Fastest all-grain brew day times

[kombat]

When you use dry yeast, aerating is optional. The dry yeast come packed with what they need to make new cells so you don't have to aerate.

Not in my experience. I know the Danstar FAQ says this, but the one time I tried it, the batch had an overwhelming flavour of banana. I had to dump it.

 

[Zepth]

I think I set my record with my most recent batch of Centennial Blonde. Started heating the strike water and milling grains at 11 AM, looked at the clock after pitching and it was 4 PM. "I think that day went quite well, and quickly." Then I realized that I did an unusual 90 minute mash. I think it was inspired by slightly less attenuation than expected last time around. Quicker than usual indeed.

Method:
-Measure strike water, heat
-Measure and grind grain (concurrent)
-Drain Tun
-Turn on kettle
-Hot tap water sparge (concurrent)
-Get my boil on!
-IC cool
-Starsan fermenter and transfer tubing (concurrent)
-Hydrometer reading
-Transfer to fermenter
-Pitch

As far as I can tell I could have saved time few places. Let's go with another list.
- Stick with a shorter mash
- Heat up sparge water in kettle (reduce time to reach boil)
- No chill / Only chill out of DMS zone
- Don't make 10 gallon batches

As far as I see it the "measure ingredients and water the day before" is a cop out. Sorry to say it, it doesn't save much time. What it will do is allow you to "sessonize" your brewing so that it isn't as daunting to accomplish in one shift.

 

[kombat]

As far as I see it the "measure ingredients and water the day before" is a cop out. Sorry to say it, it doesn't save much time.

Haha, that's definitely true. In fact, if anything, I'd say it actually increases the total amount of time devoted to the brew.

What it does allow me to do is do some "brewing related tasks" on evenings when I don't have time to do a full brew. I get home from work on, say, Thursday night. I make supper and clean the dishes, and it's 7:00 pm. Too late to start brewing, but more than enough time to putter around in the brewery/basement measuring out, vacuum-sealing, and labeling my hops, as well as weigh out the grains and seal them in an empty bucket (with GammaSeal lid).

It lets me feel like I did something for brewing (rather than, say, wasting the evening watching drivel on TV), and come Saturday, I can get started with a little less running around and coordinating.

 

[Brettomomyces]

I love the pre-setup the night before. I've been brewing pretty early recently, and it allows me to get up and start the whole process and get to mashing while I'm still waiting for coffee to sink in.

 

[max384]

As far as I see it the "measure ingredients and water the day before" is a cop out. Sorry to say it, it doesn't save much time. What it will do is allow you to "sessonize" your brewing so that it isn't as daunting to accomplish in one shift.

Depending upon what water source you use, measuring out water the night before can add time onto the brew day itself too. I use tap water for my brewing, and I always add hot water to the brew kettle to speed things up. If I measured and let it sit overnight, that would definitely add time to heat it up.

 

[Zepth]

So I decided to try and get a quick batch in today. Had the chance last night to mash in. This worked out to a 10 hour mash, I did expect it. Today went as follows:
11AM: Start draining tun
11:20: Stuck sparge. Of all the days, it's the one where I'm on limited time.
11:40: Batch sparging almost done, heating
12:20: Boil achieved nice and lightly no boil over
13:20: Boil done, start chilling and washing tun with runoff water
13:40: Oh crap, I'm out of airlocks
13:50: Keg a batch to free up airlock for blow off
14:15: Chilling over achieved. Transfer to fermenters and pitch
14:30: Deal with leaky poppet on kegged batch. Damn it. I'm in a hurry!
14:45: Done.
1530: Realize I could have swapped the airlocks and put the S onto finished batch.

So it did greatly reduce my time spent today, but at the expense of time yesterday. I think in the end it's about a wash for any time savings. If not for a couple of hiccups it went rather smoothly and pain free. I might just do this again some time soon.

 

[TexasWine]

One time saver is to use your oven to pre-heat your water overnight. I put the kettle in the oven, set the oven on warm to 150F, go to bed, and when I wake up I'm ready to dough in.

