How long is your Brew Day???

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mux11

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This past Sunday I did my second SMASH brew and noted times as I was currious as to how long it "really" takes. This was a nothing set up, raw grain brew day.

I made an abriveated version of the Crops of Three reciepe where I added some toasted and untoaseted carmel malts.
Grain bill was 8lb of grain, .5lb of rice, & 1lb of corn flake.

I started at 1pm and was very suprised that I didnt pitch untill shortly after 9pm.
So 8 hours from deciding to brew, deciding on grain bill and milling, till pitching yeast. I do also clean along the way and have gotten better about starting sparge water with enought time through the mash etc.

What is your result?
 
Depends on my recipe and if I boil for 60 or 90 minutes but I fill the pot and grind the grain the night before and get all my hops measured and ready. I get up, light it up and usually it's 4.5 hours with cleanup.
I find doing the grains the night before is easier as I use the time to bring the water to mash temperature to clean and sanitize my buckets and organize things so the rest go smoothly. I figure filling the pot and grinding the grains the night before saves me maybe 20 minutes. Not much but enough. It's never taken me longer than 5.
 
I'm about 5 hours. My current system takes a bit longer to clean than my old one. I occasionally will batch sparge to save about 45 minutes if I'm in a hurry.
 
Like Yooper, I usually run close to 5 hours.

Add an extra half hour if I do a detailed cleanup over and above the usual rinse out.
 
Probably around 5 hours. I buy milled grains. I boil 3.5 gallons on my burner, for the mash. During the rest I boil 7 gallons for the HLT. Its usually at temp right before the rest is done. Sparge is pretty quick. Then I clean during the boil, and sanitize what I need. A wort chiller really saved me a lot of time.
 
This is probably the biggest reason I've stuck with extract brewing. Start to complete finish (clean up/logging data)about 2.5 hours. Roughly about 9 holes of golf time wise. While all grain, especially BIAB interests me, I don't want to push past that time frame because I don't want my spouse to start checking the clock to see how long I am taking..... Note: this is also why I brew outside or in the garage. A happy spouse is a quiet spouse who lets you do your thing.
 
This is where it gets tricky for me. In the past I maximized my brew day.

Night before I would set up stand, HLT and propane on the porch and fill the HLT to capacity (three keggle, three burner, gravity system). Next morning, punch the coffee maker button, pee, light the burner for the HLT. About the second cup of coffee, start grinding grain for batch A. Setup MLT and boiler. Check temp on HLT water.

At this point the day turned into a flurry of activity because I normally did three brews in a day. The ball-scratching-light-the-HLT-burner would be around 5:30 AM. Muck-out and rinse of the boiler for brew 3 would be about 6:30 PM. Expensive equipment would be back in the garage by 7 PM, rinsed but not clean and 30-34 gallons of wort would be in the fermentors, pitched.

For those that like beer, understand their system and have at least 2-3 "standard" recipes...once a quarter do a 3-4 batch day. The advantage is that you do not have to truly clean your equipment between batches because the moment you have mucked out the mash tun, you are doing your dough-in. The moment the boiler has been rinsed of trub/hops, you are filling it with the next boil, etc.

Yes, you have to clean-up the next day. You are often sore the next day (how much does 22# of wet grain weigh?...time three!). You are CERTAINLY hung over the next day because even if you do not drink while you brew (I do...but in serious moderation), you almost have to drink while marveling in the glory of your 30+ gallons of bubbling joy...in my case with all the neighbors that enjoyed the spectacle and the good beer.

Now days...one brew a day unless the wife is on vacation. No room for more than 20 gallons in fermentors at a time. A single 5-gal batch takes me about 5.5 hours (10 gal should be slightly over 6...find out next weekend).
 
"There is your problem...golf is taking up too much of your brewing time."

Haven't played golf in over 15 years. It was a comparison of time spent in an activity. ;) Never liked golfing all that much anyway, enjoy brewing much more.
 
This Saturday I did 4 AG batches (last a Pliny clone with 90 minute boil) in just about 11 hours including setup and teardown as well as sanitation and grain milling. Each 60 minute boil batch adds about 2 hours so I would say about 5 hours for one batch (although for all grain I always do at least 2 batches). This is outside with a 3 tier propane fired rig. Saturday went about as smooth as it could (i.e. I couldn't see trimming much if any time off).
 
Normally do double headers, and I can do set up to cleanup in about 8-9 hours, but that's if I keep on top of my game and multitask (mill grains for the first batch the night before, mill grains for the second batch while strike water for the first batch heats, mash one while chilling the other, etc). If I feel like taking my time, mill the same day, and make it relaxing it'll take 12-13 hours.
 
I used to be 2.5 hours with extract, now I'm 4.5 hours batch sparging with all grain. Totally worth it though :rockin:
 
"There is your problem...golf is taking up too much of your brewing time."

Haven't played golf in over 15 years. It was a comparison of time spent in an activity. ;) Never liked golfing all that much anyway, enjoy brewing much more.

