Fixed costs should NOT count towards the calculated unit costs (smile…)
Who wouldn’t want to be friends with someone giving away free beer?
:lol:
Gosh, do I ever have a lot of old beer laying around. I can totally relate to the OP. I’ve got more than 5 cases of beer, mead, and cider in the basement, some of which is up to 3-4 years old. Altogether I probably have about 40 different kinds of beer to choose from at any given time, both homebrew and commercial.
Until very recently, I was making 2.5 or 3 gallon batches, on a monthly basis, and this was WAY too much for a guy like me, who only drinks 1-2 beers per week on average, or perhaps the occasional 4-6 at a social event. All my friends are homebrewers too so they don’t need to be drinking all my beer as they’ve got their own. In fact we trade beer often but this doesn’t help at all to reduce the total amount I have on my shelf. So…
I am currently making 1.67-gallon batches. That is 1/3 of a standard 5-gallon recipe, which makes scaling down recipes very easy. While I still have too much beer on hand, this seems to be the best balance between getting enough of the really good batches, without adding significantly to the already too many bottles collecting on the shelf. I just made a pilsner last month, which I know I’ll drink heavily in the hot summer months, and now I made 1.7 gallons of saison just last night, again, which should be easy to drink when it gets good and hot in summertime. Speaking of which…
It can help if you brew stuff for the season, and in general it can be better to also try to keep things on the lighter side, a.k.a., “session” strength. I don’t always want to drink that old barleywine or imperial stout that is 9% ABV. I usually just want an easy quaffer at 5%, something that slides right down the hatch without much thought. It can be a whole lot easier to drink more beer if you keep the alcohol levels down. It’s harder to crack a 9% ABV beer if you’re not in the mood for something so strong. We might be shooting ourselves in the foot when we brew big monstrous beers! Or worse yet, if you put them into 22-oz bombers. It can help to keep the bottle size down to 12 oz for those strong ones. Save the bombers for your 4% ABV lite beer, you can slam one or even two of those without trouble, especially when it’s real hot and you’re real thirsty.
I am also making a conscious effort to try to drink more beer more often. I enjoy beer very much, so why don’t I drink more often?? I really don’t understand this myself. I think the reason is most likely that my favorite beverage on earth is Coca-Cola. If I’m really thirsty, 9 times out of 10 I’ll reach for a Coke before a beer. I also drink a ton of milk. I was very thirsty yesterday and I accidentally drank dang near a half gallon of milk. Should have been beer, right!? It does help to consciously try to drink more of what you brew. Next time you’re thirsty, grab a beer, not something else. Part of it’s probably cuz I’m very lazy, too. It takes effort to grab a beer. The beer fridge is in the basement at my house. Whereas, I can grab a Coke or milk upstairs. Lazy. A little too lazy. That’s part of it, for me anyway. Need to burn those calories and go downstairs once in a while.
I know a lot of the above thoughts sound absolutely crazy to a lot of homebrewers. And you’re probably right. However, I know this dilemma is more common than you might think. The fact is, some folks really LOVE to brew, but we just don’t happen to drink all that much or as often as most other people. So we need to look for ways to keep those stocking levels down and manageable, while still allowing us to brew to our hearts’ content.
I love to brew. I really love it. I get a kick out of the creativity of it, the science, the math, the art… it is all very enjoyable. You might even say I love to brew more than I love to drink! I have had an average of about 5 cases of beer sitting on my shelf for about the past 12 years. Honestly, this “problem” ain’t never going away, unless I stop brewing. And that ain’t going to happen either. But what I can try harder to do is get that average 5 cases down to maybe 4 or even 3. Keep it realistic and manageable, and fresh! Maybe throw away some of that really old beer, some of which is going stale. I just dumped some last month that was really going bad. It was one of those 8% ABV beers that was really never very tasty. Finally dumped the last ~10 bottles out after it was sitting there for like 5 years. As for the rest of it all, I think I might be able to drink a little more to be able to hit that goal. I just need to grab a beer more often than a Coke. I think I can do more of that. Maybe.
Yeah, I’m a freak. Yeah. :blah:
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]Altogether I probably have about 40 different kinds of beer to choose from at any given time, both homebrew and commercial.
