How long does it take you to do an AG brew?

[Gustav]

Friday it took me about 7 hours. I found a slow cooked BBQ pork recipie that if I made it first I could of had a yummy meal when I was done brewin'.Plus it has beer in it!

 

[MikeFlynn74]

+ or - begging the wife to allow me to destroy the house?

 

[smalltown2001]

It's been taking me 7-8 hours as well, and I'd really like to cut that down to about 5-6. I think I might be spending too much time batch sparging with vorlaufing to settle the grain bed in between batch sparges. Also, the time it takes to wait until pitching temps eats up a lot of time, of course I'm washing equipment, etc, during that time. Once I bottled another beer while the other beer was boiling, but now that I think about it, that could be a little dangerous... Oh well. Slow cooked BBQ sounds good!

 

[Yooper]

It usually takes me 4.5 hours, for a simple single infusion mash. Decoctions and other step mashes take me longer.

 

[smalltown2001]

+ or - begging the wife to allow me to destroy the house?

This is very true, and the reason why I wait until she has to work that weekend to brew beers. She'll work 12 hour shifts, so that allows me to have enough time for clean-up of equipment AND the house as well. Saves me trouble and stress! I would also like to hear how people cut down the time it takes for brew day.

 

[chefchris]

No Sparge No Chill FTW !!!!1!

 

[Palefire]

I just did my first AG yesterday, and I got in and out (including all cleaning, putting things away, etc) in 4.75 hours. I was pretty happy with that.

 

[Pappers_]

Single infusion, batch sparge, takes 4 - 5 hours from milling grain to putting equipment away.

 

[adx]

4 hours on the dot for a simple infusion mash and batch sparge. If I go past that I know I did something wrong.

 

[Hammy71]

I average about 4 hours from start to clean up. I did a decoction mash last weekend that took a whole sunday.....really....I hope it was worth it.....

 

[jmp138]

Now that I pretty well have it dialed in, I can knock it out in 4.5 hours. I just despise cleaning, god I mean I really hate cleaning.

 

[Gustav]

I wonder if the heat source makes a difference. I have an electric stove and like I said it takes me about 7 hours. I heat up my mash and sparge water in several pots.

 

[jmp138]

Bayou Burner man, seriously takes off hours, waiting around for an electric stove to heat dough in water for an hour really sucks when you compare it to 10 minutes with the burner. And that thing takes you to a boil with the quickness.

 

[MarsColonist]

On a 10gal batch, the timer starts when water starts flowing into the HLT, timer ends when cleanup is done. Single infusion mostly, and fly sparge at 9 gal/hr. Average total time is 7.5 hrs. I have issues with my low BTU burners, so I spend too much time heating up HLT and heating up the boil kettle.

 

[k1v1116]

I can do a 5.5 gallon batch milling grain to cleaned up in about 3.5 hours if I do single infusion, batch sparge, 60min boil which accounts for most of what I brew.

 

[SourHopHead]

5gal batch Friday night took me 5hrs (4hrs brewing) + 1hr cleaning yesterday.

 

[Ashz]

Milling, to carboy, with a double batch sparge and 60 minute boil I have it down to 3 hrs 50 minutes. That's my best time.

 

[TeufelBrew]

Started at 7:30 this am pulling equipment. Finished at 3:00pm with two seperate batches in and all clean up done and everything put away. Even started late for second batch mash in and overshot sparge temp, so had to mix down to 170F. Shaved time with prechilling water going into Schirron plate chiller. Only took 15 minutes to chill 5.5G to 65F in ambient tempt of 82F.

Average brew day is around 4.5 hours with some keg and fermentor cleaning thrown in. New method of chlling will really reduce lengh of brew day, especially in winter with lower tap water temps.

 

[Homercidal]

I can usually do it in around 5 hours. Vorlaufing should not take very long! A few minutes each time. So it adds, what, 10 -15 minutes?

This weekend took longer because I didn't notice my beersmith had my MLT temp at preheat range, when I didn't preheat it this time, so I had to run a bunch back out and heat back up. Plus I had my friend over again and as usual it was just harder to concentrate on the brewing. I sure wish he would ask questions about brewing and learn it, rather than bring up OT conversations. Also I didn't prepare as well as I should have (hence the beersmith error).

But I've done AG in less than 5 hours a couple of times.

 

[EvilTOJ]

This is very true, and the reason why I wait until she has to work that weekend to brew beers. She'll work 12 hour shifts, so that allows me to have enough time for clean-up of equipment AND the house as well. Saves me trouble and stress! I would also like to hear how people cut down the time it takes for brew day.

It takes me about 4 hours, up to 6 if I don't do everything below.

Some things I do to cut down the brewday is:

Measure and grind the grain and measure hops the day before
I use hot water out of the tap instead of starting with cold
I warm my mash and sparge water on the stove with two 5 gallon pots
Use a turkey fryer outside
Clean up while the boil is going
Sanitize the carboy while the wort cools
Live alone

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Setup + Water Filtration: 20 minutes
Weighing and Crushing Grain + Heating Strike water: 35 minutes
From Mash In to Chilled and Pitched: 3 hours
Cleanup and Teardown: 30 minutes (I clean up most stuff while I'm boiling/chilling)

So, about 4.5 hours...not bad for 10 gallons of goodness!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

1 Month, 2 weeks, and 5 hours.

1 month to find the time.

5 hours to wreck and clean the garage.

2 weeks to glass.

 

[PsicloneRN]

4.5-5 hours from crushing grain to cleanup of equipment for me

 

[uglygoat]

4-5 hours.

 

[ibrewit]

Usually 6 to 6-1/2 hours. Never thought to smoke a hunk of beast at the same time. The aromas will bring the whole neighborhood.

 

[Whut]

5.5 hours if I'm on top of my game. The only prep I do is pre-measure the hops and have the grain crushed at LHBS.

Note to self: Try Batch Sparging the next time!

 

[DeathBrewer]

I usually do about 6 hours, but that's because I'm a lazy ****.

I can do my tea-bag all-grain batches in 4 hours flat.

 

[imaguitargod]

Usually about 5 hours for single set infussion from begining to pitch. I could get it down to 4.5 if I really rushed things and wasted alot more propain.