How long is your Brew Day???

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1 hour mash, 1 hour fly sparge, 1 hour boil. Figuring heating water then chilling wort...I can finish and completely cleaned up in just shy of 5 hours.

I put away my hlt after sparging
I clean out my mash tun while boiling
My sanitized bucket and air lock are waiting for cooled wort. And I use 2 buckets of water that was warmed from my immersion chiller to wash everything out before putting it away.
 
As with most everyone else, I'm at about 5 hours for a 6 gallon batch. I can save about an hour by setting up and filtering water the night before and weighing out ingredients. If I opt for a 12 gallon batch, add about another 1.5 hours for the additional volume.

Beer chores are another matter. About 45 minutes to make a starter, about an hour for each racking operation, more hours for general cleaning (kegs, fridge, tap lines, bottles, ugh - it never ends). Plus all that time drinking. If it weren't for the drinking, my beer hobby would hardly take any time at all.
 
I did two back to back on Sunday. Started at about 1130 and got done at 730. Since I only have one mash tun and burner, I couldn't really overlap them too much. Used the water out the IC from #1 to fill the pots for #2.

I probably sparge too quickly, but I'm still fairly new to this AG thing ;)
 
I have recently taken to the philosophy that brewing doesn't really need to be a continuous process, but rather can be done on a more relaxed schedule.

A couple weeks ago I did an overnight mash in a cooler, wrapped in a few blankets...the beer tastes great!

Just last night I let a batch chill overnight in my turbo swamp chiller (large tub w/ 8, 2 liter frozen bottles), and pitched yeast this morning.

Sorry, I don't time the actual process, but have made more of the process passive rather than active...
 
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).

Same here, five hours for the first batch two hours for each additional batch and I always do two to three. I almost did four this week, had two lagers going into my chest freezer, a saison going into the garage and still had room for an ale inside but I was just to lazy to go for four.
 
60min Mash 60min Boil No hopstand/whirlpool

I can do it in under 4 hour with cleanup but usually 4-4.5 all said and done.
 
I like to have a lot of variety w/o a ton of work so I do 2.5 gallon batches, BIAB, no-chill.


  • 10 minutes to mill and get water up to temp,
  • 60 minute mash.. slap pot into 150F oven to minimize heat loss for smaller volume and metal pot
  • 5 minutes to rinse and squeeze with hot tap water
  • 5 to bring to boil on stove w/ a heat stick
  • 60 min boil
  • 5 more minutes to get it into the cube
  • 5 minutes or less for cleanup
  • 10 minutes to sanitize/transfer and clean the cube.
  • 15 minutes to bottle in 25oz coopers PET bottles (12-13 per batch)

Grain to glass is about 3hrs of work
 
Jeez, you guys are impressive. I have only done two batches on my new 10gal AG system and each has taken me about 6.5 hours. I don't see that getting any shorter. Cleanup is such a PITA and takes me forever, maybe I am too OCD.

1 hour prep/heating water; 1 hour mash; 1 hour sprage, 10-15 min to bring up to a boil, 1 hour boil; 45min to chill/rack/aerate/pitch; 1+ hour of cleaning. Where can I cut the fat?
 
Jeez, you guys are impressive. I have only done two batches on my new 10gal AG system and each has taken me about 6.5 hours. I don't see that getting any shorter. Cleanup is such a PITA and takes me forever, maybe I am too OCD.

1 hour prep/heating water; 1 hour mash; 1 hour sprage, 10-15 min to bring up to a boil, 1 hour boil; 45min to chill/rack/aerate/pitch; 1+ hour of cleaning. Where can I cut the fat?

Batch sparge? When I do 10-15 gal batches on my larger system it takes a few minutes per batch and I let it recirculate 10 minutes in between. I also clean during the boil, so all that is left afterwords is to clean the kettle and the IM chiller. When i chill, i recirculate the wort and once i get <100F I switch to a pre-chiller in a 5 gallon bucket of salted ice water. Chilling usually takes 15-30 min depending on temp of tap water (no pre chiller needed in winter). I aerate by pumping out of kettle through a strainer at a pretty good velocity. Foams up real good and takes 5 min tops. Pump = good.
 
I break it up...day before I do my grain milling and a yeast starter. Next day I can start around 9am and pitch the yeast around 2. Double brew around 5:30. I very much prefer getting every possible small detail ready the day before and just lighting the burner the next morning. Cup of coffee and my feet up. Like Onkel_Udo said you will be sore and dead tired if you try to do everything the same day. I figure if you're doing a starter already why wouldn't you get the milling done as well? I like to brew with distilled water and add salts according to style so I also prepare the salts in a small pyrex dish before hand so while I prepare the mash water it's ready to just dump it in. Brew day for me is about checking temp gauges like 400 times and turning on pumps...I don't want to think about anything else during that time. Just my 2cents
 
Batch sparge? .

I fly sparge. I use a B3 1550. As for aeration, I use a air pump and air stone but I guess that doesn't really take any additional time since it just sits there.

Definitely need to get better about cleaning during the boil. Last brew my buddy came over and we ended up drinking during the down time instead of doing chores so that's probably why it took so long.

+1 on yeast starters in advance. I like to do them 3 days before so they can crash for 2 days before decanting.
 
Well, Sat I tried a 20min boil kit and PHEW that was way too easy! I started with all grain and would spend most of the day brewing and cleaning. With the 20min kit I was done and put away in about 2hr total. I had a little to wait till pitching cuz I don't have a chiller but not that big of deal to sit and wait. The next morning it was bubbling right along. Depending on how it turns out I think I might just mix it up with some extract kits as it's fast, Cheers!
 
I'm down to just over 4 hrs for 5 gals. I do batch sparge though so that helps. I have the sparge water heated and ready when my 1st runnings are done being collected. I'm always cleaning throughout........ the Darkstar burner gets 6.5 gals boiling in about 20 minutes, and on a cold day the immersion chiller gets me to 70 in 20 minutes too.
 
I'm right at 3 to 4 hours depending on who is "helping". Sunday took about 6 hrs but I did multi stage infusing and it took me longer to get my boil up due to it being 30degrees outside where I brew.
 
10 gal takes me between 5-6 hours. I use a herms system, two pumps, tune in tube he, conical. Used to batch sparge 5 gal, still took about 4-5 hours. 1-2 extra hours for 5 more gal was worth it.
 
After upgrading my control panel and house wiring I can make twenty gallons in under six hours since I can now mash and boil at the same time.
 
5.5 hours for everything from grind to clean up for 5.7 gal batches.

All home built or store bought low tech equipment. Cheap grain mill, rectangular cooler mash tun. 10 gal aluminium pot and turkey fryer, home built immersion wort chiller etc.... I batch sparge and rinse my grains twice.
 
For 5 Gal batches, I have gotten down to 4.5-5hrs. I buy my grains crushed, and the new burner my buddy gave me kicks my old on out of the water. I clean up as I go which helps alot. After the boil, it goes through the plate chiller to the carboy, little 02, and one boil kettle left to clean and Im done. 10 Gal, not so much...
 
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