How long is your brew day?

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I think I'm pretty close to @barry.hastings ... brew day for me is pretty much all day

My batches are 17.5-18 gallons to the fermentor. I keg and brew on same day. Kegging and cleaning the fermentor gets done during down time during the brewing process. I don't believe the kegging and cleaning add time to the critical path but keeps me from seeing any real relaxation / down time during mash and boil.

I heat with low pressure household natural gas and cool with groundwater.

Typical process looks like
1 hr to collect, treat and heat mash water, weigh and grind grains and dough in
2 hr mash (beta rest, temp ramp to alpha rest, alpha rest, temp ramp to mash out, mash out)
1 hr sparge/lauter
0.5 hr to reach rolling boil
1 hr boil
0.5 hr whirlpool
1 hr to chill (counterflow chiller into fermentor)
1 hr to clean kettle and put away majority of gear
adds up to 8 hours which seems about right...if I start at 10am I'm done by 6pm

At this point I'll probably take a break for dinner while wort chills to pitching temperature, then dump the cold break, pitch my yeast and oxygenate.
I've done some LODO lagers lately that started with 2 hour Yeast Oxygen Scavenging step but these didn't mash or lauter as long or have the whirlpool step so overall took about same amount of time.
 
I'm about 1 hr setup the night before and 8 hours on brewday for 10-15 gals. I can do 5 gals in 6 hours if I hustle. I plan brewdays when I have uninterrupted time and I really enjoy the process. I crack the first beer when I am chilling and put everything up clean and dry. As a professional cleaner the cleaning part isn't a drag for me, I enjoy it which probably isn't normal (I like shiny equipment in perfect condition).
 
Deadalus said:
15 minutes seems short for cleaning?
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At that point in the day the only items needing cleaning are indeed the BK, two hoses for the boil pump in and out, and one bucket, everything else gets cleaned in parallel with the main line activities. I timed that today and I was done in 20 minutes, so just a little bit longer than I had thought.

That said I did find a few things I had missed or under counted. Biggest one was bringing the BK up a boil: I fly sparge using ~168°F liquor and tend not to run the BK burner very high until the end of the fly sparge, hence there's typically a good 35-40°F rise needed to get the full boil up to a nice roll. That took 30 minutes today, and it wasn't in yesterday's table.

Also my chill time was off by 10 minutes at least and it took 10 minutes to get the chamber loaded. Between those three and the five minutes added to the BK cleanup phase I added 50 minutes to my table...

brew_time.jpg


Today took just over 7 hours so I'm still missing almost 40 minutes. Next batch I'll check the elapsed time for the sparge and runoff. I don't think I'm far off there though as I actually time a couple of quarts while setting the flow rates to 1 quart per minute...

Cheers!
 
I find I could speed up the brew day by accepting efficiency hit...single infusion mash and lauter in 20-30 min. Would cost me maybe 10 points on a moderate gravity beer. A 5% ABV beer on my system is about 30 pounds of grain...If I needed to hurry it along another 6 pounds of grain would not much money to save 90 minutes. But...no I never do that...just a thought experiment.
 
I hear you. If I did a single batch sparge, drop the Hop Stopper protracted lautering and just pump the kettle straight into the carboys, I could shave maybe 80 minutes off my typical brew day. But I don't think the beer would be as good :)

Cheers!
 
Great thread, and I'm late at seeing this but I'd say I'm in line with everyone else. I brew z ten gallon all grain batch. The first day is milling grain into the mashtun and filling the electric HLT with the desired water and set the temp.

The next day, whenever I get going, water is heated and it's mash time. It's a 4-5 hour day before it's in the fermenter and maybe some cleanup into the next day. All told 6-7 hours. I move slow and have lots of time so it's not a race to get done.

Thanks, great to see what we're all doing!
 
OakIslandBrewery said:
Great thread, and I'm late at seeing this but I'd say I'm in line with everyone else. I brew z ten gallon all grain batch. The first day is milling grain into the mashtun and filling the electric HLT with the desired water and set the temp.

The next day, whenever I get going, water is heated and it's mash time. It's a 4-5 hour day before it's in the fermenter and maybe some cleanup into the next day. All told 6-7 hours. I move slow and have lots of time so it's not a race to get done.

Thanks, great to see what we're all doing!
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One things for sure we all love our craft to put this kind of time into it!
 
BLUF: About 4 hours for a 10L (2.5gal) all-grain BIAB batch.

The details:

On the order of ½ hour prep time a couple of days ahead to weigh and mill grains.

0.5 Weigh & heat mash water, measure mineral additions
1.0 Mash
0.1 Remove and drain grain bag
0.3 Heat to boil & weigh hop additions
1.0 Boil
0.5 Cool, transfer, and pitch
0.25 Clean kettle, pack away tools, etc

So, if I'm running at 100% efficiency, ~~ 4 hrs. But I usually have other household and parental duties that add extra time.
 
