Simplifying My Brew Day

[hotbeer]

As for dry yeast... you just pitch directly into the fermenter? No rehydration?

I've only ever used dry yeast. While beer recipes using dry yeast say to aerate the wort in the FV before pitching, the dry yeast makers say it's not necessary. They also say direct pitching without making a starter is okay.

I've always direct pitched dry yeast, but my first handful of brews I aerated the wort. But after I quit aerating I actually think I had better tasting beer. They say it makes no difference for oxidation since the yeast gobble it up so fast during kraeusen, but I'm not so sure. However I will admit that at the same time I also got better at controlling other things that contribute to oxidation potential.

If you are using liquid yeast or re-using yeast that was formerly dry for the previous batch, then I would say you have to aerate. And with liquid your brew day will be slightly more complex.

Even if it's just the complication of coordinating getting the freshest liquid pack possible for the day you want to brew. With dry, I can have them in the fridge for months on end and brew on the spur of the moment... assuming I'm not out of malts.

 

[kevin58]

You can certain shave time off of your brew day with an all-in-one unit. I don't know if your new Brewzilla has a delay start timer or not but having it can save a lot of time. I have an Anvil Foundry 10.5 and I fill it with my strike water the night before and program it to start heating the next morning early enough so by the time I wake up that strike water is already up to temp.

That plus milling my grain the night before also saves some time. I get up, take my already crushed grain and dough in. My brewday is underway before I've finished my morning coffee. I will also pre-measure my hop additions if necessary.

If you are making beers of 1.060 and less you can pretty much get away with pitching something like one pack of Imperial yeast and have no issues. Pitching a second pack when needed is certainly another viable option and one I choose quite often when I don't have time or am too lazy to make any kind of starter. Another starter option has been mentioned already and that's the SNS or Shaken Not Stirred starter. More can be found here: Shaken, not Stirred: The Stir Plate Myth Buster | Experimental Homebrewing In short, you make your starter medium, shake it vigorously, and set it aside... done!

 

[brewnasty]

It's been over a year since I brewed a batch of beer. Between the heat from this summer and the anxiety of a 6+ hour brew day, I've lost the interest in brewing.

I started brewing 6 years ago on a propane turkey fryer kit with partial mash kits. I had a ton of fun and was able to knock out batches in a few hours. I upgraded to all grain and my days started to grow. Most recently I was brewing on a custom fabricated HERMS and seeing 6-7 hour brew days from the time I started heating my mash water to the time I finish mopping and hanging all of my equipment to dry.

This past weekend I sold my HERMS for a fair price in an effort to scale down my equipment and simplify. The HERMS was awesome, but dealing with all the kettles and hoses and pumps...it was just too much for me. I took the money and placed a pre-order for a Brewzilla Gen 4. Single vessel, limited hoses, center drain, electric... sounds like a dream. I can't wait for it to get here.

I also sold my counterflow chiller. DAMN that thing was efficient, but I hated having to clean it. Sure it's just pumping PBW through it, but I always lost a little wort in the hoses and CFC. I know the immersion chiller is going to take longer, but I'm looking forward to the simplicity again.

I've been also thinking about not even messing with yeast starters any more. Is it difficult to make a yeast starter? No. But is it really necessary for the beers I'm brewing? Probably not!

I'm trying hard to strip away unnecessary activities or equipment to help me enjoy the process of brewing more. What else have you done to get back to the basics and enjoy the process?

Mine is not a "shorter" brew day but I feels it makes it a much easier brew "session".

day 1 prep hops, grains, water and water salts.
day 2 mash in and mash overnight
day 3 morning: start sparge water (i use an inkbird and hot plate and blue tooth thermometer with alarm so i can set and forget) and turn brewzilla to 170 for mash out. go get coffee and come back when your ready. brew day hasn't really even started. use ferm cap for boil so you can walk away while it comes to a boil. use the bluetooth thermometer again. use dry yeast so you don't have to worry about starters. use the kvieks so you can pitch in the 90s and don't spend so much time chilling.


get a jaded chiller - very fast

 

[TurnipGreen]

After using mostly liquid yeast for years, I took a deep dive into dry yeast in 2021 and I have been very impressed with the ease, quality and selection of dry yeast. It is real easy to stock up 10+ packs and use them over a year, where liquid yeast viability drops off in months. I have a few liquid strains that I use (mostly by harvesting and repitching) but I have been using dry yeast for the vast majority of my beers.

I would NOT advocate ditching starters for liquid yeast. If you have access to fresh packs from Omega or Imperial, those can be direct pitched. In my book, pitching an adequate amount of healthy yeast and managing fermentation is the most important (and one of the easiest) steps to making good beer. I have had excellent luck with Shaken-not-Stirred type starters with White Labs or Wyeast packs. (Also, I make a lot of 2.5 gallon batches which cuts the need for yeast in half.)

The electric all-in-one systems look great. I moved to BIAB 3 years ago and a standard brew day is about 4.5 hours from start to being all cleaned up.

An other alternative to make a yeast starter can be to save yeast. It’s not exactly the same as a fresh starter, but super easy to get a high cell count. I decided a long time ago to not make starters. Instead I save slurry when I need more yeast than one pack or if I need a ton, I pitch directly on a fresh yeast cake.

And there’s a ton more dry yeasts available than there was 10 years ago. I save a lot of those too and I’m convinced a couple of them don’t hit there stride until their third generation.

After writing this it seems like another complication, but it’s super simple for me to have three or four mason jars in the fridge. And it honestly helps me plan what beer I’m making and when.

 

[6531Brewing]

It's been over a year since I brewed a batch of beer. Between the heat from this summer and the anxiety of a 6+ hour brew day, I've lost the interest in brewing.

I started brewing 6 years ago on a propane turkey fryer kit with partial mash kits. I had a ton of fun and was able to knock out batches in a few hours. I upgraded to all grain and my days started to grow. Most recently I was brewing on a custom fabricated HERMS and seeing 6-7 hour brew days from the time I started heating my mash water to the time I finish mopping and hanging all of my equipment to dry.

This past weekend I sold my HERMS for a fair price in an effort to scale down my equipment and simplify. The HERMS was awesome, but dealing with all the kettles and hoses and pumps...it was just too much for me. I took the money and placed a pre-order for a Brewzilla Gen 4. Single vessel, limited hoses, center drain, electric... sounds like a dream. I can't wait for it to get here.

I also sold my counterflow chiller. DAMN that thing was efficient, but I hated having to clean it. Sure it's just pumping PBW through it, but I always lost a little wort in the hoses and CFC. I know the immersion chiller is going to take longer, but I'm looking forward to the simplicity again.

I've been also thinking about not even messing with yeast starters any more. Is it difficult to make a yeast starter? No. But is it really necessary for the beers I'm brewing? Probably not!

I'm trying hard to strip away unnecessary activities or equipment to help me enjoy the process of brewing more. What else have you done to get back to the basics and enjoy the process?

Also looking to simplify our brewing and storage of brewing gear! The HERMS system was awesome! We have been wyeast smack pak users, dry yeast- stir plate starter users and have gotten yeast from a local brewery. We also brew at 20 gallons and thinking 10 gallons more often will be in our future.