This month our Brewmaster takes us to school and reminds us to bring our pen & paper.

The holidays have come and gone and many of you may have found that the number of guests you entertained steadily increased and the amount of home brew on hand rapidly decreased. With this thought at heart I feel it is time to bestow to you in this edition of BrewTips an ancient secret in the world of home brewers, The Brew Schedule.

There is nothing more enjoyable and rewarding than being able to serve my guests fresh home brewed beer that I made. I get tingles every time I have the chance to say, "Would you like to try a home brew?" I truly relish these moments and I always make sure I have plenty of home brew just for these occasions.

However, in my early brewing days this was not always the case. Friends would come over looking for some of my great beer and I would have to embarrassingly say, "I'm out." I quickly learned that if I wanted to have a continuous supply of fresh home brew on hand I needed to start brewing on a schedule. I found that by creating a brewing schedule I always had beer available, and I could plan the beers I wanted to brew way in advance.

To set up an effective brewing schedule you must have a Brew Log. A notebook decorated with a stylish Mr. Beer Sticker works perfectly, or a wall calendar (preferably one with a beer theme) is also suitable. Once you have your Brew Log, decide on the day of the week that is most convenient for you and make that your official "Brew Day". Record this day in your Log. Then figure out what the date will be two weeks from your Brew Day and record this date in your Log. Finally, find out what the date will be three weeks from the last date and record it in your log. You now have a Brewing Cycle with two 2-week periods and one 3-week period. (The 2-week periods should be used for brews with standard alcohol content, and the 3-week period should be reserved for brews with a higher alcohol level.)

After all your dates are set, you get to have a little fun. Decide on what beer you would like to brew on each Brew Day and record it in your log on that date. A rule I like to follow is to brew summer beers in the winter and winter beers in the spring or late summer. By brewing these in advance, it will give your beer plenty of time to reach maturity and the end result will be some of the best tasting home brew around. What ever beer you decide to brew, keep in mind two things; you can't brew Pumpkin Pie Lager in November and expect it to be ready for Thanksgiving, and you can't brew without ingredients, so make sure to order them once you have decided on your brews!

Lastly, use your Brew Log to store other helpful information about your brews. Use it to record the beer's taste and appearance along with anything you might have done out of the norm during the brewing process. By doing this you will give yourself valuable data that will help you decide what and how to brew when it becomes time to create another Brewing Cycle in your log. I know it sounds like a lot to write down, but if you are like me and have a hard time remembering what you ate for lunch yesterday, this log will be invaluable.

Follow this tip and you'll never let your friends or yourself down again. A Brew Schedule is the key to consistently keeping ample amounts of home brewed beer on tap. So while you're contemplating whether or not to take heed of this advice, keep in mind this age-old saying, "When you're out of homebrew, Tough Schlitz!"

Brew On!
Brewmaster Gene

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