The 500 club

[FloppyKnockers]

It's official! I just finished a batch of Munich Helles that marks my 500th batch!

It had to be my Munich Helles. I thought it was fitting because that was my very first unskilled, fumbling attempt at homebrewing. It was not good at all. I can't even begin to tell you what went wrong. It was sweet, under-carbed, probably oxygenated too. I'm actually surprised that I had the gumption to keep at it.

Ever since batch number one, I always used an Avery string tag to put the beverage info on to keep track. I just used the last tag in the 5th pack. Granted, not all batches were beer. Some wine, some cider, and not all of them were 5 gallons. There were some 1, a few 3, and recently some 10-gallon batches in there.

In the last 500 batches I have gone through 2 hydrometers, 3 brew set-ups, a dozen homebrew suppliers, 0 infections, 2 cappers, and just recently, a tube of keg lube... never thought those things actually ran out,

Who else wears the crown of the 500 club? Do you even keep count?

 

[Jag75]

I don't keep count, however 500 is quite of few brews !

 

[passedpawn]

I've made a lot of beer - didn't count them. But I think you are way way ahead of me.

 

[MaxStout]

I don't keep track, but have probably brewed over 500 gallons, not brews.

But now I have a goal to aspire to.

 

[Conehead]

Me too. Brewing since 1979 so I would say yes, I have brewed more than 500. I did lose a few years of brew notes when my computer crashed a few years ago and lost everything. I now post online my brew notes so will never lose anything again. Munich Helles is the only lager I brew when I do brew lagers.

 

[Dland]

Congratulations, that is impressive.

Recently I brewed 202nd 10 gal all grain batch in current life, since 2017. That's on top of 50 batches noted in my brew log from back in the '90s, not counting the kit brews that got me started, I failed to document those, probably about 10.

 

[Zenmeister]

Wow, so awesome.
I keep track of every brew I have done, and for the heck of it went back and counted how many I've done. Since late 2016 I have brewed 110 batches. At that rate, I am on track then to hit the 500 club when I am about 99 years old!
It's a new goal!

 

[BrewZer]

I don't keep track, but have probably brewed over 500 gallons

Not to get all legalistic, but the feds (and most states) place a limit on how many gallons each person/household can brew annually. If you were ever audited over your brewing activity, it'd be a good thing to have a journal, log or hang-tag inventory to show the inspector you haven't overtly broken that limit...

 

[MaxStout]

Not to get all legalistic, but the feds (and most states) place a limit on how many gallons each person/household can brew annually. If you were ever audited over your brewing activity, it'd be a good thing to have a journal, log or hang-tag inventory to show the inspector you haven't overtly broken that limit...

Good thing I'm a lawyer.

It's 200 gallons per year for a household of 2 or more adults, 100 for a household with one.

Our household has 2 adults.

My 500 gallons spans about 12 years, and I've never had a year where I approached 100, much less 200.

 

[BrewZer]

My 500 gallons spans about 12 years, and I've never had a year where I approached 100, much less 200.

I would imagine most people never get close to 200 gals per year. But based on some of the totals in the annual output thread, there are certainly some who do.

 

[Agent]

I would imagine most people never get close to 200 gals per year. But based on some of the totals in the annual output thread, there are certainly some who do.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Good thing I'm a lawyer.

It's 200 gallons per year for a household of 2 or more adults, 100 for a household with one.

Our household has 2 adults.

My 500 gallons spans about 12 years, and I've never had a year where I approached 100, much less 200.

I would imagine most people never get close to 200 gals per year. But based on some of the totals in the annual output thread, there are certainly some who do.

Ah, yes! I guess it would be worth while to notice the laws on this. I don't think I ever broke the legal threshold of annual manufacture, but if I did, I destroyed the evidence.

 

[MaxStout]

Ah, yes! I guess it would be worth while to notice the laws on this. I don't think I ever broke the legal threshold of annual manufacture, but if I did, I destroyed the evidence.

Your secret's safe with me.

 

[Derp]

My next brew will be #122. I started brewing in 2010, and all but the first 10 or 12 were all-grain 10-gallon batches that were kegged.

 

[Zanatrik]

Thats a lot of beer! I started in 2022 and am starting to plan batch 10, so I clearly have a ways to go!

 

[Airborneguy]

I lost all of my old brewing records when I switched from Mac back to PC. I keep meticulous notes, so at least I have all of my current iteration batches saved. I'm up to 42 since I started again in late 2022. I definitely cracked 100 from 2005 to 2014, but that's lost to the ages now.

 

[Dland]

One advantage, I guess, to being less hi tech than some, all my brew logs are in those MEAD (hey that's almost forum relevant !) 100 page composition books. On book 6 now, however earlier on I took more meticulous notes & measurements, so they last longer these days.

 

[wepeeler]

Impressive! I'm at MAYBE 250 or so over the course of 7 years. I have 130 recipes recorded online, but I wasn't keeping track before then.

 

[beersk]

Right on. I don't think I'm quite there yet. I started brewing in fall of 2008 and there were a few years where I brewed 35+ batches, rarely a year where I brewed less than 15 batches. I think I'm at 300 some. I counted recently, but can't remember what it ended up being. I moved from Beersmith to keeping a brewing journal now, so I don't know how that will affect my ability to track how much I've brewed. Just more counting by turning pages...

EDIT: But if I count an average of about 25 batches a year, I'm close to about 400, which is probably about right.