Planning Your Brews

[Brewer_010]

Wondering how people plan their brewing?

I tend to plan ahead seasonally, so I think "Winters coming, would like a stout, a IPA and a ESB for July/August". And buy the necessary bits beforehand.

How do others plan their brewing? Far in advance or spur-of-the-moment?

 

[mika]

Now I'm mashing, gotta plan several days in advance to get the materials together, also time to fire up a starter.
Even when I'm kitting it would take several days before the brew to think about what I wa going to throw in.
Style decisions are made in seconds though

 

[lonte]

I tend to plan ahead about 7 months of the year for comp beers, then just let the other 5 months "happen".

 

[Finite]

Im planing ahead....atm im brewing mostly beers I want to drink come winter.....quad, winter warmer, porter etc. May/june ill brew octoberfest styles etc...july I start thinking about lagers/pils for summer.

That way I have conditioned yummy beers come that season.

EDIT: Oh if your talking about actually planing the brew...im not that precise but usually a week or so before I brew I will develop the recipe then order stuff the next day.

 

[hughman666]

I typically rotate between favourites as I have 3 kegs and 2 taps. It took a while to settle on 2 brews but I love my IPA and Belgian Wit. I use my 3rd keg for experimentation and this gives me a few weeks to research and plan. Currently planning a 3rd beer to make a staple favourite and this is going to be a pils/lager type beer.

 

[bugwan]

For me, it all depends on supplies. If I'm running low, it will be spur of the moment. Currently (since I am without refrigeration), I plan a week ahead, dependent on the weather. Sunday and today were meant to be scorching, so I brewed an ale on Saturday morning and no-chilled. This way, I can pitch tomorrow or the next day, when the wort is cool enough (and my starter has kicked off).
I have a borrowed fridge coming soon, so the planning can be more precise then.

Sometimes I walk into the local HBS for a browse, then walk out with 5kgs of grain and confused look on my face. Spur of the moment seems to work for me...!

 

[bconnery]

It's a bit of both. I do think about doing beers for winter etc. But then I do a lot of seeing a recipe or reading about a style and then decide to do that.

I've been meaning to brew a stout for winter for three years now but have only just put it down. Other dark beers kept popping up...

 

[lonte]

The other thing I do more as tradition is brew a stout every year on the weekend closest to St Pat's Day. It's a Russian Imperial this year

 

[DarkFaerytale]

i try to plan ahead for winter/summer that sort of thing, but usually get side tracked after reading books/threads a week befor brew day and end up with something else, eg. drinking atm choc stout, porter and 80/-, really should of left these for winter

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Sometimes I think "mmmmmm...must brew and XYZ" but usually when drew days comes around, I just go thru the cupboard and see what I have in the way of grains, then see how much hops I have left, have 2 longnecks, then just make whatever comes into my head...