brewing for a party

[quantum24]

a friend asked me yesterday if i could supply homebrew for a party of his. the party is at the end of the summer and he would like apporox. ten cases, of course he would pay for all of the supplies, and being a good friend i would not mind doing this, it just seems like a large undertaking. has anyone ever done anything like this. my main concern is that i am assuming that the majority of the people will not like full flavored beer (as opposed to budmillercoors) and thus wont like my beer. other problems would include people most likely drinking from the bottle and getting chunks of yeast and because its from a bottle not getting the aroma and flavor that you get when you drink from a glass. what do you all think, could be fun to do, or a real nightmare.

[ray m]

Jesus Christ, Q...that's a tall order. I'd think this one through a bit. I personally would not, and have not, done this. If you have a lot of time on your hands, then MAYBE. I would get 2, maybe 3, batches together for this shindig (that would make 4 to 6 cases +), but I am extremely concerned about you getting burned out on homebrewing after delving into this monster request, should you choose to accept it. All that brew would have to be ready at damn near the same time, & do you really want to bottle 250 to 275 bottles of brew? I like to homebrew, but Christ Almighty, that's an undertaking that would burn me out for awhile. Hope you did not commit to this yet. You hit another point on the head about the possibility of most of the mullions at this party not diggin' your brew. If you want to be a bud, I would probably do no more than 2 batches---that would give this guy 4+ cases of homebrew for the frogs to try---but 5 batches?!?! Screw that!!

[YamahaXS]

10 cases heh? thats 25 gallons. You might be able to fill a keg, or if you have a lot of cornies, then you could probably do it. BUT really, 10 cases? You are a hell of a friend for even considering, but maybe you could say provide a case or two, to supplement the usual party fare.

Do you have the equipment needed to roll out 5 batches of beer at one time? Do you have the space for 5 concurrent batches (you are going to have 10 cases of beer sitting around your house for a few weeks.)

Also, you would need to get started right away...

[Tweek]

I made 30 gallons for my wedding. I made a porter a red and a "crowd pleaser" type. I had a lot fo fun doing it and it was great fun to have veryone drink it and tell me how much they liked it. One of my favorite parts about homebrewing is sharing with people, especially people who have never had homebrew before. If you have the containers and you are diligent this is not that big of a task, however if at all possible you should keg rather than bottle. that will save you a ton of time.

[Fast_Eddy]

I'm gonna agree with Tweek here. It seems like a great opportunity to share your homebrew(and home brewing skill) with a whole bunch of people.

10 cases is 22.5((12*24*10)/128)=22.5) gallons so you could really fit the bill with 4 batches. Just brew 2 batches this weekend and 2 next weekend.

I would tell my buddy that he has to help(read "do most of the") bottling or spring for some kegs. Kegs would work better because the sediment becomes a non factor.

If you do bottle all of the beer then consider making one or two of the batches be a wheat beer (mit hefe). Then just show everyone how to swirl it and pour. Otherwise give a little homebrew drinking class and show everyone how to pour without disturbing the sediment and have tons of plastic cups available to deter drinking from the bottle.

My $.02....I would brew a medium bitter pale, a pils(I've found almost every AB drinker really likes a good pils), a light wheat, and big, strong IPA.

[quantum24]

wow thanks for the help. i still have yet to commit to this, i liked the idea of getting him to chip in on some kegging equipment (as i was already considering moving in this direction). anyways, thanks for the suggestions, ill keep you posted on what i decide.

[paul84043]

I have made 4 batches in one week before, it's really no big deal, you're a bit burned out on brewing for a couple weeks, but you get your methods down really well.
I would use glass carboys, in my experience, there is so little stuff left after the secondary and transferring to a bottling bucket or whatever, I rarely even bother to worry about the sediment layer any more.
I think it would be interesting, and one hell of a good way to secure some more brewing equipment!!