What is your personal best brew time?

[japhroaig]

I just pulled off an all grain, ten gallon batch that was almost an hour faster than I had ever done (not gonna say the number, I'd just like to hear yours ). What is your best time, from the very first cracking of the grains/heating water, to everything being cleaned/put away/fermenting?

 

[masonsjax]

You should make this a poll.
Most standard brewdays are around 4.5 hrs for me start to finish. I've done it in under 4 though.

 

[japhroaig]

Good suggestion, I'll give that a try. Can't really help saying, but I hit 4 hours 35 minutes today, and I felt great. Highlight to see

 

[remilard]

I dunno, 3 hours maybe for all grain?

I've got a fairly automated system now and I step mash because it is easy. That puts me at like 6 hours but I do much less work than I did with a cooler etc so I can keg a beer, clean some kegs, add nutrients to a mead, eat lunch, take a nap, etc during those 6 hours.

 

[azscoob]

most of my brews are 4.5-5 hours long, some run longer but 4.5 is the low end of my days, I could probably get faster, but I enjoy a nice no hurry brewday, brewed last night, started at 5:30 and finished at midnight, what a great relaxing evening!!

 

[japhroaig]

3 hours? See, I don't know (with my setup) how to even get under 4. 60 minute mash + 60-90 minute boil (depending on style) + 30 minute sparge, along with say 10 minutes measuring and grinding grain, 30 minutes downtime waiting for water to heat, 30 minutes to chill and get into fermenters, and say 25 minute cleanup puts me at a minimum theoretical time of 4 hours 5 minutes if absolutely nothing goes wrong--like my propane burner giving me grief today .

How do you get it faster? Does my burner/chiller suck? (Yeah, they might)

 

[Julohan]

About 3.5 hrs for all-grain, was my best. Though, I also had all the grains, hops, and water ready the night before. The time also includes cleanup.

 

[japhroaig]

About 3.5 hrs for all-grain, was my best. Though, I also had all the grains, hops, and water ready the night before. The time also includes cleanup.

That's awesome. I was thinking earlier today about how you could really take this to an extreme--i.e. quadrupling the amount of hops and only boil for 15 minutes, aggressively batch sparge at the expense of efficiency, or even look at converting starch to sugar with say stirring arms. Then after I thought about it, shaving another hour off while doubling your cost might be kinda stupid

 

[SumnerH]

3 hours or a little less is pretty typical.

30 minutes prep (drawing/prepping water and heating to strike temp)
1 hour mash
30 minutes to reach boil (sparge overlaps the first 15 minutes or so)
1 hour boiling
1 hour chilling, pitching, cleaning, etc.

 

[jsullivan02130]

Uh, dude, that makes four hours.

3 hours or a little less is pretty typical.

30 minutes prep (drawing/prepping water and heating to strike temp)
1 hour mash
30 minutes to reach boil (sparge overlaps the first 15 minutes or so)
1 hour boiling
1 hour chilling, pitching, cleaning, etc.

 

[schweaty]

My brewday usually runs 5 to 6 hours depending on what I'm brewing and how big the mess is after I'm done.

 

[sketerbuck]

I would be real disapointed if my brew day only lasted 3.5 hrs. I usually make a whole day event. I just relax and make it my day off.

 

[robertvrabel]

Last night I tried to brew a batch as time efficiently as possible just to see how fast I could brew something. It was a 60min boil, and I was able to brew it AG in 4 hours from start to finish with cleaning.

Its much easier for me to make the brew day faster when I'm alone because I can clean up and put things away the moment I'm done with them. When I have friends over for brewing, it easily takes 5-6 hours because we chat a lot, drink a lot of beer, and don't clean anything until the end. Its not a bad thing... just funny you'd think the day would go faster with help. The cleaning definitely goes faster at the which is nice tho!

 

[bmckee56]

I prepare my water and equipment the night before. Everthing is set to go in the morning except for the grain preparation. If I add this time into the actual brew day, I would say 4 to 5 hours.

I enjoy brewing on my day off especially because SWMBO is at work and I have the basement to myself for what needs to be done.

Salute!

