AG Average Brew Time

I'm pushing about 25 AG batches under my belt now and I can say that for the last 15 or so I've hit a consistent 4 hour / batch (5 gallon) brew time including prep and cleanup. This seems to be regardless of if I'm doing 1 batch or 3.

How does this compare with everyone's time efficiency? I'm just checking to see if I need to look into better processes or if I'm doing ok.

Thanks!
-B

Takes me about 6 for a 5 gallon batch so you're doing better than me.

I'm probably somewhere between 5 - 6 hours. Upgrading my burners soon so hopefully that will help.

I batch sparge in a bag and I consistently finish in 4hrs, assuming 60 min mash and 60 min boil. 90 min mash/boil adds time of course.

Five hours for me if I'm doing a five-gallon batch. I've been doing 1 gallon batches recently, which cuts about an hour off my time; it's nice 'cos I get to spend more time with the kids, and I get to experiment more.

I'm usually just over 4 hours on my brew rig. I just started doing 10 gal batches and it only adds about 20 mins to my time...

I don't really watch the clock all that much, but usually somewhere between 4-5 hrs. Depends on the mash and boil times.

I have only done a few 5 gallon AG batches, but my average is around 4.5 hours, though that has greatly improved since I switched to propane burner brewing vice stove top brewing.

About 6 hours for 10 gallon batch with 90 minute boil. I drag-ass allot - there are minus to having brew rig in basement next to big screen TV and pool table. I clean my rig before and after brewday, so that adds some time. If I actually did it "right," it'd be more like 4.

4 hours almost every time (batch sparger)

5-6 for me with a 60 minute fly sparge and 90 minute boil

I can do 4 to 4.5 hours if I'm paying attention. It can easily get to 6 if I don't pay attention and miss temps etc.

7 hours start to finish for me. Im slow.

4 hours for me and that is with the usual 60 min mash ans 60 min boil. I use my stove and my propane burner to move the hot water along a little faster.

My last one moved along fairly efficiently (no wasted time), and it took about 5 hours.

That is half hour to bring 3 gallons of water to mash temp (~180), plus 15 minutes letting it heat the cooler, then 1 hour mashing (meanwhile i boil the sparge), about half hour lautering and sparging, half hour to bring the wort to a boil, 1 hour boil, half hour chilling (ice bath, while i sanitize stuff), half hour siphoning and aerating (lost some time on siphoning due to a larger than usual hop bill clogging my autosiphon tip, but nothing major).

That is for a 3 gallon batch, with store crushed grains (but I could easily crush while heating the water anyway) and I'm not counting cleanup (took another hour, but that's because I decided to scour my kettle with bkf today)

Approximately 6 hours. That is form start to finish (every thing clean and put away after the batch is in the fermenter)

7 - 8 hours, but there's a lot of gaps in the middle so I can do other things, and the last hour is soaking the kettle and CFC to clean out all the crud.

-a.

Funny. I was just about to post the same question after trying to speed up my brew day these last few brews.

My time is for a 6 gallon ale, 60 minute single infusion mash, and 60 min boil.

From flame on to heat the strike water to pitching yeast it takes me 4:15.

Cleanup adds another 15 minutes to the end if I stay on top of it during the boil.

4-4.5 for me for a standard single infusion batch sparge with 60 min mash and boil.

I think the main difference in brew times is if you clean throughout the brew day or at the end. My day is usually just over 4 hours...except I don't have a IC so its another hour to cool in the sink.
Once that is built, heck I could do 2 brews in one day!

10gal with a 90min fly sparge and 60min mash and boil takes about 6hrs. I have had a 9 hour brewday before though with a complicated mash schedule and 90min boil.

Of course, that's start to finish, there is so much time where you aren't doing anything though.

It usually takes us 8-9 hours for a 15 gallon batch, including all set-up and clean-up. Just getting our water up to mash and sparge temp takes a good hour and a half. We are currently using a 20 gallon kettle over two Viking stove burners, which I think are only about 17K BTUs each. We're going to tap the natural gas line and set up a hurricane or jet burner soon, which will speed up water heating and boil. It also takes us an hour to and hour and a half to cool our wort, due to an undersized immersion chiller. We're in the process of upgrading that with a bigger chiller and a whirlpool setup. That should shave off another 45 minutes of so. If we can get down to 6 hours for a 15 gallon batch, I'll be pretty happy.

My 5-gallon batches take 4 hours from the start of heating strike water to pitching yeast. Setup and cleanup adds another 2 hours.

average of about 6 hours for 10gal AG.

