How can I keep up?

[Biohazard]

Well I took the plunge about a month ago now and had my first beer on tap for the past 2 weeks, a pale ale, yes I rushed it into the keg and yes it was green, but all be damned if it wasnt good. And well now it is gone. I brewed again but that wont be ready for a few weeks, so my question is this:

How long did it take before you had a steady supply of beer in the works so that you didnt run out for a few weeks?

 

[duboman]

Ya, getting that pipeline started is a b***h!

It really depends on your schedule and how much you drink and how much time you have to brew. When I first started I brewed like every other week so I was bottling, brewing, bottling, brewing, etc and it was a lot of fun but starting to wear on my family!

 

[Schemy]

Once I installed a third tap and stopped hosting monthly gatherings to brew at my place. Now I have a well stocked pipeline, and actually need some guys to come over and help me go through some beer.

 

[pmatson]

My strategy is to never leave my fermenter empty. I am starting up my pipeline, with one batch ready to drink (sweet stout), one batch almost carbed (dunkleweizen), one batch just bottled (pale ale), and one batch in the fermenter (nut brown). Hopefully I will have a comfortable stockpile after a few more rounds. No rest for the wicked...

 

[Jayhem]

What pmatson said!

I always have at least one fermenter full!

I have 4 carboys and 2 buckets and everytime I brew I do 10-11 gallons (2 fermenters full). I don't keg yet but I try to keep at least 200 bottles full and either conditioning or ready to drink. It takes awhile to get a feel for it but since I do double batches I really only have to brew about once a month to keep the pipeline full! obviously it depends on how much homebrew you drink! I know that kegged beer tends to go faster!

 

[brewinchef_fairfax]

I'm essentially a single user - the wife doesn't drink much and most of my friends are light beer/corona heads who won't drain a 1/4 keg at a party - so I have most of my home brew to myself and find that 15 gallons is a good number.

I make sure to brew about once every two to three weeks. Once one is going into the bottles there is another going into the primary.

I'm switching to all my beers going into 32oz EZ-Caps because of the ease of bottling and to me the beer just tastes better and ages better in bigger bottles.

If I had friends over all the time hammering on my brew I'd have to double those numbers I'm sure. Because I'm in slow motion when it comes to drinking them and I tend to offset the consumption with 6-packs of Dogfish and Sam Adams - I always have some on hand.

 

[Biohazard]

What I didnt anticipate was kicking a keg in a week and a half, this may be due to the novelty of it being new and will slow down, but man I figured 5 gallons would last longer. Thanks for the advice, time to get brewing.

 

[Brewmech]

Brew early on the weekend and brew 2 batches a month. It takes about 5 hours to do a 5 gallon batch all grain. Start at 6am and you are done by 11am. Plenty of time for the wife and kids. Every two weeks you'll have another one ready after the initial lag time.

 

[davekippen]

My biggest pipeline mistake was not to space out the beers that needed to age. I brewed a Belgian and a Porter back to back, neither of which will be ready to drink anytime soon. I learned that every other brew needs to be something that is ready fairly quickly so the pipeline does not run dry.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Sometimes it depends on a per-batch basis. For instance, I've had my Punkin' Ale on tap for a while due to it needing to drop the alcohol hotness and because it's a style not too many of my friends get down on.

However the other two taps have had 5 beers between them in the time that the Punkin' has been on tap, and the CDA on right now is not going to last much longer.

I do find myself with an empty tap at times, which is a perfect time to brew a beer that is done quickly or meant to be enjoyed young.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

My biggest pipeline mistake was not to space out the beers that needed to age. I brewed a Belgian and a Porter back to back, neither of which will be ready to drink anytime soon. I learned that every other brew needs to be something that is ready fairly quickly so the pipeline does not run dry.

Well put. Don't learn this lesson that hard way

 

[Xpertskir]

Buy more fermenters is the first step. Then brew often. Your beers can always sit in the fermenters longer, and its better to have more beer around than too little.

Im actually in the process of restarting my pipeline since I recently moved. I have brewed 2 batches in 5 days, and plan to start an apfelwein tonight and get a yeast starter going for my next batch.

Once you get 20-25 gallons in fermenters the schedule becomes less taxing.

Also, make sure you are brewing some styles that can be ready in 4 weeks or so instead of big and complex beers that require months before consumption.

 

[BobbiLynn]

What I didnt anticipate was kicking a keg in a week and a half, this may be due to the novelty of it being new and will slow down, but man I figured 5 gallons would last longer. Thanks for the advice, time to get brewing.

Haha, when I started I made 2 batches, one the first day and one the second day. So like 10 gallons and I went on a serious drinking binge once it was ready enough to drink(but green to my standards today), LOL.

