goal. And if you brew bigger batches... Whew! 2190 bottles of beer is 91.25 cases, which is roughly 74.35 cubic feet of storage space, or, lining a ten foot wall of your basement floor to ceiling, which will shrink that living space by 16 inches.

And then there's the ingredient cost. Just looking in BeerSmith at my one-gallon recipes, the cost range is about $3 to $8, and that doesn't even factor in the yeast. You have SMaSH recipes on one end of the spectrum, and Barleywines and RIS and bourbon-aged stouts on the other.. Your average cost for a one-gallon batch may be $5, excluding yeast. I live in Chicagoland with a half dozen LHBS within an hours' drive, and I can guarantee you that I will not be able to find every ingredient for every brew when I plan to brew them.. I would imagine that you will run into the same issue, and will need to resort to ordering at least a portion of your ingredients online. So now you have to factor in shipping cost and shipping lag time which may impact your timeline.

You'll also need to become quite adept at washing and reusing yeast to keep your production costs down.. Even splitting a vial into 2 or 3 fermenters will still add $1 to $3 per batch.. Using dry yeast is an option, but is a limiting factor.

Are you planning a brew every day? Or 365 brews over the course of a year? Do you have a plan for when you get sick, or lose power, or the kids get sick, or need to travel for work, etc?

I fully support the mission, so I hope this doesn't come off as pessimistic. My background is in supply chain logistics, so these are things I work with regularly. I understand that this goal is quite lofty and time-consuming.. Between actual brewing, clean-up, photography, blogging, bottling, this can be an 8 hour day, seven days a week. I wish you luck! And I will be watching your blog. I hope that you post up your recipes as you brew them.

Cheers,
Craig

I have been trying for hours to respond to this post, but my computer officially turns 9 years old next month and just can't keep up. Hopefully this will go through.

Thank you for your comments and challenges. I really appreciate the hard questions - better for me to wrestle with them now than to fall flat on my face in July.

First, I have been asked not to mention the K********** campaign on HBT, so check my personal website for an update on funding.

I usually get 10 bottles out of a 1 gallon batch, and never fewer than 9 so far. I think that I will shoot for 9 because I can fit 8 of the 9 in a case with two other batches (8 X 3 = 24) and store the final bottle of each brew in a different case. That comes to a total of 3,285 bottles. One pallet of brand new empties is 2,200 12oz longnecks which will get me though Thursday, March 5. I would need 1,085 more bottles at that point which would be equal to the empties of all brew days from my start date through the November 2 brew date. That doesn't include any of the bottles that I have on hand or those that I hope to beg from local sources (taprooms, other homebrewers, etc.). If all else fails, I will buy two pallets. Transporting them is going to be tricky, but I hope to find someone who will help. Haven't asked the LHBS yet if they would be willing to deliver. I think that they might be more open to it after I order a couple thousand pounds of grain.

On that note, I am planning to bootstrap where ever possible (harvest yeast, barter for equipment and bottles, humbly accept donated ingredients) and buy from the local homebrew store when that doesn't work. I love shopping with a few clicks from my phone, but I believe in the importance of supporting local business whenever possible.

I am also concerned about the cost. I might have to say no to some of the more exotic brews if the entire cost falls on me, which is only fair. However, it seems like there is a lot of interest in seeing some experimenting with pricey ingredients, so maybe someone will be willing to share a few leftover oak chips. It doesn't take a lot of anything for a one gallon batch. For those who have never brewed one gallon, 2.5 lbs of grain = 1.060 OG with my setup. When buying in bulk, that's less than $3 per batch (about $1000 for this entire project). A packet of Safale yeast costs less than three and a half bucks and can ferment 14 batches without washing anything. That's under 25 cents per batch.

I very much hope to brew every single day. But things do happen. Once I brew the first batch on July 5 of this year, I will make a commitment to brew the 365th beer on July 4, 2015. In case of catastrophe, I will catch up. Like many of you, I often brew two or three beers in one day and it isn't a problem. My wife already agreed that if we go on vacation during the Year of Beer, the beer comes with us. Throw that on the "Does your SO support your brewing?" thread!

