Wow.. Started electric a few months ago, but never expected this...

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khannon

Guy who really knows where his towel is.
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Dear Brewhouse forums.....(for those of us old enough)..

Nope, not one of those posts.

I built up an electric system so I could brew through the year. I've got it dialed in a bit, still some to go.

Today however, I had a day to brew. So, last night I milled the grain and measured the water etc..

This morning, I woke up as normal, picked up my phone, and started my strike water(not normal).

I laid in bed procrastinating(normal) then got up ~7:30 wandered downstairs to strike water at temp.. so I throw on the pump and mash in..
I take my shower, get coffee etc..
8:30 rolls around, and I mash-out, batch sparge etc..

At any rate, noon rolls around, and I am finishing my clean-up. I pitch yeast, and head upstairs.

The wife says "I thought you were planning a brew-day today?"

Thought goes through my head, "Can I get another one in today?"

Normal brew day runs ~4-5PM.

Amazing how something as simple as pre-milling the grain and setting up the water can cause such a time differential.
 
Even with a Propane system, I have found that the past few brewdays where I set up the rig, get water ready, etc. the night before makes the brew day go so much easier. I’m still spending the same time, just splitting it up. And most evenings I’m wasting time looking at HBT so I might as well be getting stuff ready.

You definitely have the advantage with the electric system to have your strike water ready when you wake up!
 
I generally do the same. My brewery is behind the bar in our finished basement where we spend most of our free time. One or two evenings I’ll prep for brewing while we are watching TV. Sunday morning I’ll wake up, start my water heating, and mix in my pre-measured water salts. Then I’ll go make breakfast and come back to mash in. Milled grains are in a bucket ready to go and my hop additions are all weighed out into plastic containers. By mid afternoon I’m done cleaning up in time to make or go out to dinner.
 
I’m not electric but I have found doing all the prep work a night or 2 before makes a huge difference on brew day. Glad it went well for you.
 
Thought goes through my head, "Can I get another one in today?"


That is a very reasonable thought. I often now do two back to back overlapping batches on the same brew day to save time. If I can do 1 batch in 4-5 hours, I can 2 batches in only 6-7 hours. The second batch only takes about half the time by doing the second mash while I am doing the first batch boil, etc. and all the equipment is set up already. With a second keg, I can then only brew half as many days per year and the beer lasts fine.
 
That is a very reasonable thought. I often now do two back to back overlapping batches on the same brew day to save time. If I can do 1 batch in 4-5 hours, I can 2 batches in only 6-7 hours. The second batch only takes about half the time by doing the second mash while I am doing the first batch boil, etc. and all the equipment is set up already. With a second keg, I can then only brew half as many days per year and the beer lasts fine.

Yeah, but if your electric is an all-in-one system, your mash tun is your BV as well. I used to occasionally do more than one brew in a day, but that was before I went electric. That was also when I was 7 years younger!
 
Strong chlorides (even salt) will pit some stainless steels but not overnight and not at the concentrations used in brewing. I would not be at all concerned if you have 316 stainless. You have to be a little more careful with 304.
 
Dear Brewhouse forums.....(for those of us old enough)..

Nope, not one of those posts.

I built up an electric system so I could brew through the year. I've got it dialed in a bit, still some to go.

Today however, I had a day to brew. So, last night I milled the grain and measured the water etc..

This morning, I woke up as normal, picked up my phone, and started my strike water(not normal).

I laid in bed procrastinating(normal) then got up ~7:30 wandered downstairs to strike water at temp.. so I throw on the pump and mash in..
I take my shower, get coffee etc..
8:30 rolls around, and I mash-out, batch sparge etc..

At any rate, noon rolls around, and I am finishing my clean-up. I pitch yeast, and head upstairs.

The wife says "I thought you were planning a brew-day today?"

Thought goes through my head, "Can I get another one in today?"

Normal brew day runs ~4-5PM.

