Brew Day - How long?

[user 15657]

Morning All,

Did my first near full boil dry malt extract brew yesterday and I was wondering how long other people take?

So starting from collecting the equipment and sterilising right through to the beer is in the fermenter and the brew area is clean and packed away. I'm working in my kitchen with a stove top pot and have an immersion chiller and chill down to 20C wort temperature.

I didn't time manage too well with sterilising and ended up going from about 0800 until 1500. I'm hoping that with a bit more familiarity with the process 0800 until 1200 isn't too unreasonable?

 

[DoctorMick]

For my AG brews with the Grainfather I've managed to get it down to 4.5 hours on average which I'm pretty pleased with...don't think there are anymore time savings I can make so that'll probably be as quick as I ever get. I've found that being well organised (and remaining calm) is the key to being efficient.

 

[MyQul]

I'm the same as DM, 4.5hrs but I've started doing 90min boils so I could perhaps knock 30 mins off if I went back to 60 min boils

 

[Thodd]

A 5 gallon AG brew for me takes about 6.5 hours from start to when everything's cleaned up and the Wort is in the FV. Sometimes takes longer depending on how many beers I drink throughout the process.

A Grainfather is looking mighty appealing now to knock a couple of hours off!

 

[user 15657]

Do the Grainfathers follow a shorter than standard brew cycle? Figures seem a bit short assuming a 3000W heater at 95% efficiency?

30min - Raising 27l of water from 20C to 67C
60min - Mash
30min - Sparge
25min - 67C to 100C
60min - Boil (my recipe called for 75min boil)
60min - Cool
10min - Transfer, pitch yeast.
Total = 4hrs35 - without any cleaning time?

Guess a fair bit of time saving is ensured by making sure your only fully sanitising stuff that comes into contact with the cooled wort. I had an hour of faff before I got going and I'm not admitting to my cock up of taking the water up to 90 (true finish time was a little later) before remembering the grain seep was supposed to be at 70C! :lol:

So following the above times I guess I should be somewhere near...
30min - Set up
35min - Raising 20l of water from 20C to 67C
30min - Seep grains then add malt extract disolved in 7l of 20C water.
30min - Raise to 100C
75min - Boil & hop additions
60min - Cool
10min - Transfer, pitch yeast.
60min - Clean and pack.
Total = 5hrs30

How realistic is the 60 minutes to cool from flame out to 20C? It took me a while to get mine set up and it ended up taking more like 2hrs30.

Online boil time calculator.

 

[MickDundee]

I do BIAB, about 4 and a half hours (4 when I have done no chill):
About an hour to heat to mash temp
An hour to mash
Half an hour to dunk sparge and heat water to boiling
An hour boil
30 mins to chill
30 mins for transferring to FV and cleaning.

 

[Pope]

I've done two AG BIAB brews.

Both of them have taken about 3 and a half hours to the end of the boil.

I don't have a chiller...so have to cool the wort using a cold water bath and natural cooling.

 

[DoctorMick]

Do the Grainfathers follow a shorter than standard brew cycle? Figures seem a bit short assuming a 3000W heater at 95% efficiency?

30min - Raising 27l of water from 20C to 67C
60min - Mash
30min - Sparge
25min - 67C to 100C
60min - Boil (my recipe called for 75min boil)
60min - Cool
10min - Transfer, pitch yeast.
Total = 4hrs35 - without any cleaning time?

Use water out of the hot tap, it then only takes about 10-15 mins to raise to temp, you don't need to raise 27l either, you only need the mash water as the sparge water is heated separately. If you turn on the boiler when you raise the grain basket you save a load of heating time there. Cool only takes 30 mins and as it is counterflow it transfers at it is chilling. That takes it down to 3hrs 45mins plus half an hour to clean up...I really need to work out where I'm wasting the other 15 mins! :lol:

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

I do BIAB and from cleaning everything to filling the FV with the wort takes me on average 4 ish hours

 

[chub1]

I (at present) do 6/8 litre extract brews. Thirty minutes steeping grains, 60 minute boil, cool down to 80c add any aroma hops, continue to cool,add to FV,top up with any remaining spraymalt and cold water.
Guess somewhere around 3 hours in total, including clearing up

 

[JFB]

From hooking the gas up, water out of the hot tap. Quickly weigh grain outside so less to clean and mash(BIAB). Whilst mashing get hops together, Ive just started doing FWH so this gets most of the hops out early in the boil. Boil, clean down some more. Wort into a cube to pitch another day.
Takes 3 1/2 hours which is fantastic as I can easily do after work brews so I'm not counting on days off for brewing.

