It's so much better doing prep the night before brew day......

[Panderson1]

Wake up and everything is ready to go. Grains crushed, water prepared, everything organized, recipe done and printed out, fermenter ready to go... salts.... all that stuff . Currently watching TV/browsing internet while mashing and feels great.

Good day to all....

Making a hoppy pale ale with Pilsner malt and Bravo hops (smash). Going to use this Kevik yeast. Never used it before but sounds like it will pare well....

 

[Novacor]

I love getting all set up the night before. So nice to wake up and fire up the burner as you pour the first cup of coffee.

 

[Immocles]

I always tell myself I'm going to do more prep the day before, but then I always find myself in my pajamas milling my grains and running water. I'm generally concerned that something silly will come up and I'll end up having to push it back.

Kveik is fun to watch. I used it a couple times last summer, and will try it again this summer when temperatures are out of my control in the basement.

 

[DBhomebrew]

It's the only way I can get a brew day in. I brew while caring for a 3yo. Having to weigh and mill grain, measure out water, etc, etc would make it damn near impossible. He actually loves to help mill (hand cranked Corona), but what takes me 20m takes us at least an hour. His favorite job is keep the hopper full. One fistful at a time.

 

[matt_m]

I've become a fan of this too. I built myself an automatic kettle filler with a float valve calibrated to my typical mash in volume. I fill my kettle a day or 3 before brew day. Over the course of 1 or more evenings during the week I prep all the ingredients. Water salts I measure out into a mason jar ready to mix with water on brew day so they don't settle out. Grain goes in a bucket with a lid after milling. Recently I bought some of the little Ziploc storage containers and started measuring out my hops into those and sticking them in the bar fridge. Sometimes I'll measure and mill everything for 2 brew days in which case the hops go in vacuum bags. On brew day, often Sunday morning, I start heating water, make my breakfast, and sit at the bar, watch TV and surf the web all morning while brewing. I'm usually done and cleaned up by mid afternoon in plenty of time to prepare and make a nice dinner or go out to an early dinner out now that that's an option again.

 

[Transamguy77]

That works the best for me also, I do most of the prep work the night before so all I have to do it focus on brewing the day of.

 

[brewbama]

About the only things I do the night before is setup equipment into brewing configuration vs storage, and measure grains.

I use distilled water which comes in plastic jugs. I dump the jugs into the BK on brewday and while it’s heating I put 1/2 tsp Brewtan B in water and mill grain.

I ONLY mash malts/grains that require it. I DO NOT mash malts that don’t require it. (Crystal and Roast malts.) They screw with mash pH. I hold Crystal and Roast malts to Mash Out (15 minutes)/Sparge (15 minutes). (30 min hot steep)

Once the water is heated I add 1/8 tsp Phosphoric acid to get pH ~5.5, drain off 4 gal to reserve for sparge, add the Brewtan, and underlet the grist. I add 1 tsp CaCl or gypsum (or a combination of the two equaling 1 tsp) directly on top of the grist to ensure I will hit 5.3 +/- .1 mash pH. I stir the mash and set the timer.

 

[MaxStout]

Same here. I back the cars out of the garage, set the kettle on top of the burner, fill with water, have all the other gear ready. Next morning, just fire up the propane, crush grain, and off to the races. More relaxed getting going and I can really enjoy the brew session.

Cleanup, OTOH...

 

[Golddiggie]

I plan to have the system all ready for use before I brew on Saturday (the 12th) after how long it took to get everything setup for brewing on Wednesday. I won't crush my grain ahead of time, or put water in the HLT or MT since those don't take much time at all. Well, the grain is quick with the motorized mill and the water I'd rather not have sitting around (even in the kettles) due to brewing in the garage now. It would have been even more of an issue when I was brewing in the driveway.

 

[day_trippr]

I always prep the evening before - actually, the afternoon before if you count programming my RO system to fill my rig with the prescribed water volumes. The only things I don't do is grind the grist or measure out hops. I do the former on brew day morning after conditioning the malt while the strike and sparge volumes are heating up in the BK and HLT respectively, and measure out hops while the mash is percolating...

Cheers!

 

[BrewMan13]

Always do it this way. So much easier to get started knowing you don't have to take care of the grains, salts, etc, before you can really get going. Usually end up being prep on Saturday, brew on Sunday.

 

[youngdh]

Wake up and everything is ready to go. Grains crushed, water prepared, everything organized, recipe done and printed out, fermenter ready to go... salts.... all that stuff . Currently watching TV/browsing internet while mashing and feels great.

Good day to all....

Making a hoppy pale ale with Pilsner malt and Bravo hops (smash). Going to use this Kevik yeast. Never used it before but sounds like it will pare well....

