Mega Brew Day - Tips/Suggestions?

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DJP00829

DJP00829

Ice Cold Brewer
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Short version: I'm going to be bottling, transferring and brewing (extract) all on the same day. Any tips/suggestions?

Long version: My roommate and I have precious little free time in which to brew, so we have to make the most of days off work/class. We can/want to brew on Monday - The first problem? We dont have any ingredient - simple solution: a quick run to the LHBS.

The second problem? We dont have an open primary. We could buy another one while getting ingredients, but that's not really in the budget at this point in time. So we also need to transfer on Monday. Which leads to the third problem - We don't have an open carboy (again, not quite in the budget right now). So we need to bottle. We've checked the gravities and the brews are indeed ready to be bottled/transferred.

So our Monday plan after the LHBS trip looks like a reverse brew process: Bottle, then Transfer, then Brew (extract) --- Realistically, we'll probably start the brew and then transfer during the boil (always with one eye on the kettle to watch for boilovers, of course), but it's fun to think we'll be doing the whole brewing process in reverse in one day!

I was hoping for any suggestions or tips that you guys might have on how to make the whole day go smoother, or any pitfalls to avoid.


Cheers! :mug:
- DJP
 
DJP00829 said:
Short version: I'm going to be bottling, transferring and brewing (extract) all on the same day. Any tips/suggestions?

Long version: My roommate and I have precious little free time in which to brew, so we have to make the most of days off work/class. We can/want to brew on Monday - The first problem? We dont have any ingredient - simple solution: a quick run to the LHBS.

The second problem? We dont have an open primary. We could buy another one while getting ingredients, but that's not really in the budget at this point in time. So we also need to transfer on Monday. Which leads to the third problem - We don't have an open carboy (again, not quite in the budget right now). So we need to bottle. We've checked the gravities and the brews are indeed ready to be bottled/transferred.

So our Monday plan after the LHBS trip looks like a reverse brew process: Bottle, then Transfer, then Brew (extract) --- Realistically, we'll probably start the brew and then transfer during the boil (always with one eye on the kettle to watch for boilovers, of course), but it's fun to think we'll be doing the whole brewing process in reverse in one day!

I was hoping for any suggestions or tips that you guys might have on how to make the whole day go smoother, or any pitfalls to avoid.


Cheers! :mug:
- DJP
Click to expand...

Thieving a couple of cups of fresh extract wort from your brew kettle to use as priming solution might save you some time, depending on the gravity of the wort. Don't want bottle bombs.
 
This is why I own six carboys and eight kegs ...

You're plan sounds good.

I assume you have a bottling bucket?

I would just make sure everything is cleaned/sanitized and laid out for use. And remember you have some slack time ... time after cooling before transfer, time in the bottling bucket after priming sugar, time after steeping grains before hops/extract ... build in that slack time to clean/sanitize your equipment. Might help to have some clean 5-gallon buckets to mix up cleaner/sanitizer solutions.
 
Find some good tunes, and bask in the glory of the UBER brewday!!! It's always fun to get as much brewing stuff done in one day as possible.

My brother and I have been known to bottle a 5 gallon batch and then do a double 5-gallon batch brewday. It just takes some careful planning and focus. Oh, and good music.
 
A plastic fermenting bucket with lid and airlock is only about $15 at my LHBS. If you can't afford that, you can't afford beer.

Trying to fit in too much in a day may lead you to make mistakes or take shortcuts that will make bad beer. Start with the brewing. If that goes well and you still have time, then bottle.
 
I have bottled a 5 gallon batch and brewed an all grain batch in a day. I think it was a little over 5 hours total. you should be able to pull that off in 2 or 3 hours, even less if you plan it out right and can do transfers and bottling while the boil is going.
 
Just a few weeks ago I pulled this off.
While I was heating my strike water I was removing labels off bottles. In all honesty that took me well into the boil because of super sticky labels. After the wort had cooled I was washing those two cases of bottles while making a priming sugar. Rack to the bottling bucket and bottle. All the while my air pump was was running in the beer. From start to finish it was almost 9 hours of nonstop beer brewing. It was a blast, but I was exhausted.
Good Luck!
 