Side question on this. How long do you think it takes a microbrewery to do it. Say a 7bbl system.

I currently share my HLT and BK between 1 vessel and it takes me 5-6 hours for a 5G or 10G batch. I hope to get down to the 4-4.5 once I get a dedicated HLT completed. Which will be electric so I really won't count my brew day time until it's time to mash in

About 6 hours for ales and at least 8 for lagers. The lagers take longer to cool the wort.

4 hours for me if i am on top of things, 6 or so if i have a buddy "helping" me. Those 12oz curls tend to slow the process a bit.

I can't seem to do better than 6 hours for 12 gallons. This is starting with a recipe but no other prep, so includes setup, weighing salts, grinding grain, and finishing with hot wort in the cube and everything cleaned up. I have 2 burners and a 3 tier stand, so setup is not too bad. I feel like I should be faster but I'm not yet. Not that its a problem.

Company during the brew, while generally welcome, always slows me down.

This past Saturday I overlapped 2 batches. While the 10g Kona Pale Ale was boiling, the 10g Blue Moon clone was mashing. Should have been a disaster, but wasn't. Probably about 8 hours total. I don't really clean up, I just toss it all in the backyard, fill with water and oxyclean, and leave for later in the week.

20 minutes to prep
30 minutes to bring water to temp to mash in
60 minutes waiting for mash while heating up sparge water
10-15 minute making sure sparge water is correct temp
add extra 5 minute for checking temps after mashing etc.
20 minute first runnings
15-25 minute sparge
30 minutes to sparge
45 minutes to bring to a boil
boil for 60 minutes
35-40 minutes to cool
30 minutes clean up

Should be 6 hours and 20 minutes in theory, but sometimes takes me up to 7.

Edit: last batch took me 5 1/2 hours.

EonBlue66 said:

4 hours almost every time (batch sparger)

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batch sparger, 4 to 5 hours.

Takes me 4-4.5 hours including everything from setup, weighing water additions, grain crush, mash, boil, yeast pitch and clean up. It use to take longer but I've been saving time with a heat stick, hot tap water (tastes the same) and having my process down.

A pretty consistent 4.5 hours from start to finish, including all set-up and clean up. I keep trying to shorten it, but I can't really figure out how. But there's still a lot of down time in the middle (first while mashing, then while boiling) so I usually try to do stuff around the house to keep SWMBO happy.

3.5 to 5 hours

3 hours seems to be my magic number. Most of my cleaning/sanitizing happens while waiting for water to get up to temp in various stages. So for example, I get my kettle cleaned and as soon as that's done, I start getting water up to temp while cleaning the mash tun. I have my sparge water ready for batch sparging right as it's needed and start getting the runnings up to boil as soon as they're collected. I do a no chill so I collect my starter wort right at the end of the boil and pitch the starter either after an ice bath or the next day.

Not counting chill time, it looks like my process is on par or only slightly faster than the 4 hour processes I see. I don't rush but I do always look for what I can be doing during any downtime. The only real time I'm doing nothing is in the middle of the mash and the middle of the boil. Keeping time at 3 hours makes it possible for me to do weekday brew sessions which is what I prefer.

I have to do my brewing after my young kids (3,4,5,&7) go to bed so I have streamlined my process as much as possible. Here's some things I've done:

1. I have a checklist hanging in my brew room. I load a bucket with everything on the list and head outside.
2. I used to double batch sparge but now single batch sparge. No loss in eff. (at least for me).
3. I clean up things when I can during the brew process to prevent from having to do it later.
4. I started using a hop sack so that after I cool, I can just pour the wort into the fermenter through a funnel and strainer. This way the strainer aeriates beautifully and its much faster than siphoning.

Doing these has gotten my process down to 4 hours flat for 5 gallons including setup and clean up.

5-6 hours for 60min mash, fly sparge, 90min boil

flyerwire said:

5-6 hours for 60min mash, fly sparge, 90min boil

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Ditto, more like a solid 6 incl. cleanup.

Just did my first ag the other day did a BIAB stovetop and went from mash to cleanup in 5 hours. 90 min mash and 90 min boil gave me time to get a lot of things done. I was always afraid of going AG but compared to extract its a lot less to worry about especially not having to worry about a boilover. Cant wait to brew again

I am constantly moving around and brewing under different conditions so it varies a lot. Anywhere from 4-6 hours, usually pretty close to 5. Hoping some increased preparedness , a new plate chiller, and a new burner will get me consistently around 4.