[beersk]

I guess the question is, what are your goals? How long do you want each keg to last? I think about 4 weeks on tap seems right to me.

[beersk]

Cleaning is the one of the advantages of a properly sized 3 or 2.5-gallon brewery.  Almost everything fits in a standard kitchen sink.  I actually have a utility tub in my brew house (a.k.a. garage).  The previous owner had a plumber install it.  However, it is a small utility sink.  My 10-gallon brew kettle will not fit in it and neither will my 10-gallon Igloo industrial cooler-based MLT.  Three and 2.5 gallon kegs are significantly easier to clean, not to mention lift and carry up and down stairs when full.  A full 3-gallon keg weighs approximately 20lbs less than full 5-gallon keg. However, I think the straw that broke the camel's back in my case was having to hump my 10-gallon mash tun out to my compost pile with 12lbs of grain retaining 12lbs of water.  A 10-gallon Igloo cooler is significantly more awkward to carry than a 5-gallon Igloo cooler when one is talking about more than a few feet.  A 5-gallon Igloo cooler with the same amount of grain and liquid is significantly easier to carry 150+ feet because it is not as bulky.

Sounds like you might want to look into a garden cart or a hand truck to make it easier on yourself with the larger loads - if your terrain allows for it.  But your points are certainly valid on the ease of working with smaller volumes.  I don't look forward to carrying full kegs anywhere - not that they are too heavy, but they are awkward, especially going down stairs...you have me thinking, I need to come up with a simple ramp to slide them down one flight to the basement freezer chest.

Dumbwaiter?

[Saccharomyces]

Sounds like you might want to look into a garden cart or a hand truck to make it easier on yourself with the larger loads - if your terrain allows for it. 

I have a hand truck, but that misses the point.  It is about simplifying the amount and size of the paraphernalia that I need to brew. Luckily, I have never had the desire to brew 10-gallon or larger batches, not once. That is just too much beer.  It was too much beer when I started brewing back in my early thirties and had thirsty friends.  Another big thing is that I have discovered that brewing without maintaining yeast cultures is not much fun for me.  Playing with yeast is what has kept me interested in the hobby for this long.  Maintaining even a modest culture collection (<= 6 cultures) requires one to brew at least once a month.  The weird thing is that I did not drink much beer before I started to brew. I purchased the occasional six pack of what was then referred to to as "microbrew" to have with pizza, but I was primarily a wine drinker when I drank.   I did not drink on anything approaching a regular basis.

[reverseapachemaster]

I started brewing in 2009 and I was assured I would want to get into real big batches. My first kettle was an eight gallon kettle I've used like four times. I bought a five gallon kettle fairly early because I brewed indoors and my electric stove couldn't get the larger kettle to a boil easily. I bought a ten gallon cooler for a mash tun and I've never made a batch larger than six gallons. I still use that mash tun but I built a two gallon cooler mash tun that gets used on most of my beers. I pretty much only brew 1, 2, 2.5 and 3 gallon batches and very rarely have brewed the standard five gallon batch. I have a couple five gallon kegs that I use for carbonated water but my beer kegs are all three gallons. I just don't go through enough beer at home to justify larger batches nor do I want to drink a pale ale a year old because I go through it too slowly. I still remember talking about my early one gallon batches and being told it was insane to spend that much time and attention on so little beer.

I never liked my BIAB batches very much which led to crafting a two gallon mash tun but I can't deny BIAB opened a lot of people up to the idea of brewing smaller batches.

[ttash]

In addition to weather related brewery adaptations, there's my weird schedule of being very busy during the warmer months and not so much in the winter. Plus I brew a lot of lagers. When I get a chance to brew in the summer I usually brew 10 gallons of lager so I can let it properly condition. During the winter months I brew very frequently on my little 3 gallon all grain infusion system. Based on number of batches brewed it's 60% small system 40% big system. Works great for my situation, and I like the variety of brewing on more than one system.

[tommymorris]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

[beersk]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

How long is "too long to drink" for you?

[tommymorris]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

How long is "too long to drink" for you?

Maybe 2 months. I just meant I got tired of the beer and wanted something else before the keg was empty. At the time, I didn’t have multiple kegs and so I was only serving one beer. Now I can serve 3 so it’s less of a problem. But, I still like small batches for variety. I dream about way more recipes than I ever have time to brew and drink.

[beersk]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

How long is "too long to drink" for you?

Maybe 2 months. I just meant I got tired of the beer and wanted something else before the keg was empty. At the time, I didn’t have multiple kegs and so I was only serving one beer. Now I can serve 3 so it’s less of a problem. But, I still like small batches for variety. I dream about way more recipes than I ever have time to brew and drink.

Oh I know how that is. When I started brewing all the kits were for 5 gallons. My first actually all grain beer was a 3 gallon batch way back in 2008. Then I got into kegging and all the kegs were 5 gallons, so that was really the only option. I always felt like I got tired of a beer about half way through it except for a rare few.