Plus, brewing is much more likely to win approval from SWMBO since you're not leaving home, as opposed to disappearing somewhere on the course all day. It's even less of a problem if you do something useful like cutting the grass during the mash.

Every time I get grief about the amount of time I spend brewing, I reply "Hey, I could be out golfing instead". That usually ends the discussion :rockin:
 
There is your problem...golf is taking up too much of your brewing time.

Uhh, excuse me? Golf is an extremely important part of the entire process. Where else can one amaze one's friends and casual aquaintences that you can't handle the taste of "store bought beer" while also handing them their arses on a silver platter with a cleanly dropped birdie on #6?

Golf and home brewing are inseparable!

(This becomes even more true when you've gone bunker to bunker on #3 and taken a "snow-man" on an easy par 4. Where else can a person be as completely humiliated as when playing golf? It's only then that the wonderful IPA waiting at home can be truly appreciated.)
 
This past Sunday I did my second SMASH brew and noted times as I was currious as to how long it "really" takes. .

What is your result?

Doing 5 gallon AG batches I average 5-7 hours most of the time including cleanup. Not counting time to go get the good water for the brew. Grains already milled.

Big delay in summer time is wort chilling. Warm tapwater doesn't cool the wort very fast. I just built a pre-cooler for my wort chiller water. Haven't tried it out yet. Results TBA.
 
My typical brew day takes about 4.5 hours. That's from wheeling out my electric BIAB rig to rolling it back away clean and sanitized. That also includes the wort oxygenated and yeast added to it. I measure and crush the grains while the water is heating to mash temp. I line a 5 gallon bucket with my BIAB bag and crush the grains directly into it. Someone here suggested it and it works great!
 
I really envy homebrewers who have the space for a brewing rig or even better an actual brewing room. I've never been able to get a brew day done in under six hours since switching to all-grain, but this is so much the process as much as a space issue for me. It seems I spend half of my time gathering my equipment from all over the place to then doing to the same to put it away. Chillers in the garage. Brew Kettle and mash tun cooler in the basement storage area, Burner and gas in the shed, then my HLT I have to stash in the laundry room. It has gotten a little better lately though, as I have done a complete cleanout of the basement closet and freed up some room for the HLT now in there as well. I like haveing everything together, but to be honest, it was closer to my brew area when it was in the laundry room. I'm getting some exercise at least, but I spend a lot of time walking up and down stairs getting everything ready to brew.
 
My brew day runs about 5.5 -6 hrs from Cleaning and sanitizing all the equipment before brewing, crushing the grain bill, all the way to cleaning all of the equipment again post brew and putting it all away.
 
It seems I spend half of my time gathering my equipment from all over the place to then doing to the same to put it away. Chillers in the garage. Brew Kettle and mash tun cooler in the basement storage area, Burner and gas in the shed, then my HLT I have to stash in the laundry room.

Do I feel your pain on that one!!!

I finally got that dragon tamed when I bought a big plastic storage box/bin at
Costco for about 90 bucks. It sits on my patio and virtually everything fits inside it aside from carboys and plastic buckets.

If you have room for one of those build-it-yourself wardrobe closets they sell at Home Depot or Lowe's it'll work just as good. You can fit everything you need inside one.
 
I brewed two 6 gallon batches last Sunday.
From pre-cleaning, measuring, and pre-heating the strike to bagging the spent grain, washing up and putting everything away I brewed 10 hrs straight and and drank several pints.
Not too much overlap on the two brews either... didn't start the second mash until the first wort was almost cool enough to pitch. Both brews were 75 minute boils.
 
My times get shorter and shorter as I get better at pre-planning. I'm still fairly new at AG but I know now to get grains and mill them the day before, preheat the sparge water, get ice during the boil if someone is here to watch the pot. If not, then I'll get my ice during the fly sparge and toss it in the freezer.
As far as my organization, I run the kitchen in the house so securing a cabinet for my brewing and charcuterie supplies was easy. My sanitizers, racking equipment, hydro., etc. are all next to my sink and racking area. My brewstand in the garage keeps my HLT, mash tun, propane and grain bucket neatly stored. I clean as I go as well which makes a huge difference. Having a clean and rinsed mash tun by flame-out is great. Cooling wort in a 106 degree garage can be a challenge but an aluminum brew pot, a tub with ice water and my HLT feeding ice water through my chiller does the trick.
So after all that I think I might be down to about 6 hours from flame on to pitch..
 
Normally do double headers, and I can do set up to cleanup in about 8-9 hours, but that's if I keep on top of my game and multitask (mill grains for the first batch the night before, mill grains for the second batch while strike water for the first batch heats, mash one while chilling the other, etc). If I feel like taking my time, mill the same day, and make it relaxing it'll take 12-13 hours.

That's exactly my brew day.... double batches. Just got to the point of hating to break everything out, brew, clean and put it away, only to pull it all back out the next day or a few days later. Double brew days easily save 3 hours per batch - 2 batches one day, compared to 2 batches over 2 brew days.

