Brewing after work

So I wanted to brew after work last night, and I didn't get time. Between putting my new mash tun together and going to the brewstore, I didn't get home till 7:30pm and didn't think I'd get done until midnight. Glad I didn't.

I got home around 6pm, changed and checked my personal email and such, didn't start heating mash water till 6:45pm. Ordered a pizza because my friend was coming over to watch me brew (and taste some samples from previous batches), didn't get mashing until about 7:20.

Here it is MIDNIGHT and I just got done pitching yeast and washing up the kettle and the siphon and such. My kitchen is STILL a mess, I have to go to work tomorrow.

Damn, I thought this was gonna be easy. Almost 5.5 hours to do an AG batch from water heating time to cleanup.

Should have just done a 10 gallon batch, would have taken the same amount of time as my 3.75 gallon batch.

On a good note, brewsmith is set up for 70% efficiency...and I went over. I don't know how much over, but for a hobbled together cooler and toilet hose braid...I don't think I did to darn bad. This was my first attempt at brewing alone (usually I have my brew partner handy to do 50% of the work...this time I had a newbie who asked questions and drank my beer.

Note to self: If you're gonna brew after work...start heating mash water DIRECTLY upon entering the house.

4 hours is wicked fast, 5 hours.....is the norm.

Sounds like the norm for me. Every time I have all day to brew it takes me less time then if I need to be done at a certain time.
I have just begun doing 10gal batches and it does not take much longer. For me it is worth the extra few minutes for a double batch.

4 hours is darn fast, but my brain cannot comprehend 2 things when I'm planning time calculations - Mash water heatup (pre-heat the tun, heat mash in, heat sparge water), and time to bring wort to a boil.

For some reason my brain says - 1 hour in the mash, 1 hour boil, 1 hour misc (getting ingredients ready, cleaning up afterward) - I could be done in under 3 hours if I push it. But it never works out that way.

One thing that really killed me was cooling time. Normally if I brew outside with the kettle and fryer I can use my CFC. But since I was just using my big 8 gal stove pot without a spigot, I had to ice bath it. About an hour to cool from boil to pitch...that KILLED my time.

I need to find a better way to cool doing indoor brews. 20# of ice in the sink with some water just don't cut it.

Not to mention (I forgot this last night) that since I was going right into a carboy for primary, I used my grain steeping bag as a filter since my typical collander was too big. As the wort drained, the bag started filling up faster than it could leak out, but I was watching to make sure it didn't fill up and out the top of the carboy. Then I hear the "kaplunk" as I watch my grain bag nearly full of wort drop into the carboy.

I said 'screw it' and pitched yeast and left the thing in there. It was sanitized. We'll see if it works.

If your tun is a cooler or something you can insulate well, try mashing one evening (or just before going to work) and brewing the next.

5.5 hrs! I take my hat off to you i cant get near that time im around the 7 mark but slowly chipping away at it.

Yup: I usually try to have 6 hours form when the first piece of gear comes out to when the last thing gets washed. It generally takes a little less than that, but that's the amount of time I like to allow.

I've arranged brew days before where I drive a kid somewhere during the mash, pick one up somewhere else during the first 30 minutes of the boil, etc. But that is *so* stressful it's really not worth it.

david_42 said:

If your tun is a cooler or something you can insulate well, try mashing one evening (or just before going to work) and brewing the next.

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I've thought about this.

Any dangers with "overmashing". Yeah I made that word up.

Actually, it is a good idea when doing an over-night mash to do the mash-out before retiring. That way the enzymes are de-natured and you won't end up with a very fermentable, lower body wort. Of course, if you want high fermentability, you're set.

Doing the mash-out also keeps the tun hotter.

What about sparging it all and putting it into a sealed, sterilized bucket overnight to brew 24 hours later.

jezter6 said:

What about sparging it all and putting it into a sealed, sterilized bucket overnight to brew 24 hours later.

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I might worry a little about picking up Brett or other "sour" micro-organisms, but I guess the wort in this scenario would be every bit as well protected as if you just left the mash in the mash tun, so I guess it'd be fine. Actually this seems like a more sensible way of breaking it up than leaving the mash in the tun. (I'd at least want to take david_42's suggestion of doing a mash-out before leaving it so long in the tun.)

I'd love to pick up souring (as that is my intention for the next few brews - I'm trying to fake it with Acidulated Malts). I thought about Papazian's 'sour mash' technique from the bible, but I'm scared to intentionally try to grow bacteria.

What I don't want to pick up is any mold or items I can see growing in it.

What I would do is set the pot (doesn't need to be sterile) outside or in a cool place covered to drop the temps if you want to sparge and boil the next day. Lacto's do best around 100-130/140 so if you cool it down a bit it should be ok. I have made sour mashes before, and trying to do it on purpose it takes at least 24 hours at warm temperatures to get something slightly sour. Those lacto's are there though on the grain.

jezter6 said:

I'd love to pick up souring (as that is my intention for the next few brews - I'm trying to fake it with Acidulated Malts). I thought about Papazian's 'sour mash' technique from the bible, but I'm scared to intentionally try to grow bacteria.

What I don't want to pick up is any mold or items I can see growing in it.

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You don't need to do the whole shooting match. The easiest way to get a feel for it is just take like 1 lb of fresh crushed base malt and mix it with about 1.5 qt. of 130°F water and hold it in a warm place overnight. Taste it in the morning. Keep going if you want it more sour.

Has anyone else used acidulated malts to fake lambic style sourness? I'm using 3% per batch right now, but when I tasted a sample going into the fermenter it wasn't very sour.

jezter6 said:

Note to self: If you're gonna brew after work...start heating mash water DIRECTLY upon entering the house.

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Step 1: Go to work carrying a box of Kleenex
Step 2: Sneeze, cough and choke a lot. Blow nose frequently.
Step 3: Spritz water on forehead and face to simulate sweat.
Step 4: Find germaphobe supervisor and inform him/her, you think you have a fever.
Step 5: Accept bosses suggestion to go home.
Step 6: Spend the afternoon brewing an AG batch in garage.

Worked for me...

for a minute i thought the thread title was Brewing At Work

Step 2b: take off glasses before spritzing face with water. The boss will sense trickery.