Brew eve prep...

[Dan]

I've found preparing the night before for the next brew session very relaxing. Instead of using my electric drill to grind the grain, I have returned it to the shelf it lives on in my garage awaitng my next home improvement .

This might be a long post.. sorry about that.

The night before brew day I find enjoyment in weighing out the grains, crushing them and I also weigh out the hops. For the last few brews I've made I hand grind the grain.

The ground grains go into a HomeDepot orange bucket covered with Al. Hops measured and weighed to into seal-able plastic bags. Water additions (this is my first time) also went into one of those plastic bags. Lastly, put a whirfloc tablet and a Servomyces yeast nutrient into plastic bag. I marked it at 15, and also noted IC. All the hop bags have a number on them which I use to know the timing of each of them.

Tonight I was a little upset at myself because when I ordered grain, I accidentally ordered crushed grain, for the base grain. 10lbs of crushed Marris Otter. Well I weighed all the grains out, including the pre crushed Otter.. Broke out the Barley Crusher and started grinding. It was a failure at first.

I've double ground grain before. Didn't think it would eff any thing up doing it again. Well about 2 pounds into the hand grind.. the crusher stopped working. I thought maybe the flour of the pre crushed grain just didn't provide enough "traction" to pull the rest in. I shook the crap out of the mill, trying to get the flour part to the bottom and into the bucket I was using.

Didn't work. I finally got my drill and hooked it up to the Barley Crusher.. it worked. Got around 12 lbs of grain crushed. Bummed me out a little. I was so looking forward to grinding the grain by hand.

It's all good though. Grain, hops, water adjustments are all weighed out.
Tomorrow morning all I need to do is make some beer!.

 

[Robin0782]

I'm with you on this. I always prep everything possible the night before. I am doing my first all grain for my next batch, and I have a Barley Crusher on the way. I had planned on crushing my grains by hand the night before as you do. It definitely makes a smoother, more relaxing brewday. I like to get started as early as possible, so it just makes sense.

 

[Seven]

What time do you start brewing in the morning, Dan?

 

[Spartan1979]

I do the same thing. Haul most of my equipment out of the basement up to the garage. Filter the water I need to mash in. Grind the grain. Then in the morning I can start heating the strike water and eat breakfast while it heats up. This morning I was mashing by 8 AM.

 

[Dan]

I do the same thing. Haul most of my equipment out of the basement up to the garage. Filter the water I need to mash in. Grind the grain. Then in the morning I can start heating the strike water and eat breakfast while it heats up. This morning I was mashing by 8 AM.

+1

Just so much easier to do ahead of a brew day, doesn't take alot of time the night before.

 

[Dan]

What time do you start brewing in the morning, Dan?

Sometimes early other times late. I just enjoy the prep time the night before. For me, very relaxing.

 

[bob1852]

I Haven't brewed in two months.

I have made 18 gallons of wine and 10 gallons of mead though.

 

[Homercidal]

Ok, grinding grain by hand and enjoying it is just sick.

Other than that, I also like to get stuff done the day before. It's amazing how fast and easy it is to do this stuff, and then how much smoother the brewday goes.

I also weigh my grains and crush them and put them in a bucket with a label indicating what the mix is and when I crushed it (in case my brewday gets canceled)

I like to measure out the water and add minerals and acid beforehand too.

 

[Stauffbier]

I also do all of my prep the night before. My brew day would be too long if I didn't. I have to keep all of my stuff stored, so set-up and tear-down always takes a little time. I'm hoping to brew this weekend for the first time in over a month.

I hope your brew day went well Dan!

 

[Calichusetts]

Its really made the brewday more enjoyable when I prep the night before...almost the same exact system too:

All grains are measured and bagged
Hops/spices are weighed and in sealed containers with minute addition times
Equipment is cleaned and sanitized

All I have to do during brewing (besides the actual brewing) is zest fruit and grab ice. I am like 200 yards from a store so I can flameout, whirlpool, get ice and have it chilling in 20 minutes.

