Even in the current crisis, us brewers are gonna brew. Or at least want to brew. Brew shops are busy, (if they are open) but I have just seen notifications from some manufacturers saying they will be shutting down for a while.

I don’t think it’s gonna be complete mayhem to the hobby, but a bit of long-range planning might be a good idea.

There was a bit of talk about a hop “shortage” last year because of droughts, floods and fires. But those predicted shortages were mostly for specific varieties. So substituting might be in our future. Remember about 15 years ago during the last major hop shortage? Brewing didn’t stop. It just changed a little. So, yea, I’ll probably go back to brewing the Irish and other low hopped beers. Stretch out my supply a little.

But if there is a “good thing” this time around, it’s the fact that there are many times more varieties of high alpha hops around compared to the last time hops went scarce. Less overall volumes of hops needed to get IBUs up when you need a fix. Plus is far easier and cheaper now to find those pound bags.

Grain is easy to store, (pretty much what grain is meant to do… sit there and wait) a 50lb bag easily makes 8-9 batches of mid strength 4-5% beers. A few more if you throw some adjuncts in. Buying grain in bulk has always been the best way to go to save money. A clean cooler or a couple of buckets with lids is all you really need to store grain.

Yeast seems to be the one that is the most time sensitive… But it doesn’t have to be. Re-pitching is an option. Get your next batch ready to go the same day as you bottle or keg. After racking the first beer off the cake, use a scoop or two of it in the next batch or batches.

A longer-term yeast option is “washing” it. (click here for a better look at it) After you rack the beer off the cake, you then take that yeast cake and separate the live yeast from the other gunk. That separated yeast can then be stored in the fridge for months. Several batches of yeast can be made from one cake. Just starter them up and pitch as normal.

Just a couple of ways to stretch your ingredients out a bit if things get a bit limited.

I’ll be posting some of my ingredient stretching brews soon.

 

Stay tuned.