I brewed a 5 gal batch of Irish Red Ale at the farm yesterday. I have a 3 vessel gravity system and the luxury of a dedicated brewing space in the semi-finished part of our basement. Everything is set up and ready to go whenever the opportunity to brew presents itself, so I don’t have any setup time. I fill the HLT and start heating strike water while weighing and milling grain and gravity takes over from there. I started at 2 PM and finished cleaning up at 7.

I’ve been using this same, basic, setup and process for a little over 10 years now with only a few minor tweaks. In that time I’ve brewed about 1000 gallons and everything is pretty well dialed in. My brewery is pretty basic (maybe a step above ghetto quality :cool: ), but not having to share space with other household activities makes a big difference in the time spent producing a batch of beer.
 
I'm at about 7 - 8 hours with all the prep and clean up. I like to get all the water minerals, malt and hops measured the day before. This last batch I loaded the water in the mash tun the night before brew day and set the timer so it was ready to mash in when I got up.

Vinny D.
 
I do 4 gallon batches, and it's usually about 5 hours unless I do a no-boil recipe. But recently I did one with a full boil in about 3.5 hours (including most but not all of the cleanup) by measuring and grinding the grain a few hours before, and getting all my equipment ready before I started. That's exciting because I get 3 to 4 hour blocks of time that I can brew quite frequently, but anything longer than that comes along few and far between.

I brew BIAB on a gas stovetop with a 1600W heat stick for an assist.
 
Actual brew day (BIAB) is about 4 hours; but I mill grain/set up water the night before, so maybe add 30 minutes. Rarely need to mash longer than 45 minutes. I force myself to clean as I go; grain bag gets dumped/cleaned while waiting on the boil. After chilling and transferring I run about 4g of hot hot water from the water heater into the BK, through the pump, chiller, and hoses; half goes straight through, then the other half backflushes the chiller. I let the BK/false bottom soak while I'm getting the fermenter in the fridge, and it's then ready for a quick scrub/rinse. Hop spider is usually the last thing to get done, only takes a few minutes. I do not miss the longer brewdays back a few years ago; at least 7 hours start to finish, with me absolutely dragged out at the end.
 
I think most of us can agree that during the actual brew day there's pockets of time where other things can be done. Like during the mash where you can either sit and watch or go about getting ready for the next step. I take that time and have breakfast, brew some coffee or go through email.
 
Mill my own grain, BIAB in the garage. I make a starter a couple of days before brew day, then on brew day about 6 hours from setup to finish clean up with wort in the fermentation chamber. If I'm making a lager, a few more waiting hours to hit pitching temp.
 
OakIslandBrewery said:
I think most of us can agree that during the actual brew day there's pockets of time where other things can be done. Like during the mash where you can either sit and watch or go about getting ready for the next step. I take that time and have breakfast, brew some coffee or go through email.
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Not me. I am working pretty steady one end of the brew day to the other.

While the mash water is heating I am measuring and crushing grain, treating water with salts and campden, getting pilot light on brew stand lit and cleaning kegs.
During mash I purge kegs, keg the beer and get it into keezer.
During lauter I rinse and disassemble the fermentor followed by CIP, sanitizer rinse and reassembly.
During boil I'm heating cleaning water getting the grain out of the mash tun, rinsing the mash tun well in the driveway.

Can be some down time during chilling but if I'm wanting to be done I get as much general cleaning and tidying done during the chilling so once the wort is into the fermentor all that is left to clean is the pump, chiller and brew kettle.
 
I am similarly focused on brewing as efficiently as I can manage, and I never drink adult beverages on brew days until everything is done. If things go right there are smatterings of time when I can finish reading the Boston Globe and catch up on HBT, but not a lot more than that...

Cheers!
 
It doesn't make sense to time things that I enjoy doing. I just do it for however long it takes and as long as I am enjoying the process, time seems to fly. Brewing is as much of a diversion as baking bread, gardening, fishing, playing music, or wood carving etc, and is therefore mostly a labor of love. It's a way to get out of the day to day work grind where time is money and we are always on the clock. As a small batch brewer, if I'm short on time I will brew a tasty all extract amber ale.
 
I have a Spike 20-gallon trio system, usually brew 17 gallons at a time. Brew days are almost always 6.5 hours.
The night before brew day I spend a quick 15 minutes filling the kettles, attaching the hoses and plugging it in. Basically getting it ready for flipping the switch the next morning.
I usually flip the switch at 6:00 am and it's about an hour to heat up the water. In that time I mill the grain (use the Blichmann grain mill, through which I can run about 35 pounds of grain in about five minutes) read the newspaper, etc. (Yes, they still make newspapers!) Then it's brew on!
By the time I am all finished and put everything away, it's usually six and a half hours later.
I have eliminating the Mash out (that usually added about 40 minutes) but have increased the whirlpool time and hop rest time on flameout.
 
