I've only been at this hobby for a month now. I just brewed my 3rd beer yesterday and it continues to be more enjoyable each time I brew. It got me thinking, I'm enjoying this this much and haven't even had one of my beers yet! I also thought I have 15 gallons of beer in my house, and none that is ready to drink! I've read many threads and respect the advice given here about waiting longer to bottle condition, as most beers will get better with a week or two longer than a recipe calls for. Hence the thread title, it's painful! I'm trying to let my first bottled beer, a black IPA, go 3-4 weeks bottle conditioning before I put one in the fridge to try. I think that has motivated me to try to brew once a week to "get ahead" of the rotation, if you will. Is this a process most employ and once you get several different beers stock piled, cut back in brewing once a month or so? I certainly understand it's subjective, but am I overkilling brewing once a week? I'm eagerly waiting to try the fruits of my labor! Waiting to bottle is an American Cream Ale, just brewed a chocolate milk Stout yesterday and on deck I still have a wheat Saison and a Pliny clone. At least I'm not obsessed…….
You're more patient than me. I still can't help myself and dip into them too early. Keep the course you won't regret it. I've had some batches that were more than 1/2 way gone before they truly hit their stride. One thing you can do is to drink like one beer every one or two weeks so you can get a feel for how different styles change over time. Cheers!
You have three 5 gallon batches in the pipeline already. Let's say you'll be drinking/sharing 5 gallons a month. Just wait a month after your last brewday to brew the next one. I think your idea of brewing once a week to "get ahead of the rotation" is going to cause a logjam on the consumption side.
4 weeks to condition an IPA is a little long in my opinion. I start moving *some* to the fridge after 7 days
I brew almost every week, but I keg most of that as well. I don't think you're being too crazy to try to get ahead of the game...then again, I dont drink very much store bought beer. We take around 10 days to 2 weeks to finish a keg of IPA, so I tend to brew an IPA every 2 weeks and brew something else on the other week, like a stout or a sour/wild beer. Kegging has definitely inspired me to brew more and drink less store bought brews, so if you're (not) that obsessed, then you may want to look towards that as a way to cut down on the patience issue. You can force carb and drink on the keg in a day or 2, although its much better with a week or 2 on.
I'm hoping this doesn't cause an issue and think I have a cool (temperature speaking) basement where I can cellar some beers if need be. Unfortunately (pun intended) VikeMan, I have several friends who rather enjoy drinking beer! ^Exactly the feedback I love from you guys! Thanks Mag00n, maybe I'll put one in the fridge here and give it a go when I get home from work yet tonight and as kennyg suggested, space it out until it is to my liking then have at 'em. Thanks guys.
DrMindbender, within the past couple days, I've been researching this thought some. I already have a kegerator, which I'm ashamed to admit has sat empty for some time. I wouldn't think it would take much at all to adapt some 5 gallon kegs to it. It's something I am definitely going to look into after a few more batches I believe. I'll probably hit you up with some questions, if you don't mind.
Depends how much you drink, really. It's not unheard of for me to kill a 5 gallon keg in about 10 days. In the beginning, it was hard to go through a lot of the beer because the stuff I was making at first wasn't very good, so I would often bypass my homebrew for commercial beer. But now that I make beer that I am just as happy to drink as commercial beer, brewing every 2-3 weeks or so keeps me supplied. Also, hopefully you don't mind the lack of variety. Do you have a problem with drinking about 2 cases worth of the same beer? Some people on BA say they never drink the same beer twice in a row. With home brewing, that kinda goes out the window, unless you have a few varieties ready all at the same time and you can rotate, but you're still drinking a lot of the same beer.
I think this is the first time someone's started a thread as a new brewer saying that they are too patient. LIVE A LITTLE! DRINK UP!
I agree with Mag00n, I see no problem in tasting a few bottles almost right away. There's a thing called "bottle shock" (that some believe in, and some don't, but I've seen it myself running a bottling line for 15 years) but I certainly wouldn't worry about that at your level. Taste it upfront and maybe you'll learn something from it, just don't jump to changing your recipe based on those first bottles. What I would recommend is having some patience and letting the beer condition a little longer prior to bottling, particularly if you can cold-condition it.
