Extract vs AG (Savings)

[JohnB]

As an example, bought a couple of hobgoblin yesterday to sup whilst watching the rugby. I was horribly dissapointed. Watery and weak in flavour, with a harsh aftertaste. Certainly not how i remember it. But it has been nearly a year since i bought an ale from the shop or a pub!

I found exactly the same problem with Ruddles I was really looking forward to the rugby and a pint of Ruddles as I remembered it, but it really was not what I expected - it was thin and watery with no mouthfeel at all. I drank about half the bottle and went on to my own brew. I'm not sure but I think a lot of sugar syrup (brewers syrup) is being used these days - well, for a commercial brewer it's cheap alcohol, isn't it!

 

[MrRook]

But is it really?
I usually brew whilst working.

5mins to put the water in the tea urn, set the temp and weigh out my ingredients. Start work
5mins to put my grain bag in and give it a good stir and check/adjust temperature. Go back to work
1min to give it a stir after half an hour
5mins to put the grain bag in a colander and turn the heat up. Pour a few liters of water over the grain or dunk sparge. Back work knowing it takes 25min to go from mash temp to boil.
5min to weigh out my hops, spray my fv with sanitiser and put my bittering hops in. Back to work knowing I now have timer for aroma hops, Irish moss etc
5mins to turn the heat hop and start my cooler going. Water outlet gets put in the fv in a big Belfast sink to rinse in the hot water from the cooler. Back to work
20min to give the fv a final rinse and pour my cooled wort in, empty the spent grains in to a bag for my farmer neighbours chickens and clean down the tea urn and wash everything.
DONE!
If it takes more than an hour of my day in total I would be extremely surprised. And as I time most of it to fit round the kettle boiling for a coffee break or lunch , it's not really time out of my working day.

That works for you, but how many brewers do it this way?

 

[Nicks90]

I don't know @MrRook
I just used my experience as an example that you don't need to sit there staring at a vessel for 60 minutes whilst it mashes or whilst heating up/boiling.
Just seems a bit bloody daft really.
Alternatively if your equipment is so damn complicated you have to prod and tickle it throughout the whole 4 hour process, again just seems a bit daft.

However I do occasionally brew on a weekend and combine it with a bit of gardening or tidying the shed. But even then, hardly staring at the pot!

 

[obscure]

That works for you, but how many brewers do it this way?

While I’m not brewing while I work this is pretty similar to by brew day, tends to be a lazy Saturday morning interspersed with brief moments of activity when I sparge, or add hops or similar.