All-grain Brewing Alone

[Lambo3]

I understand the brewing after kids go to bed thing... it is the only time you're truly off duty. Both of mine used to be sacked by 7, but the oldest is up until 8 these days.

I don't mind brewing till midnight though, as long as I've got a brew available. I think as other's have stated, preparation is the key. Have tools, cleaning and equipment ready to go laid out in an organized manner.

Start heating your strike water 20 minutes before your kid's bedtime so you can mash in as soon as they hit the sack.

There is a lot of downtime in all grain brewing, so during the mash, you can prep your boil kettle and sparge water. During the boil you can prep your chiller and fermenter. If you've prepared right, there is no reason you can't get a brew day done in 4 hours.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I didn't read the entire post so forgive me if some of these have been suggested already. I also have 2 kids under 4, and a very understanding wife but i've still experimented with various time-saving techniques. A typical brew day for 10G is 6 hours for me, yes it used to be 7 but i've cut it down. Also I have only EVER brewed alone.

Other than the obvious tips people recommended of getting stuff ready before brewing (which I do) i've had great results on overnight mashing. I mash in on friday night (3-4F above standard mash temp) seal the cooler, cover with sleeping bag and i'm always above 140F at 7AM with no funkyness going on. If i do overnight mash I can be done, pitched, and cleaned up in 3-4 hours on sat morning.

Also i've done a variant of no-chill with good success, instead of messing with my pump and CFC (which take a while to clean!) I just used my old 5G batch IC when the boil is done, knock the temp down to the 100-120 range with just a few minutes of IC chilling, then I put the lid on and let it cool overnight. i've done this 4 times and never had an infection issue.

PM me if you interested in any more details on the overnight mash.

Cheers!

 

[coypoo]

Getting everything ready the night before really helps. I have my grains crushed, my strike and sparge water measured, and all salt and hop additions separated out into containers. I also really like my bucket heater set on a christmas timer. I have it start about 2 hours before I want to mash and the temp is usually in the 150s or so and it only takes a few minutes on the burner to get to my strike temp (instead of heating all the way from tap water temperatures).

I have 2 little kids too, so I will try to time the longer things (mash, boil) around them. While Im mashing I can feed them or put them down, and during the boil (about the first 30-45 min of it) I can do the same thing.

 

[trav77]

I prefer to brew alone, instead of with a friend. With someone else, I get distracted and that's when mistakes (messes, especially) happen.

Most of the work is hands-off, really. Pumps help so there isn't as much heavy lifting. I clean the MLT during the boil, so after the boil all that is left is the boil kettle. I usually fill it with some water and PBW and let it recirculate or soak while I put the fermenters where they go and put everything else away. I'm a "clean as you go" kind of person in all things anyway, so by the time I'm cleaning the boil kettle out, everything else is done.

From start to finish, a brewday takes me about 5 hours. I make 11 gallon sized batches.

Yup. I actually don't like brewing with others. Prep the night before and clean as you go. 4-5 hours no problem for me and most of that is downtime to chill.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Lift weights. Build up those muscles.

And I don't realy like brewing with others either. Unless they are complete novices. Why? Because then I can teach them from scratch and won't have to worry about them trying to contradict what I'm trying to do.

 

[C-Rider]

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?

1-you could crush your grain the day before brewing.
2-During the mash you have an hour to get all sorts of gear ready for later steps.
3-During the boil use a timer and you can clean up mash tun and what you used earlier.

You should be able to do a brew in say 4 hrs. 5 at the most.

 

[tracyk]

Prep and organization are the key words. Cleaning as you go. I know my first all grain day took 7 hours just because I was nervous about what I was doing. Now is takes me 4-5 hours, especially if you clean as you go.

 

[piratefan]

Thanks again so much for all the help. You guys have given me a lot of very useful info!!!

 

[mredge73]

I still take a solid 5 hours for brew day. I have dedicated brewing area and have invested in many brew gadgets to reduce my stress level and cut my brew day down to under 3 hours (with a 90 min boil). However this really only effects the brewing process. I still take hours to build my recipe, buy water, pull items from inventory by weight, grind grains, and get organized on the front side. Then it takes an hour or more for clean up at the end of the brewing process. For me brewing is an exhausting yet rewarding process. If I manage to get the front side done a day or so in advance then everything usually goes much smoother. My advice would be to pre-plan as much as possible, then have a dedicated brewing area to cut down setup time.

 

[str1p3s]

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.

 

[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.