We do this on a regular basis....AND harvest the yeast!

1. Put water on to boil for yeast washing.
2. Put priming sugar on to boil.
3. Put brew pot on to heat.
4. Pull priming sugar to cool.
5. Crush grains for mash.
6. Put yeast washing jars in fridge.
7. Mash-in
8. Start Bottling
9. Mash-out & Boil
10. Transfer to secondary, and start yeast washing.
11. Chill wort
12. Clean & Sanitize Primary
13. Dump wort to primary and pitch.
14. Finish yeast washing.

Most of the steps occur during the previous steps. Since Mashing and boiling take a significant amount of time, there is easily long enough to bottle and transfer...even if you are doing and EG, PM, or extract. Just omit the steps that you don't need.
 
I had some time yesterday and essentially did this. 3 batches in reverse.
I have 2 carboys and 3 buckets, but I like to use a bucket as a sanitizing bin. Doing it in reverse made it simpler. I wouldn't have minded buying another bucket, but I didn't feel like making the LHBS trip.
Also, I dread bottling, so I wanted to knock that out while I was still "fresh".

I bottled this first: http://hopville.com/recipe/1070181/american-amber-ale-recipes/simcoe-copper-ale

Then transferred this for dry-hopping: http://hopville.com/recipe/1070612/american-pale-ale-recipes/bitter-warrior-pale-ale
I would've probably preferred to leave this in primary for a while longer, but I'll just go with 10-14 days of dry-hopping.

Then I brewed this: http://hopville.com/recipe/1107374/american-pale-ale-recipes/rittenhouse-pale-ale

It took about 9 hours (I was by myself).

I didn't really do much mixing of steps to save time. I'm a pretty new brewer and find most things end up taking longer than I'd planned. I didn't want to mess anything up. I did one "step", cleaned up, and moved on to the next.

I'd like to continue doing things this way. It was great knocking out so much in one day.
 
RM-MN said:
A plastic fermenting bucket with lid and airlock is only about $15 at my LHBS. If you can't afford that, you can't afford beer.
Click to expand...

You make a very compelling argument. I know I'll have to get some more buckets/carboys eventually, so maybe now is the time ...

After reading all your suggestions, we'll probably start the brew first and kind of do everything else in the "down" time. We'll have at least 2, possibly 4 brewers at my apartment (Brew Party!!), so I think we'll be able to get everything done in a reasonable amount of time.


Thanks for all the advice, and if you have any more, keep it coming!

Slainte! :mug:
- DJP
 
One nice thing about doing it all at once, is you save on sanitizer as you can just sanitize it all together! (we just load up the kitchen sink)
 
I've done (2) 5 gallon allgrain batches and bottled in a day. Probably transfered too as that doesn't take long. You've got the plan just fine. Start with turning on the stove, then do other things at the same time like bottling. Lots of time to catch up when cooling the wort too. And if you need more time, cool the wort with a lid and let it sit until you are ready.
 
Brew strong, man! Love it!

My only additional suggestion would be to plan/measure/organize as much as possible before hand.

I Have managed double batch days & bottling largely by pre-measuring my hops, priming sugar, grains, yeast, etc., labeling all of them, and bundling them in bags or boxes by batch. Made everything MUCH smoother :)
 
My only suggestion is because of my mistakes and shortcomings - clearly write down your recipe and plan. It is easy (for me) to get caught up, tired, umm ... Inebriated, and cross recipes or bottling quantities together. Hope u have a gr8 brewday!
 
Thanks for all the input! Including a trip to the LHBS, it took us 4.5 hours to get it all done. We started the boil first thing, per many of your suggestions and just fit the bottling and transferring in while we waited. The only thing we forgot was the Whirlfloc - but since this was the first time we were using them anyway, I'm ok with that.

Now the waiting game begins.

Cheers! :mug:
 

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