2 batches in one day.. too ambitious?

Planning my first AG brew tomorrow, and have enough ingredients for 2 beers (dfh 60 min clone/two hearted clone). Am I crazy to attempt to brew both tomorrow, while I have everything set up?

Being your first AG brew,you probably won't know if it's a good idea until after the first 1 is done.Plan on starting early and leave enough time in between in case you need to run out for some hardware or more brew supplies.It takes me 6 hours to brew 10 gal all grain plus cleanup. Go for it but don't be dissapointed with just 1 session.Good luck.

I don't know if I'd do 2 on the day of my first AG batch and my first run with my setup, but once you do one an get it figured out 2 in one day can be great.

I figured it would be too much. I'm really trying to brew like mad before winter hits. can't picture myself trying to hit strike temps when its -20Celc out.

Darnit if I'm not practically giddy about my first AG batch. Can't WAIT! I feel like I've joined the big kids now.

I would just do one batch for your first AG. That way you can adjust your process according to your first batch without rushing.

Good luck!

I too would vote for one. You need time to analyze what happened (or didn't). Unfortunately, you don't totally find that out for like 5 weeks after, when the beer is ready.

Make a detailed step list, and follow it religiously. That'll help alot.

Just buy a case or two of your fav beer to tide you over.....

I wouldn't on my first attempt...too many little details to have to pay attention to for one beer let alone two. But down the line, go for it. The easiest way is do a partigyle, and make 2 beers from one grain bill. A strong beer from the first runnings and a lesser beer from the second.

I go over how to create two recipes from one batch here, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/lets-partyyyy-gyle-pumpkin-porter-ale-one-mash-74927/

But you don't even have to get that complicated, once you get a handle on things like Ibus and stuff. When I did my 50th birthday Barleywine chronicled on the link in my sigline, I did my second beer "on the fly" using brewing software, a refractometer and my IBU/BG chart.



I was able to take a preboil gravity of the second runnings, calculate what the og would be when boiled for 60 minutes, then used the chart to figure out how hoppy I wanted the beer, then used software to figure out hop additions to get there.

Oh and we did 5 i gallon batches of mead, inluding one where we boiled the honey for several hours until it was black to make a 15th century brocet (burnt mead.)

This is what you will be able to do down the line...but on your first AG, "I wouldn't try this at home."

If you have enough equipment you can easily do an extract batch while you are mashing/sparging.

I agree with everyone else. It's definitely possible to do two in a day (heck I did four), but being your first AG attempt, I wouldn't even think about it.
Tom

Yah agreeing with everyone, not on your first try mate. I do 2 regularly, takes me about 6 hours for both including clean up with my BIAB set up. Saves me from brewing on another one of my days off work
Get your process down, maybe go for 3-4 brews before trying 2 at once.

Once you get your process down, all you'll need is a second burner to do two AG in one day in six hours.

I built a 2nd mash tun in hopes to do 2 brews at the same time. I did it once and it was too much at that time. not sure if I'll do that again.

"shudder"

Consider instead getting larger equipment and going to 10 gal or 20 gal single brews (1 EACH 10 or 20 gal session is much easier then 2 each 5 or 10 gal sessions) and or consider doubling your equipment and doing your sessions so that you alternate from one brew to the next ie: start heating your 2nd batch of strike water 30 minutes after your first

But if you do decide to try 2 try doing them by starting your second batch while you are boiling your first. That means you will need a minimum of 2 burners and 2 pots.

Don't let your enthusiasm over rule your common sense! 2 brews in one day is a big job for someone with experience, for your first AG you are biting off far more than you can chew. 12 hours + makes for a long day.

I'd also recommend not drinking until your last wort is in the boil kettle

humann_brewing said:

I built a 2nd mash tun in hopes to do 2 brews at the same time. I did it once and it was too much at that time. not sure if I'll do that again.

Click to expand...

That's why you need to make a mashtun out of your hot tub.

I did two AG brews in one day this past weekend.. It was a long day but I am convinced I saved time by only dragging and sanitizing everything once.. That being said, I wouldn't make a habit out of it, that's for sure..

I just started AG... I wouldn't do 2 in one day to start. I tried to plan my 1st AG Batch as well as I possibly could, and still botched a thing or two. (just little hiccups, not major catastrophes)

BUT... I also wouldn't wait to long to do the 2nd. Maybe one on Saturday, one on Sunday?? I did two consecutive Saturdays for my 1st 2 AG batches.

