Brewing setup question for busy dads

[Marc77]

I've got a question for those of you with busy lives but still brew. I've got a son that's 10 months old and within the few years will have a second kiddo around. Obviously those with kids know that free time are two words that aren't familiar. With Christmas gifts I literally just got the final funding to finish up my all grain set up.

Currently I've got a Bayou Classic 82 quart pot which from what I'm told is more like 72-78 quarts. I've got the plate chiller, ball valves and all the parts to make a Coleman Xtreme mash tun. I figure just to get me back in the game I can buy some hoses and use the 7.5 gallon fermentation buckets as a go between.

Now for my question... Moving forward I'd like to have a setup that will minimize my time brewing but still let me have that fun of brewing. So I don't want something that I throw the grain in and push a button to come back to cooled wort. But I also don't want to have something that will take 6+ hours with kids running around and a wife asking me when I'll be done.

So I've looked at the brew-boss set up and also using some of Kal's clone to get me to a faster setup. The brew-boss seeming interesting doing a BIAB but I'm not sure if that's for me. Besides I'm going to have to buy stuff to make a winch to pull the basket out which I figure would be about the same as buying another kettle for a HLT and fixing it up myself.

Any thoughts on automating or what system to use? I'm open to just about any ideas...throw them out there. Raspberry Pi to monitor kettle temps, etc...any systems you all have made that work well and keep time down? I'd also like to move to electric when all is said and done.

Thanks again! I love this community and the ingenuity that comes from it...hence why I'm asking!

 

[YeastMode]

I love this question, which pops up from time to time, because it lets me know that I am not alone in this struggle. I don't know if there is one answer to this question, or even a series of answers, because everyone has different obligations and different situations as home, but FWIW, here was my solution to finding time to brew using the equipment you already have (no automation):

I get my ingredients on a Wednesday or Thursday and make a starter that day if using liquid yeast. I try to stick to 60 minute mashes and boils. The night before my brew day, I make sure everything is clean and ready to go, which usually takes less than 30 minutes because I clean well at the end of the prior brew. I wake up at 6 or 6:30 on brew day, get my burner out, put a pot on it, fill it with the required amount of water, and get my mash water heated. While heating, I get the rest of my equipment set up on a table and laid out. I mash in, and get my sparge water ready to be put in a pot.

With about 20 minutes left int he mash, I heat it up and get it ready to go. I vorlauf and drain into my BK. I batch sparge, vorlauf and drain into the BK. Then I boil. While the boil is going, I clean everything I do not need any longer (MT, Other Pot/HLT, etc.) and fill up a 5 gallon bucket with StarSan. Everything I need to transfer to my fermenting bucket goes in the StarSan solution, along with my worm chiller. I then mix up 5 more gallons of StarSan in my fermentation bucket and lit it sit until ready.

Boil done, chiller goes in with hose water, and I fill a bucket with ice and use a small fountain pump to move ice water through the chiller. All in, I get the wort down to 70* in about 20 minutes, and I live in South Florida. If you can stick your pot in the snow, even better. I then filter while transferring to the fermentation bucket, sanitize and pitch yeast. I then clean everything and put everything away in its designated space.

If I start at 6:30, I am in the house by 10:30 or 10:45, and everyone is happy. My tips are (1) start early, (2) eliminate any unnecessary or avoidable steps (like having to clean before brewing), (3) good organization. I have a 3 year old and an infant, and I brew once or twice a month. Its possible, but you have to have a good plan.

I hope this helps.

 

[JoshuaW]

Going electric or at least partially electric will let you automate much more of your process. Im building an all electric system using the BCS-462, which is a computerized brewing system that allows you to monitor/start/stop processes from a web interface, and this is how I envision my brewday:

Fill HLT night before, treat water
Wake up, trigger processes to heat HLT from phone, get dressed, etc while that heats up
Transfer strike water to MLT, recirculate through RIMS heater to stabilize temp
Mash in
Wait for buzzer to alert that mash is complete
Begin sparge
Set BK for 208*, receive alert when at temp
Start boil, adjust down power to prevent boilovers
Receive alerts at hop additions
Chill and clean!

