All-grain Brewing Alone

[CGVT]

Definitely have a plan. My biggest problem with no help is lifting and pouring large pots of hot water and then pouring the wort into the bucket/carboy/fermonster by myself without spilling. No one to hold the fermenter and/or the funnel while pouring.

Get a pump. Even if you don't have valves on your kettles, you can jury rig ways to make you life much easier.

By putting a length of copper on the ends you can clamp the hoses to the kettle. You can transfer liquids this way, whirlpool and fill fermenters.

A pump, some hose, a couple of pieces of copper tubing and a couple of cheap clamps can save a lot of grunt work

 

[jgourd]

Good advice.

I would also add: Clean as you go. Dump the mash tun, clean it and put it away during the boil. Put anything that you are done with away when you are done with it. It makes the end of a brew day much easier.

Second. Third. Fourth. Like, absolutely, this is the best advice.

 

[mongoose33]

Definitely have a plan. My biggest problem with no help is lifting and pouring large pots of hot water and then pouring the wort into the bucket/carboy/fermonster by myself without spilling. No one to hold the fermenter and/or the funnel while pouring.

You might consider looking into a pitcher to move water and wort--if you're not siphoning it already.

I transfer hot water from my boil kettle to my mash tun using a pitcher; when the level is low enough in the kettle I pick it up and pour the rest into the mash tun.

Same with transferring sparge water. My boil kettle has a ball valve on it so I can just drain it into the fermenter. If I didn't have that, I'd be using a siphon to do that--though you could also use a sterile pitcher to move most of the wort into the fermenter, then pour the rest when it's light enough to handle.

 

[vsanchez949]

Unless your kids go to bed at 6pm, starting an AG batch after bedtime probably isn't a great idea.

I've done some after work batches with this basic plan....

1) Prep the water and mill the grains the night before - have all the other equipment laid out.
2) Have the kettle/burner in place so that I can just start heating the strike water the second I walk in the door.
3) Mash in
4) Make dinner and eat in that hour or so rest time
5) Quick batch sparge with the first runnings heating in the kettle
6) 60 minute hop addition
7) get the kids to bed
8) proceed as normal to finish brew day

It still has led to some late nights because it messes up my normal "clean as you go" plan. Also, that was when my older daughter was going to bed around 8pm.

Did that on Tuesday with a 10 gallon batch. 6 hours ad 40 min. Kind of a long day but worth the effort!

 

[corkybstewart]

I brew alone, kind of like the time spent outside,
It's the Bottling day that I recruit help, cleaning and sterilizing bottles and equipment, filling bottles, capping, tilting bottling bucket while filling bottles, it all goes really a lot faster when I have help bottling.

That's the primary reason I quit bottling and switched to kegs.

 

[Dimax]

That's the primary reason I quit bottling and switched to kegs.

Getting very close to doing just that, just need more STUFF sheez

 

[Bulls Beers]

Like many of you, I have everything out and ready the night before, like crushing my grain and doing a step up for my yeast. I mostly brew alone, because I start early in the morning. My brew day usually lasts about 5 hours. From heating the strike water to clean up. I'll also clean along the way. Makes things much easier at the end of the day. I also pitch my yeast the day after my brew day when my fermenter is in my lager chamber. I make mostly lagers and I'd like my wort at the right temp for pitching. I never get it where I need with just my wort chiller, so this works for me.

And I only keg..Screw bottling....

 

[slym2none]

I brew 2.5G batches, if that makes a difference.

 

[mongoose33]

I brew 2.5G batches, if that makes a difference.

Only to you.

Had a conversation w/ my son (who also brews and who helped me get interested in this) and he does mostly smaller batches. He lives in an apartment so it's a stove setup he uses.

I was lamenting the turn to MUCH colder weather here in Tundraland, and he suggested going to small batches brewed inside on the stove.

