My first extract brew

[SteveHeff]

Before you think this is my first brew ever, it is not. I've brewed over 200 gallons of all grain, which I really enjoy, but I've reached the point where my time is becoming more and more valuable and I have to find ways to shave time off of the brew day. Between my 1 year old son and my job at a local fire department, I don't have more than a couple of hours here and here. Certainly not enough for all grain brewing. So yesterday, I welcomed 100% LME brewing.

From start to finish, the entire process took me about 1 hour and 50 minutes. That includes all my prep time and clean up. What actually took the longest was getting my wort to boil. On my bayou burner it was around 25-30 minutes for 6.5 gallons. Still, this is the fastest brew day I've ever had.

I brewed something very simple. I just did 6# light LME with an ounce of centennial and an ounce of cascade. I'll toss in nottingham yeast this morning (I used a swamp cooler to get the brew from 160 F down to 74 F) after I'm able to get the temps down a bit lower. But what a time saver. I can't wait to taste how this comes out. Cheers.

 

[eadavis80]

Nothing wrong with quick n' easy brew days. MOst of my beers have been extract and I'm just getting into BIAB, but I'm a teacher so I have summers off, thus more time to brew. But during the school year, I'm pretty much an extract guy for the same reasons. Sounds like a nice pale ale. Enjoy!

 

[ericbw]

I do both, depending on time. It's all good!

 

[Johow]

Wow, I just started a thread for the same reason. I brewed today and though I have plenty of time (retired) my space is very limited and I end up moving things from one area to another several time for storage, brewing and cleanup, then back to storage. It's a pita so I'm looking to shorten brew time. I've also learned that with extract, I can do smaller brews and then top up so that may help in that I might be able to brew in the kitchen cleanup area as well. I brewed allgrain today but my next brew day will be extract!

 

[unionrdr]

Just do partial mash, partial boil biab on the stove. Works very well, & I've been doing it for about 2 years now. I do everything from AE to smaller AG. The small AG is soon changing to AG/PB BIAB, however.

 

[SteveHeff]

Partial mash still takes an extra 1+ hour. I've gone BIAB before with great results but it's all about time. If I don't have much time, it's extract, all the way.