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

This post made me think. For my next brew I will treat 12 gals water with a crushed campden tablet, add my CRS or AMS or dil sulphuric acid, boil for 5 mins and leave to cool overnight. I will also sterilise my igloo and slotted copper tube filter, wash, dry, and add my pale malt and liquor salts. So next morning heat water to 78 deg C and add to grain then have breakfast....

 

[Nukesquad]

I like to hear other with same methods. I always like to spend the night before assembling my valves, hop-spider, etc. I just got my barley crusher for my last batch, so I like the idea of crushing the grains the night before...one less thing to do the next morning, will def be doing that for my next batches this week.

 

[tre9er]

My counterpoint to this is that I find I have plenty of time to prep things during various stages of the brew day itself. I can fill HLT with strike in about 2 minutes and fire it up. While that's going I weight and crush grain, then get MLT out and make sure it's clean, assembled, etc. The strike takes about 30 minutes to heat so I'm able to get all this done during that time.

I drain strike into cooler (hotter than strike actually) and cover to preheat. I can then add sparge water to HLT and anything else (for those 5-10 minutes). I dough-in and stir-down to temp, cover, throw blanket on MLT and fire up sparge water on one element usually...so it's not too fast to heat.

Now I go make/eat breakfast with the fam, etc, then weigh FWH or 60m hops. After sparging and adding first hops I measure other hops as boil get's going.

Really, there are plenty of times where waiting is required, so I find I can have everything prepped during those times. The only times it get's stressful is if I have issues crushing or hitting a temp. Crushing the night before would be about the only thing I might do to make sure if I have to double-crush or adjust it, I have time...but even that only takes me 5-10 minutes.

 

[DirtyOldDuck]

I find I can drink more beer while weighing grains and hops if I am not worried about times or temperatures; therefore, I like to do the prep the day before I brew. Similarly, I find I can drink more beer while watching times and temperatures during the brew if I am not busy weighing out the next hop addition or doing something else I could have done the night before. It works for me.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have recently been combining my bottling and brewing session. I don't have a grain mill, so I crush my grains at the LHBS. Heat strike water, start siphoning to the bottling bucket, dough in, set up filling wand, sanitize bottles, drain first runnings to an empty fementer, heat sparge water, fill half of bottles, dunk sparge, fill other half of bottles, start boil, move bottles to conditioning closet, back in time for first hops addition. I have found it does not take me any longer than a traditional brew-only day.

 

[Calichusetts]

I have recently been combining my bottling and brewing session. I don't have a grain mill, so I crush my grains at the LHBS. Heat strike water, start siphoning to the bottling bucket, dough in, set up filling wand, sanitize bottles, drain first runnings to an empty fementer, heat sparge water, fill half of bottles, dunk sparge, fill other half of bottles, start boil, move bottles to conditioning closet, back in time for first hops addition. I have found it does not take me any longer than a traditional brew-only day.

With my prepping lately, I've been considering adding bottling and transfering beer to a secondary as an official part of the routine. I've been able to do it before (double batch and I also bottled two batches) but its a little too hectic for me.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I have to agree having things planned and laid out works much better for me. My wife decided last minute to spend the day with her mother yesterday and gave me the green-light to brew, so a rushed trip to the LHBS for ingredients and the store for spring water and I was brewing. I was stressed because of feeling rushed and un-prepared, I had issues with my mash temps, and due to the size of the brew (20+ lbs of grain for 5 gallons) I had a horrible efficiency and no DME to make up for it. I also had my first boil over to add insult to injury (on the gas stove inside) so I have a terrible mess I have to deal with tonight. In the end, it will still be beer but not the beer I wanted to brew. For me, a planned brewday will be the only brew day I have now.

 

[Seven]

I'm a night before brew day prepper. I get the mash water in the kettle, add any water treatments, crush gain, set out equipment, review the recipe, etc., the night before. That way I can just relax 'n brew on brew day. I found this works better for me. I've tried doing everything on the same day in the past but it felt rushed and I sometimes forgot to add ingredients.

 

[Dan]

I also do all of my prep the night before. My brew day would be too long if I didn't. I have to keep all of my stuff stored, so set-up and tear-down always takes a little time. I'm hoping to brew this weekend for the first time in over a month.

I hope your brew day went well Dan!

