60 gallons of beer - by the numbers

I have some recipes planned, and will post them in due time as well (and pay homage where due) But here are some raw numbers on the supplies and how-to

• Approximately 120lbs of grain
• About 96 gallons of water
• Over 8lbs of hops
• At least 5 different yeast strains
• 12 carboys needed (At first post, I had 4 glass, 1 plastic, I now have 7 glass, 1 plastic)
• 12 kegs needed (I have 4 so far)

A few early planning efforts on each of the above:

Grain
I have been real lucky here. Austin Homebrew had sales on bulk grain both in store ($34 for canadian 2-row) and in an Austin Zealots group buy (2 bags of Gambrinus Organic 2-row for about $90)

Then the upcoming mother lode - The Austin Grain Group Buy. I have 160lbs on order for about the same dollars. That’s enough for the wedding, the rest of 2011, and some of 2012 possibly.

Hops
I have a lot of things that pay me via paypal in small amounts over the year.. Ebay, payouts for online deals, etc. So every month since about July, I have used those at Farm House Brewing Supply. Surprisingly, in larger bulk they really were beating my local AHS pricing without shipping. I think I have about 12 lbs of hops in the freezer. I'll document inventory/needs more in another post.

Yeast
I do yeast washing to re-use yeast, but for this day, I plan on fresh new vials, and with starters to increase cell counts.

Water and Carboys
Had a brilliant plan of "renting" these from a local coop that has fresh spring water in glass 5g bottles. I need to go in store and order them about 2 weeks before brew day. Not going to post the name until I have the bottles on loan :) Also been watching Craigslist avidly. Scored 3 this week for $50, but am STILL cleaning them out.

Kegs
So far, this is the biggest sticking point in the plan. 60 gallons of beer is a LOT of beer on hand (equivalent to four 1/2 barrel commercial beer kegs) but for home brewers using Cornelius kegs, it’s twelve. Like I said, I have 4 now. I likely will be avidly shopping these.