Because I can monitor the process remotely, and utilize buzzers to alert me that the next step is ready, I anticipate I can get away from the kettles a lot more and get stuff done around the house. Some of this might shorten my brew day, but even if it doesnt, not worrying about this stuff should give me the perception that brewing isnt sucking up an entire day.

 

[billl]

I've found I can brew on weeknights with very little interruption of family time. Measure out everything in advance and have a kettle full of water on the burner the night before. Turning that on takes 10 seconds when you get home and then you have 20-30 minutes to play or make dinner. Mashing in take <5 minutes. Then you have 60-90 minutes to eat/play/whatever. With young kids, that gets you to about bedtime. My daughter is 5 now and likes to help mash in and help drain the tun. I'll toss the wort on the burner on low for story time/teeth brushing and then crank the heat up when I can get back to watch it. While the boil is going, clean everything up, sanitize the fermenter, grab a beer etc.

 

[m00ps]

I know you already have the mash tun, but doing all-grain BIAB saves hours on brew day and cleanup. Everything is in one vessel to minimize clutter and cleaning. No sparging, less transferring, etc. I'd highly recommend trying it

 

[TexasWine]

Given that you've got an 82 quart pot, I'm assuming you'll be doing 10 gallon + batches. I do 6 gallon batches on the stove top and keep my setup and process intentionally simple. One friend claims I laugh in the face of all good brewing practices. I BIAB, no chill, grind to flour, etc. etc. So a lot of what I do may not transfer to your setup.

A typical brew day for me lasts about 2.5 hours, assuming I've done a little prep work beforehand (building the recipe, water volume calcs, milling the grain, measured my water and done my salt additions). Last brew day I started with zero preparation (hadn't even built the recipe in Brewer's Friend) and knocked two six gallon batches in 6 hours. Had I done my homework I think I could have squeezed it in in 4.5 or less.

So with all these disclaimers, I'll throw out a few things I do that save me time.

1. Heat strike water over night. This has been a big time saver. I can wake up and immediately dough in because I grind the night before. I do this by putting my 9 gallon kettle in the oven set on the warm setting at 165F. Other folks, particularly those in this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/i-love-waking-up-hot-strike-water-easy-1-2-3-a-381737/, use an electric immersion heater.

2. No chill. I just dump the hot wort straight into the fermenting bucket and pitch the yeast the next day when it's cooled off. Lots of folks seem to be super scared of this, but I haven't had any problems to date.

3. Thirty minute mash, combined with a very fine grind. Just what it says. I mash for 30 minutes and get perfectly good beer every time. I hit or overshoot my gravities. Final product is crystal clear, fully (or over) attenuated.

4. Electric assist. My gas stove top can bring 7.5 gallons of water to a boil pretty quickly by straddling two burners, but it's even quicker with an immersion heater like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FO8FY68/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I hope some of this helps.

 

[baulz]

I am in the same situation, night time brews are what works best for us. My wife likes to sleep in....so morning is out of the question.

Like others have said prepping as much as possible the night before makes a huge difference. Also building even just a basic brew stand can save a lot of time. Mine is on wheels in the garage against the wall, pull it out and everything is ready to go.

I'm working on an electric HLT so I can heat water while in the house. Then try to get the mash started right before our boys bath and bedtime. Once he is asleep it is time to run off the wort and sparge. Batch sparge as time permits around dinner, sometimes it sits for 5 minutes, sometimes for 20-30. Boil starts when my wife goes to bed (9pm!).

One thing I miss about the pre-baby days is having a dedictated 4 hours for a relaxing brew day. Now I'm running back and forth all the time always in a rush.

 

[mliptack]

Going electric or at least partially electric will let you automate much more of your process. Im building an all electric system using the BCS-462, which is a computerized brewing system that allows you to monitor/start/stop processes from a web interface

I am currently in the same boat. I have two boys, a 6 year old and an 18month old. I too typically like to brew in the morning. Burner lit by about 6am is ideal. The BCS will allow me to fire it up from the comfort of my bed (or set a timer to start it for me...).

While building a 3 kettle electric brewery that is automated with the BCS will also chew up a lot of time, that could be better spent with the kids, I see it as an investment to my free time.

Build Progress Here

Cheers!
Max

 

[Rockn_M]

I do most of my brews at night. It can make for a long day and early next morning but that's the only time I can dedicate without neglecting the kid or the brew.

