Timeline for all-grain

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Tlylebrew

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Questions from someone who has brewed only six extract kits...

Given any day for all-grain brewing, how long does it take from start to finish? I know from my experience with an extract kit it takes about 2.5 - 3 hours from start to fermentation bucket. Thats usually with cleaning up.

I'm trying to calculate all my costs to see how much cheaper it would be to do all grain, and how quickly I could make up the cost on investing in new equipment, vs the cost of the kits.

If it takes a significant more amount of time then I need to factor that in as well.

I tried searching but the terms just yielded anything with all-grain in the title.
 
I schedule about 6 hours, from first starting to heat water until clean-up is finished, though it often is closer to 5 for us.
 
I usually batch sparge, so from start to finish it's generally about 4-5 hours.

I start by crushing the grain and hauling all the stuff up from the basement, which takes me about 20 minutes. I guess I could do that the night before to save time.

I usually clean the MLT during the boil, and sanitize the fermenter during chilling, and finish cleaning up while I aerate the wort with my aquarium pump, so I'm usually doing the next step during any "down time". It might take much longer the first time, until you get your system down. Probably like extract brewing in that regard- it seems like it took longer the first few times but after a while it goes really quick.
 
I am doing all indoor brewing right now since it is wind season and I don't want to have the wind blow any extra crap into my brew (yesterday was only about 15 - 20 mph sustained winds). Yesterday's all grain batch from start to finish (and cleaning up along the way) was 6 hours using a pretty slow stove and a recirculating ice bath for wort chilling. I also tend to be slow in the kitchen to make sure and double sure that I am following what I need to follow and chasing my brew assistants (cats) out of things...

My extract batches used to go about 4 - 4.5 hours including steeping time for grains. Yup, same slow stove.
 
You can easily cut out lots of time if you lay everything out in an organized manner. It usually takes us 4 hours for a batch but I'm pretty anal about pre-planning and having my ingredients, equipment, recipe/notes organized before starting.

edit: I make beer with hubby so having two brewers shaves off a bit.
 
Certainly the majority of HBT members are going to tell you that the time doesn't count as a cost because it's so much fun. Of course it's fun but yes, all grain brewing takes about 6 hours from start to finish (cleaned up, tucked away). You can shave off time by having two burners/large pots to work with so that you can start heating collected wort while you're still handling sparge water. That would save about 30 minutes. You can also mill grain, setup your gear, and measure out water the night before to break up the work. Light the burner first thing and go make coffee and breakfast while it's heating.

Once I got dialed in and started prepping the night before, the actual work on brew day takes me 4 hours when my chilling water is nice and cold like now. That's also assuming I clean out my mash tun during the boil instead of loafing around the garage enjoying the aromas and drinking a beer.
 
About 4.5 hours for me, but there really isn't much to do during the 1-hour mash. I almost don't really count that hour because I'm usually doing something else around the yard that needs to be done. Or reading HBT.
 
About 4.5 to 5 hours for me, but like Trash Heap said, there's a good deal of down time. During my last brew day I built a porch swing.
 
+1 for about 6 hours here, BUT if you want to do two 5 gallon batches of different beers instead of one 10 gal batch, then you are at about 8 hours. Organization is key.
 
I'm around 5 hours now from first pull on equipment to last item back on the shelf. But it's a great time where everyone leaves me alone and I get to focus on what I want to do. Last 2 batches have also been 10 gallon, so I'm getting more for my time investment.

I started AG with a 30qt turkey fryer and homemade mash tun (coleman xtreme 50qt). You can make great beer with littler more than you already have on hand, if you are doing full boils with your kits already.

I don't see it as a cheaper way to make beer. I get two returns on my investment in equipment. One, I control more aspects of the beer I make. Two, I really enjoy the process of making beer and the equipment. Brewgyvering is a hobby as much as brewing.

Do your brew. If its AG, awesome. If its extract, awesome. Make beer and enjoy!
 
Usually about 6.5 - 7 hours, but with plenty of spare time in the middle. I could cut that down by 1 - 1.5 hours if I batch sparged instead of fly, and if I used an immersion chiller instead of a CFC. (It takes me 30 minutes of waiting while the CFC soaks after everything else is put away.)

-a
 
Granted I've only 2 AG's under my belt...it takes me around 5-6 hours. If I had a bit more room in my house I'd be able to shave some time off but its cramped quarters for me.
 
It usually takes me about 5 hrs. Could probably do it quicker if I tried but I enjoy it and dont see any reason to rush it. I put 2 - 5 gallon batches in the fermenter today and it took about 8 hours start to finish.
 
I've got it down now to 4.5 hrs consistently. That includes recipe formulation with brewday worksheet grain milling and all including cleanup.
 
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