How long should it take to brew 5 gallons?

I am relatively new to home brewing and feel like it takes a lot more time than I think it should. It takes me about 5 hours from start to finish to brew a 5 gallon all grain batch. Of course, I have a tiny apartment and an even smaller kitchen, which (along with my bathtub to clean my 8 gallon brew pot) is where all my brewing takes place. Does this amount of time sound about right or am I missing something here?

5 hours from start to clean up doesn't sound bad to me at all. If you are doing AG and mash for an hour, vorlauf then do two batch sparges, that should put you at an 1-1/2 min. Then you boil for at least an hour, plus getting it to boil, another 1-1/2 hours. Cool dow,n pitch yeast and clean up...I'd say 5 hours is pretty good.

Actually now that I am thinking about it more, it's not 5 hours: it's more like 6 and change.

6 sounds better. I've been sitting here trying to figure out how cut and hour or so out of my brewday! haha I started at 11:00 on Sunday and was completely through with clean up at 4:30. Quickest brew I've ever had.

Here's how long my brew day takes:

- One homebrew to measure out grains while my strike water is heating.
- Two homebrews for the mash.
- Two homebrews for sparge.
- One homebrew waiting for the boil and hot break.
- Two (or three) homebrews during the boil.
- One homebrew while chilling.
- Two or six or nine homebrews cleaning up. Depending on how drunk I am from the previous steps.

RDWHAHB!

a 5g brew (very rare) takes me about 4-4.5. a 12 gallon brew ( my normal ) takes 5.5 hours

I've had brewdays as quick as 4 1/2 hours, if I'm efficient with my time and stay focused. But usually it takes me about 6 hours, from the minute I take out my first piece of equipment to the minute I put the last one away. For me, my brewdays are about being relaxed and enjoying the brewing process. I like to start early and chill with a cup of jo while I do the Mash. I don't like to be in a hurry, but there are times when I just want to get the brewday knocked out. Usually so I can chill for a bit then go play a round of Golf.:rockin:

5 hours is about right. I'm brewing in the same setup in an apartment doing dishes in the bath tub. LOL I am also a fan of getting up early start heating the strike water, make some coffee, and brew on. Usually get up by 6am and have everything cleaned up and lunch made and eaten by noon - yeah that's 6 hours but really, I'm getting up at 6. I might get the strike water started by 6:30.

If I do an all grain its at least 6 hours from start to clean up. I am using my gas range so I lose some time in heating over a higher btu burner, bet even with that I would only maybe gain 30 minutes. Plus I hate feeling rushed with something I want to enjoy so I'm not really in a big hurry anyway.

That's some good advice. I always feel like I'm in a rush, particularly when I start brewing aftern work and next thing I know it's like 10pm and I'm still on the last few minutes of my boil.

I usually plan my brew days (nights) for a Friday or Saturday since I rarely get started before 8:00 pm. It seems like its always about 2 or 3 in the morning before I get to bed. Thats partly because I have a 3 year old and don't want her around all the big boiling pot. I look forward to days of starting earlier.

I usually get started around 8 AM on a Saturday or Sunday and finish up around 1, so like 5-6 hours per all grain brew. Last Saturday I did a double brew day that took around 10 hours and for some reason, I was very sore the next day.

Similar schedule to oldyote, I am so busy during the day I get started late, say 8 or 9pm, and usually start cleaning and pitching yeast around 2am. I am only doing extract, though.

I remember doing a double 5 gallon brew day, which took over 10 hours, and being exhausted the next day. Its all the lifting and mental focus that's required.

I did my first AG and it was a 6 hour day. It sounds like it's about the normal.

If I can stay focused, I can usually get a 5G AG batch done in 4.5 hours. If I'm really focused, I can also bottle a batch during that time. The key is to think ahead (have sparge water heated in time, start heating your first runnings right away, etc) and use your down time to measure hop additions, wash and sanitize fermenter, etc. But the big one is clean as you go. The more I do that the quicker the day gets.

I brew on Sunday mornings. I wake up at 6:30, set up, mash in at 8:30 and am usually done brewing and cleaned up by 2:30pm. So yeah, I give myself 6-8 hours to brew 5 gallons

Palefire said:

But the big one is clean as you go. The more I do that the quicker the day gets.

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+1 to that. That makes things much much easier.

I plan on 6 hours minimum. That's because there is always some **** that happens in the process. I usually am not as prepared as I ought to be. My best time is about 4 hours. I did that brew while RVing and I had everything ready ahead of time and no distractions.

My last session was about 9 hours, but that does not include the time I spent making an adapter so my keggle would sit on the burner!

plan ahead and clean-as-you-go. Multitask as much as possible throughout the process, and you're working hard the entire time.

I finished my last all-grain batch in a little under 3 hours by the time cleanup was complete. That was also using a 'speed-mash' of only 20 minutes - which is really all that's necessary in most cases. 4 to 5 hours is more typical for me, at a more relaxed pace.

steinsato said:

I brew on Sunday mornings... I wake up at 6:30

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I don't get up that early on *weekdays*, gramps

I do 5 gallon all-grain batches in about five to six hours; I never bother to rush and will generally clean as I go and do lunch or whatnot as needed.

Yeah, the other day it was 10:00 to 3:30, first hour was cleaning/sanitizing, then the other 4.5 was actual brewing. That was my fastest brew yet.