Short on time brew day...opinions?

[JONNYROTTEN]

I'm trying to shorten my brew day today, plans later..I'm starting right now
I've always done the 1 hour mash/boil
I'ts a simple grain bill for an IPA. 2 row some crystal maybe a small about of honey malt.
I'm only doing bittering and a 175 deg hop addition.

Any reason I cant cut the boil and mash to a half hour each?
I've never done a short brew day but hear it works fine...opinions?

 

[balrog]

@RM-MN suggests 30m ea, and I've tried it (currently fermenting altbier) but we are BIABers who grind fine. Grist milling will affect your ability to do this I believe.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

@RM-MN suggests 30m ea, and I've tried it (currently fermenting altbier) but we are BIABers who grind fine. Grist milling will affect your ability to do this I believe.

I BIAB also and always grind fine and hit my numbers..so half hour each is tried and tested and works fine? Only day available for brewing Christmas beer and dont want to mess it up taking shortcuts but again I'm short on time today

 

[RM-MN]

I BIAB also and always grind fine and hit my numbers..so half hour each is tried and tested and works fine? Only day available for brewing Christmas beer and dont want to mess it up taking shortcuts but again I'm short on time today

At the 20 minute mark, stir your mash and take a reading. Note that if you do not stir well your reading will be low. Do not stop the mash before the 30 minute mark even if you hit the number you expect. That extra 10 minutes will extract more flavor.

 

[mongoose33]

You can cut the boil short but you're going to reduce your hop utilization for bittering, and since it's an IPA....

You can offset that by using more bittering hops. Another issue is that your FG will be lower than normal as you won't boil off as much from the kettle.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

You can cut the boil short but you're going to reduce your hop utilization for bittering, and since it's an IPA....

You can offset that by using more bittering hops. Another issue is that your FG will be lower than normal as you won't boil off as much from the kettle.

Good point with the boil off rate. I think I'm a gallon short so it might work out.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

At the 20 minute mark, stir your mash and take a reading. Note that if you do not stir well your reading will be low. Do not stop the mash before the 30 minute mark even if you hit the number you expect. That extra 10 minutes will extract more flavor.

Will I be losing flavor taking off 30 minutes or at 30 it done either way?

 

[charliethebum]

You can cut the boil short but you're going to reduce your hop utilization for bittering, and since it's an IPA....

You can offset that by using more bittering hops. Another issue is that your FG will be lower than normal as you won't boil off as much from the kettle.

If you account for the lack of boiloff and just cut back on your sparge water your OG shouldn't be affected. As for the 30 minute mash, I've never tried it but I've seen multiple times that full conversion is definitely possible in even less time.

 

[RM-MN]

Unless you need to boil down to target and need that hour long boil you can shorten that too. I often boil for 30 to 40 minutes. I've read that 90% of the bittering happens in the first 30 minutes and it seems like that might be accurate. I don't even adjust my hops but I don't do IPA's very often.

 

[mongoose33]

If you account for the lack of boiloff and just cut back on your sparge water your OG shouldn't be affected. As for the 30 minute mash, I've never tried it but I've seen multiple times that full conversion is definitely possible in even less time.

If you're sparging, yes, you might be able to account for that. BIAB'ers probably aren't sparging...

In that case they either need to reduce the strike water or increase the grain bill slightly.

 

[4of7]

Beer Troll asking what never heard about no chill.
How long is your normal brewday?

 

[charliethebum]

If you're sparging, yes, you might be able to account for that. BIAB'ers probably aren't sparging...

In that case they either need to reduce the strike water or increase the grain bill slightly.

Fair point.

OP, one of my favorite ipa recipes involves a fairly small FWH charge, bringing it to a boil and killing the heat right after the hot break, then dumping in a $#it ton of hops for lots of flavor and aroma with a soft touch of bitterness. You won't get a west coast enamel melting ipa this way, but it turns out pretty nice

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Beer Troll asking what never heard about no chill.
How long is your normal brewday?

Beer troll....no chill....I think you missed the thread point

 

[4of7]

Beer troll....no chill....I think you missed the thread point

Yes it was on how to shorten Brew day length of time? If that is correct.. no chill.is just a reply

 

[balrog]

DO adjust your volumes accordingly for boil off rate as applied to boil time.
I agree with @RM-MN that bitterness is only slightly affected, according to the calculators, and my SINGLE SOLITARY DATA POINT indicates no adverse perceived BITTERING issues. Please note that this is a very small sample size.
DO mash for the full 30m for flavor, esp if darker/crys/toasted grains are involved.

 

[4of7]

Sorry
I read shorten Brew day.. I had to reread to see shorten the process

 

[z-bob]

I've done a 45 minute mash with a 45 minute boil a few times. There's a half hour saved. I do BIAB. I dunk-sparge for 10 minutes, but while I'm doing that the first runnings are heating just about coming to a boil, so I don't really lose much if any time with the sparge.

Best way to shorten your brew day is to do the prep work the night before.