About 4 hours, BIAB 4 gallon batches. I get everything set up the night before: collect water, measure hops & water additions, etc. Fermentor already cleaned and sanitized. I had gotten in to doing 40 minute mashes and 30 minute boils (for most beers) but actually lengthened them back to 60 because I found that those longer times gave me a chance to get a workout in during the mash, and do some cleaning during the boil. Cleanup is quick and in my mind one of the best benefits of BIAB.
 
Hey @ZapperMike , Thank You for this thread! I almost replied right away with a question; "which brewday? the one I start setting up, or later in the week when I've finally finished cleaning up and putting things away?" ... I'm disabled and have spent the 5 years or so trying to work my way up to performing tasks as close to the speed of 'the average person' as possible. Reading through all the details and times that everyone's replied with has been very helpful to me in setting my long-term goals.
Just wanted say; Thank You! :)
 
Broken Crow said:
Hey @ZapperMike , Thank You for this thread! I almost replied right away with a question; "which brewday? the one I start setting up, or later in the week when I've finally finished cleaning up and putting things away?" ... I'm disabled and have spent the 5 years or so trying to work my way up to performing tasks as close to the speed of 'the average person' as possible. Reading through all the details and times that everyone's replied with has been very helpful to me in setting my long-term goals.
Just wanted say; Thank You! :)
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Thank you for the inspiration! I’m glad to hear you are still brewing and striving to achieve your goals with a disability. My hats off to you!
 
4.5 hours including cleanup if I am paying attention.
I measure out the water the night before. 2 Propane burners, 10G cooler mash tun, 2 batch sparges, 60 minute boil. I start heating the first sparge batch and try to time the draining of the mash tun; same with the 2nd sparge. When the mash tun is dry from the 2nd sparge, I fire up the Bayou classic 14G and get it up to boil in about 15 minutes. Chill with a 50' copper immersion coil with a 25' copper pre-chiller in a bucket of ice water. Even had a beer during cleanup last Saturday. Still hit my target temps and volumes. I forgot the OG (we were drinking), but it will be beer, and we will like it.
 
1 - 2 gallon batches. 2 hours doing short-n-shoddy and 3 otherwise. This includes cleanup. If I’m keen on keeping a tight schedule, I mill grains a few days before and treat water the morning of.

I want to get down to 1.5 hours but it’s tough. There’s always cleaning and sanitizing to do during mash and boil.
 
nanobrau said:
I want to get down to 1.5 hours but it’s tough.
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I'd consider doing 2 of those batches back to back. You can probably heat the 2nd run while chilling the first. And still only one last cleanup, and twice the beer. They can be different versions, or even styles, of course.
 
Running a ~11g batch,
I start the night before, grind the grain, measure/treat strike water ~20 mins
Day of, roll out of bed, turn on HLT to get to temp, fall back asleep.
wake up, transfer water from HLT to mash tun ~5 mins.
Shower, get breakfast, coffee etc, I suppose ~1 hr while mashing...
transfer, sparge, etc.. ~the amount of time it takes..
boil, cool, put in fermentor.
Clean all the equipment.

I want to say, on 60 min mash, 60 min boil days, I wake up and hit a button at ~6 and am cleaned up by ~11:00, with wort at ~80F and ready to pitch, so roughly 5 hours with maybe 2.5 hrs of that being active "brewing"..
 
IslandLizard said:
I'd consider doing 2 of those batches back to back. You can probably heat the 2nd run while chilling the first. And still only one last cleanup, and twice the beer. They can be different versions, or even styles, of course.
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Interesting idea! I hadn’t considered that. Cleaning more equipment in one go sounds nice.
 
I BIAB 10 gallon finished product, 60 minute mash, 60 minute boil, & probably 60 minute chill with my immersion & aquarium pump. From start to finish including cleaning probably 6 hours. I know I could shorten mash time & boil times but the time between makes it not so rushed. I do crush the night before.

Ways I know I could cut time are put the plate chiller in action, cut the mash time in half, & get a better propane burner. All in all though if 6 hours yields 10 gallons of beer that’s not to bad in my op. Honestly i love brew day and for some reason I like keg day much less.
 
When my brew day is over, I like to sit back and have a beer, it normally is a HB from before and maybe something else. I look forward to that time to relax and think about the next batch or just ponder the brew day I just had. I also take the time to cleanup my notes.
 
Using my spike solo, I can do a batch (5-15g) in under 3 hours.

When I'm doing low-carb beers, I mash in before work, let it mash for 5 to 8 hours, let the pot drain for 1 or 2, then boil. I'm not at the "station" most of this time. It's asynchronous. I can brew once a week, and be done by 6pm, and get my 8 hours in for the man!
 
Pretty consistently 4 hrs for a 4 gal BIAB - passively cooling the wort old school in my sink doesn't even add much to the time. Try to be efficient, cleaning what's been used (colander for sparge, strike water kettle, etc). Then, after yeast is pitched, everything's clean, time for an HB.
 

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