Planning for the Brew Year

[helterscelter]

Hello all! I'm planning my Brew Year! (swidt?)

Usually I just brew when I feel like it and when I have time -- which means I don't brew often enough.. (I always feel like it, but never have the time) I figured the best way to alleviate this situation is to schedule/plan my brews so that I don't fill my days/year/free-time with too many non-brewing activities.

I've never actually planned a brew year in advance before. so I'm not really sure how to go about it. I don't have any real constraints due to weather -- I have a glycol controlled fermentation setup so ambient temps aren't really a problem.. my system can currently deal with up to 4 simultaneous 10g fermentation(s) at different temps/stages/etc (yay glycol.. it's so friggin awesome).. I've got plenty of 5gal kegs for storage/aging/serving/cabing/etc..

Generally I like to do 10g batches, but wouldn't be opposed to some higher gravity 5g batches (or some parti-gyle brews).. I've an itch to get a really good patersbier in the rotation and to keep more than enough handy so I don't feel bad (i.e. swmbo isn't mad) about drinking all dayoften.

so I guess my question in general is, how do you typically go about planning your brew year?

 

[fourfarthing]

I am an accountant, so I spreadsheet it. Google fermware brewing schedule. Simple but useful.

I try to brew a bit seasonal, but beware, just because it is in a spreadsheet does not mean that you will actually be able to follow through and brew those days!

 

[brewgar]

Hello all! I'm planning my Brew Year! (swidt?)

Usually I just brew when I feel like it and when I have time -- which means I don't brew often enough.. (I always feel like it, but never have the time) I figured the best way to alleviate this situation is to schedule/plan my brews so that I don't fill my days/year/free-time with too many non-brewing activities.

I've never actually planned a brew year in advance before. so I'm not really sure how to go about it. I don't have any real constraints due to weather -- I have a glycol controlled fermentation setup so ambient temps aren't really a problem.. my system can currently deal with up to 4 simultaneous 10g fermentation(s) at different temps/stages/etc (yay glycol.. it's so friggin awesome).. I've got plenty of 5gal kegs for storage/aging/serving/cabing/etc..

Generally I like to do 10g batches, but wouldn't be opposed to some higher gravity 5g batches (or some parti-gyle brews).. I've an itch to get a really good patersbier in the rotation and to keep more than enough handy so I don't feel bad (i.e. swmbo isn't mad) about drinking all dayoften.

so I guess my question in general is, how do you typically go about planning your brew year?

Simply label all your higher gravity beers "Patersbier" and enjoy. SWMBO will say you are a good boy.

 

[brewcat]

Write down the styles I would like to brew. Schedule seasonal brews to accommodate conditioning time. Then plan on a couple brew days a month.

To free up time I brew in the morning. I also try to keep good inventory so brew days aren't delayed because of missing ingredients.

 

[PADave]

I plan out my next 4-5 brews and order ingredients. That way I always have ingredients on hand, and brew when I can.

 

[Calder]

Reading your post, it gives the impression you have invested a lot in brewing equipment and don't really use it to it's full potential.

Plan to brew to how you consume beer, and maybe some additional bottles to store away for a few years to mature. Need to have bottles/kegs available when the beer is ready.

I brew about once every 3 weeks. I plan out what brews I think I would brew for the next 4 or 5 batches. Trying to get some variation. Obviously it changes after each brew. I don't make specific dates. I have on hand everything I need to make almost any beer I would want to make except for maybe a few specific unusual ingredients. I have 30 lbs of hops, 250 lbs of various grains, and 25 different yeasts available to me.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

i'm starting AG in 2018 and since I have enough kegs to get through winter from extract i'm going to plan my summer brews.
so I found a few recipes and put them in brew toad then scaled them down to 1 gallon and plan to buy enough to make 3 1 gallon test batches.

 

[JR_Brewer]

First off, happy new brew year! I just posted a Year in Review thread, and I like how you are looking ahead into the new year.

I usually brew with the seasons. Lighter beers in the summer, bolder, darker beers for winter. You need to brew a month or two ahead of the season to do this. I usually brew a saison each summer, and a Belgian ale in either spring or fall. I always brew something darker for the winter (a brown ale, stout, etc). Beyond that, I generally plan 2-3 months ahead, trying something new and brewing an old favorite.

Good luck and happy brewing!