I can't commit to blogging every day. I will post each recipe, hopefully each day, but at minimum each week, and do my best to answer all comments on the forums and my website, but so far the social media part is taking more time than the brewing. All I can promise is that I will do my best to keep everyone in the loop, and ask good friends for help if I get behind. Several of them have already offered to answer a few emails or post some pictures if needed.

Thanks again for the fantastic questions. Please, keep them coming.

 

[matthewmurray]

Since it is not practical for you to brew with most of us who are more than a few hours away, have you considered accepting (a 1 gal beer in a box) someone builds a 1 gal grain bill, and mails it to you for your to brew.

Lots of us probably have misc amounts of specialty grains sitting around that would be more than enough to make a 1 gal batch when combined with a little bit of 2 row. Yeast might be a problem, for shipping, but if you provided a list of yeast strains that you had, that could work around that.

Also this could ease your burden of having to weigh and measure ingredients, just open the box and go.

You definitely need more than just a blog, Video posts for sure.

Have you contacted white labs or wyeast about your plan? 365 days of beer with exclusively using __________ yeast would be good advertising for them.

I will humbly accept any ingredients that are offered. I am a yeast novice, but am planning to be very comfortable with harvesting, washing, and storing by the time the YOB starts.

I need to spend some time on the website and make it a little easier to navigate. I currently don't have the technology (or time) necessary to make frequent video updates, and I'm not sure that anyone would want to watch me brew from start to finish, so any suggestions on helpful videos would be appreciated. I am trying to find the best palates in the area to help analyze experiments, and plan to post their feedback and notes whenever possible.

I haven't contacted any commercial companies yet, for endorsements or otherwise, and I am not sure that I plan to. This is homebrewing after all, and although I may be brewing very frequently, I don't feel that I am any more important than any other homebrewer. I do plan to meet the brewers at my local breweries in the next months, so maybe they could donate the washed yeast from one batch - it would last me months!

 

[matthewmurray]

Liked the Facebook Page. Love the idea. I'd like to see you try the Lithuanian Beer discussed in this forum. I like the Prepackaged 1 gallon brew idea someone had mentioned. I think I could swing one but I'd need help on a one gl recipe. I currently do 15 gl. Sure I could figure it out.

Would you be willing to send a bottle to people who donate a recipe if you go that route? Think about that hard before answering- if you get 50- 100 people willing to donate, that saves you money on the recipe but shipping a bottle back to those who rquest it may be pricey and time consuming- but it would be awesome.

The Lithanian Beer sounds like a lot of fun to brew! I will keep it in mind!

An easy way to create one gallon brews is start with a goal OG, say 1.060. I currently get a very consistent 65% effeciency (consistency over efficiency!) with a pre-boil volume of 1.75 gallons and a target of 1 gallon in the fermenter. Use whatever brewing software you like (or a pencil and paper) and find that that equals about 2.5 gallons of grain. Go to town! I will have lots of hops on hand.

I have already considered your question about shipping a bottle to supporters and friends, but haven't come up with an answer yet. I wish that I had one for you, but as you mentioned, there are very real downsides to committing if I get more than a few people interested. I will keep you updated.

Thank you for your support!

 

[masskrug]

Aside from the brewing time, work and supplies needed...

4 kids and a job? Life is going to get in the way somewhere. No vacations? No sick days? No tournaments for the kids?

This is a great feat. A single man without a job might be able to do it. Good luck.

 

[CUrchin]

Aside from the brewing time, work and supplies needed...

4 kids and a job? Life is going to get in the way somewhere. No vacations? No sick days? No tournaments for the kids?

This is a great feat. A single man without a job might be able to do it. Good luck.

Don't forget planning time, recipe research/design, transfers, lagering, D-rests,logging,hydro samples,labelling... I don't know,this may just take the fun out of brewing for me. It's quite the challenge. I think you'd want to look for every way to make things more efficient. I also think for the website to be successful the beers would need to be varied. People aren't going to want to read about 363 smash beers. But imagine the parties you could have...

 

[matthewmurray]

Don't forget planning time, recipe research/design, transfers, lagering, D-rests,logging,hydro samples,labelling... I don't know,this may just take the fun out of brewing for me. It's quite the challenge. I think you'd want to look for every way to make things more efficient. I also think for the website to be successful the beers would need to be varied. People aren't going to want to read about 363 smash beers. But imagine the parties you could have...