I actually thought seriously about that, though to me there isn't much in the way of time savings. I'd be able to heat water much faster on the stove, and bring the wort to boil much faster, probably shaving 20 minutes off the process. But in the end, I still need to mash for an hour, still need to boil for an hour, still need to crush the grain, etc. etc. etc.

One reason I shy away from small batches is the reduction in time spent isn't anywhere near proportional to the reduction in beer brewed.

 

[Brewenstein]

I brew alone, yeah
With nobody else
I brew alone, yeah
With nobody else
You know when I brew alone
I prefer to be by myself ...

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

I prefer to brew alone and drink with others, but I'm fully capable of brewing with others and drinking alone

The key to brewing alone is pre game planning, script your plays but be ready to audible and change the play as necessary.

Another key is to keep the brew system simple. More equipment may not mean more time on brew day, but it does mean but mindspace, and multi-tasking to keep the time down.

I have two types of brew days. The first type I go into with the attitude that I'm going take my time, and enjoy everything about it. It's the "sunday drive" type session. The other type, I time myself and try to beat my previous record time. I enjoy these too, as I enjoy pushing myself. These are my "I'm late for work" type sessions.

Both bring out different aspects of creativity and learning opportunities.

In my leisure sessions, I've been able to take the time to understand my boil off rates, the PH increase rate toward the end of sparge, "discover" a hopbag technique to keep grain out of the BK, etc.

In the speed sessions, I found that 45 minutes is plenty of time for a 152 F conversion of two row, that I should take advantage of my two burner system to heat my liquor, that 10 minute whirlpool is as good as a 20 minute on my system, that I had mistakenly plumbed the plate chiller (chill water was same direction as wort) and that the difference between a 40 minute sparge and 20 minutes in my system is 1% efficiency.

None of my learnings are rocket science but I believe if I didn't have two different types of brew sessions, I wouldn't have two ways of looking at things and would therefore have a slower development rate as a brewer.

 

[Grinnan5150]

All of my all grain batches with the exception of 2 have been alone. Not by choice, none of my friends really brew. All except 1 batch turned out great and took between 4-5 hours. I then switched to BIAB and the process became even easier with less clean up. Not having anyone to brew with shouldn't stop you from going all grain but the important thing is to enjoy yourself. If you try all grain alone and you don't enjoy it go back to extracts or try partial mash.

 

[bucfan1234]

I have brewed extract, partial mash, BIAB and traditional all grain, and with the exception of a few batches, I have brewed them all alone. Given some planning, I don't think all grain is any more physically difficult than any of the other methods, though it will take longer than an extract only batch. Of the methods mentioned above, the only one I would not do again is the partial mash.

Like others have said, coming up with a plan and a routine will help you find ways to make the brew session more manageable, less physically demanding and shorter. Lots of great tips have been given so far, and the ones really help me shorten my day are:


1. Prepping for the brew day, and having everything I need ready before I start.
2. Plan the brewing session in advance to eliminate redundancy and duplication of efforts. Ie: Prep your mash tun and grains while heating strike water, heating sparge water and prepping/reviewing brew additions while you are mashing, cleaning your mash tun and setting up your chiller while you are boiling, sanitizing your fermenters while you are chilling, etc...
3. Use any mechanical advantage you have. I recently upgraded my rig with great ideas from this site. I added a Keg King pump. I built the $50 HERMS system, and considering the cost, it is amazing at holding exact mash temps. I made plumbing for my kettle to recirc wort for chill and whirlpool. These additions were inexpensive, and they have made brew day much more controlled, in the case of the HERMS and Chilling/Whirlpooling, and less physically demanding. Pumping 5 gallons of near boiling liquid from one vessel to another is much quicker and safer than heaving and dumping. They also speed up the session. The HERMS elimiates the vorlauf step and makes wort trasfer speedier than gravity, the same is true for the batch sparge. That results in a significant time savings.
4. Find something to do while waiting around. I find most of the time spent in my all grain sessions is waiting. Waiting for water to heat, waiting for the mash rest, waiting on the boil. I try to accomplish something during that down time, whether its brew session related or just playing football with my kids.

