How long is your brewday?

[Ben711200]

Thank you all, especially those that have broken the process down, it's really helpful. Weeknight evenings are very much my time to do what I wish with as my little boy is in bed and my partner is at work. A leisurely Saturday morning brewday starting with a bacon sandwich and getting the HLT up to temp sounds really quite pleasant, but that is very much family time and time to do 'real life' things so I'm pretty much stuck with my evenings.

It seems that the most important parts are careful planning and multitasking where appropriate. And equipment that gets stuff up (and down) to temperature quickly and efficiently. I'm pleased to see that my thoughts have been proven correct that some of you are producing 3 times the volume of beer in the same amount of time and with presumably a similar level of effort to my current processes.


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[critch]

i do 2025l in 8-10 hours including clean up, wort transfers account for the longer time it takes me

[Dave S]

i do 2025l in 8-10 hours including clean up, wort transfers account for the longer time it takes me

Do you take a swim in it after it's cooled?

[grmski]

I'd hazard a guess that my full volume biab is about 4-4 1/2 hours all told.
I take the hot water from the domestic hot supply at 66c add campden and crs and heat to 74c. (20 mins)
Add bag and grain and mash for 90 mins
Mash out (20mins to get temp up and then maintain for 15mins)
Heat to boil and boil 1 hr 50
Transfer to no chill cube (5 mins)
Clean up 20 mins

[Beer O'Clock]

Yep, similar time to grmski with my BIAB.
I save time by filling the pot and treating the water and getting the grain together, the night before. I then have the Buffalo set at the required strike temperature (mine heats to slightly under that) with a timer switch. By the time I rise from the arms of Morpheus I just need to add more heat or add treated cold water to achieve the strike temp and dough in.
75 min mash. 20 min mash out. 60 min boil. 20 min whirlpool. Run off to no-chill cube.
20 min clean up and jobs done.

[contadino]

I have to brew in the kitchen, and because the wife's such a wonderful, but clatty mare, it takes me anything up to 24 hours to put a kit on. 22.5 hours to get the kitchen clean, half an hour to sanitise the bits, half an hour to do the kit, and half an hour to clean up after myself.

[orlando]

Thank you all, especially those that have broken the process down, it's really helpful. Weeknight evenings are very much my time to do what I wish with as my little boy is in bed and my partner is at work. A leisurely Saturday morning brewday starting with a bacon sandwich and getting the HLT up to temp sounds really quite pleasant, but that is very much family time and time to do 'real life' things so I'm pretty much stuck with my evenings.

It seems that the most important parts are careful planning and multitasking where appropriate. And equipment that gets stuff up (and down) to temperature quickly and efficiently. I'm pleased to see that my thoughts have been proven correct that some of you are producing 3 times the volume of beer in the same amount of time and with presumably a similar level of effort to my current processes.


Upgrade time

You should consider breaking down the process into two parts, leaving the boil for the second night when time is tight or you just can't be arsed.

[critch]

i do 2025l in 8-10 hours including clean up, wort transfers account for the longer time it takes me

Do you take a swim in it after it's cooled?

ive nearly fallen in more than once

[Dave S]

i do 2025l in 8-10 hours including clean up, wort transfers account for the longer time it takes me

Do you take a swim in it after it's cooled?

ive nearly fallen in more than once

I can imagine that

[simco999]

I always split my brewday now. 90 min mash and boil for 10 mins - leave the lid on overnight.

Full 60 mins boil next day. Leave in FV to cool overnight - pitch the day after. No problems doing it this way - just suits me.

Probably wasteful of electric but less stressful!!

Edit - about 6 hours all told.

[boingy]

Yeah, 6 hours is probably usual for me. HLT heats on a timer and I mash in really early so I'm cleaning up by lunchtime.

Slowest (and most boring) part is getting from sparge temp up to to boil. I must get round to improving the heat flow round the boiler (probably by stealing/adapting Aleman's ideas).

[hopsinjoor]

I think my first was 8 hours and my quickest was 4 hours. I've managed double brews in about 5 (1 mashing as other boiling), and yet I had a friend round on Sunday and we both brewed on our own kits, a stuck mash and beer being drunk meant it took closer to 7 hours.

I might brew a summery saison tomorrow to see if I can get my groove back.

[Baldbrewer]

6ish hours all told.

If you have a PID controller set up ,I sometimes (if I'm really keen or under orders from the better half!) fill up the HLT the night before and fit a plug in timer on the PID controller supply so that the timer comes on about 6am ish and heats the water up ready for mashing in when I've sorted dog and kids out about 7ish.

I've also tried overnight mashing , this is good for cutting the brew day time down a bit and I've also done a few overnight no chills with no ill effects and pitched the yeast in the morning.

Have a look a no chill cubes these are a good Aussie idea.

Hope this helps and hoppy brew days.

[AdyG]

I do a 25l BIAB and if you prep the water the night before and weigh out the ingredients, then set the water heater to come on with a timer to 69 degrees, it takes 5 hours from that point of adding the grains to the bag in the water to filling the FV at the end. So on top of those 5 hours there's maybe half an hour prep the night before and half an hour clearing up afterwards.

That's with a 90 min mash and 90 min boil, 30 min steep before cooling with a copper wort chiller submerged.