How long does brew day take you?

[dlaramie08]

3.5-4 hours all grain. I'm dialed in.

 

[KevinP]

Ok you guys all suck.
My system is this:
Gas fired boil keggle, eHerm hlt keg, 10 gallon round Rubbermaid mlt + 2 march pumps and all the camlock quick connects you could ask for.
From the time I hook up hoses and add water to the time I finish running hot pbw through the system, rinse and put everything away Im looking at 10+ hours. 12 if I drink a lot while brewing...
This isnt a complaint mind you, I love my brew days, however if someone would like to come over and show me how to do one of these 4-5 hour brew days that would be great.
Elk Grove California. Saturdays are best...
fml.

 

[mjdonnelly68]

Ok you guys all suck.
My system is this:
Gas fired boil keggle, eHerm hlt keg, 10 gallon round Rubbermaid mlt + 2 march pumps and all the camlock quick connects you could ask for.
From the time I hook up hoses and add water to the time I finish running hot pbw through the system, rinse and put everything away Im looking at 10+ hours. 12 if I drink a lot while brewing...
This isnt a complaint mind you, I love my brew days, however if someone would like to come over and show me how to do one of these 4-5 hour brew days that would be great.
Elk Grove California. Saturdays are best...
fml.

Homebrewing isn't soccer - you know you can use your hands right?

 

[DreamyESB]

Takes me longer than 4 hours, and that's with all my ingredients measured out and ready to go. The brew process is quick and easy, its clean up and all the other crap that sucks time away...

 

[joety]

Seven hours. No idea how some of you are doing it in four.


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[allentwnguy]

Just did my second all grain and got the brew time down to 5 hours. I was more relaxed, had more fun and did a lot less gravity readings, peeking, etc. It was a smaller beer too. The first time was a .076 and this one was a blond ale coming is at 1.040. A lot less grain and boil down time. As I get more organized the times will drop. And just as I do when I cook if you clean as you go there isn't much mess to clean when your beer is in the fermenter. Springtime project.... weld a brew stand together!!!

 

[Puddlethumper]

Between 4 and 6 hrs depending on the beer and a few other variables. And it seems that as my skills Improve it's actually taking a little longer. More attention to detail, slower vourlauf, etc.


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[smccarter]

6 hours, give or take.

Fill/heat HLT, clean the kitchen, get the rest of my gear out - 45 minutes
Mash-in, mash... 100 minutes
Sparge - 60 minutes
Pre-boil and boil time - 80 minutes
Chill - 20 minutes
Move wort to fermenter, pitch, cleanup - 60 minutes

 

[LovesIPA]

if someone would like to come over and show me how to do one of these 4-5 hour brew days that would be great.
Elk Grove California. Saturdays are best...
fml.

I live just up the road from you. Might take you up on that offer if you're serious.

 

[allentwnguy]

'Between 4 and 6 hrs depending on the beer and a few other variables."

The beer you're making or drinking???

 

[RM-MN]

My last brew day was over in 3.5 hours and I'm thinking I can get it done in 2 hours. I've found a bunch of corners to cut. BIAB lets me work with grain that is milled very fine, nearly like cornmeal. With that I only need a very short mash, like 10 minutes or less. Then an hour long boil and that might be able to be shortened too. From there just pour the hot wort into a plastic bucket (yes they are safe at boiling temps), drop the lid on and wait for it to chill. Pitch the yeast when the temperature is right, probably the next day.

 

[dlaramie08]

My last brew day was over in 3.5 hours and I'm thinking I can get it done in 2 hours. I've found a bunch of corners to cut. BIAB lets me work with grain that is milled very fine, nearly like cornmeal. With that I only need a very short mash, like 10 minutes or less. Then an hour long boil and that might be able to be shortened too. From there just pour the hot wort into a plastic bucket (yes they are safe at boiling temps), drop the lid on and wait for it to chill. Pitch the yeast when the temperature is right, probably the next day.

Now how do you know you get conversion in 10 minutes or less? Sugar extract is not the only goal of mashing; you also need time for the enzymes to act. I can't believe that can be done in that short of time. Are you testing for conversion with iodine? This seems like an unnecessary corner to be cut in my opinion.


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[Puddlethumper]

'Between 4 and 6 hrs depending on the beer and a few other variables."



The beer you're making or drinking???

AG 5 gal batches. Usually beers in the 1.040 - 1.060 range. Irish red, APA, IPA and American Amber.



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[brettg20]

Around 4 hours...if I am drinking beers maybe 5 hours

 

[RM-MN]

Now how do you know you get conversion in 10 minutes or less? Sugar extract is not the only goal of mashing; you also need time for the enzymes to act. I can't believe that can be done in that short of time. Are you testing for conversion with iodine? This seems like an unnecessary corner to be cut in my opinion.


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Iodine test is the first indicator. The second indicator is the OG which tells me the efficiency of extraction. The third indicator is the attenuation I get when I ferment the beer. The last indicator is my palate.

You should give it a try sometimes. Make sure your grains are milled as fine as your setup can handle.

