What saves time on brew day?

[yewtah-brewha]

Not looking at it as "a brew day" ,but rather something that I am doing in the background. If the mash has to sit 3 hours while I run to town then so be it.

I have often thought about this, letting the mash sit that is. What are the consequences of letting it sit longer? One would think that if the temp stays the same it would be okay.

 

[peterj]

I was under the impression you shouldnt use hot water directly from the tap for things like brewing, because that water has been potentially sitting in your hot water heater for weeks or months(assuming you have a 30-40Gallon Tank) and can get minerals and other off flavors from the tank from staying there so long.

Weeks or months? Haven't you ever run out of hot water in the shower? I think showers use about 2.5 gallons of water per minute so if you take a 10 minute hot shower every day, you're probably turning over all the hot water in there every two days just by showers alone.

 

[grathan]

Dunno, the kolsch I made with a 3+ hour mash seems pretty much flawless. Dropped from 149 to 146. pH was about 5.

 

[peterj]

I have often thought about this, letting the mash sit that is. What are the consequences of letting it sit longer? One would think that if the temp stays the same it would be okay.

I would guess that you might end up with a little bit more fermentability in the wort, but probably not much. Not enough to notice I would think.

 

[kombat]

I was under the impression you shouldnt use hot water directly from the tap for things like brewing, because that water has been potentially sitting in your hot water heater for weeks or months(assuming you have a 30-40Gallon Tank) and can get minerals and other off flavors from the tank from staying there so long.

That's easy enough to test. Pour yourself a glass of hot water, straight from the hot water tap. Put the glass in the fridge. Wait 1 hour, then drink it. How does it taste?

 

[yewtah-brewha]

California has to put this on all water heaters ! sorry to paranoy anyone. I try to use spring water for all brews, but definatly not hot water. I use cold tap water to start off.


WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other
reproductive harm.
This appliance can cause low-level exposure to some of the substances included in the Act.

 

[jaydog2314]

So, you use to spend 2-3 hours cleaning your HLT, MLT and Kettle BEFORE you started brewing? Sometimes I might clean my kettle the next day, but most of my stuff is cleaned and stored before the boil is over. If you clean after use, there's no reason to do it again before starting your next brewday.

No. Don't spend that much time but I do re clean it the night before I leave the lids off and valves open so it can dry really good. I brew every 3-4 weeks and I have a dusty house. But it takes maybe 20-25 mins to clean them the night before. I was saying it used to take me 8-9 hours before clean as I go.

 

[RM-MN]

I do a 30 minute mash. That saves me 30 to 60 minutes. A fine crush will get you conversion in waay less than 90 minutes.

 

[milldoggy]

Kal e brewery clone. During mash, heating strike and sparring, you can be mostly absent. Allows for other things.

 

[Drake9]

California has to put this on all water heaters ! sorry to paranoy anyone. I try to use spring water for all brews, but definatly not hot water. I use cold tap water to start off.


WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other
reproductive harm.
This appliance can cause low-level exposure to some of the substances included in the Act.

This makes me laugh, I see this on everything. I use to think well since I dont live in California I guess I am okay, hahaha, but now I live in California. I am screwed.

I use cold tap water right now. I was using "filtered" water from a machine at the store but cant tell a difference in taste with the tap water so I just use that now.

 

[LandoLincoln]

California has to put this on all water heaters ! sorry to paranoy anyone. I try to use spring water for all brews, but definatly not hot water. I use cold tap water to start off.


WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other
reproductive harm.
This appliance can cause low-level exposure to some of the substances included in the Act.

All of those electric brewers are pretty screwed then, since they all use heating elements designed for hot water heaters in their HLTs, BKs and RIMS tubes.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Articles seem kinda bogus, if you're paranoid take a sample of hot water first thing in the morning and let it cool(stuff will still be in there) and have it analyzed. I use hot tap water after showering in the morning and there's really no difference, plus, can't say I've been affected by lead poisoning (Caravaggio anyone?). I, personally, take my time on brew days and if I'm in a hurry, use extract. It can be reduced but then you're rushing the process and to be true to the craft, ART takes TIME

I don't listen to Gov't entities anymore (EPA for example) because much of it is something you're TOLD, not something you KNOW personally. Go out and get your own answers, don't rely on ex-Nazi scientists for it, haha. I'm reminded of Dr.Strangelove sometimes when this stuff comes up "fluoridation, Mandrake... Is the most insidious Communist plot known to man".

 

[kombat]

I was under the impression you shouldnt use hot water directly from the tap for things like brewing, because that water has been potentially sitting in your hot water heater for weeks or months(assuming you have a 30-40Gallon Tank) and can get minerals and other off flavors from the tank from staying there so long.