All that said, there isn't anything wrong with getting in a quick extract brew session in when time allows only that, and I still do that from time to time. The idea for me is to have fun and create something I, and others, will enjoy, and whether that is all grain or extract really doesn't change that.

 

[brewbama]

I do all grain alone, all gravity, with one kettle, one fermenter, and three kegs which produces a steady pipeline.

On brew day I mill the grist, heat strike water, mash-in in a cooler mash tun, after a while heat sparge water and hold it in a bucket, drain the mash tun, batch sparge, drain the mash tun, boil, cool with an immersion chiller, drain the kettle into my fermenter, put the fermenter in a temp controlled fridge, pitch yeast when I hit the temp I want, and wait a couple weeks.

Once fermentation is complete in about a couple weeks I transfer to a keg, cold condition in a temp controlled freezer side of a side-by-side, then after a few daze fine with gelatin.

Then, in a couple weeks I move the keg to the fridge side of the side-by-side and carb. Wait a couple weeks. Serve. Enjoy.

The only tip I have is make sure you have fuel for your heat source and clean as you go.

 

[pvpeacock]

I prefer brewing alone, because I have my routine down pat. There is lots of down time while I'm waiting for the strike water to warm up, while I'm mashing and while I'm boiling, so I just fill that time prepping for the nest step, cleaning up after the last step, reading and listening to albums. When I have a friend or friends over, I feel like I have to entertain them during the waiting which usually means having a beer or two and talking alot. Then I feel rushed when its time for the next step or I feel like I'm ignoring them while I take care of business. It's less stressful for me to brew alone and drink with friends as suggested above.

As George Thorogood once said, "when I brew alone, I prefer to be by myself."

 

[catdaddy66]

As George Thorogood once said, "when I brew alone, I prefer to be by myself."

"Yeaa-hh, with nobody else!"

 

[MagicMatt]

I made a Gantt chart when I first started All Grain to help me visualize and streamline my process:

 

[glick]

I always brew alone. I could not ever imagine having the 7 hour brew day that you fear in the OP. One hour mash, One hour to ninety minute boil, chill it. That's two and a half, add in time for cleaning and heating water makes it about 4 hours with only about 30 minutes being actively spent doing something. To save time... crush grains in advance, set up as much equipment as you can in advance as well. CLEAN AS YOU GO!!!! Super easy and doable to have a 3.5 to 4 hour all grain brew day solo.

 

[beernutz]

I brew 10 gallon all grain batches using a PID controlled natural gas burner plus a heat stick and my brew day is 5 hours all inclusive. I can cut that down somewhat by weighing/crushing grain ahead of time however since I usually do that while the mash water is heating I really don't save much if any time there. My typical time breakdown:

Move gear into place, heat 14.5 gallons mash/sparge water to strike, and weigh/crush grain - 60 minutes
Mash and weigh/bag hops - 60 minutes
Transfer mash to keggle - 10 minutes
Do 2x batch sparges and transfer to keggle - 30 minutes
Heat 12-13 gallons wort from 165 to boiling in keggle -20 minutes
Boil - 60 minutes - may be extended if I do a hop stand
Cool wort with immersion chiller - 20 minutes
Transfer to fermenter, pitch, move fermenter to fermentation freezer - 20 minutes
Clean boil kettle (will have already emptied and cleaned mash tun during boil) and put everything away - 20 minutes
That totals 300 minutes or 5 hours exactly.

I have brewed alone for the last 25 years and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have family/friends/neighbors come over or otherwise interact with me while I'm brewing but I don't put them to work.

 

[bucfan1234]

I made a Gantt chart when I first started All Grain to help me visualize and streamline my process:

Nice! You must be a project manager.

 

[MagicMatt]

Nice! You must be a project manager.

