Two at a time

[benzy4010]

Don't have a lot of time during the week to brew so I was thinking of buying another pot and mash tun and brewing two beers at the same time. Is this gonna be too much for one newish brewer? So many beers I wanna make so little time

 

[earwig]

It shouldn't be hard if you plan well and stagger everything. During your mash, sparge (if you fly sparge) and boil you are more than likely doing nothing anyway.

 

[SimBrew]

If you have a big mlh, you can mash he base malt for to beer the steep some speciality grain in one and boil the 2 separatly.

I did a centennial blonde/APA that way, the hop additions are the hard part.

 

[TopherM]

Get a brew buddy to help you out, and this should be easy. Give him a 6 pack of each beer for his time.

 

[kpfeif]

I've gone to exclusively brewing 2 5 gallon batches at a time; it only adds about 1.5 hours to the brew day and you didn't need any extra gear. Schedule is like this:

- heat sparge water
- dough in #1, heat mashout/mash 2 water
- mashout into bucket, dough in #2
- transfer 1 to brew pot, boil #1
- heat mashout 2 water on stovetop
- cool boil 1, sparge #2 into bucket
- transfer 1 to carboy, boil #2
- cleanup during #2 cooling

Twice as much beer without much extra work and no extra gear. Also I hate all the waiting around that happens when you only brew one batch at once; this way you're always doing something.

 

[copyright1997]

I've done two batches (overlapped) as described above. You will be plenty busy between with the two overlapped. Especially if you do as I do and heat your strike water in the kitchen, but do the boil outside with propane.

I know some folks also do parallel brews, i.e. two propane setups, etc.

 

[benzy4010]

i have two mash tuns now and two pots so i was thinkiing about doing it i was just wondering if it was common. well i have all the pieces to make my mash tun ( i think) anyways.

 

[nbolmer]

i have two mash tuns now and two pots so i was thinkiing about doing it i was just wondering if it was common. well i have all the pieces to make my mash tun ( i think) anyways.

You can definitely do it. In my earlier days, I'd do one AG and one PM/E batch at the same time. Write down your schedule, stick to it, and clean as you go...

 

[outside92129]

we usually do 4 batches per session, it helps as the single tier makes it an assembly line type operation. Four of us, each in charge of a batch to keep things straight.

 

[Stauffbier]

You could always do a 10 gal. party-gyle with a huge grain bill/big beer on first runnings (5 gal batch) then steep some specialty grain for the second runnings (another 5 gal batch)to change up the style.. Maybe even add a couple more pounds of base malt to the second runnings to get a decent gravity.

 

[wickman6]

Absolutely go for it! I also have to make the most of the time I have for brewing and I have done a few double batches for this reason.

The first one was a bit chaotic, but managable. Since then it has gotten much easier.

I have been doing some sort of hybrid parti-gyle method though, mashing the first beer and when it get out all the wort to boil, I add a few pounds of grain to what's left in the mash tun and start the second mash.

It has worked out well for me so far, but I would love another burner and kettle. That would cut my time down even more. I enjoy the time I have to brew, someday I won't need to be so worried about keeping it short...hopefully!