Speeding Up Brew Day

[brewprint]

I do 5.5 gallon BIAB batches in about 3.5 hours.
I increased time by purchasing a 220,000btu burner. That alone cuts off at least 15 minutes doing full volume boils.
Also a 50ft chiller instead of the standard 25ft immersion chiller cuts chill time down.
No need for more than one vessel as efficiency is >70% BIAB unless doing a wheat.

 

[tadkays]

Nice article Brett! Good advice. Definitely some useful tips. @JohnK93, I would recommend cooking and brewing with COLD water though. Hot water can pull in lead from the pipes or other gunk from the hot water heater.

 

[rwgaro]

A few threads touch on this pretty well, especially the one linked below. I usually take 3=3.5 hrs using several of these shortcuts (shorter mash, BIAB, heating water with multiple pots, immersion cooler, etc.)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=518749

 

[TriggerHappy]

I am so glad that most times when I have a brew day with the fellas, it's a brew day. I am blessed with a great schedule and a loving wife who understands I need a bit of time to let off steam every once in a while. We brew, drink great beer, and tease each other. I totally get that sometimes you gotta brew a batch under the gun, but make sure every once in a while you take time to enjoy a brew day and how lucky we are to be part of this history of great people making such a wonderful drink that brings us all together. As much as I hate the quote from the book we all have read, but "Sit back, relax, and have a homebrew."

 

[goingcamping]

I hear some of you guys using "hot water" from your tap. I've always been told that using hot water for cooking gets you not only sediment from your hot water heater but also traces of lead from all the sweated joints... With copper anyway? I'm not sure if you polybutylene or PEX? Has this been debunked?
Articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/health/29real.html?_r=0

 

[Homercidal]

Using tap water is not an option for me. Due to high alkalinity I basically use RO water for every brew that's not a stout, and then I only use about 50% tap water.
This will all become moot when I wire up my future system with a function that will have my strike water ready when I get home from work. =8D

 

[paperairplane]

I BIAB 5 gal batches. I can easily do 4 hour brew day.
Get a big burner, start heating water. Grind grain while water heats. Mash 60 mins. Raise bag on hoist and let drain into BK. Start boil - at hot break pitch hops, boil 60. Chill with immersion to 90*F then put in ferm chamber. Clean up and pitch yeast next morning.

 

[Puddlethumper]

@goingcamping -- Any sediment you might get would be the same stuff that is already in your water anyway. And unless you live in a really old house there is little or no risk of lead from sweated solder joints - lead-free solder has been required by most building codes for decades.
Cheers!

 

[Puddlethumper]

Interesting comment above about getting DMS from no-chill. I've used this method several times and the beer has been good. But the loss of hop flavor/aroma probably is very true. The longer those hops sit in hot wort the more they will behave like boiled hops! To my mind the use of no-chill eliminates a flame-out addition to be replaced with dry-hopping at yeast pitch.
Good comments all!

 

[tuxarut]

Does anyone know what software this is in the picture? I really like the layout

 

[maltdude]

Stay offline on brew day! I read articles like these and get behind on my brewing!

 

[masonsjax]

I often do 20 min mash with excellent results. I more often do 30 mins though because I'm still weighing hops when the alarm goes off.
I just put together a couple of 240v 5500w electric rigs, just need some welding done. That should let me heat water and come to a boil much quicker than with propane. Not that I'm anxious to shorten my brewday, but I could if I want.

 

[brettwasbtd]

@tuxarut it is just an excel sheet. I pm'ed you with more info

 

[buserror]

If you don't mind a longer mash for your recipe, you can mash for 8+ hours. Strike in the morning and sparge after work, or start the mash at night when you have the next day free. I did this a couple times with my converted cooler mash tun and it worked out fine.

 

[GoodOleDave]

Great article. I found a hotter burner made a big difference with my 10 gallon batches. I also heat my mash and sometimes my sparge water on 2 different burners to decrease time.

 

[terrykalaka]

I am currently running at 1 1/2hrs nose to tail including clean-up, using extract and splitting my boil of hops/grains separately, so they run simultaneously. During that time I also keg the previous batch.

 

[OnePotBrewing]

@Psylocide me too. I did two all grain batches in 1 hour 47 minutes (30 min mash, 30 min boil).
details at my blog: onepotbrewing.wordpress.com

 

[brettwasbtd]

Thought I would follow up on this article to let everyone know that I took my own advice this weekend. Friday Night I spent 20 minutes measuring out my water, weighing and milling my grain, and setting up water salt additions. Saturday I did a 30 min mash and a 45 min boil. I did chill my wort, but then I decided to ferment right in my brew kettle. 3 hour all grain brew day! Awesome when in a time crunch.