I just did a session NEIPA using Hornindal and it turned out great. Fermented at 95F. It hit FG in 2 days. Dry hopped 2.5 days. After a 2 day force carb I was pulling by first drinkable glass 7 days post brew day. I’ve historically used Voss Kveik for this beer with the same quick turn around but I think I like the flavor profile of Hornindal better.

 

[jcav]

Me too, I always do this. I set up the brewery the night before on the back covered lanai. Get all my water prepped with salt additions, and get my ph down with lactic acid to 5.5 @ ambient temp (will be 5.2 at mash temp). The next morning I turn on the electric burner and go make some coffee and breakfast. Then it's grind some grain and mash in. I actually did this last night and I am brewing right now!

John

 

[Spartan1979]

The only thing I do the night before is collect the water from my RO system since it take a couple of hours. I may add the salts.

I have a dedicated brewing room with an electric brewery so everything is already organized. I grind the grains while the mash water is heating.

 

[cmac62]

One of my favorite things about the Anvil is you can set it to have your mash water hot when you wake up. The night before I will fill the Anvil with water turn it on to 90*, add some bread yeast and sugar, then set it to have the water at 160 at 6:00 a.m. I sometimes will weigh out the grains and get the water set, but not always.

 

[Jim R]

Setting everything up the night before will even allow me to brew two separate beers the same day and still finish by afternoon. I then mash the second beer as the first one is boiling, etc. etc.. This allows me to brew half as many days every year for the same amount of beer. I also make my yeast starters the day before also.

 

[cmac62]

Setting everything up the night before will even allow me to brew two separate beers the same day and still finish by afternoon. I then mash the second beer as the first one is boiling, etc. etc.. This allows me to brew half as many days every year for the same amount of beer. I also make my yeast starters the day before also.

When I first started I would then do a 3rd partygyle, put all of the grains into the mash tun and sparge it with 5 gals and do a short boil. Get three beers that way, but I have two burners and two BKs.

 

[Knightshade]

I pour my water into my Anvil and have it preheat for around the time I anticipate finishing my breakfast at least. I'll mash the grains, and measure out the salts the previous night too. While the mash is going, I'll start measuring out the hops. First couple of sessions I waited and did everything day of...this is so much more relaxing.

 

[WesBrew]

Definitely. Anything done the day before cuts down on time, make the session go smoother. I have a delay start too and it’s nice you want to start when you get up. I do split brew day now and use it to get the kettle started for the boil

 

[BarryBrews]

About the only things I do the night before is setup equipment into brewing configuration vs storage, and measure grains.

That's me too.

On brew day labor saving procedures are built in like a 30 gallon RO barrel to pump in strike water, crushing directly into the mash tun, no stir easy cleanup mash tun with false bottom and brew bag, near continous use of RIMS and wort pump, very easy equipment setup, easy metrics measurements, tipping kettle tables and some CIP(BK, kegs, fermenters). These procedures have made brewing so much easier there's no doubt it's been worth the cost.

 

[apache_brew]

Couldn't agree more. Being a closet brewer, all the equipment gets broke down and stored away in the garage when not being used. My biggest relief is when I have all my cold side equipment sanitized and sealed ready to pour in chilled wort. I've found that whenever I don't prep and have sanitized equipment ready to go, my brew day lasts 8-9 hours, and I have ripping headaches by the end of the day because I'm constantly moving and forget to eat/hydrate.

 

[Immocles]

I thought about this thread the entire time I was weighing and milling this morning. Present-time Me has an ongoing feud with Past Me about things like this. That dude hoses me all the time.

In all seriousness, I really should start saving myself the time and hassle and get things set up and at least weighed out beforehand. Even just having the grist weighed and set aside ( I get a little iffy on milling early, myself.), with equipment set up completely would probably shave a solid half hour off of my morning.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I never have done this. And maybe that's why my brew days take 6 hours!

I don't mill myself, but even measuring the water would save a fair amount of time.

 

[enkamania]

I've been doing overnight mashes and loving it.

 

[seatazzz]

I'm always telling myself to get stuff done the night before, like milling the grain and getting pump & hoses set up; but alas, last night that sultry temptress youtube took up my entire evening (its amazing how much pawn stars crap they have on there, just can't resist). To the point that I got up at 3:30am this morning to get going. Occasionally I DO get things done the night before, but not as often as I should.

 

[grampamark]

I tend to brew on the spur of the moment, so I don’t prep ahead of time. I’m semi (mostly) retired and if I decide I can spend the rest of the day brewing, I do. I buy in bulk, always have ingredients on hand, and I have a dedicated brew space in the basement so there isn’t any setup time.

I brew 5 or 6 times a year at our city house but I don’t really plan ahead there, either. If I decide to brew there the LHBS is 20 minutes away and setup consists of backing the car out of the garage and setting the kettle on the burner and the bag in the kettle.

Actually, being pleasantly surprised by the opportunity to brew is probably better than being disappointed by having to postpone a planned brew. The glass is half full, and all like that…