If you're like me, It'll keep the mistakes you made fresh in your head so you're less likely to repeat them... BTW, take notes - LOTS of them - even the mundane little things... then read through it when all is said and done and add the things that are in your head that didn't make it on paper. It'll make the 2nd AG batch go a lot more smoothly because you can review what you did/didn't do right the 1st time.

All great advice. Guess I was just to excited! Thanks all, I'll post how it went.

I think I had my first AG batch very well planned out. But even then, there were a few things I didn't consider which caused my projected timeline to well exceed my expectations.

If I were you, I would not attempt to do more than one batch on the first brew day. What I would do is schedule a slice of time about twice as long as anticipated to be safe. Having a friend / loved one present to lend a hand and/or possibly make a store run if needed is also highly recommended.

Already plenty of good advice here, but I have to put in my two cents. I did my first all-grain last weekend (step mash); I planned on ~5 hours. It took over 7, and I was spent by the end.

The second time I did all-grain I decided to go big and do a double brewday as well as bottling a batch, wound up taking me close to 10 hours all told. I've got doubles down to ~7-8 now (including bottling a batch, I like to knock everything out at once), it'll go much faster once I get a bigger kettle.

another way is to increase capacity, I just bought a 95 litre insulated cool box and a second 6 gallon boiler. I already have a spare cooling coil, just need to split the cold water hose supply into 2, plan to end up with 11 gallons of wort.

First brew is gonna take about 5 or 6 hours from start to finish. Double that for two batches. Experienced brewers can do two batches in maybe 7 hours. The real problem is that you need 2 mash tuns to really speed things up.

I say go for it, just give yourself a good 12 hours. If you had two mash tuns you can shave a good two hours off of your time. You'll also want a very efficient wort chiller. You can chain together as many batches as you want this way.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/big-brew-day-tomorrow-167939/ My buddy and I did 5 AG batches and an apfelwein in one day. Read down the thread for photos.

Hit me up if you have any questions on multi-brew days. GL!

The September/October 2010 Zymurgy (More Beer From Your Brew Day) spends a quite a bit of time talking about making 2 beers from one batch and includes a number of recipes. I'll see if I can adequately summarize it. Everything is based around a parti-gyle method where the separate runnings are used for different batches.

Techniques

- augment the 2nd batch of wort with additional grains (crystal or roast) or adding a second mini-mash.
- taking the same base wort and water it down
- during the boil you can change around the hops/sugars/spices
- during fermentation you can change the yeast/temp/sugars
- in the secondary you can dry-hop/oak/spice/fruit/spice/etc

I have a couple 3 gallon better bottles that would work quite well for splitting batches like this. I'm going to start out slow with a few secondary techniques and slowly work my earlier in the process.

(apparently I'm a schill for Zymurgy this week -- I have no monetary interest)

You don't need two mash tuns to do two five gallon batches in six hours or less. Just two burners. Mash the first beer. Then while boiling the first beer, mash the second beer. Then while cooling the first beer, boil the second beer. Then while cooling the second beer, clean up. I mash for 45 minutes, runoff takes a half hour or so, and I boil for 60. There's even time to keg last session's batches in there. This weekend I even added in a batch of Apfelwein. All in under six hours.

It's all done, and it went really smooth. just over 4 hours for my first batch (Yooper's DFH 60min. clone). Hit all my numbers and everything. I didn't get started until 2:30 for various reasons, and really felt like had I started early enough I would have had enough steam to get through a second batch. Especially because everything was already set up.

If you do decide to attempt two batches in one day, then I highly recommend making a detailed list of each step that will need to take place with the help of an experienced brewer. Good advice for even just one batch of all grain.

If an experienced brewer can be available to assist, then that would be even better. They are usually available if there is free beer (wink, wink). Be very specific with each step in your list, and keep in mind that you will probably be staggering some steps for each process (ie I typically mash my second batch while my first batch is boiling, or I typically batch sparge my second batch in my mash tun while I am chilling my finished wort of the first batch). This takes some juggling of equipment and a lot of planning on the first round. If you have a step by process and don't drink too much, then I have faith that you can do it in a long day and be successful with it.

My first double batch took 8 hours, and I can do it now in about 5.5 to 6.

Good luck!

On my second AG brewday ever, I also did a mini mash after, and THAT was too much. Just my 0.02.