Fastest all-grain brew day times

[Zepth]

A stuck sparge shouldn't be anything that takes more than a few seconds to correct. If you are draining your mash tun with a hose attached, just lift the hose about the level of the mash, and then blow into it until bubbles come through the mash. In my experience, this fixes it the first time probably 95% of the time. If it doesn't fix it, do it again, but blow harder. You can also use an air compressor, but it's quicker and easier to just blow into it (remember, it's pre-boil, so you don't have to worry about contamination).

Normally yes. If you're counting on it to drain in your absence while measure out all hop additions or whatever it was that I was doing at the time, then it'll hit when you're not looking. Literally. Come back to see the hose not dripping and the tun still plenty full.

Turns out a watched pot will never boil and an unwatched sparge will never drain.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

I usually get a batch done in 4:45, start to finish, including cleaning. However, I often do a brew day with one batch after another, and for those 2 batches, its about 8 hours total

 

[RM-MN]

Oh. Well that distinction would probably be helpful. I think most people work off the assumption of a 5 gallon batch. A 5 gallon batch in just over 2 hours would be quite the feat.

i think I could pull it off with a 5 gallon batch if I had a burner that had sufficient output but the days that I like to brew are those where the temperature is well below zero and the wind is howling and my anemic burner just can't heat the water in those conditions. I can't stand to be outside then either which is why I'm brewing those days but those conditions are also the ones that provide me with the temperature I want for fermentation in the room I can use for that.

 

[max384]

Normally yes. If you're counting on it to drain in your absence while measure out all hop additions or whatever it was that I was doing at the time, then it'll hit when you're not looking. Literally. Come back to see the hose not dripping and the tun still plenty full.

Turns out a watched pot will never boil and an unwatched sparge will never drain.

Oh yeah, I hadn't considered this. I do all of that during the mash, so that hadn't occurred to me. When batch sparging, the sparge gets my full attention.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Just knocked out a 1.060 5 gallon batch of a honey faux-bock in just under 9 hours...

Just moved into a house I bought with SWMBO so my brewing stuff was scattered about. Worth every minute though first brew day in 8ish weeks.

(Next brew day will be under 4.5 hours since my stuff is finally organized)

 

[rwgaro]

Great thread - I think mashing at 10-20 min (see first link below) combined with applying the premise in the 2nd link (15 min boil with hop bursting), combined with some other time savers (ala heating water in multiple pots, using a cooling coil thing, etc) would get you around 2 hrs. Can't apply the 2nd link to all styles though...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=492255

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=210253

 

[Zepth]

Great thread - I think mashing at 10-20 min (see first link below) combined with applying the premise in the 2nd link (15 min boil with hop bursting), combined with some other time savers (ala heating water in multiple pots, using a cooling coil thing, etc) would get you around 2 hrs. Can't apply the 2nd link to all styles though...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=492255

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=210253

That may not go so well. Extract has already been boiled down a long time (among other processes) to get rid of SSM (the DMS precursor). A short mash will save time but a short boil isn't compatible with all grain. That's at least my understanding of it, I could be wrong.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Normally yes. If you're counting on it to drain in your absence while measure out all hop additions or whatever it was that I was doing at the time, then it'll hit when you're not looking. Literally. Come back to see the hose not dripping and the tun still plenty full.

Turns out a watched pot will never boil and an unwatched sparge will never drain.

You can fix that problem by collecting the runnings into buckets of a smaller volume than the batch. Then even a stuck mash will continue going until it makes a huge mess on the floor while the brewer is at the store buying rice hulls.

 

[rwgaro]

Oooo... Great read w/respect to this thread...

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/11/the-impact-of-boil-length-ale-exbeeriment-results/

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Oooo... Great read w/respect to this thread...

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/11/the-impact-of-boil-length-ale-exbeeriment-results/

I would be interested in seeing him eventually do like he said at the end, a beer with lots of pilsner malt, one with 30 minute boil, the other with a 90 minute boil. I should really try and take a BJCP exam so I can go to a competition and try to taste a bunch of beers with bad DMS, I can honestly say I've never really had a beer that had lots of DMS so I really don't even know what I'm looking for.

 

[brewbama]

I've ever understood the rush. Why not relax and enjoy the brew? I don't rush and it takes me about 4 hrs doing single infusion, batch sparge, 60 min boil for a 5 gal batch. I eat, drink, BBQ, talk with the wife, kids, G kids, enjoy music, etc on brew days.

 

[rwgaro]

I've ever understood the rush. Why not relax and enjoy the brew? I don't rush and it takes me about 4 hrs doing single infusion, batch sparge, 60 min boil for a 5 gal batch. I eat, drink, BBQ, talk with the wife, kids, G kids, enjoy music, etc on brew days.

Less about rushing for me more about wanting to brew good beer, having a crazy busy schedule, and only having a narrow window. Boils down to either doing 4+ hrs after kids go to sleep (and stumbling to bed after midnight exhausted and throwing off the rest of the week) - which often means deciding not to brew - or enjoying the process and doing so in a 2-3 hr window without feeling rushed...

 

[brewbama]

Less about rushing for me more about wanting to brew good beer, having a crazy busy schedule, and only having a narrow window. Boils down to either doing 4+ hrs after kids go to sleep (and stumbling to bed after midnight exhausted and throwing off the rest of the week) - which often means deciding not to brew - or enjoying the process and doing so in a 2-3 hr window without feeling rushed...

Understood. Being an empty nester I forget about the daze running kids to balls games, band/choir concerts, etc, etc. I can't blame you.

 

[Punx Clever]

3 hours with a full 60 minute sparge, 90 minute boil, and no-chill.

Had to be a fluke, everything ran perfectly.

 

[brewbama]

I lit the flame under the strike water water at 0900 this AM. I did a triple infusion mash (122*F 20 min, 149*F 30 min, 158*F 30 min) and batch sparged with a 60 min boil. I had it cooled and in the fermenter, everything clean and put up at 1400.