2021 Year in Review

How small did you go (e.g., 1 gallon batches)?

It essentially takes the same amount of time to brew a batch so was brewing small worth it to you in this regard?

Cheers!

 

I never understood the small batch concept back when I had friends and neighbors to help empty kegs, even now I brew 10 gallon batches but less often. I dry hop each keg differently or add stuff like coffee or vanilla to get 2 very different beers from each batch so I'm not stuck drinking the same thing for weeks or months but the idea of spending most of a day to have a dozen bottles of beer is baffling to me

 

I did not set any goals for this past year, but none-the-less, it's been a pretty consequential year in brewing for me. Having been affected (really, become totally dis-interested with the hazy hop-juice IPA scene), I decided to branch out and expand my homebrewing horizons. The biggest success (and shocking surprise) I had was with the Averagely Perfect Kolsch, which I totally nailed. I had brewed a hefeweizen at the same time, but the Kolsch was the star. Many thanks to Vikeman and everyone who contributed! Simply delightful!

My ex-brother-in-law, who teaches a brewing science class at a university here in PA, was really impressed with it. As we discussed the brewing process at length, I became more interested in my brewing water, which I had never really paid much attention to. It tastes good and makes a decent beer! The water is a bottled spring water from the local grocery chain. I chased down the manufacturer and was able to obtain a water chemistry report which I shared with him.

It was no surprise to him that my brewing water was very similar to water in Pilzen, which explained why the Kolsch was so good. So I learned more about water chemistry and am applying that to my homebrewing. So far, I have noticed that my results are more closely hitting my target numbers in BrewCalc, which I am quite pleased with.

I'm finishing out this year with the Averagely Perfect Dubbel, which I hope is a success. Will be popping the first bottle on Christmas Eve with the fam.

Happy holidays to all!

 

Smallest batch was 2.5 gallons but usually aimed around 3 to 3.5 gallons. I enjoy the process of brewing and a wide variety of styles so for me I am not worried about maximizing my time to beer ratio. I also had some equipment limitations as I wasn't able to use my mash tun so I did BIAB in my 8 gallon kettle so that made it tough to go much bigger on any high abv beers. I'll still brew some larger batches but I need to do a better job managing my inventory to reasonable levels and this has helped a lot.

 

Not that I would encourage you to do what I do but....

Later today I will be meeting two friends for happy hour at a local craft brewery and as gifts (I will be putting a Christmas bow on these) I will be giving each a mix-a-six of my homebrewed beers. In three weeks I will be attending a Christmas Party with friends and I will be bringing a case (24 bottles) of homebrew to that party.

My personal "inventory problem" is that even when brewing 5 gallon batches I have difficulty meeting 'customer demands'.

Best of luck with your new house!

Cheers!

 

I’m right there with Jack. One year I brewed 52 batches in a year. Yep 1 a week. Even with that. Volume, just never got every thing that everybody wanted. So now I brew much less and immediate fam and friends are content.

 

Cheers to you here!

 

Wow.

...and here I am complaining about three batches in 6 weeks.

 

~I did fix the cold side oxidation problem. It massively helped, especially with hoppier beers.
~I've taken chemistry seriously, to the point where I refuse to brew if I'm out of CaCl or something. I use distilled water or well water depending on where and how much the water profile needs to move.
~Still working on not drinking my beer too fast
~I don't filter. I'm considering fining with gelatin but filtering seems like a pain.

Not bad!

 

Gelatin is simple to use if kegging. Heat the water, stir in the gelatin, dump into sanitized keg, purge keg with CO2, fill keg through the dip tube, inject CO2 through dip tube to mix gelatin into beer, put beer in keezer, let it chill and carbonate, pour off first pint, drink clear beer.

 

Sadly, I’ve only made one beer this year, and that was back in January! It wasn’t until April that I ran out of home brew, though.

There are various reasons for the drop-off, not the least of which is a general COVID-induced funk. However, I recently put together a recipe for a Brown Ale, which I hope get brewed before the end of the year, weather permitting.

Here’s to a better 2022 for everyone!

 

I haven't really brewed much the past few years. 2021 I did 3 beers in November and December. Happy with how they turned out. Wit, Saison, Winter Warmer. Fixed my leaking kegerator CO2 as well.