Tips to speed up a brew day?

[jajabee]

My 5-6g AG brewday is never more than 4 or 4.5 hours. The night before, I crush all the grain and leave it all mixed together in a big home depot bucket, and run through all the equipment I'll need in my head, looking around to make sure it's all clean and where I expect it to be (occasionally a carboy will need an overnight soak).

Having a corner of the garage for brewing equipment only helps keep me organized, the 60K BTU campchef burner I got off Craigslist speeds up the boil, and the two-tier gravity stand I built out of 2x4's means I don't spend any time doing heavy lifting. I make sure to use the downtime during mashing to do any cleanup or prep the carboy/etc. Though I still have plenty of time to rdwhahb. The big ribcage IC I made and the cold groundwater here in Portland means getting the wort down to 80 takes about 10 minutes, and I go ahead and transfer it there, figuring it'll be cool enough after the transfer for the yeast. I don't worry too much about any of it.

I'll be buying a march pump and plate chiller soon, which I'm hoping will shave another half hour off, but I enjoy the process either way. Seems like a great way to spend half a day.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

If you drink a few more beers while you brew, you'd be surprised how fast the day goes..

Yeah but your wife won't.

 

[ChshreCat]

Procreate.

Child slave labor is a GREAT time saver!

 

[shortyjacobs]

Yea I dont know why it would talk 30 minutes to transfer to carboy. I transfer to a bucket which is much easier but still just get someone to hold a strainer/funnel and pour the pot into the bucket/carboy. Should take 5 minutes tops if you are transferring to a carboy less if its a bucket.

Misprint, sorry. It takes 15 minutes....30 was for my 10 gal batch last night.

It takes 15 minutes cuz I transfer using 3/8" tubing hooked up to my ball valve on my BK. I have 1' of tubing, then a T, then another few inches of tubing into the carboy. This aerates as I transfer, but the short span of tubing before the T means slow siphoning....but great aeration. Picture siphoning out of your primary, but with one quarter of the tubing. (Height from top of siphoning liquid to bottom of tube/height of bottom liquid is directly proportional to transfer rate)

Procreate.

Child slave labor is a GREAT time saver!

You sound like my wife.....when we can afford them, we'll have them. This will probably be a short while after I stop spending money on this hobby :rockin:



I have a big plan to erase a lot of the headaches. It'll allow me to go all grain for about $100, (including materials for the sculpture, heat sources for HLT, MLT (if needed), and BK, bulkheads, braid, etc.), but I need to wait for the $100. The plan will get rid of all of the lifting and the BIAB problems....then another $40-60 will get me in-garage hot/cold water and a drain/tub....so maybe I just have to be patient .

Thanks again for all the great replies gals and guys....lots of good tips!