1. As someone else pointed out, the water is most certainly not sitting in there for "months," or even weeks, unless you live alone and rarely use hot water.

2. Minerals are necessary for yeast health.

3. As for "off flavors," just taste it! Does it taste funny? Pour yourself a glass of water from the cold tap, and a glass from the hot tap. Put them both in the fridge for an hour. Come back and taste them. Can you tell which is which?

If not, then why wouldn't you use the hot water and save yourself some time?

You've ALREADY paid for the energy to heat up a whole tank full of hot water. Why would you waste the propane heating up a bunch more cold water, rather than use the hot water that's already ready to be used?

 

[mikescooling]

This thread is about saving time, not hot water with or without lead.
I'll give that heat stick on a timer a try.

 

[julioardz]

I often mash and collect my wort at night then boil, cool, and pitch the yeast in the morning. It doesn't save time per se, but splitting it up like that lets me get an all grain batch done before 9 or 10am on a Saturday or Sunday morning. People may say this opens up the risk to a sour mashed type of beer, should the wort become infected while it sits in the brew kettle over night, but I've done it countless times with no adverse effects. I have never had beer turn out sour, and I hate Lambics/sours too. No foul, no harm for my system, but that may not be the case for others.

I also clean as I go. There's lots of waiting when brewing, so I clean everything I can whenever possible. By the time the wort is in my fermenting fridge, all I have left to do is clean the brew kettle.

The majority of my beers are all grain and I have been doing all grain since I started. I recently started playing around with extract recipes and have been pleasantly surprised with low IBU, 20-30 minute boil extract batches I've made. I still feel the malt character of my all grain batches is better in the heavier, more flavorful beers, but when it comes to producing a good light beer in the shortest amount of time, I can't beat a short boil extract topped off with near freezing water. I've made a very good light amber lager and a great hefeweizen, as well as a saison, in a little over an hour each using extract and 20-30 minute boils. That's not counting the time it took to make the yeast starter and chilling the top of water though. When compared to all grain versions of these same beers, I could hardly tell the difference. If there are negligible differences in taste between an hour and half brew session versus a 5 hour long brew day, I'll take the quicker route. But I will repeat, these are lighter beers with less malt flavor anyway.

 

[mjohnson]

I only have a kettle and a mash tun - no wort pumps or anything. Doing a full volume mash and no-sparge gets me done faster. No buckets of hot wort or sparge water, etc. I can just lauter into the kettle and start the boil. It doesn't matter if you're running a 3 vessel system, I suppose.

The other thing to speed things up is really cold water for chilling. Sometimes I pump icewater through my immersian chiller with a cheap pond pump once I start approaching the temp of my tap water.

Also, explore no-chill brewing. Just don't put hot wort into glass carboys, please. I think you do have to adjust your hop additions to compensate longer periods at high temp.

 

[grathan]

This thread is about saving time, not hot water with or without lead.
I'll give that heat stick on a timer a try.

This is where I could trim an hour.
Here is a fairly cheap 15amp timer:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TGO6RY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It would be ideal if it also controlled temperature so at the start of brewday the strike waterwas already set to go. I haven't explored this much yet, but perhaps around $50 forsomething with a decent solid state relay.

 

[Sherpa FE]

I have most of the same tricks that everyone else has.

Night Before:
Finalize and print recipe, check for errors.
Measure all grains, hops, adjuncts, additions.
Make sure everything is clean (not clean again) just making sure nothing happened since last brew.
Drink a beer.

Brew Day:
Roll out brew stand
Use water from "on demand water heater" (this comes out at my first mash temp already so no use of propane here.
Mash as usual
Boil as usual, (clean mash tun while its coming to boil)
During boil, go for a swim in my pool to cool off.
Chill beer with plate chiller, excess water goes to a garden hose that has a lawn sprinkler and it waters my lawn while chilling the beer.(I hate wasted water)
Use remaining water from HLT, to cycle PBW through all my pots and plate chiller to clean everything, rinse with water and put away.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I do not have my first beer until the beer is chilling, I find that really helps me stay on track if I dont drink whil brewing, otherwise it makes for a long day!

 

[peterj]

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I do not have my first beer until the beer is chilling, I find that really helps me stay on track if I dont drink whil brewing, otherwise it makes for a long day!

That is very true! I usually wait until at least the boil to crack one open. I also brew pretty early so towards the beginning of my brew day I'm in more of a mood for coffee than beer.

 

[Dawai]

I have a stack of Condiment cups, I pour the hops into to get them ready as the water heats. (using pellet)

Pre weigh the ingredients into cups, bags.

All of those electric brewers are pretty screwed then, since they all use heating elements designed for hot water heaters in their HLTs, BKs and RIMS tubes.

