Is this the brewers dilemma?

[wowbeeryum]

I'm 3 batches in and totally hooked. I have at least 10 different ideas for beers I really want to try my hand at, but only get to brew once every few weeks. What to do next? It has to be the BEST choice out of all my ideas. Such a dilemma!

 

[Indianhead_Brewer]

I know what you mean. There are too many beers I want to make and not enough time and more importantly $$ to get it done. I'll just have to sit here and daydream and continue to plan out my next brew day

 

[malkore]

Make a list and prioritize. You have a lifetime of brewing ahead of you.

 

[Genjin]

Buy more fermenters. That way you can brew a little more often. But this is my dilemma as well. I want to brew a 70 shilling, altbier, saison, tripel, mild, continue working on my strong bitter, cali common, and a Kolsch. What to do?

 

[stalewater]

Blow a ton of money, buy all the grain and fermenters you can stand, brew all the beers you want, then drink your self into oblivion. That's my opinion

 

[wowbeeryum]

Make a list and prioritize. You have a lifetime of brewing ahead of you.

I guess it will come down to that. I just want to make them all now!

Buy more fermenters. That way you can brew a little more often. But this is my dilemma as well. I want to brew a 70 shilling, altbier, saison, tripel, mild, continue working on my strong bitter, cali common, and a Kolsch. What to do?

I am going to have to buy another bucket. Really though, I'm more limited on time and somewhat by money.

 

[HollisBT]

I too have a long list of ideas for beers, and constantly add to it... The worst thing is that I drink seasonally, so I have to wait for some of them, but that works out as far as brewing ahead of time to have them ready for the right weather .

Be careful not to overdo it though... Last week I brewed three different batches, in order to fill my new kegs, literally brewing on every free day that I had... It was tons of fun, but was exhausting.

 

[JJL]

It's a common problem. I would guess the next issue you will run into is having a bunch of random bottles of beer from old batches sitting around collecting dust. Often times you only drink one batch until the next one is ready. Then you forget about the first batch.

 

[wowbeeryum]

I went ahead and made a list of all the beers I really want to make now and picked one at random with a number generator. Time for a new post!

 

[kpr121]

Be careful not to overdo it though...

You must be living in some alternate brewer's universe. I didnt think that was possible....

MOAR FERMENTERS!

 

[bobeer]

My problem is I love to drink beers for the season. Planing it all out is fun but I can get stressed about having the right timing to make it all work. My next beer I want to brew a nice APA for the muggy NoVa summer but I also have to get an Imperial pumpkin going so it's ready to drink by October. It's mostly the costs that make me have to spread it out further.

 

[wowbeeryum]

Yeah I have some other ideas for fall/winter beers but I'm saving those to start with over late summer.

 

[zeg]

I've found that just having vague ideas in mind is enough, external circumstances will dictate the best order to brew them. Having external constraints can help, too.

So, in my case, the original motivation was that my wife and I wanted to make mead. After reading up a bit, I wanted to ferment something else first to get a handle on the process (sanitation practice, mostly) since mead doesn't hide flaws too well. So that's why we started on beer.

First beer needed to be simple, fast, and foolproof, so we did an ordinary bitter. Then started the mead. Next, wanted to do another beer, but needed it to be something that my wife likes, so that suggested that a stout would be strategic. We then started a cider, which required acquiring another carboy. I'd now generated enough goodwill to do a Kolsch, one of my favorite styles.

Next up I committed to doing a strawberry blonde ale as a "her" beer. For myself, I wanted to go with an Altbier reusing the yeast from the Kolsch. When I realized that strawberries weren't going to be in peak season for a bit longer, that was a good sign to swap the order on those two. This had the side benefit of a shorter storage period for the washed yeast from the Kolsch...

I have a few future ideas, but I'm not sweating the decision making too much. I find that when an empty carboy is visible on the horizon, I'll know what I need to make next. Trying not to let my overthinking problems take over my brewing life...

 

[wowbeeryum]

Good post. I've only made 3 batches so far, 2 of which were ones I knew my wife would like. Eventually I'd like to make a New Belgium Hoptober clone, IPA - fruity, IPA - dank (this is the one I'm making next), hoppy red, wheat IPA, Grimm Bros Little Red Cap clone (alt style), relatively hoppy wheat, single hop APA with something interesting (citra, NS, etc), Belgian white/wheat, Black IPA. These are just the spring/summer ideas.