Hi all
I'm fairly new to brewing, I started maybe a year ago with a few 1 gallon stove-top BIAB brews, before moving up to a 56 litre kettle and propane burner BIAB setup. The only time I'm able to brew is in the evenings, after my kids are asleep, and so one of my biggest priorities has been working out ways of making things quicker. So far, all the corners I'm cutting haven't stopped the beer being delicious.
Here are my current ways of speeding things up;
- Fill kettle with water straight from hot tap (after setting the boiler to maximum heat). I have a combi boiler so the hot water hasn't been sitting in a rat-filled tank. This means I get up to mash temp before I have managed to weigh out grains and get other bits and bobs ready.
- No chill. I've got a 'cube' which works well, though I'm not sure how happy I am about putting hot beer into plastic. I've also just left the beer to cool in the kettle overnight with no ill effects, and transferred to the fermenter the next morning.
- 30 min mash. With a bit of stirring my mash efficiency seems pretty good.
Things that I think could do but haven't done yet;
- Get grains ready in advance. At the moment I'm getting up to mash temp before I've got the grains all weighed out and need to turn the burner off.
- Shorten the boil. Is 60 minutes really necessary? Would the beer be less tasty with a 30 min boil?
Does anyone have any other ideas for speeding up the brew? Any comments on all this?
Cheers all
I'm fairly new to brewing, I started maybe a year ago with a few 1 gallon stove-top BIAB brews, before moving up to a 56 litre kettle and propane burner BIAB setup. The only time I'm able to brew is in the evenings, after my kids are asleep, and so one of my biggest priorities has been working out ways of making things quicker. So far, all the corners I'm cutting haven't stopped the beer being delicious.
Here are my current ways of speeding things up;
- Fill kettle with water straight from hot tap (after setting the boiler to maximum heat). I have a combi boiler so the hot water hasn't been sitting in a rat-filled tank. This means I get up to mash temp before I have managed to weigh out grains and get other bits and bobs ready.
- No chill. I've got a 'cube' which works well, though I'm not sure how happy I am about putting hot beer into plastic. I've also just left the beer to cool in the kettle overnight with no ill effects, and transferred to the fermenter the next morning.
- 30 min mash. With a bit of stirring my mash efficiency seems pretty good.
Things that I think could do but haven't done yet;
- Get grains ready in advance. At the moment I'm getting up to mash temp before I've got the grains all weighed out and need to turn the burner off.
- Shorten the boil. Is 60 minutes really necessary? Would the beer be less tasty with a 30 min boil?
Does anyone have any other ideas for speeding up the brew? Any comments on all this?
Cheers all