Like most have said prep as much as possible before hand. I tend to also do more lighter beers to help keep the brew day down to a reasonable amount of time.

I am just about finished with an electric brewery build, I am hoping that will help. I won&#8217;t have to be outside to continually monitor the propane and temp.

 

[pitmaster666]

I agree with the organization points. having a steady routine will take a few batches to get nailed down, but just having an accurate time estimate will make your planning that much simpler. I kniw there are a lot of hardcore homebrewers that live and die by new gadgets... but having some crazy computerized thing and full automation, at least for me, would take some fun out and simply cost too much. the first reply made a great point about doing what you can the evening before. when my toddlers go to bed I have my whole table laid out and ingredients marked and seperated into time stages before I go to sleep

 

[TexasWine]

Forgot to add a couple things that aren't necessarily brew day items.

Don't use a secondary.
Keg.

Both time savers.

 

[sikkingj]

I've got to echo TexasWine, plan, done as much as possible the night before,mBIAB, no chill, no secondary and Kegging all help streamline my process. I have also had to stop a few brews mid mash, or finish the mash stick on the lid and boil the next day. I've done this a handful of times with no ill effect.

Having this in the back pocket allows me to try a brew when timing is tight - worse case scenario I'm boiling wort 24 hours later.

I've also just got a fermentation chamber and STC-1000 that allows me to set and forget.

 

[soccerdad]

All good ideas - with a focus on safety ! When you are brewing electric - or on the stovetop at night, you are keeping kids away from unruly propane ! WTG

 

[dobes]

I do stove top BIAB very easy even if it's just me and my two boys 3 and 2 yrs old. I also have a 3 vessel HERMS system which can be a bit trickier if I have the kids. I usually only use the HERMS if the wife is around and the weather is decent outside. This way she can help with the kids. Plus I don't have water to my garage yet so I have to carry it out and my system is only partially automated.
I def prefer the BIAB as far as being able to hang out with the kids.
I also started doing the no chill method big help and I've noticed no issues with it.
I actually had to push my brew schedule back since I started BIAB cause I've been able to brew so much more I actually have a good supply.

 

[Swab]

Electric BIAB no chill for me works well with the kids.

Electric - I can set my mash temp and walk away which is great, sometimes I'll mash in right away, sometimes it takes me 3 hrs depending on what's going on... with the electric setup it's just sitting there waiting for me, with propane you are going to check on it every few minutes. Same deal with the boil, I set it to 208 and walk away. I don't push the amount of time I leave it waiting to start the boil though.

BIAB - simple, no worrying about stuck sparges etc. Pull the bag out, walk away, come back when in ready.

No-chill - no messing around with sanitizing the chiller etc. This also allows me to simplify my hopping schedules. I fwh, cube hop and dry hop. So during the boil I don't have to worry about going to check on it.

I may start mashing the night before, pasturizing it to minimize infection risk and boil the next night... this should let me easily do it after bed time and not have too late a night.

 

[Beernik]

I started brewing the year my daughter was born. I did late night partial mashes until she was about 4. I set up around 8pm and finished cleaning up around 1am.

You got a kid. What else are you going to do with your Friday and Saturday nights?

 

[MockY]

I have been brewing all grain for about a year now and have 2 daughters (1.5 year and 3.5 year old), and I'm what you can call a "night brewer". There could potentially be too many interruptions if I do it during the day as children of this age is a bit unpredictable as you may be aware.

The day of brewing I slowly but steady get the gear ready. I store my big sized equipment in the garage (such as kettles, propane tanks, 5 gallon water bottles and such) but brew in my attached guest house where I have the rest of the stuff. Little by little throughout the day when time allows, I move over the kettles, propane tanks and so forth, and sooner or later all my equipment is set up and ready to go. And the brewing starts as soon as both children are asleep.

I batch sparge and use a plate chiller, and a typical day without any major hiccups, I'm done in 4-4.5 hours, and usually hit the bed around 1am or so.

A major time saver for me is the plate chiller. It shaves off at least 20 minutes, if not more compared to when I used an immersion chiller (which now acts as my prechiller sitting in an ice bath), and I never double sparge. I've contemplated trying out the no-sparge method to save even more time, but the idea of not rinsing the grains at least once seems wasteful to me, so I have not yet tried it. Also, my 10 gallon machtun is probably too small for it in most cases when the grain bill is over 15 pounds.