 

[Slid]

Use water out of the hot tap, it then only takes about 10-15 mins to raise to temp, you don't need to raise 27l either, you only need the mash water as the sparge water is heated separately. If you turn on the boiler when you raise the grain basket you save a load of heating time there. Cool only takes 30 mins and as it is counterflow it transfers at it is chilling. That takes it down to 3hrs 45mins plus half an hour to clean up...I really need to work out where I'm wasting the other 15 mins! :lol:

Another tip with the GF is to start raising the wort to boiling at the start of the sparge.

On the downside, I do a "mash-out" by raising the temp to 75C and holding it for 10mins as well.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Morning All,

Did my first near full boil dry malt extract brew yesterday and I was wondering how long other people take?

So starting from collecting the equipment and sterilising right through to the beer is in the fermenter and the brew area is clean and packed away. I'm working in my kitchen with a stove top pot and have an immersion chiller and chill down to 20C wort temperature.

I didn't time manage too well with sterilising and ended up going from about 0800 until 1500. I'm hoping that with a bit more familiarity with the process 0800 until 1200 isn't too unreasonable?

chill lots of bottled water about 2 hours from topping up fv
normally have to tidy up kitchen as other half knows this so leaves it to me :-o
15 mins to get all stuff together
15 mins to get stuff sterilized
5 mins to boil water for yeast re-hydration
15 mins to heat up /mix extract.
15 boil of extract /hops
30 mins cooling
15 mins aerate and dilute wort in fv.
30-45 mins tidy up.

so 2-3 hours but if using steeping grains or a mini mash add an extra 90 mins :-(

 

[Dutto]

I'm afraid that I'm just not as organised as everyone else seems to be.

I wandered out this morning at about 10am, took a two hour lunch break around noon, went back into the fray at about 2pm and called it a day at 5.30pm.

During these five and a half hours of "work" I managed to get two 23 litre extract brews of the go, spilled and mopped up only a moderate amount of liquids and washed, dried and tidied up everything I had used.

I even had time to sit down and sink a couple of beers whilst contemplating my navel and listening to a few songs by The Lancashire Hotpots. :lol::lol:

All in all a great day ... :thumb: :thumb:

... and one that will hopefully be repeated in about ten days! :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Linalmeemow]

Morning All,

Did my first near full boil dry malt extract brew yesterday and I was wondering how long other people take?

So starting from collecting the equipment and sterilising right through to the beer is in the fermenter and the brew area is clean and packed away. I'm working in my kitchen with a stove top pot and have an immersion chiller and chill down to 20C wort temperature.

I didn't time manage too well with sterilising and ended up going from about 0800 until 1500. I'm hoping that with a bit more familiarity with the process 0800 until 1200 isn't too unreasonable?

Using DME it actually takes less time to do a 23l batch than an 11l batch if you're doing a short boil, as you don't need to cool the wort as far because you'll be topping up to FV volume and can use chilled water. I did two batches this weekend (a 23l milk stout and an 11l DIPA) which took 3.5 and 4 hours respectively from start to finish. I could probably knock another 15-20 minutes off this if I bought a wort chiller rather than using an ice bath as I've been doing, but I'm going to get a Grainfather (or alternative) in the next couple of months so I'm holding off on any further kit purchases. If you're sticking with DME recipes I'd get a chiller ASAP.

 

[Grizzly299]

Usually takes me about 7 hours start to finish. By the time everything is cleaned up and put away. The time is getting shorter each time I brew.

My problem is I have to setup my brew table in the old man's garage, meaning I have to move loads of stuff around before I even start haha.

Once I get my brew shed with a draining concrete floor I'll be set.

 

[Dutto]

....... I have to setup my brew table in the old man's garage, ..........

Once I get my brew shed with a draining concrete floor I'll be set.

HEY!! Less of the "old man" ... :nono: :nono:

... "revered father" is better ... :thumb: :thumb:

... and I hope you are going to buy your own brew shed! :whistle: :whistle:

 

[Grizzly299]

Haha of course I am, it was in reference to future plans for house buying( next year),which I will also be funding myself.

My revered father is kind enough to let me use his garage for the time being, of course there is a certain levy on beer :lol:

 

[brumbrew]

I almost always brew with a friend, so that helps a lot. Plus it helps that he's into it and knows what's next.

We write a rough plan on one piece of paper and another to jot notes on.They often need translating at the end ;-)

Home made AG kit with chiller coil, id say 3-4 hours. But the neighbour often comes round (because of the smell) so we end up chatting to him for a while. So we set a timer for hop additions, as beer and friends can often lead to ill judged timings ;-)

 

[Cwrw666]

My AG brewdays last about 5 hours (BIAB), from filling the boiler through to leaving the full FV to chill naturally before pitching. But I usually do a 90 minute mash and the same for the boil so that makes it a bit longer than it probably needs to be.
I usually aim to be finished by 14.00 which means the FV is ready for the yeast at bedtime.