The easiest way to increase efficiency is to skip half of what you just suggested. Research, design, and plan the entire year before it stars, skip transfers, lager the beers I make in the winter months (just like our forefathers) so that the box is set to the same temp for multiple beers, hydro sample as I bottle (three weeks standard in the primary/only fermenter), label beers #1-365 with a piece of tape and a sharpie for the fermenter, and right on the cap for the bottles.

I will certainly vary the recipes - my only trial with SMaSH brewing was a little to simple for my taste, anyway.

Thanks, as always, for challenging me to think about these things now instead of while I am in the thick of it. I hope my beer improves in taste over a year - if not, I will at least improve my technique and be able to brew in my sleep once its over.

 

[HomebrewCraig]

I am glad that you are considering all possibilities to achieve your goal. In my eyes the biggest hurdle will be in the planning phase. Every day, while brewing up one batch and cleaning up and documenting your journey and bottling last months' batches, you will need to be planning the batches coming up in the next four weeks. This week: Do I have the gear ready Are my ingredients in order for each batch? Next week: Will I have my delivery in time for next weeks' brews? Two weeks out: Which recipes can I brew with ingredients I have on hand without requiring an additional online order? And so on and so forth.

Of course there are efficiencies in the process, such as buying in bulk. Base grains around a dollar per pound, specialty grains around a buck fifty.. And then there's hops.. Bought in bulk they are still $12 to $25 per pound. I find some recipes do end up around $3 per one gallon batch, but most end up closer to $5... Three to four dollars in grain, perhaps two in hops... Sometimes less, sometimes more. And that's just the cost for the main ingredients, and doesn't even consider the incidentals, such as bottle caps, StarSan, electricity/gas, water, PH papers, replacement equipment, additives, clarifying agents, dextrose, fruit, etc. I think it wise to err on the side of cost rather than the side of thrift, because we know Mr. Murphy likes to help us brew!

It would be great if you could find a compatriot who could assist with the social media aspect. You're going to have your hands full with everything else.

 

[copyright1997]

Do you mean to use a single hop addition at the beginning of the boil and only dry hops?

Yes, that is why I did. However, you don't need to as you are doing different batches each day. But the idea remains the same, you could use a neutral bittering hop, then just use a single (other) hop for late additions and/or dry hop.

 

[Brewser_]

Good luck in your completing your goal. One thing you might try is repitching the same or very similar beer onto a yeast cake and see if the taste profile is different, just food for thought

 

[matthewmurray]

I am glad that you are considering all possibilities to achieve your goal. In my eyes the biggest hurdle will be in the planning phase. Every day, while brewing up one batch and cleaning up and documenting your journey and bottling last months' batches, you will need to be planning the batches coming up in the next four weeks. This week: Do I have the gear ready Are my ingredients in order for each batch? Next week: Will I have my delivery in time for next weeks' brews? Two weeks out: Which recipes can I brew with ingredients I have on hand without requiring an additional online order? And so on and so forth.

Of course there are efficiencies in the process, such as buying in bulk. Base grains around a dollar per pound, specialty grains around a buck fifty.. And then there's hops.. Bought in bulk they are still $12 to $25 per pound. I find some recipes do end up around $3 per one gallon batch, but most end up closer to $5... Three to four dollars in grain, perhaps two in hops... Sometimes less, sometimes more. And that's just the cost for the main ingredients, and doesn't even consider the incidentals, such as bottle caps, StarSan, electricity/gas, water, PH papers, replacement equipment, additives, clarifying agents, dextrose, fruit, etc. I think it wise to err on the side of cost rather than the side of thrift, because we know Mr. Murphy likes to help us brew!

It would be great if you could find a compatriot who could assist with the social media aspect. You're going to have your hands full with everything else.

Planning is going to make or break this project. I do want to have at least 6 months planned out by the time I hit July 5, if not the entire brew calendar.

You are right about the overall cost - $5 or $6 per batch seems reasonable on average. And I really do need a friend to help with the social media part. I am still looking, but I have someone in mind who I think is pretty interested. Thanks again for the insights.