Amazing how something as simple as pre-milling the grain and setting up the water can cause such a time differential.
It sure helps take the edge off of a long brew day. I’ve gone a step further ; mill, hlt, mash, sparge into kettle the night before. Let it sit. Get up first thing. Start kettle and set up for boil day. Go have coffee & blast after boil starts. Finish boil, chill, transfer, clean. Done before 9am. Loving split brew day !
 
It sure helps take the edge off of a long brew day. I’ve gone a step further ; mill, hlt, mash, sparge into kettle the night before. Let it sit. Get up first thing. Start kettle and set up for boil day. Go have coffee & blast after boil starts. Finish boil, chill, transfer, clean.

I was considering this splitting but I would briefly bring the wort to boil before going to sleep. Sweet wort is delicious for bacteria and wild yeast. Boiling it will sterilize it momentarily and keep it hot enough to discourage new proliferations. If well covered, it should still be decently warm in the morning.

It will not take much more total time.
If you go to bed leaving it at 78 °C, you may find it the morning after at let's say 38 °C (YTMV);
If you go to bed leaving it at 100 °C, you may find it in the morning around 60 °C. That ramp of 22° is mostly preserved in your morning ramp-up. (Dissipation is higher at 100° than at 78 °C, I know).
 
Cleaning being the least desirable part of brewing in my opinion. I do double batches every time I brew, as it saves on cleaning solution, sanitizer, water, time, etc.. I have even done triple batches on a hand full of occasions just to get ready for a party or whatever. I clean the brew rig the night before, fill with water then set the timer for the next morning. If it is a double batch with one being a kettle sour. I try to be started extra early so I gat get the first batch out of the way. Get the second batch in the kettle to sour for at least 24 hours and finish it off Sunday. Normal brew day would be Sunday unless It is a sour weekend then I've got to start the cleaning, preparation process Friday night.
 
It sure helps take the edge off of a long brew day. I’ve gone a step further ; mill, hlt, mash, sparge into kettle the night before. Let it sit. Get up first thing. Start kettle and set up for boil day. Go have coffee & blast after boil starts. Finish boil, chill, transfer, clean. Done before 9am. Loving split brew day !
Curious if you've noticed higher than normal mash efficiencies with the overnight mash. It seems like as the temperature in the mash tun falls overnight that any beta amylase that hadn't gotten denatured might continue munching away when the temp got below 148F or so, resulting in a more fermentable and a much drier beer.
 
Mash tun temp is raised for mash out & run To kettle. Then sparge to kettle. Wort is already pasteurized....Wash mash tun.
As The OP said, anything done the day before cuts down on a long brew day
 
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Mash tun tep is raised for mash out & run To kettle. Then sparge to kettle. Wort is pasteurized. Wash mash tun.
O.K., got it. I thought you were running an electric all-in-one, but you are doing the mash in a separate MT all the way through mash out and then transferring to the BV where it sits overnight. That would take care of the beta amylase, at least the bulk of it. Are you concerned at all about overnight exposure to spores or bacterial infection, since the wort would spend more than a few hours in the "danger zone" temperature? I know there's a sizable number of brewers that do overnight mashes. Just curious if there are any issues you've encountered. I've heard some electric brewers set their devices to maintain mash out temperature (~170F) at the end of mash, until they get up to start the boil in the morning. That would certainly Pasteurize the wort.
 
I measure out my water salts into a pint jar. On brew day I dip some of the pre-measured water out of the kettle, shake it up and dump them in while the water is heating.
 
Cleaning being the least desirable part of brewing in my opinion....
Now we’re homebrewers. I’m brewing 3 gallons of beer and using around 7 lbs of grain or a little more than that. Guys brewing an average strength 5 gallon batch might be using 11-13 lbs.

Now imagine if you’re a brewery brewing just 7 barrel batches, which is actually small for professional breweries. Roughly 32 gallons x 7 = about 224 gallons. So what are they using, 550 - 600 pounds of grain? Who wants to shovel out that mash tun? 😄

It’s definitely not all fun and games.
 
I'm currently using CraftBeerPi, may play around with other things.. I like it, but I don't like the fine-tuning options on a touchpad, I think I wold like to be able to type #s to set a temp. I did get a PID and I've been playing with that as well..
 
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