What do you do with your beer?

[FlyBoyKnight]

Reviving an old thread to see how the COVID life has changed anyone’s brew habits. Anyone else “having trouble” kicking kegs in this age of little to no social gatherings to aid in beer consumption?

Brew Setup: 10 Gallon SS Brew Kettle for BIAB with single 150K BTU Propane burner. Chest freezer fermentation chamber big enough for (2) 5 gallon batches at once. Keezer with 5 taps w/ usually at least 2 full. Brew 3 and 5 gallon batches maybe once or twice per month (though I have been slacking lately). IPAs, light n fruity ales, Belgians, Weizens, and stouts mainly. Never entered any competitions. Looking to start soon maybe.

What I do with my beer: Typically the President/CEO/Managing Director/Lead Quality Assurance Techician of True North Brewery (wife) and I are travelers and are only able to drink so much while at home. Our neighbors help us out as well (walk up “take out” window between our houses hahaha) but we usually rely on parties / social gatherings to kick our kegs. I am looking to purchase a beergun (since all of my DIY methods of bottling from the keg have been meh) and will probably start bottling 1/3rd of each batch to give to coworkers who don’t live near me.

(Side Note: Anyone else having trouble finding yeast strains in stock theses days? The 3 closest LHBSs to me are way low on nearly every yeast strain (one of which was dropped by Wyeast as a customer completely!))

 

[bracconiere]

System: I have a plain 15 gallon polarware pot, and a 10 gallon round cooler with a bazooka tube and ball valve. i brew 10 gallon batches

What I Do With My Beer?: I brew beer that only i can love! So after a quick filter through my liver, it gets flushed down the toilet...And as far as COVID, i haven't noticed a difference....i've been stuck in the house for 7 years now..

A keg only lasts me about 4-5 days, have no problems emptying them!

 

[Brooothru]

Been brewing more since we've been traveling so little. I've actually been enjoying it more since there are so many fewer outside obligations of time and effort. SWMBO'd and I now have a standing "date" each evening on the outside patio at 5 o'clock (somewhere). Therefore, "drinking" more "often" but doesn't appear that we are drinking more (volume), judging from the empties in the recycle bin and the fullness of the kegerator. We've really become social distancing hermits for the last 6-7 months, so the concern that we'd morph into closeted, bloated drunks was present. Somehow we've both lost a few pounds even though we haven't been hiking and traveling the way we had been for the last 6 years. I've missed being able to share my wares with friends and neighbors (other than our first and only trip this year to a beach house in Myrtle Beach for a 'socially distanced' family-only vacation). Except for that beer and wine blow-out, I'd say my brewing habits have changed but my consumption may have gone down. The net effect is that I want to brew this weekend, but the pipeline is full and I've got nowhere to put kegs anymore.

 

[NGD]

Setup: 1-5 gallon extract & mini mash batches.

What I do with my beer: grains to the chickens or make dog treats, beer for consumption and marinades and other recipe additions.

 

[bracconiere]

The net effect is that I want to brew this weekend, but the pipeline is full and I've got nowhere to put kegs anymore.

having the same problem....i want to dial in my burst carbing by weight method, i want to perfect my new mashing schedule that gets me 95% effec....But i've got stuff in both my fermenters, and only 1 empty keg! i can only drink SO MUCH in a day though, i try and get started as early as possible though...

 

[Brooothru]

having the same problem....i want to dial in my burst carbing by weight method, i want to perfect my new mashing schedule that gets me 95% effec....But i've got stuff in both my fermenters, and only 1 empty keg! i can only drink SO MUCH in a day though, i try and get started as early as possible though...

I saw that process you described on the other thread. I think you may be on to something. (Talking about the burst carb/weigh-in, not early start on Happy Hour, though that may have an application also).

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, there has been and still remains a global issue with obtaining retail packaging affecting nearly every market sector.
For many if not most sectors, it is the gating issue with getting product on shelves...

 

[bracconiere]

I think you may be on to something.

i think i am also....i just need to figure out a way to keep the gas line stable during weighing.....i got a fan in the fridge now to see if i can get a couple kegs cold quicker then 2-3 days also.....

edit: i got like 6' of silcone gas tubing i'm going to put a tee on my line, and a shut off after it...and let it stay coiled on the floor while vigorusly shaking the keg....that way the scale should stay stable....

 

[bracconiere]

it is the gating issue with getting product on shelves...

i got a lot of beer glasses, some bigger then others.... think if i put three four of them in front of me, i could drink more? lol

 

[wepeeler]

Propane setup - BIAB 5 or 10 gallon batches. Picked up a 3rd fermenter, so now I'm sitting on 3 SSbrewtech fermenters, all temp controlled individually. Gylcol chiller. COVID has allowed me to brew much more frequently. I usually do 3-4 batches a month, whereas before I was doing maybe 1 a month.

I share A LOT. I also drink a lot. I bring some to brew meetings, and I would love to enter more into competitions, but COVID...

 

[RCope]

I'm with you...two Ss Brewbuckets, two ferm chambers, and have been brewing every weekend. My usual get togethers with friends have been limited. I have 3 Growlerworks growlers (2 one gallon and 1 half) and each week I could count on friends to drink everything I would bring. So now I've been bottling with the tap cooler a lot..my co-workers get 6-packs and are very supportive .

As another poster has in their tag line, I have a drinking problem...I can make more beer than I can drink. Major Problem!

 

[corkybstewart]

I'm about to start homebrewing after a 3 year break, but my circumstances have changed so much I keep asking myself why i want to. We lived in our previous house for 30 years, and we had plenty of friends and neighbors who came by to drink my homebrew so i brew 10 and 15 gallon batches to keep both my 6 keg kegerators full. Then we moved 275 miles away, to a house in the forest 15 miles from a small town and with only 5 other people living within a mile of us. One kegerator didn't make the move so I cut my capacity in half, but all my equipment is still set up for 10 gallon batches. So to have the variety I need without mass quantities of beer that will go bad before I drink it I'm planning to do split batches-10 gallon batch of IPA with each keg dry hopped very differently, porter with vanilla or coffee in one keg, Belgian strong with brett yeast added to one keg. I thought when I retired I would become a raging alcoholic but somehow I'm much more restrained than before my hiatus, but I still love having a wide variety of beers on hand even if I will only drink a couple per day.

 

[deuc224]

Brew set up- Brewtools B80 set up and 2 grainfather conical fermenters and glycol chiller

What i do with beer- Drink most of it and give to my brother mostly, when friends come over they come drink what i have but if its just me drinking it does last a while honestly. But I got a chest freezer so I can store some or finally break out the last straw and bottle some. Im kinda scared of bottling for some reason.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Brew set up - 30gal spike 3 vessel and 2 17gal conicals for 15gal batches.

I drink a lot of beer, my wife helps, my neighbor helps even more haha. share with family and club meetings. bottle some to give away, i have even filled a regular keg for a friend before.

 

[Mothman]

Set up... 8 gal pot, wilser bag, stove top, usually 3.5 gal batches, occasionally a 2-2.5 gal if I'm trying something I'm not sure about. I brew maybe once every couple months.

What I do with it... Bottle it all, and my wife and I drink most of it over a couple month period. Very occasionally a family member or friend will have a glass.

 

[Ninoid]

Brew set-up: DIY 5G Electric BIAB and bottling.

What I do with my beer: I drink it myself and with friends and sometime give to one of them.