Other folks use a small 1000W heating element and a temp controller (like an STC-1000) to do the same thing overnight.

 

[max384]

So I decided to try and get a quick batch in today. Had the chance last night to mash in. This worked out to a 10 hour mash, I did expect it. Today went as follows:
11AM: Start draining tun
11:20: Stuck sparge. Of all the days, it's the one where I'm on limited time.
11:40: Batch sparging almost done, heating
12:20: Boil achieved nice and lightly no boil over
13:20: Boil done, start chilling and washing tun with runoff water
13:40: Oh crap, I'm out of airlocks
13:50: Keg a batch to free up airlock for blow off
14:15: Chilling over achieved. Transfer to fermenters and pitch
14:30: Deal with leaky poppet on kegged batch. Damn it. I'm in a hurry!
14:45: Done.
1530: Realize I could have swapped the airlocks and put the S onto finished batch.

So it did greatly reduce my time spent today, but at the expense of time yesterday. I think in the end it's about a wash for any time savings. If not for a couple of hiccups it went rather smoothly and pain free. I might just do this again some time soon.

A stuck sparge shouldn't be anything that takes more than a few seconds to correct. If you are draining your mash tun with a hose attached, just lift the hose about the level of the mash, and then blow into it until bubbles come through the mash. In my experience, this fixes it the first time probably 95% of the time. If it doesn't fix it, do it again, but blow harder. You can also use an air compressor, but it's quicker and easier to just blow into it (remember, it's pre-boil, so you don't have to worry about contamination).

 

[whitehause]

Iron butter from PA. You should talk to a guy I worked with at a local Harley dealer in Leesport....Harry Knerr.....He's done them all. ( yes...including the ultimate coast to coast) He's a nut. Did the ultimate in 6 days

 

[Goon]

Once I switched to a higher output patio burner over my stove top I probably cut at least an hour off my brew day and got a vigorous boil too. I am now at about 4.5 hours. Would like to get more efficient and get it under 4 if u can. Certain things just take a specific time though. Mash.....60mins, fly sparge......45mins, boil.......60mins.that really only leaves 75 minutes to heat up water and crash the wort.

 

[Zepth]

A stuck sparge shouldn't be anything that takes more than a few seconds to correct. If you are draining your mash tun with a hose attached, just lift the hose about the level of the mash, and then blow into it until bubbles come through the mash. In my experience, this fixes it the first time probably 95% of the time. If it doesn't fix it, do it again, but blow harder. You can also use an air compressor, but it's quicker and easier to just blow into it (remember, it's pre-boil, so you don't have to worry about contamination).

Normally yes. If you're counting on it to drain in your absence while measure out all hop additions or whatever it was that I was doing at the time, then it'll hit when you're not looking. Literally. Come back to see the hose not dripping and the tun still plenty full.

Turns out a watched pot will never boil and an unwatched sparge will never drain.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

I usually get a batch done in 4:45, start to finish, including cleaning. However, I often do a brew day with one batch after another, and for those 2 batches, its about 8 hours total

 

[RM-MN]

Oh. Well that distinction would probably be helpful. I think most people work off the assumption of a 5 gallon batch. A 5 gallon batch in just over 2 hours would be quite the feat.

i think I could pull it off with a 5 gallon batch if I had a burner that had sufficient output but the days that I like to brew are those where the temperature is well below zero and the wind is howling and my anemic burner just can't heat the water in those conditions. I can't stand to be outside then either which is why I'm brewing those days but those conditions are also the ones that provide me with the temperature I want for fermentation in the room I can use for that.

 

[max384]

Normally yes. If you're counting on it to drain in your absence while measure out all hop additions or whatever it was that I was doing at the time, then it'll hit when you're not looking. Literally. Come back to see the hose not dripping and the tun still plenty full.

Turns out a watched pot will never boil and an unwatched sparge will never drain.

Oh yeah, I hadn't considered this. I do all of that during the mash, so that hadn't occurred to me. When batch sparging, the sparge gets my full attention.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Just knocked out a 1.060 5 gallon batch of a honey faux-bock in just under 9 hours...

