I've learned to do an all grain batch in about the same amount of time as an extract batch used to take me. If you can do that, then the extra $13 for an extract batch would be excessive.
From extract to all grain and back?
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I've learned to do an all grain batch in about the same amount of time as an extract batch used to take me. If you can do that, then the extra $13 for an extract batch would be excessive.
I’d certainly like to know about your routine. I clean the kitchen and then set all of my equipment and ingredients out the night before. I typically start around 10 am and am finished with fermented sealed between 5-6 pm. And then there’s all of the clean up. Soon I won’t want to spend that long, which eats up the whole day, much. And I hate the clean up!
If you want an all grain session to be as short as an extract batch you have to make some changes. First is to get the grain milled fine enough that the starches are all exposed so they gelatinize immediately. That then requires that you retire your mash tun because you won't be able to drain the mash (stuck mash) and move to a method that allows draining that finely milled grain (BIAB). While you are filling the kettle, you need to be weighing the grains. While the water heats to strike temp, you mill the grains.
Now with the grains milled so finely, your mash period does not need to be an hour. Cut that in half, about equal to the steeping time for extract with steeping grains. Unless using under modified malts or malts containing plenty of SMM, you don't need an hour long boil. Cut that in half also but adjust your hops to get the correct bittering. A 30 minute boil will get you approximately 90% of the bittering that you get with a 60 minute boil. You also have to adjust the amount of water because you get half the boil off.
During that short boil period, you clean the fermenter and put away anything you are finished with like the scale you weighed the grains with. Pull the bag of grains and let it hang over the kettle while the wort comes to a boil or squeeze/press the wort out. Sparge if you want to/need to while the wort is heating. Dump out the grains and rinse out the bag too. The bag doesn't need to be perfectly clean, just get rid of the majority of the grains so it will dry quickly.
Cooling the wort may take a bit longer than with extract but if you really are trying to cut the time down you will have a wort chiller.
Now with the grains milled so finely, your mash period does not need to be an hour. Cut that in half, about equal to the steeping time for extract with steeping grains. Unless using under modified malts or malts containing plenty of SMM, you don't need an hour long boil. Cut that in half also but adjust your hops to get the correct bittering. A 30 minute boil will get you approximately 90% of the bittering that you get with a 60 minute boil. You also have to adjust the amount of water because you get half the boil off.
During that short boil period, you clean the fermenter and put away anything you are finished with like the scale you weighed the grains with. Pull the bag of grains and let it hang over the kettle while the wort comes to a boil or squeeze/press the wort out. Sparge if you want to/need to while the wort is heating. Dump out the grains and rinse out the bag too. The bag doesn't need to be perfectly clean, just get rid of the majority of the grains so it will dry quickly.
Cooling the wort may take a bit longer than with extract but if you really are trying to cut the time down you will have a wort chiller.
Shorten your day without changing the way you brew. Weigh out the grains and hops the day before and mill the grain. Start heating the water as you are filling the pot. Prepare anything needed during the boil while mashing. Clean what was used in the mash while the boil is progressing. The only things left to clean after the boil is the chiller and the boil kettle.
It usually takes me a long time as I don't really make much of an attempt to shorten brew day but if I do it is like 1/2 hour to get the grain and hops ready. 1/2 hour to get the strike water ready. 1 hour mash. 15 minutes of draining and sparging. 1 hour boil, 1/2 hour chilling, 1/2 hour cleaning and putting stuff away. So 4.25 to 4.5 hours.
It usually takes me a long time as I don't really make much of an attempt to shorten brew day but if I do it is like 1/2 hour to get the grain and hops ready. 1/2 hour to get the strike water ready. 1 hour mash. 15 minutes of draining and sparging. 1 hour boil, 1/2 hour chilling, 1/2 hour cleaning and putting stuff away. So 4.25 to 4.5 hours.