Hey Stauffbier! Thanks! Did my first water additions. I found some food grade CaCl at a hardware store of places. EZ water says the additions should give me a well balance brew.

It went well except my effciency took a nose dive! Huge nose dive, I was planning 70 (a little lower than my average) but I hit 55%! That's ok though, this will be a nice session brew and is within range for IBUs, color, ABV for the style. Tasted great! Will find out in a few weeks.

EDIT Stauffbier did you get to brew this weekend?

 

[Dan]

I'm with you on this. I always prep everything possible the night before. I am doing my first all grain for my next batch, and I have a Barley Crusher on the way. I had planned on crushing my grains by hand the night before as you do. It definitely makes a smoother, more relaxing brewday. I like to get started as early as possible, so it just makes sense.

Congrats on the BC! I don't always start early although now that summer is about here will probably. Good luck on your next batch!

 

[Dan]

Ok, grinding grain by hand and enjoying it is just sick.

Other than that, I also like to get stuff done the day before. It's amazing how fast and easy it is to do this stuff, and then how much smoother the brewday goes.

I also weigh my grains and crush them and put them in a bucket with a label indicating what the mix is and when I crushed it (in case my brewday gets canceled)

I like to measure out the water and add minerals and acid beforehand too.

I might tire of crushing by hand eventually but for now, that's how I roll. (corny pun intended)

 

[bob1852]

Ya know Dan, HBT has a multi-quote feature.

 

[Dan]

This post made me think. For my next brew I will treat 12 gals water with a crushed campden tablet, add my CRS or AMS or dil sulphuric acid, boil for 5 mins and leave to cool overnight. I will also sterilise my igloo and slotted copper tube filter, wash, dry, and add my pale malt and liquor salts. So next morning heat water to 78 deg C and add to grain then have breakfast....

+1

 

[Dan]

I like to hear other with same methods. I always like to spend the night before assembling my valves, hop-spider, etc. I just got my barley crusher for my last batch, so I like the idea of crushing the grains the night before...one less thing to do the next morning, will def be doing that for my next batches this week.

Good luck Nuke!

 

[Dan]

My counterpoint to this is that I find I have plenty of time to prep things during various stages of the brew day itself. I can fill HLT with strike in about 2 minutes and fire it up. While that's going I weight and crush grain, then get MLT out and make sure it's clean, assembled, etc. The strike takes about 30 minutes to heat so I'm able to get all this done during that time.

I drain strike into cooler (hotter than strike actually) and cover to preheat. I can then add sparge water to HLT and anything else (for those 5-10 minutes). I dough-in and stir-down to temp, cover, throw blanket on MLT and fire up sparge water on one element usually...so it's not too fast to heat.

Now I go make/eat breakfast with the fam, etc, then weigh FWH or 60m hops. After sparging and adding first hops I measure other hops as boil get's going.

Really, there are plenty of times where waiting is required, so I find I can have everything prepped during those times. The only times it get's stressful is if I have issues crushing or hitting a temp. Crushing the night before would be about the only thing I might do to make sure if I have to double-crush or adjust it, I have time...but even that only takes me 5-10 minutes.

You make good points. For me it is not that I don't have the time to do it on brew day. I just enjoy doing it, haven't always prepped the night before but I think it is going to be the norm from now on.

 

[Dan]

I find I can drink more beer while weighing grains and hops if I am not worried about times or temperatures; therefore, I like to do the prep the day before I brew. Similarly, I find I can drink more beer while watching times and temperatures during the brew if I am not busy weighing out the next hop addition or doing something else I could have done the night before. It works for me.

I'm with you there!

 

[Dan]

Ya know Dan, HBT has a multi-quote feature.

Sorry, I need to learn how to use that one!

 

[bob1852]

Sorry, I need to learn how to use that one!

Just to the right of the quote button. Select multiple messages and hit quote for the last one.

 

[Dan]

Oh.. I feel pretty stupid now. I was looking in the quick reply window. Thanks very much AZ_IPA!

 

[Whut]

I just enjoy the prep time the night before. For me, very relaxing.

This. It just makes for an enjoyable brew day.