Just moved into a house I bought with SWMBO so my brewing stuff was scattered about. Worth every minute though first brew day in 8ish weeks.

(Next brew day will be under 4.5 hours since my stuff is finally organized)

 

[rwgaro]

Great thread - I think mashing at 10-20 min (see first link below) combined with applying the premise in the 2nd link (15 min boil with hop bursting), combined with some other time savers (ala heating water in multiple pots, using a cooling coil thing, etc) would get you around 2 hrs. Can't apply the 2nd link to all styles though...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=492255

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=210253

 

[Zepth]

Great thread - I think mashing at 10-20 min (see first link below) combined with applying the premise in the 2nd link (15 min boil with hop bursting), combined with some other time savers (ala heating water in multiple pots, using a cooling coil thing, etc) would get you around 2 hrs. Can't apply the 2nd link to all styles though...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=492255

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=210253

That may not go so well. Extract has already been boiled down a long time (among other processes) to get rid of SSM (the DMS precursor). A short mash will save time but a short boil isn't compatible with all grain. That's at least my understanding of it, I could be wrong.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Normally yes. If you're counting on it to drain in your absence while measure out all hop additions or whatever it was that I was doing at the time, then it'll hit when you're not looking. Literally. Come back to see the hose not dripping and the tun still plenty full.

Turns out a watched pot will never boil and an unwatched sparge will never drain.

You can fix that problem by collecting the runnings into buckets of a smaller volume than the batch. Then even a stuck mash will continue going until it makes a huge mess on the floor while the brewer is at the store buying rice hulls.

 

[rwgaro]

Oooo... Great read w/respect to this thread...

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/11/the-impact-of-boil-length-ale-exbeeriment-results/

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Oooo... Great read w/respect to this thread...

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/11/the-impact-of-boil-length-ale-exbeeriment-results/

I would be interested in seeing him eventually do like he said at the end, a beer with lots of pilsner malt, one with 30 minute boil, the other with a 90 minute boil. I should really try and take a BJCP exam so I can go to a competition and try to taste a bunch of beers with bad DMS, I can honestly say I've never really had a beer that had lots of DMS so I really don't even know what I'm looking for.

 

[brewbama]

I've ever understood the rush. Why not relax and enjoy the brew? I don't rush and it takes me about 4 hrs doing single infusion, batch sparge, 60 min boil for a 5 gal batch. I eat, drink, BBQ, talk with the wife, kids, G kids, enjoy music, etc on brew days.

 

[rwgaro]

I've ever understood the rush. Why not relax and enjoy the brew? I don't rush and it takes me about 4 hrs doing single infusion, batch sparge, 60 min boil for a 5 gal batch. I eat, drink, BBQ, talk with the wife, kids, G kids, enjoy music, etc on brew days.

Less about rushing for me more about wanting to brew good beer, having a crazy busy schedule, and only having a narrow window. Boils down to either doing 4+ hrs after kids go to sleep (and stumbling to bed after midnight exhausted and throwing off the rest of the week) - which often means deciding not to brew - or enjoying the process and doing so in a 2-3 hr window without feeling rushed...

 

[brewbama]

Less about rushing for me more about wanting to brew good beer, having a crazy busy schedule, and only having a narrow window. Boils down to either doing 4+ hrs after kids go to sleep (and stumbling to bed after midnight exhausted and throwing off the rest of the week) - which often means deciding not to brew - or enjoying the process and doing so in a 2-3 hr window without feeling rushed...

Understood. Being an empty nester I forget about the daze running kids to balls games, band/choir concerts, etc, etc. I can't blame you.

 

[Punx Clever]

3 hours with a full 60 minute sparge, 90 minute boil, and no-chill.

Had to be a fluke, everything ran perfectly.

 

[brewbama]

I lit the flame under the strike water water at 0900 this AM. I did a triple infusion mash (122*F 20 min, 149*F 30 min, 158*F 30 min) and batch sparged with a 60 min boil. I had it cooled and in the fermenter, everything clean and put up at 1400.