 

[eanmcnulty]

I had a 6.5 hour brew day last Saturday. Was shooting for 4-5 hours, so I was a little annoyed. I am 2.5-3 gal batches. So, I looked into no sparge. I know efficiency drops, but so what. At that amount the cost is little. I jus t need to figure out how to adjust recipes for a little extra grain. Anyway, I managed to get the brew time to about four hours fifteen minutes. Not bad at all. I had my water ready to go the night before. I still buy crushed grain from lhbs, so that is ready. I am looking to get down to 3.5 hours. Is a plate chiller fastest way to cool wort? How long would it take 2.5 gallons to get down to 70F?

 

[Soonerbourne]

Brew day for me usually lasts around 6 hours including cleaning and sanitizing and post clean-up. I usually crank up the tunes and sample previous batches of homebrew while brewing so the 6 hours passes in no time.

 

[Julohan]

I had a 6.5 hour brew day last Saturday. Was shooting for 4-5 hours, so I was a little annoyed. I am 2.5-3 gal batches. So, I looked into no sparge. I know efficiency drops, but so what. At that amount the cost is little. I jus t need to figure out how to adjust recipes for a little extra grain. Anyway, I managed to get the brew time to about four hours fifteen minutes. Not bad at all. I had my water ready to go the night before. I still buy crushed grain from lhbs, so that is ready. I am looking to get down to 3.5 hours. Is a plate chiller fastest way to cool wort? How long would it take 2.5 gallons to get down to 70F?

It would take just a few minutes, with cooler water in a single pass.

 

[remilard]

3 hours? See, I don't know (with my setup) how to even get under 4. 60 minute mash + 60-90 minute boil (depending on style) + 30 minute sparge, along with say 10 minutes measuring and grinding grain, 30 minutes downtime waiting for water to heat, 30 minutes to chill and get into fermenters, and say 25 minute cleanup puts me at a minimum theoretical time of 4 hours 5 minutes if absolutely nothing goes wrong--like my propane burner giving me grief today .

How do you get it faster? Does my burner/chiller suck? (Yeah, they might)

On on my old, simple system cleanup at the end of the day would have only been the brewpot and chiller, that took maybe 15 minutes. I would measure and grind grain while the water was hitting so. The 3 hour batch would have been no sparge and with a higher mash temp that converted faster.

30 min - heat water and prep everything else
30 min - mash
15 min - heat to boil
60 min - boil
30 min - chill and pitch
15 min - clean

 

[japhroaig]

I do have to say, some of my best memories are long, relaxed brew days while sampling previous experimental batches

 

[eanmcnulty]

I like a long brew day when I have time for it. I am a teacher, and I plan on taking my time on those long summer weekdays while everyone else is working. I just want to know how quickly I can brew when I need to. Brewing right now. Shooting for 3.5 hours, so I can go watch the Blackhawks.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

I usually brew by myself after work, but sometimes on weekends with some friends. The time difference is huge. At least 6 hours if friends are over helping (meaning: drinking my beer and watching), and about 4.5-5.5 if by myself, depending on style of beer.

Typical brew day is as follows:
45 min - measure/mill grain as water heats up
60-90 min - mash, sanitize carboys and CF chiller
10 min - vorlauf
45-60 min - sparge
15 min - wait for boil
60-90 min - boil
15 min - chill, fill carboys, take gravity reading
5 min - pitch yeast, put away carboys
20 min - clean and put away equipment (pack all into a small closet)

I might have about 4 beers total over the whole brew day if I'm brewing myself, but probably around 7 or 8 if friends are "helping." As BAC increases, productivity decreases --productivity is inversely proportional to blood alcohol content. Brewing is fun no matter how I do it though!

 

[eanmcnulty]

I cleaned inside of my car while brewing! Chiller is in the pot. Trying to be done in 40 minutes. We shall see. Looking for that 3.5 hour brew. I don't see how I can get it any shorter. It would be nice to be able to brew after work and still get to bed by 10:30pm.

 

[JOHN51277]

4-5 hours from the time I walk into the garage to the time I carry the carboy inside and pitche yeast.

 

[SumnerH]

Uh, dude, that makes four hours.

Yep. Drunk math = bad.