Over the years I've had pipelines going but then things would come up, no time to brew. And that sucks, when you have no time to brew. So you gotta get not only a pipeline but also back-up. That's why some brewers get so irritable, they haven't had any sleep, like pulling an all-nighter trying to get a batch done.

Good luck keeping up, the task is not for the faint of heart.

 

[b-boy]

After 2 years I finally feel like I have a system down. I'm not a very heavy drinker, so my kegs last a while. I throw a few parties and host some poker nights to get rid of the excess.

I brew a lot during the Summer/Fall, then kinda sit tight until Spring. I usualy do double batches. I never brew between Thanksgiving and New Years because I'm too busy. I might do 1 or 2 small batches in February to fill in the gaps, or to try something new. I also do a few batches of cider, so one of my taps always has cider. I let most beers age a long time, so I never assume I'll be drinking anything for at least 5-6 months.

Right now all 5 of my taps are in use and I have 3 kegs sitting on the sidelines.

 

[Varmintman]

It took me awhile but I found out not to worry about what is in the fermenter but what I got bottled. Once I get enough bottles empty for a batch I will brew and then by the time that is ready to bottle I have another batch of empties.

Works good for me because some months I will not drink much and other months it seems like I have something fermenting all the time.

 

[Nightshade]

It is all about scheduling.

Once a week take a look at your stock and compare it to last week then take amount consumed and divide by number of days, take that result and divide by quantity left and you will get the number of days until the beer is gone. Depending on how much you consume you can do this weekly, bi-weekly or monthly and should never run out.

 

[Nightshade]

Here is a practical explanation of how it works using a 10 gallon batch as example that has been on tap for one week.

On 1/21/13 I tapped a 10 gal batch of beer x
On 1/28/13 I estimate that I have 8.75 gallons of beer remaining
So consumed quantity is about 1.25gal

1.25/7 = 0.17 (consumption per day number)

Then take the remaining beer and divide by consumption rate so:

8.25/.17 = 48 days to out

Now next week I check and because of a party I now have 6gals left, same process:

1.75/7 = .25

6/.25 = 24 days to out

Keep up on it and you should always be able to plan ahead and never run dry.

 

[SwivelHips]

It has taken me a year and sometimes I still find myself short on a favourite brew. I have probably ten dozen bottles in all, yet I will likely have to get more before I can accommodate another batch. My primaries are both empty now which is a bad omen; I'll likely brew this weekend, then again in mid-Feb.

 

[daksin]

It escalates quickly, believe me. I started out brewing about once a month and drinking mostly commercial beer to having 7 kegs, mostly full all the time.

 

[beergolf]

Get more fermenters and brew every week until you have a lot of beer in bottles.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

10 gallon batches definitely help.
Brewing often helps.

And if your pipeline is getting *too* full, brew something that takes aging time. Right now I have ~10 gallons of Belgian Golden Strong that's barrel-aging as part of a homebrew club project (ready this spring/summer), 10 gallons of apfelwein aging that will probably go on tap 5 gallons by this October and 5 gallons by the following October, 5 gallons of a collaboration imperial milk stout with a fellow brewer (ready by winter), and 5 gallons of a lager that is maturing right now and should be ready in ~5 weeks. If you're limited by the number of taps you've got, those "big" aging beers can be bottled instead. And since you're kegging, you can bottle from the keg after force-carbonating, so the beer will be clear and properly carbonated every time.

When you have those beers aging, they're like gifts to yourself to supplant your pipeline down the road. And with some of the quick-turn beers you can make now that you're kegging (i.e. 2 week grain-to-glass), you can keep things going despite having those other beers aging.

(Only one problem -- I need more corny kegs!)

 

[Xpertskir]

Id like to strike my first response from the record and replace it with

"Viagra can help"

 

[Jayhem]

My biggest pipeline mistake was not to space out the beers that needed to age. I brewed a Belgian and a Porter back to back, neither of which will be ready to drink anytime soon. I learned that every other brew needs to be something that is ready fairly quickly so the pipeline does not run dry.

I will definitely third this motion!

It is highly important that at least every other batch or 2 out of every 3 batches be session beers! While some homebrewers claim to be BIG BEER or NOTHING we all tend to drink more session ales than big beer if both are available.

Personally I brew my house American Pale Ale every 3rd batch, a cream ale, light blonde or wheat beer every 3rd batch and a big beer or "experiment" every 3rd batch. This gives me 67% session ales in the pipeline and 33% big beer that is aging.

 

[Biohazard]

Get more fermenters and brew every week until you have a lot of beer in bottles.

Bottles? Thats madness, I went straight to kegging.

Id like to strike my first response from the record and replace it with

"Viagra can help"

Noted.