What I'm trying to decide is if it's worth spending the time and effort on a beer if the keg only lasts 2 weeks. Seems like so little time for a beer to last for taking 3-4 weeks to become drinkable. Not sure why that's really a hold up at all, but it is. Last year, it seems my 5 gallon kegs were lasting between 4-6 weeks, typically closer to 4. But I also wasn't buying much beer or going out anywhere, so all of my drinking was done at home. And on top of that I was probably consuming too much. Having 4 taps provides variety, but it also takes longer to drink through 20 gallons of beer. I obsess over stupid little things like this haha.

[erockrph]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

How long is "too long to drink" for you?

Maybe 2 months. I just meant I got tired of the beer and wanted something else before the keg was empty. At the time, I didn’t have multiple kegs and so I was only serving one beer. Now I can serve 3 so it’s less of a problem. But, I still like small batches for variety. I dream about way more recipes than I ever have time to brew and drink.

Oh I know how that is. When I started brewing all the kits were for 5 gallons. My first actually all grain beer was a 3 gallon batch way back in 2008. Then I got into kegging and all the kegs were 5 gallons, so that was really the only option. I always felt like I got tired of a beer about half way through it except for a rare few.

What I'm trying to decide is if it's worth spending the time and effort on a beer if the keg only lasts 2 weeks. Seems like so little time for a beer to last for taking 3-4 weeks to become drinkable. Not sure why that's really a hold up at all, but it is. Last year, it seems my 5 gallon kegs were lasting between 4-6 weeks, typically closer to 4. But I also wasn't buying much beer or going out anywhere, so all of my drinking was done at home. And on top of that I was probably consuming too much. Having 4 taps provides variety, but it also takes longer to drink through 20 gallons of beer. I obsess over stupid little things like this haha.

When I get tired of a beer, I just dump it to make room for another batch. That's another advantage of smaller batches - less to dump if you're not thrilled with the results.

[beersk]

When I get tired of a beer, I just dump it to make room for another batch. That's another advantage of smaller batches - less to dump if you're not thrilled with the results.

True, but I don't generally dump beer unless it's bad. But that is an option... Lately I've taken to naturally carbonating the beer in kegs that is "overflow" while I'm waiting for a line to free up. Speaking of which, I've got some options - I'm getting my nitro set up going in the next week or so and I've got an oatmeal stout kegged as well as a breakfast stout waiting to be kegged. I'm in a pickle which to put on nitro first! Pretty exciting as both would be awesome. The nice thing is I'm planning to split the breakfast stout between 2.5 gallon kegs, so one will get coffee and I think I'll leave coffee out of the other. Maybe put both on nitro eventually... Anyway, I'm off topic. Sorry!

[grizwold]

Like most I started with 5 gallon batches, thought 5 is good, 10 would be great!! Problem was as the only drinker, it was a long time between brews and not only did the beer suffer with age, by the time I brewed again it was like starting all over again--memory issues. Now, with 6.5 Anvil, I hope to be able to remember from batch to batch what worked and what needs to be changed/improved. Overall goal--better beer/more variety.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

Different strokes for different folks.

I too am only beer drinker in my household, but only like the dark beers enough to brew them and am happy brewing in 5-gal batches because of the time involved in brewing.  A batch typically lasts me for three or four months. When I want more variety, I have a microbrewery with tap room, 3 miles away that has 30 taps and is generous with samples.

[ynotbrusum]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

Different strokes for different folks.

I too am only beer drinker in my household, but only like the dark beers enough to brew them and am happy brewing in 5-gal batches because of the time involved in brewing.  A batch typically lasts me for three or four months. When I want more variety, I have a microbrewery with tap room, 3 miles away that has 30 taps and is generous with samples.

3 miles.  That distance is just a "good stretch of the legs"!  (Reference to the Quiet Man)  Cheers.

[beersk]

I moved to 2.5 gallon kegs a few years ago. I did so primarily because 5 gallon batches took too long to drink. I was getting tired of drinking the same beers and wanted more variety.  I am the only beer drinker in my household.

I still have one 5 gallon keg. I occasionally brew a larger batch of a really good beer for that keg.

Different strokes for different folks.

I too am only beer drinker in my household, but only like the dark beers enough to brew them and am happy brewing in 5-gal batches because of the time involved in brewing.  A batch typically lasts me for three or four months. When I want more variety, I have a microbrewery with tap room, 3 miles away that has 30 taps and is generous with samples.

Man, it'd drive me crazy if a batch lasted that long on tap. That's holding up production in my world. Especially if all 4 taps had the same beer on tap for 4 months. I'd go crazy. 4-6 weeks is plenty long for me, that's typically how long a 5 gallon keg last me and I'm also the only drinker in the house (only one living here) but do have friends over occasionally and take growlers places instead of buying beer.