[/quote]
If you’re anything like me this is your problem. :shock:
I agree with what’s been said about smaller batches in the 2.5-4g range, I’ve never made a batch < 2.5g, as like others have said I would feel like the ouput wouldn’t justify my time spent. On the other hand I do enjoy making 3-4g batches when I get into a groove and find myself brewing often, usually spring and fall, with summer and winter being a bit slower and I generally stick with my standard 5g batches.
One really nice thing about brewing small batches on the stovetop (I’m talking about all-grain) is that you can easily whip out a batch in 3.5 to 4 hours. So I can do like I did last night, work until 7:00pm (idiot), and still brew a batch and get finished at a reasonable hour. Although for this one I mashed for 75 minutes and boiled for 90, so I didn’t get done until 12:15am… but for any other style where the mash and boil times are less, it’s just so fast and easy.
Also, you don’t need a chiller or any fancy equipment at all. Immerse your boiled 1 or 2 or 3 gallons of wort in a tub of cold water for ~40 minutes, and you’re ready to pitch.
How do you guys generally bottle your 1 gallon batches? Straight out of the fermenter with a mini-autosiphon with a bottling wand on the end? I have a few one gallon sours and experimentals that i have to get around to bottling soon.
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]One really nice thing about brewing small batches on the stovetop (I’m talking about all-grain) is that you can easily whip out a batch in 3.5 to 4 hours. So I can do like I did last night, work until 7:00pm (idiot), and still brew a batch and get finished at a reasonable hour. Although for this one I mashed for 75 minutes and boiled for 90, so I didn’t get done until 12:15am… but for any other style where the mash and boil times are less, it’s just so fast and easy.
Also, you don’t need a chiller or any fancy equipment at all. Immerse your boiled 1 or 2 or 3 gallons of wort in a tub of cold water for ~40 minutes, and you’re ready to pitch.[/quote]
I do 1 gallon batches for the occasional experimental brew, and I do love how quick it is! My quickest brew to date was my take on a no-boil Berliner Weisse. BIAB stove top for 60 minute mash, followed by chilling in ice bath. Yeast was pitched and all cleaned up in less than 2 hours start to finish.
I usually transfer to a sanitized milk jug, and then autosiphon and bottle wand from there.
I also like 3gal AG. You can use a mash tun or a BIAB. Usually get 15-18 bombers depending on hops/trub. Primary in a 5 gal carboy, secondary in 3 gal carboy when necessary.
this BIAB method looks pretty interesting… at least, maybe a little bit easier (is that cheating?!).
but the NB BIAB kit shows the bag and a 7 gal pot. i’ve egot a 5 gal pot and a 10 gal pot. does anyone know if the bag fits over the 10 gal pot? probably not… and i don’t really want to spend $83 on another pot (7 gal)… maybe i just keep with the old mash tun/sparge method…
[quote=“taylor12k”]this BIAB method looks pretty interesting… at least, maybe a little bit easier (is that cheating?!).
but the NB BIAB kit shows the bag and a 7 gal pot. i’ve egot a 5 gal pot and a 10 gal pot. does anyone know if the bag fits over the 10 gal pot? probably not… and i don’t really want to spend $83 on another pot (7 gal)… maybe i just keep with the old mash tun/sparge method…[/quote]
I BIAB in both my 9 gallon and 25 gallon kettles. I use 5 gallon paint strainer bags, which don’t stretch over the rim of either pot. I wrap the opening of the bag around one of the handles and clamp it. This makes it easy to do large grain bills too, I put up to 7 pounds per bag, so I’ll usually do 1-4 bags depending on batch size and grain bill. Instead of stirring I just teabag and swirl the individual bags. I used to have a large bag that fit over the rim of the 25 gallon kettle, but it was large and waaaaay to heavy when filled with wet grain for a 10 gallon batch. I ended up scorching the rim of the big bag during a brew and never bothered making another one because I like the smaller more manageable bags.
thanks for the info… maybe i’ll try a paint straining bag on my 10gal kettle for a 3 gal batch soon… i like the DIY approaches (paint strainer bag) that i can get at a local hardware store.
Yup, $2 for a two pack last I checked at Lowes. If you have a paint supply store near you they usually sell them in 25-pack for about $5. That’s cheap enough you can justify them as single-use and not even bother cleaning.
I think these are what I’ve got:
$1.99, but about $12 after shipping. These bulk buys are a little flimsier than the 2-pack at the hardware store, so don’t push the grain poundage.
You could probably get away with using the 5 gallon pot, too. Just mash a little bit thick and make up the rest of the boil volume with sparge water.