Lead Software Engineer. Though my PM sucks so yeah I mostly do her work for her.

 

[Mathomson75]

I too have done ag alone and for me it was faster i fly sparge and a brew day with my buddies is usually 5-6 hrs alone 4-5 when alone I clean as I go and am not usually drinking and less talk I donly 5gal batches but if I were to do 10 I would say a brew partner would be a must

 

[MaryB]

Do most of the prep the day before. Weigh and crush the grain, weigh out any water additions, weigh out the hops(label them, I use 1 cup glad containers for this labeled 1,2,3 etc, same containers for mineral additions, sparge and mash labels), fill your mash and sparge kettles with water and cover. Brew day I heat the mash water, add the minerals to the grain and mash in, kick back and read for an hour. When the mash has 30 minutes to go I start heating the sparge water(doing 11 gallon batches, sparge is often 8 so takes time). Spend 30 minutes to 45 minutes sparging, soon as I have a half full boil kettle I light that burner to get it started heating(saves me 25 minutes!). Boil 60-90 minutes depending on recipe. Chill with the immersion chiller in 30 minutes and into fermenters. While the boil is going i wash the mash tun and paddle and wipe it down so all the cleanup I have left is the boil kettle and spoon I use in it. Last brew session was 6 hours start to finish with a lot of sitting on my butt reading a book in between.

I have resisted going full all-grain because it seems to be a lot to do alone. Due to my schedule and that of my friends, we are not able to get together as often as we'd like to brew, so I usually end up just doing an extract batch after putting the kids to bed. I have an all-grain setup with pump and plate chiller, so in theory it should be easy. I am skeptical though, and don't want to get into a 7 hour ordeal before realizing I have made a poor choice.

For those of you who do all-grain alone, what are your tips and secrets?

 

[corkybstewart]

I always brew alone. I could not ever imagine having the 7 hour brew day that you fear in the OP. One hour mash, One hour to ninety minute boil, chill it. That's two and a half, add in time for cleaning and heating water makes it about 4 hours with only about 30 minutes being actively spent doing something. To save time... crush grains in advance, set up as much equipment as you can in advance as well. CLEAN AS YOU GO!!!! Super easy and doable to have a 3.5 to 4 hour all grain brew day solo.

I crush my grain as I heat the strike water, and I heat the hot liquor at the same time. My 10 gallon batches take about 6 hours, mostly due to the volume of water I heat.

 

[mongoose33]

I crush my grain as I heat the strike water, and I heat the hot liquor at the same time. My 10 gallon batches take about 6 hours, mostly due to the volume of water I heat.

Doing 10-gallon batches introduces an interesting side element to time efficiency.

I'm doing 5 gallons in about 5 hours. You're doing 10 gallons in about 6 hours. So by my figuring, your second 5-gallon batch only takes an hour.

 

[jmill]

If I portion out my water and mill my grains the day before, I can brew 10 gals in 5.25 hours. Use the downtime to clean while things are going. Helps a lot in the end. It also helps when it isn't 100+ out. I use 1 pump and a few Blichmann burners.

SWMBO helps out on every 4 or 5 brews. She likes the process and likes being involved, but needs to spend her time doing productive things, like work.

 

[schematix]

I made a Gantt chart when I first started All Grain to help me visualize and streamline my process:

Even though the real clean-up doesn't start until after sparging, it seems like its the whole brew day!

 

[jcav]

I have always brewed alone all these years, until this past year. My three sons have took an interest and have come over each on their own brew day with me, or together. It has been really special brewing with them and teaching them. I enjoy it immensely and the time spent together is special. When they taste the finish product weeks later it's very satisfying for all of us and we all get a kick out of it. A friend or two has also come over and watched me brew and it was cool too. I still love brewing alone though and I am more on my game when alone and not distracted. So I really understand the "brewing alone thing"!

John

 

[martiniw2olives]

I went to an electric Brewha BIAC system because I can't rely on help and was nervous handling the hot wort after boil for cooling. Safety is the biggest issue brewing alone.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Safety is the biggest issue brewing alone.