 

[monkeyman1000]

I just bottled my sweet stout. I only mashed for 45 minutes this time and I assume I hit my final numbers correctly. The goal from the recipe was an FG of 1.023 and I was at 1.028. I also added maltodextrin ( 8 oz in 5 gallons equivalent amount for the batch size I was making) which wasn't in the original recipe so I'm hoping that was the reason I came in high.

 

[saxman1036]

Someone above made an interesting comment that I am interested in hearing more about...

When everyone is giving their estimates, are you spending a full 60 minutes boiling? Sometimes I guess that is 90, but I'm more interested in hearing from people who might be doing a shorter boil?

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[dlaramie08]

Iodine test is the first indicator. The second indicator is the OG which tells me the efficiency of extraction. The third indicator is the attenuation I get when I ferment the beer. The last indicator is my palate.



You should give it a try sometimes. Make sure your grains are milled as fine as your setup can handle.

Hey I can't argue with results that's for sure. Do you have issues with stuck sparges?


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[JonM]

Jeez, I just did an extremely long brewday. I did a 90 minute mash and a 90 minute boil (Pilsner malt mashed way low), which added an hour to the usual brewday. Then, because it's winter I can't use the hose, so I couldn't clean while the boil was on, etc., so cleanup took extra time. All told, just about 6.5 hours.

Still, 6.5 hours of challenging brewing is better than 6.5 hours working, right?

EDIT: Having trouble with the plussing and the minusing. It was more like 8.5 hours.

 

[dlaramie08]

Someone above made an interesting comment that I am interested in hearing more about...

When everyone is giving their estimates, are you spending a full 60 minutes boiling? Sometimes I guess that is 90, but I'm more interested in hearing from people who might be doing a shorter boil?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

Well if you want to experiment with hop bursting you can do short boils. I recently made a New Zealand pale ale that I hop burst and only boiled for about 25-30 minutes. The gravity sample I tasted when I bottled was pretty good. However, I always assume it will be less bitter than my software says it will be (beersmith). This technique combined with the above mentioned extremely short mash could make for an all grain brew day that lasts about as long as an extract brew day.


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[monkeyman1000]

my boil was for 75 minutes.

 

[govner1]

Just completed an AG Hopsecutioner clone. & w/ chilling & cleanup 5 hours


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[RM-MN]

Hey I can't argue with results that's for sure. Do you have issues with stuck sparges?


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Since I BIAB, getting a stuck sparge is nearly impossible but with a conventional mash tun you would have to be pretty careful how fine you milled your grain or you would have a stuck sparge.

The closest I've come to having a stuck anything with BIAB involved a roggenbier with about 60% unmalted rye in it. What a sticky mess that was.

 

[Spookgolds]

First All grain. Actually first time brewing. It took just about 7 hours on a stove top. But it was a big beer. 18.5 lb grain bill. I understand now why everyone says, "if my wife lets me" when it comes to brewing in the kitchen. I say never again, LOL, especially in the winter! But great time. Now to do a lower gravity beer and pick up a few things to make it easier.

OH and a big thanks to all "YOU GUYS" on HomeBewTalk for letting me pick your brains/posts!

When I made the jump to all grain I moved my operation out to the garage. Now I don't have to worry about making a mess and the wife is happy cause the kitchen stays clean.

It takes me about 4 hours to do 1 all grain batch, I could do 2 in 6-7 thanks to having 2 burners.

 

[KevinP]

Homebrewing isn't soccer - you know you can use your hands right?

HANDS?!?!? I dont play soccer but my brewery is in my bondage chamber. Fuzzy handcuffs are mandatory...

I live just up the road from you. Might take you up on that offer if you're serious.

Brewing this Saturday. I have extra handcuffs. PM me if your interested. :rockin:

 

[MrNic]

Just did an all grain parti-gyle today and it took 6.5 hours.

 

[aqualung23]

Wow I'm going to have to get quicker. 4 Hours is pretty damn efficient.

 

[poptarts]

Just did an all grain parti-gyle today and it took 6.5 hours.

This, I was there 7Am - 1:30PM thats with cleanup and both batches chilled and fermenting. And a 80 min boil on one batch.

 

[kombat]

The second indicator is the OG which tells me the efficiency of extraction.

Note that hydrometers only measure dissolved solids, not just dissolved sugars. An S.G. measurement might tell you when you've got lots dissolved into your wort, but it provides no indication whatsoever whether you're looking at sugars or as-yet unconverted starches.

The iodine test is the benchmark for determining when full conversion has been achieved.

 

[poptarts]

5 mins = Add initial mash water, add campten and start heating.
20 mins = Weigh out grains and heat water.
10 mins = Move water to MLT and mash in.
60 mins = Mash, weight hops and other stuff, heat sparge water.
15 mins = Drain Tun - add half sparge water stir let sit (2 step batch sparge) start heating up first runnings.
15 mins = Drain Tun - add other half of sparge water and let sit.
5 mins = Drain Tun, by now stuff in BK should be boiling or very close.
5 mins = reach boil
60 mins = Boil, clean MLT and other buckets that are used. Mix up san for the fermenter and get chilling water ready.
10 mins = chill
10 mins = transfer
30 mins clean whats left.

245 mins ~ 4hrs totally doable.