Make sure to clean as you go if you can, especially the mash tun and the plate chiller.

House chores that was not fully done during the day such as dish washing, picking up after the kids, laundry and so forth can be accomplished to some degree during mashing and boiling (for some part of it when the boil is on auto pilot and does not change). This does not aid in the brewing process directly, but it certainly makes it appear to others that it took less time to complete, which is certain situation can be of big advantage.

Summary of my babble:

• Prepare throughout the day
• Use a plate chiller
• Use no-sparge method
• Clean as you go
• Use dry yeast when you can (to save time with prepping and cleaning of yeast starters)

 

[wilserbrewer]

IMO, the number one thing you can do to save labor and time homebrewing is to set up a permanent brewery location, either in a basement or spare room. Not having to take equipment out, then put it away, and having the finished beer already at the place of fermentation / keezer is true bliss!

Basement electric brewery FTW! Even a ghetto simple basement rig beats a fancy schmancy rig that you need to set up and tear down each brew session IMO.

Some things I have done....

- overnight mash
- no chill
- delayed chill / hop stand
- short mash / short boil (60 min isn't gospel)
- Strike water on timer, mash when you wake or get home
- delayed yeast pitch....let the yeast chill the last 10 - 15 degrees in the fermentation chamber rather than spending time chilling those last few difficult degrees.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Jake discusses faster brewdays because of kids in this episode:

http://brewingtv.com/episodes/2012/3/2/brewing-tv-episode-54-jakes-got-a-brand-new-bag.html

Pretty good stuff there.

 

[ShadyBrewer]

I'm in the same boat (15 month old). I swear by BIAB. I do 2 5 gallon batches (2 pots and burners) in a little under 4 hours.

 

[rhythmsteve]

There should be no "minimizing brewing time"....anything worth doing, is worth doing right. If
you don't have the time to give it your full attention and the time it deserves I don't think you should be wasting your time or money.

 

[TexasWine]

There should be no "minimizing brewing time"....anything worth doing, is worth doing right. If
you don't have the time to give it your full attention and the time it deserves I don't think you should be wasting your time or money.

I'm sorry, but this kind of statement really puts a burr under my saddle. How much time should we spend brewing to do it "right"?

 

[rowan57]

There should be no "minimizing brewing time"....anything worth doing, is worth doing right. If
you don't have the time to give it your full attention and the time it deserves I don't think you should be wasting your time or money.

Stupid sentence of the year award, and on the last day of the year! Well done! &#128077;

 

[wilserbrewer]

How much time should we spend brewing to do it "right"?

My goal is about ten minutes, not doing so well though...happy new year!

 

[Todd820]

I ran into the same issues when my kids were little. It led me away from the hobby for awhile. I would rather not get up super early to brew as I tend to want to enjoy a tasty beverage during the process and I have been told by my better half that beer at 6am is socially unaceptable. I also could not tolerate waiting to start until they went to bed. Brewing until 2am is no fun for me!

Now that they are older (7 and 10) constant monitoring is not an issue and on nice days we actually end up spending more time together. I BIAB in the garage and typically start in the early afternoon. We set up a little outdoors party on brew day complete with music and lawn fun. You can easily shoot hoops, play catch, do chalk art while you are monitoring a mash. My oldest is getting way into science as well, so I try to explain to her what is going on during each step.

They get bored with dad by the time the I move onto the boil (I am not the most exciting dude evidently!). Depending on when I start, I am usually done by dinner time or soon after and become available for reading and bedtime rituals.

So, I guess I don't really have any efficiency tips - I am kind of a brewing slug and that's the way I like it. I just try and take advantage of the down time with them instead of staring into the kettle.

 

[yohoe]

There should be no "minimizing brewing time"....anything worth doing, is worth doing right. If
you don't have the time to give it your full attention and the time it deserves I don't think you should be wasting your time or money.

Worthless statement by rhythmsteve. Life happens. I have a son to be born in 1.5 months and by no means will be/want to give up brewing but I know I won't have 4 hours to dedicate to brewing in a day.