 

[eanmcnulty]

It's the chillin' that's killin'. I have had the IC in there for 1:15. I'm at 75F, and trying to get to 70F. I am using a small pump in ice water to recirculate. This is the part I want to make faster. I am going to have to think about a plate chiller.

 

[adx]

I'm usually in the 4 - 4.5 hour range on brew day. It takes me about 30-45 minutes the night before to get everything ready.

 

[eanmcnulty]

Okay, I started at 9:45am and finished at 2:30pm including clean-up. Took 4:45. The only way to cut more time is in the cooling now.

 

[hezagenius]

One thing I've started doing with my immersion chiller lately is every few minutes, I swirl it around in the pot for about 10 seconds. This seems to cool it much faster. I cooled 5 gallons to 70F in about 20 minutes. You can feel the IC getting hotter as you do this so you know it is doing more cooling than if it were stationary.

Stirring the wort would accomplish the same thing.

Once it is done chilling, I take the mash paddle and really get the wort swirling around in a circle. This helps create a cone of trub in the middle of the bottom of the pot. Let is sit for several minutes until the wort stops moving. Then siphon from the edge of the pot and keep the tip of the siphon close to the top of the wort's surface. When you drain most of the wort out, you can see the trub cone and can stop the siphon when you start pulling the trub up.

 

[japhroaig]

Yep. Drunk math = bad.

If I had a nickel for every time I've done that, well I'd have a ****load of nickels

 

[japhroaig]

I usually brew by myself after work, but sometimes on weekends with some friends. The time difference is huge. At least 6 hours if friends are over helping (meaning: drinking my beer and watching), and about 4.5-5.5 if by myself, depending on style of beer.

Typical brew day is as follows:
45 min - measure/mill grain as water heats up
60-90 min - mash, sanitize carboys and CF chiller
10 min - vorlauf
45-60 min - sparge
15 min - wait for boil
60-90 min - boil
15 min - chill, fill carboys, take gravity reading
5 min - pitch yeast, put away carboys
20 min - clean and put away equipment (pack all into a small closet)

I might have about 4 beers total over the whole brew day if I'm brewing myself, but probably around 7 or 8 if friends are "helping." As BAC increases, productivity decreases --productivity is inversely proportional to blood alcohol content. Brewing is fun no matter how I do it though!

It is phenomenal how when people come over to 'help', the exact opposite tends to occur. I have some friends that claim 'it takes beer to make beer', but I kinda find the opposite to be true.

 

[japhroaig]

It's the chillin' that's killin'. I have had the IC in there for 1:15. I'm at 75F, and trying to get to 70F. I am using a small pump in ice water to recirculate. This is the part I want to make faster. I am going to have to think about a plate chiller.

Interesting--I use an immersion, but for 10 gallons it takes less than half an hour. I am moving it up and down for a large part of that time, but it goes pretty quick. I am also using well water, which is quite cold.

 

[eanmcnulty]

Interesting--I use an immersion, but for 10 gallons it takes less than half an hour. I am moving it up and down for a large part of that time, but it goes pretty quick. I am also using well water, which is quite cold.

Yes, maybe I'm not moving it enough. I stir it, then let it sit, then stir it again. I guess I don't have wort moving enough.

 

[Pommy]

I normally enjoy taking 5-6 hours for a batch, I could probably get it done quicker but I enjoy my brew days and like to take my time with it. I would say 3-4 hours would be a good time with a good automated set up. My personal best was a tin of coopers and a kg of sugar in 10 mins, beat that

 

[eanmcnulty]

I mixed two bottles to create different brew; one minute.

 

[nebben]

Usually 12-15 hours, but I'm working on it!

 

[Tiber_Brew]

It is phenomenal how when people come over to 'help', the exact opposite tends to occur. I have some friends that claim 'it takes beer to make beer', but I kinda find the opposite to be true.

Tell me about it. Sometimes it's fun to make a miniature party out of a brew day, but most of the time I look at it like a side job. I need to get this done, and I need to get this done right. I'll have time to enjoy the fruits of the labor when it's done, and I can drink it with friends when I don't have to watch temps and sanitize equipment etc.

I find that when you're sitting around with friends drinking, you end up missing times, temps, forget to sanitize something that you need NOW, and so forth. But the brew log ends up with a plethora of funny a$$ quotes!