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One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:01 pm
by jivex5k
I'm challenging myself. I am going to brew a batch every weekend for a month. Got a brew day done yesterday so I'm counting that as the first weekend. I've got it all worked out!

First weekend: Carboys both empty.
7/7 - Pot filled with batch 1.

Second weekend: Secondary empty.
7/12 - Batch 1 to primary carboy (4 days sour mash).
7/13 - Batch 2 in pot.


Third weekend: All full!
7/18 - Batch 1 to secondary. Wash yeast. (6 days primary, yes it's that fast!)
7/19 - Batch 2 to primary. (5 days sour mash)
7/20 - Batch 3 to pot.

Fourth weekend: All full!
7/25 - Batch 1 to bottles. Batch 2 to secondary. Wash yeast.
7/26 - Batch 3 to primary.
7/27 - Batch 4 in pot.

I could theoretically keep this train going forever...

Maybe I can just pitch right on the yeast cake as well. I could hold off from bottling and transferring to secondary a day with no issues and bottle while the the wort cools.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:20 pm
by DaYooper
My wife would beat me silly if I proclaimed I was going to do that. So I just keep my mouth shut and try to do it anyway, if not just throwing together a MrB kit in a pinch.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:23 pm
by Beer-lord
You go boy!
I was doing a batch about every 2 weeks for a while but had more than I could ever drink or give away so I slowed down. It feels funny when there's nothing to watch over.
I wish you success in all of them.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:29 pm
by jivex5k
Thanks haha! My goal is to build up a pipeline and then slow down to every 2 weeks, occasionally sneaking in an extra brew so I can throw in some brett and forget it about it for half a year.
The best part is total cost: ~50 dollars...well....ok before the cost of fruit, the fruit cost should bring it up significantly but the grain bill for these berliners is only 6lbs.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:31 pm
by FedoraDave
Welcome to my world. Been brewing a batch a week since just after last Labor Day. :p

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 2:06 pm
by gwcr
You guys sure have an aggressive brew schedule. My goal this year was once a month. I missed May, but am back on track now. Might have to try to fit two in one of these months so I can at least hit the average...

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2014 2:29 pm
by D34THSPAWN
my goal was once a month, but I got nice and poor all of a sudden so I went two or three months without brewing, almost out of beer now and won't have much from this batch either (splitting it with friends) oh well!

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 10:12 am
by jivex5k
First batch is souring nicely, checked it last night and the lacto is ripping it up. Since I've eliminated that crappy cardboard box as a pot stand (so stupid lol, live and learn) the heat lamp is much closer to the pot now so it's sitting around 100F and is having a much heartier lacto fermentation. I might push ahead of my schedule and collect the wort tomorrow, though that tends to be the longest step in this process it means I can brew a new batch up tomorrow instead of Sunday so I can watch the World Cup with my friend at our local watering hole.

I should really time the process and see what takes longest, but I'm almost 100% that the wort collection does...it just takes forever to get it boiling even when I straddle the pot over two burners on my gas stove. My cooling doesn't take too long now that I have a water pump and can use ice water though...still getting the kinks worked out of that process however.

My kitchen water pressure was so bad until recently when they fixed it, I was filling up my bucket in the bathtub and replacing the water in my cooler...very labor intensive to say the least. Now I can get a hose adapter for my faucet and replace the cooling water muuuuuch easier so that's something i'm looking forward to.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:59 pm
by RickBeer
I normally brew a 5 gallon batch, bottle it, and then a week later brew again, so that's one a month. I was doing one every three weeks with Mr. Beer batches, but with 5 gallon I end up stopping at some point due to the pipeline being full, although my two boys (and one of their girlfriends) often make a big dent (him and his girlfriend moved to Florida so the pipeline gets some relief).

Currently 9.7 cases, and the one that's not yet ready is my son's Blue Moon. Now that the temp controller is built, I will brew next weekend and then 4 weeks later, back on schedule. I suspect I will get close to 8 cases before adding to the pipeline the first week of September and then every 4 weeks. This year I've brewed 1/12, 2/10, 3/10, 4/1, 5/13 (two graduations got in the way of this one), and then my son's BM 6/7). So that's 6 in 6 months, and next week will be 7 in 7 months.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 12:41 pm
by jivex5k
RickBeer wrote:I normally brew a 5 gallon batch, bottle it, and then a week later brew again, so that's one a month. I was doing one every three weeks with Mr. Beer batches, but with 5 gallon I end up stopping at some point due to the pipeline being full, although my two boys (and one of their girlfriends) often make a big dent (him and his girlfriend moved to Florida so the pipeline gets some relief).

Currently 9.7 cases, and the one that's not yet ready is my son's Blue Moon. Now that the temp controller is built, I will brew next weekend and then 4 weeks later, back on schedule. I suspect I will get close to 8 cases before adding to the pipeline the first week of September and then every 4 weeks. This year I've brewed 1/12, 2/10, 3/10, 4/1, 5/13 (two graduations got in the way of this one), and then my son's BM 6/7). So that's 6 in 6 months, and next week will be 7 in 7 months.
Damn that's a lot of beer! I envy you're ability to hold onto it for so long lol.
My problem is I'll go through a case in a week with all the ones I give away and share with friends that come over. I'm on schedule, got stuff to brew a second batch tomorrow, first batch is coming to a boil now.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:03 pm
by RickBeer
Prior to homebrewing, it would take us about 6 weeks, or longer, to go through a 12 pack. Now, in an off week we drink 3 - 6 beers. This summer, we're emptying my in-laws house. Today my wife had one and I split a 1 liter with my son, who then had 3 others. So that's 7 beers in one day. Went from 9.7 to 9.35 cases that quick.

I figured out the other day that in 5 weeks, including several dinners with my son and his girlfriend, we went through 2 2/3 cases. That's the most I can remember.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 12:28 am
by mashani
I currently have 9 or 10 cases of beer in my pipeline. (not sure how many bottles are missing from the boxes). And 2 fermenters going. I like to keep a nice stockpile in case of power failure/nuclear winter/etc.

Re: One month...gotta do it.

Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 2:33 am
by jivex5k
Damn...I usually drink 2-3 beers a day.