THE heater coils in pots is not something I want here. YOU guys may praise it, but I know most them heaters have aluminum casings nickel chrome plated. MY hillbilly version has a oven element in under the pot, insulation around the pot. The 4200 watts heats it up real quick like (room stays cool), and I use Local Spring water.

PUT a lid on the pot of liquid, it heats faster.

Anything in the pot, threads, sensor probes is a time-cleaning problem. I tacked a 1/4" nut to the keg to get the temp on the outside, under the insulation, not as quick reaction, but reads within one degree of the inside.. and nothing to clean in the pot. Rinse, scrub, reuse. NOW any spills on the outside.. still a nightmare. From my experience as a tattoo artist, things must stay at the autoclave dry steam level for 20-30 minutes to kill the "bugs" so "no, it does not boil clean" at 212. The health department used to come into my shop with a bacterial culture, put it into my autoclave and ask me to run a sample, then pull out a microscope and check to make sure I killed it.

I didn't invent any of this, working around the chemical plants/food industry as a instrument tech I saw it in action. I've saw quite a few things I didn't agree with.. like them rat traps at frito-lays.. 8 hole "spike" traps where they stayed for days in the HOT Georgia sun.. Big as possums. (just now saw a mouse in my basement) he smells chocolate-coffee beer and grain I am sure.

I'm still learning from you guys.. why I read the posts.

 

[annoyingrob]

Also, explore no-chill brewing. Just don't put hot wort into glass carboys, please. I think you do have to adjust your hop additions to compensate longer periods at high temp.

Word. I have an extra 5 gallon sanke keg that I dump my hot wort into, and just drop the stake back in. As it chills, it pulls the stake tighter making a good seal. Throw some sanitizer on top of the ball valve to handle the vacuum and it's the best no-chill container I could imagine.

It's not EXACTLY a time-saver, but it DOES take about an hour less time on my brew day. The flip-side to that is I spend a little time in the next day or two racking and pitching my yeast.

One bonus to this, I can take any extra wort I collect from my grain, use that to make a starter, and pitch it a few days later into the SAME WORT to make my beer.

 

[reverb1983]

I have an intergas combi boiler with a stainless steel heat exchanger. I have no worries using the hottest water I can straight out of the tap... About 160f? Save me a bunch of time for my strike water.

 

[Neopol]

Dedicated brew shop vac for 50+ lbs of grain gone in 10 min to the compost... Hop and hot break remnants in 2 minutes.. Cleanup is my most disliked stage and typically around midnight, on work nights.
(99$ Mecrapards stainless tank)

And the biggest time saver is a girlfriend that likes to brew too and can actually run my setup on her own...she gets out of work an hour before me and typically has the HLT up to mash-in temp ready to roll..and a cold pull waiting...

Then its set some timers and make some pizza dough and wait for the rise..

So..
#1 Shop Vac
#2 BrewBitch..(< qualify she refers to herself as this)

 

[firerat]

Clean as you go. I have a plastic pallet in my back yard that I use as a drying rack for everything I clean.

Cleaning my kettle while it's still warm (not hot, did that once) makes it easier too.

 

[Rockweezy]

I heat my boil kettle before the end of my collection, so the boil starts maybe only 5 minutes after I have my total volume of wort. Then throw in the hops and get to cleaning up the mash tun.

 

[arborman]

Camlocks save a lot of time over using barbs and hose clamps.

Man, I just got some cam locks and they seem very difficult to latch on. Kinda regretting changing out from plain ole barbs. I hope they loosen up with time

 

[mikescooling]

The cam-locks have gaskets that are new and need to be smashed down with use, make sure to pull both rings at the same time. you'll be doing it one handed in no time.
To save time I found if I need to boil down some volume in the BK, I use a fan over the pot.

 

[arborman]

The cam-locks have gaskets that are new and need to be smashed down with use, make sure to pull both rings at the same time. you'll be doing it one handed in no time.
To save time I found if I need to boil down some volume in the BK, I use a fan over the pot.

This is great to hear!

 

[Neopol]

The cam-locks have gaskets that are new and need to be smashed down with use, make sure to pull both rings at the same time. you'll be doing it one handed in no time.
To save time I found if I need to boil down some volume in the BK, I use a fan over the pot.

Variable or router speed controller on an inline vent fan and some configuration of a vent hood I get from ..5 min to max 1.9 gal/hr boil off ..low end controlled by condensed drips

 

[lumpher]

With all of the information out there telling us that we should not use water from the water heater to cook with I am surprised that anyone is brave enough to brew with it.

I KNEW there was a reason I shouldn't slurp a drink of water when i'm taking a shower!!!!!! btw: i start with hot water out of the tap also