 

[xCSx]

I wish I could plan out the year. Problem is I'm still trying to consume brews that are from 2016! I have 1000 check-ins on untappd but still can't drink enough to get rid of it all!

 

[helterscelter]

Reading your post, it gives the impression you have invested a lot in brewing equipment and don't really use it to it's full potential.

Plan to brew to how you consume beer, and maybe some additional bottles to store away for a few years to mature. Need to have bottles/kegs available when the beer is ready.

I brew about once every 3 weeks. I plan out what brews I think I would brew for the next 4 or 5 batches. Trying to get some variation. Obviously it changes after each brew. I don't make specific dates. I have on hand everything I need to make almost any beer I would want to make except for maybe a few specific unusual ingredients. I have 30 lbs of hops, 250 lbs of various grains, and 25 different yeasts available to me.

You are correct there. When I started brewing I had tons of free time and I like to build stuff so I started accumulating. I brewed a lot. Usually every other week. Some times id brew doubles. At one point I had 60gallons fermenting at once that year..

It seems the more equipment I finally acquired the less time I had to use it.. pumps to help make the brew day easier. Cam lock fittings. Keg cleaner. 15g fermenters so I didn't have to split batches into buckets of I didn't want to. Glycol so I didn't have to watch and adjust and worry about about temps in my basement. All intended to make making good beer easier and potentially less time consuming. Last year (2017) I brewed twice. All year. Not exactly what I had in mind.

that is why I'm trying to plan better this year. I still don't have as much free time as I did in the beginning but better time management should help

 

[helterscelter]

I am an accountant, so I spreadsheet it. Google fermware brewing schedule. Simple but useful.

I try to brew a bit seasonal, but beware, just because it is in a spreadsheet does not mean that you will actually be able to follow through and brew those days!

I like that idea. Part of my planning confusion was how to plan on fermenter allocation and keg allocation. Some brews take longer than others.. a spread sheet and or a gantt chart should help with that

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

Write down the styles I would like to brew. Schedule seasonal brews to accommodate conditioning time. Then plan on a couple brew days a month.

To free up time I brew in the morning. I also try to keep good inventory so brew days aren't delayed because of missing ingredients.

This is pretty much what I do. A “top down” approach.

There are 6 recipes that i brew often, and am very comfortable with.

First I figure out exactly which beers I want throughout the year, then I figure out when the best thing me to enjoy them would be. Lastly the amount of time it will take a particular style to reach maturation.

From there I can work backwards to determine when I would need to brew a certain style to be ready to drink at my desired time. This will give me the order in which to brew. I am always busy during the warmer months, so I stack up brew days in the winter time, when it’s too cold to do anything else. The shorter duration beers like IPAs or Hefe, I will allocate a “month” in which to brew those. Nailing down an exact date that far in advance in impractical for me.

After I have a loose schedule, I make a list of all the ingredients I will need, and which recipes share a large portion of ingredients. I buy base grains in bulk from my LHBS, as well as specialty grains that total more than 10 pounds, and yeast. Lesser amounts of specialty malts, adjuncts, and hops I purchase online.

I brew (mostly) first thing Saturday morning. The weekend before, I will order any specialty grains and/or hops I may need, I will start my yeast starter, and get all the things ready I need for brew day, cleaned and prepped. The Thursday before I will cold crash the yeast starter. The Friday before I crush my grains, and keep them in a sealed bucket ready to go.

Saturday, I wake up, grab a cup of coffee, pull starter out of fridge, start strike water, then go shower. By the time I am done, strike water is ready to go, mash in, and get other stuff ready to go for boil (hop additions, adjuncts, spices, sugars, etc. )

I find planning and being prepar d in advance makes brew day go so much smoother, but in the same regards do not be so rigorous about which date you have to brew on, this way in case something comes up and you need to reschedule, it doesn’t ruin your mojo for that brew.

 

[Oginme]

I like that idea. Part of my planning confusion was how to plan on fermenter allocation and keg allocation. Some brews take longer than others.. a spread sheet and or a gantt chart should help with that

I'm not an accountant, but I spreadsheet it anyway. My brewing season runs from October to April and it helps to organize the brews that I think I want to brew during that time period. I also track the ingredient needs to allow me to buy in bulk, take advantage of yeast repitches or splitting starters, and plan for brewing to season and events. While I do have a pretty tight schedule, I allow it to be pretty adaptable to whims and changes in style/recipe.