 

[mliptack]

I would rather not get up super early to brew as I tend to want to enjoy a tasty beverage during the process and I have been told by my better half that beer at 6am is socially unaceptable.

I bought a box of 12 5oz Juice Tasting Glasses from Amazon. I find it to be a little more socially acceptable, it's like a beer chaser for a Bloody Mary. I usually pour one glass once I am mashing and maybe a second while I am Boiling/Chilling. Plus they're great for friends who want to try everything (or are timid to try anything).

Worthless statement by rhythmsteve. Life happens. I have a son to be born in 1.5 months and by no means will be/want to give up brewing but I know I won't have 4 hours to dedicate to brewing in a day.

I would be far happier if he replaced "brewing" with "family"

There should be no "minimizing family time"....anything worth doing, is worth doing right. If
you don't have the time to give it your full attention and the time it deserves I don't think you should be wasting your time or money.

And this is why we find ways to make our process more efficient for our own situation - so we don't have to reduce the amount of family time we get. I don't want to be a parent that looks back and says "I wish I would have spent more time with my kids".

 

[rhythmsteve]

If you guys can't find 4 hours a week in your schedules for yourselves and what you enjoy doing for a hobby, I would quit life until your kids are out of the house. That's the point I'm making, you have to make times for yourselves or down the line you will end up with resentment

 

[Gavin C]

I'm in a similar situation. 2 kids, 2.5 and nearly 1. I brew inthe kitchen and find cleanup to be unavoidably long. The place needs to be spotless when I'm done. My brew itself is usually done by 830 or 9am but then 1 hour to clean the kitchen, breakfast area, and put stuff away.

I start the night before, bring all my gear downstairs, prep strike water and heat it up to 180F.

When I wake at 4-430 to dough in the process takes 20-30minutes and then its back to bed for me. I do 60-90 minute mashes with BIAB. I'm usually done with the boil, and chill by 830 using a 60 minute boil. No early morning beer but usually have a nice quiet cup of tea while everyone else is asleep and the house is quiet. Very Zen no?

@rhythmsteve. I would echo the earlier sentiments in that there are some truly idiotic comments in this thread relating to spending the correct amount of time brewing. Quite misguided and moronic to say the least.

 

[squaremile]

Great question. I have a 6m old and am in the same boat. I making mostly hoppy ales, and I'm down to 2hr, plus cleanup for all grain. I do BIAB, no sparge, and no chill in the kettle (pitch the next day); 30m mash and 30m boil. Basically breaking all the rules, but the results are awesome so far, no haze, no dms, etc. This method prob won't work if you are brewing a more diverse set of styles, but either way, there are many short cuts for legacy methods that do not need to be followed as gospel anymore.

 

[grathan]

The Brew-Boss looks nice. Not too expensive. I would add chugger pump upgrade, camlock recirculation upgrade, auto hops feeder upgrade.

I do infusion mash in a cooler and walk away for hours sometimes before drain/sparge.

I also walk away during/after wort chilling, just letting stuff settle for an hour or more.

The biggest thing is not treating brew day like a race. Your family will see how irrational you are. Take time with them and brewing at the same time.

 

[rhythmsteve]

Yes, it's quite moronic for me to remind you all that you still need to live your lives for yourselves, that children are not the be all, end all of existence. Perhaps instead of calling me a moron some of you should sack up and tell your wives for 4 hours in a month you will be doing what you enjoy doing. For gosh sakes, you can throw a ball with little Timmy and Joey during the hour mash rest

 

[Gavin C]

@rhythmsteve
Speaking for myself and not being able to claim to represent the general consensus, I would say that I do not participate in HBT to receive marital or relationship advice. I'm sure you feel your advice is well placed and pertinent to this thread nonetheless.

Perhaps there are other outlets in your area; a nearby street-corner or club where eager recipients of your advice could be found. I just don't think you will find your target audience here.

Your approach to marital affairs is not one I would identify with.

Furthermore, I never called you a moron. I described your comments as being consistent with those of one. We all have our off days. The OP is a Dad looking for tips from others in a similar situation with a busy lifestyle; your remarks, describe them however you want, are entirely unhelpful and I will reiterate; entirely misguided in my humble opinion.

 

[Transamguy77]

Since we all have different obligations I have tried it a few different ways, I'm not an early riser so getting up and starting super early is not an option. I've tried after work, after the kids go to bed and during the day (usually the kids will help then) but no matter when I brew being prepared is key.