Safety is always Rule 1 when brewing, but I don't agree that there's intrinsic value in having assistants or on-lookers.
They can be a distraction, particularly if there's 'splaining to be done through the process.

I will say running a propane-fired "Armstrong HERMs" (ie: total manual operation) predisposes me of my opinion...

As for the hot wort thing, you're right that moving hot kettles violates Rule 1 and shall be avoided.
But there are at least three different "cool-in-place" methods extant at varying ease of use.
I've never moved a hot anything.

How does one cool a BIAC?

Cheers!

 

[martiniw2olives]

Agree, I was putting myself at risk moving hot wort, I cringe thinking about it. It was moving from stove top to sink for ice bath and wort chiller, bad idea. I also concur with having people around that don't brew, takes me out of my "brew zone" and I make mistakes or miss doing stuff.

The Brewha BIAC has a built in jacket on the conical vessel that you mash, boil, and ferment in. The jacket has an inlet and outlet to run cool water through, either municipal or from a cooler. Works pretty good bringing the temperature down.

 

[day_trippr]

Very impressive. I trust it works as good as it looks

 

[corkybstewart]

Doing 10-gallon batches introduces an interesting side element to time efficiency.

I'm doing 5 gallons in about 5 hours. You're doing 10 gallons in about 6 hours. So by my figuring, your second 5-gallon batch only takes an hour.

I have even done 15 gallon batches so I can use different yeasts and dry hops, it takes the same amount of time.

 

[MrAverageGuy]

Only to you.

Had a conversation w/ my son (who also brews and who helped me get interested in this) and he does mostly smaller batches. He lives in an apartment so it's a stove setup he uses.

I was lamenting the turn to MUCH colder weather here in Tundraland, and he suggested going to small batches brewed inside on the stove.

I actually thought seriously about that, though to me there isn't much in the way of time savings. I'd be able to heat water much faster on the stove, and bring the wort to boil much faster, probably shaving 20 minutes off the process. But in the end, I still need to mash for an hour, still need to boil for an hour, still need to crush the grain, etc. etc. etc.

One reason I shy away from small batches is the reduction in time spent isn't anywhere near proportional to the reduction in beer brewed.

That's just about right. But, other advantages to brewing 2.5g batches (for me anyway) are that all the gear goes in a few bins in the garage, and I brew more often, get more variety, and get better at it faster...

 

[bucfan1234]

That's just about right. But, other advantages to brewing 2.5g batches (for me anyway) are that all the gear goes in a few bins in the garage, and I brew more often, get more variety, and get better at it faster...

Lately, I have been thinking about moving to either ten gallon batches or partigyle to maximize the time spent on mashing and sparging. Its seems like I could almost make two brews in the time it takes to make one 5 gallon batch now.

 

[augiedoggy]

I mostly brew alone and find its much quicker than when I brew with someone since im less focused... and now I mostly do 11 gallon batches for the reasons mentioned above...

 

[martiniw2olives]

Very impressive. I trust it works as good as it looks

Yes, having allot of fun with it.

 

[schematix]

brewing alone and brewing sober makes for smoother brew days. not as fun though.

 

[MaryB]

10 gallon batches is more efficient use of time and fewer brew sessions needed. My worst was 7 hours and that was a stuck sparge.

Lately, I have been thinking about moving to either ten gallon batches or partigyle to maximize the time spent on mashing and sparging. Its seems like I could almost make two brews in the time it takes to make one 5 gallon batch now.

 

[MagicMatt]

I know this isn't exactly on topic, but is anyone doing 10-11 gallons all gravity-fed (i.e. no pumps)? I want to move to 11 gallon batches (5.5g now), but not wanting to buy any pumps until I go all electric. As it is, I have to lift my kettle after sparging to get it onto the burner. Don't think that's gonna work with 10g batches.