When to start next brew, that is the question?

[andywilde16]

I have drunk about half of my 1st ever Home Brew (40 pint kit) which was an outstanding success but I am struggling to work out when to start my 2nd brew batch so that I do not have any period of time without Home Brew being available.

I only have the 40 x 500ml bottles (plus a few extra) so want to make sure the timing is right without having to finish a loads of bottles in one go to make way for the next batch (although loads of beer is never a bad thing!!)

Thanks in advance for any information a more seasoned Home Brewer can provide to me.

 

[Godsdog]

Barrels are the way to go alternating at least two of them £40 for two wilko budget ones? Money well spent IMO and something you won't regret
Correction £60 but still money well spent but look on eBay for them cheaper
Where you based? As there are a few good deals on eBay atm

 

[terrym]

The key to establishing a sensible stock turnover is determined by how much you drink, and sufficient time to allow the beer to condition properly.
My rule of thumb would be to assess how much you are drinking and assume your stock is about four months in total from start to finish , which allows for beer to come good in conditioning and then get consumed before it starts to deteriorate or lose its edge. Typically some beers that have been dry hopped will have lost a lot of the dry hopping effect in storage by the time four months is up.
So if you consume about 5 litres of beer every week, that means you should have a total beer stock in empty bottles or PBs, plus that in fermentation, carbonation and conditioning of about 85 litres of beer, and that means brewing about once a month if you brew 20-23 litres at a time. Drink more and you will need to brew more, less you brew less.
And I agree with @Godsdog, PBs are the way to go if you are short on storage.

 

[chewie]

You know now that it takes around 6 weeks from starting a brew to having something ready to drink, all you need to factor in is how much you are likely to drink on a weekly basis and if you want to set some aside for tasting in 6-12 months.

Approx 42 bottles (21l) taking 6 weeks to be ready means you can drink 1 per day or 7 a week by starting another brew of as soon as you open the first bottle, that would allow you to set aside 4 bottles assuming you get the full 23l per brew. If you drink 14 a week then you would need to have started your next brew 3 weeks ago.

You could look to increase the amount of bottles you have or go for the PB as GD says, or look at other things like large 1.5 litre PET bottles, mini kegs or the most expensive option cornies.

Also doing smaller batches or modifying/experimenting a bit with some of the one can coopers kits have yielded good results and would give you a bit of variety.

 

[IainM]

I think you need to get yourself some more bottles. Pressure barrels have given me nothing but grief, but other people swear by them. You can get bottles free from pubs, clearing up after parties, buying store bought beer and drinking it (Banks Bitter, 89p at Tescos, will do the job), or just buy some.

 

[Leon103]

I have over two hundred pints on the go and planning a brew next week. You have some catching up to do. Go to your local pub and get all the empty bottles and stick a brew on

 

[Pawlo7671]

The answer is :

As soon as your fermentor is clean. Then buy another fermentor and get two on the go.:)

You think i'm joking but i'm not

 

[LarryF]

It really depends how much beer you're drinking every week. I bottle 23L every two weeks and put the next one on the same day. You can get 40 PET bottles on EBay for £13. If your stock starts to creep up it just means that they get longer in the bottle to condition and you get much better beer. Or you can start fermenting for 3 weeks instead of 2 and this will only add to the quality of your beer.

 

[JapanBrew]

Also, you have the friend equation. Ounce friends find out, you'll start handing them out. So it's always nice to have around 80 pints on reserve. So when you hit 80, brew. Build up your stock.
Hint on this, start with brew numbers. I write the brew number on the cap. They sell different color caps as well. But still write the brew number that way, months down the road while you're drinking them, you can flip open your book and see you notes. It really helps.

 

[BlackIsland]

There was a time where my main concern was keeping my pipeline full on the least amount of money possible. Timing things to repitch yeast before it started to die off, keeping some variety, keeping it in its prime, but not running out. Not so much any more. I've gone from brewing to drink good beer to brewing to brew good beer; the drinking is almost secondary. I have a dedicated beer fridge that will hold about 6x48 bottles of beer, a kegerator that holds 2 5 US gallon corny kegs, and a closet for conditioning the beer not yet carbonated. I brew 5-10 US gallons of beer a month, but can't drink that much (my job requires me to maintain my weight, plus drinking that much would just not be good for my health). Anyway, I always have beer on hand, and give much of it away, so I always have a wide variety to choose from. For example, I have in my fridge currently: American Dark Strong ale, Belgian Tripel, Wheatwine, Coconut Brown Ale, Tropical Porter, Berlinerweisse, Rye IPA, American IPA, British Brown Ale, Cherry Cream Ale, Russian Imperial Stout, and Hard Lemonade. I'm bottling a DIPA tomorrow, brewing an American Brown next Wednesday, a Yorkshire Bitter on April 2nd, and a collaboration beer (using leftover ingredients and homegrown hops) with another brewer on the 15th.

The main issue is money and storage. After you solve that, the fun REALLY begins!

 

[madonion]

Every two weeks for me. 🍺🍺🍺