Efficiency in the brewhouse (kitchen) makes a big difference. Setting aroung drinking beer is cool too, but brew day is actually a work day for me. I figure homebrew saves me about 50 cents a beer.... I can brew 200 beers in a day so... brew day saves me 100 bucks, and the beer usually tastes better. At 8 hours, I figure I'm saving over 10 bucks an hour. Not a bad part time job.
 
I brew 4 gallon batches inside, all grain and batch sparge. It usually takes me between 4 and 5 hours, depending on the length of mash and boil.
 
My brew buddy and I brewed 5 batches on the weekend (5gal batches/all grain), we have 3 sets of gear.
Started at 1pm, finished at 10:30pm...
Brewed a pumpkin beer, american wheat, cream ale, German wheat, & a pale ale.

It was a long brew day...but fun
 
I have all my gear set up on a 3 tier rolling stand which cuts down on set up time. It take me about 4-4 1/2 hours for a 5 gallon batch. That's with a 60 min boil, batch sparge.
 
THANKS for all the replies! I jumped straight in with all grain, I know I know but felt confident being able to manage everything. Never done an extract brew and have been very happy with my results.
I'm sitting at 8 hr per brew day and an getting better.
 
Damn, when I was doing extract it took me 4 hours. Doing all grain takes me about 5 hours. What the hell was I doing wrong with extract if everyone else was only about 2.5 hours? Oh well, FML!
 
Most of my brew days of late have been 10-12 hours, but that includes washing from the previous day (because I keep finishing at 9PM or so), trips to the LHBS, and making new tools. Like a new BIAB bag, because I lost the one I'd been using, then the one I made to replace it with wasn't tall enough to loop over the outside of the bag... etc etc

If I only measure the time between mash flame ignition and taping the probe to the fermenter, I've got it down to just under six hours. Which is awesome for me!
 
3.5 - 4 hrs from the time I start to heat my strike water. I have been doing 5 gallon all grain batches, 4 gallon boil. Use a chiller to cool wort. Top off to 5.25 gallon in the bucket. clean as I brew, clean the mash tun while waiting for boil to commence. also clean after pitching yeast, but before I stir and seal off the lid.
 
Just did a 5 gallon all grain batch on Saturday. 5 hours nothing set up to everything clean and drying. This was with a 90 minute boil and a second batch sparge. I clean as i go so just cleaning the kettle and other misc things at the end.
 
Yesterday I brewed four 5gal All-grain batches (Imperial Pumpkin Stout, Saison, Oktoberfest, and a Dunkelweizen). All together including cleaning up, it took 14.5 hours(Started at 10am and finished at 12:30am). I do have two propane burners, a 10 gal, 7 gal, and 5 gal stainless pot, but I only have 1 mashtun and 1 hlt.
 
3.5 - 4 hrs from the time I start to heat my strike water. I have been doing 5 gallon all grain batches, 4 gallon boil. Use a chiller to cool wort. Top off to 5.25 gallon in the bucket. clean as I brew, clean the mash tun while waiting for boil to commence. also clean after pitching yeast, but before I stir and seal off the lid.

How do you clean the mashtun so quickly when it's full of 170F grain? Gloves? Just curious. I clean the Mashtun well into the boil so some of the wort can drain out of the grainbed, and the grain/tun can cool down a bit.

I will start by saying, I remind myself it's not a race. I tend to brew PMs so I end up taking 8 hours to do an all grain batch because I don't have anything constraining my time after the family goes to bed. I tend to relax and do 90minute mashes, and I almost always do 90 boils. I really slow down between the boil and pitching so as not to screw anything up.

I've tried to see how fast I could do it in the past and 5.5hrs was it, but I feel like I get way better conversion by just taking my time during the mash. Also, I include all time, because even if I measure out water/grain/ingredients, and mill the grain the night before, it's still brewtime by my accounting.
 
Since I have gone to morebeer system...takes a good 8 hours and that is getting preperation (water treatment, hooking up hoses) done before brew day (did I mention making a yeast starter two days before?)
 
Today I started two separate 5 gallon batches at 2:00 and was cleaning at 7:00. That was on the quick side, but not unheard of.
 
I run about five hours from start to final clean up.

I hate the clean up the most.

But I'll get my grains measured before hand and drag everything out of the garage, and start my mash water to the propane heater while I Grind the grains.

Takes about thirty minutes or so to have my water to the strike temp, grains ground up and whatever else I Can accomplish like setting out extra gallons of water.

An hour for mashing, then I batch out the grains so when I'm draining or slightly before I drain or raise the mash temp I've got my second batch of water ready.

So about thirty minutes tops there for about two hours or so..
Hour boil plus about 10 minutes to bring it to a boil...

20 minutes or so after boil complete to cool it and pitch the yeast, and about an hour or so to clean up, scrub things down with the water from the hose/wort chiller that was collected for reuse.

The other bits I sorta include even if I do them pre brew day such as recipe formulation or anything else that may come up. And I like to try to take my time, so be it if my mash goes an hour and 20 minutes instead of an hour ten minutes.
 
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