I moved a few months ago and haven't got to brew yet but where I used to live I had to lug all my crap to my yard and set up and when I was done lug it all back between 2 floors so in this house I made it that it is all in one place, should shave off an hour of set up an tear down.

Clean as you go helps save time too put stuff away as you are done with it them less to clean up after.

I have also found that including my kids helps because they want to help do things so they feel included and not like you are doing something without them. I have 5 so it's never a dull (or quiet) moment here and sometimes I need time to myself but I would rather brew with them than not brew at all.

 

[Marc77]

Rounding it back to the topic... First off THANK YOU..almost everyone for your hints and techniques. It gives me a bit of hope to see that Dad's out there are finding time to do brewing the way it works best for them.

To sum up most thoughts prep, prep and more prep seems to be the most helpful thing. Second seems to be BIAB or electric are the most helpful. I would absolutely LOVE to move to an electric rig but WOW are those expensive. In the mean time I'm thinking I'll use the Frankenstein approach in my original post and start saving money for an electric rig. I'm not an electrician but putting together a panel intrigues me and learning can be fun...after all it helped us make beer right?

All this leads me to another quesiton...since I do eventually want to move to electric what are everyone's thoughts on how much I'll end up spending to go electric? I'll have to start saving and I've been eyeballing the complete 30a bcs kit from ebrewsupply.com. I'm going to go ahead and assume I won't be doing that for several years because, kids.

The other expensive portion seems to be the pots. I never understood the stout tanks and blichmann obsession. They're awesome if you can afford them, but how much past "Oh, it's shiny" do you get? I'm thinking I can use the Bayou Classic 82qt pot for my HLT, but should I splurge for a more expensive option for my BK or is a kettle a kettle? If there is a benefit that I need to consider with the kettles please let me know. For now though it just seems like an added cost.

Thanks again for all the input! I really appreciate it and everyone on this site, I wouldn't be brewing beer if it wasn't for HBT.

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

I built my eHERMS when my son was 2, spent a few long nights drilling holes etc. and assembling the control panel. Like everything else with kids you have to plan ahead, so I'd recommend spending a lot of time thinking about how you want to brew (process) and what features you want/need for your system so you spend your build time building instead of planning on the fly or redoing something. Brewing attracts a lot of DIYers and there's nothing about building an electrical system that requires memorizing the NEC, it's very doable. I recommend studying theelectricbrewery.com even if you don't build a Kal clone, and searching the electric forum a lot. It's only as expensive as you want it to be, but it's worth it (at least to me) to pay a little more for the time flexibility that come with using a controller.

As for kettles, well a pot is a pot. I like my cheap Concords, and I also use a beat up old keg as a bottom drain MLT. Stainless is worth it for kettles, especially big kettles, as some of the big alumunim pots are too thick.

Good luck!

 

[grathan]

I think going cheap is the best way to start with electric. You don't really need a Rasberry Pi to monitor kettle temps. Boiling can only reach about 212*F so it monitors itself.

The biggest expense will probably be your wiring.

240v is optimal. 50 amps would be all you ever need. But you could save some money by going with 30 amps , but may decide you want to run 2 elements at once one day.

-GFCI breaker $60-100
-wiring+ connectors $40-150 a lot depends on how far from the service panel you want to brew and whether or not you go with 50 amps or 30 amps.
-heating element + enclosure $50-70

So about $200 to DIY electric with 240v.






Another cheap option is 110V + existing propane. (A good way to get started)
Since electric code pretty much puts GFCI outlets in garages, kitchens, and outdoors receptacles, you probably already have gfci. So all you need is an immersion heater. There was one suggested on the first page. Or you could get a HotRod from here and an all stainless element.
https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1832.htm

Note that you are limited to what wattage your breaker is that you plug into (minus anything else that runs on that circuit while brewing).

So if you purchase 2000 watt element you would need:
2000 watts / 110V = 18.8 amps
So you would need 20 amp breaker (please note that your breakers are most likely 15 amps meaning you will probably be closer to 1500 watt element).









Once you get comfortable plugging in and using an electrical water heater you could automate with a temperature controller and relays. Additional $30-$100.