I'm going to have to resort to evening brews as weekend time is just too valuable at the moment now that we are a family of 4. I want to try to do a brew as quickly as possible without a quality reduction, the fastest I can do this I think would be to start at 17:45 and finish at midnight.
17:45 - 18:15 Heat Mash Liquor
18:15 - 18:30 Dough in
18:30 - 20:00 Mash
20:00 - 21:00 Sparge
21:00 - 23:00 Bring to boil & boil
23:00 - 00:00 Cool & Pitch
I know that J_P has done a 60 min mash & boil iirc, i've PM'd him for his thoughts but wondered if anyone else here does evening brews and want some advice on ways to reduce the brewing time and possible pit falls of shorter mash & boil times.
BTW - 1st evening brew will be tomorrow night.
Cheers
Wez
Evening Brews
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delboy
What sort of heating system do you have in the house, we have gas and i use the hot water for brewing since its heated tap water and not something thats been sitting in a crusty hot water tank for days (speeds up my brew day quite a lot).
You can do a 60 minute mash as well as a 60 min boil, you might see a bit of a drop off in efficency but if it means getting into bed a half hour earlier its probably worth it.
If you decide on a 60 min mash probably wouldn't be a bad idea to not heat the sparge water to mash out temps (77-80C) and instead heat it to the mash temp in this way the mash will effectively continue, only fire up the boiler when you have collected all the wort.
If your are really stuck for time you could boil it and let it cool down overnight and then put it into the fermenter the next morning. You probably risk getting some chill haze in the final product, so no differnece to your normal beers then anyway
You can do a 60 minute mash as well as a 60 min boil, you might see a bit of a drop off in efficency but if it means getting into bed a half hour earlier its probably worth it.
If you decide on a 60 min mash probably wouldn't be a bad idea to not heat the sparge water to mash out temps (77-80C) and instead heat it to the mash temp in this way the mash will effectively continue, only fire up the boiler when you have collected all the wort.
If your are really stuck for time you could boil it and let it cool down overnight and then put it into the fermenter the next morning. You probably risk getting some chill haze in the final product, so no differnece to your normal beers then anyway
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hipster
Just a thing that i tried is to get your boiler started with say 2 gallons and boil the rest in the kettle It takes about 25 minutes to get the water up to 70 Degrees if using 5 gallons of waterThe other method of cooling down much quicker is to brew with less water and to add cold water at the end of the mash. I have a freind who is a local commercial brewer and he suggested using ICE to bring the final temperature down. I reckon you would need a large freeezer to do this though Hop4e this helps
My first couple of AG brews were 60 minute mash and boils.
My efficiency was reduced (by about 5%). I feel like I get a better hot break with the 90 minute boil but I really can't see that in my notes so it just may be justifying a longer step!
I went to 90/90 since most on this forum went that route. Now I am thinking of going back (for time concerns).
My efficiency was reduced (by about 5%). I feel like I get a better hot break with the 90 minute boil but I really can't see that in my notes so it just may be justifying a longer step!
I went to 90/90 since most on this forum went that route. Now I am thinking of going back (for time concerns).
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Madbrewer
Although your schedule looks about right. I did an evening mash two weekends back. It took One hour Longer than I allowed for. This was due to niggly problems due to lack of recent practice and cleaning up after.
My advice would be to write a list of all the actions in as much detail as you can & follow it. Maybe you can get the boiler filled and in position ready, before work, so it just needs a switch on as soon as you get in? I always forget silly things like 'change tap on boiler for one that fits the hop back .... ' etc. The list should help this issue! Also If you brew in the kitchen, might consider buying the family a fish supper to keep the kitchen interuptions down to a minimum? Although people DO cut down their mash times and boil times - I feel the word benefits from a long boil. message me though if you really want to cut the boil time down & I'll look up hop util verses boil time details from my Ray Daniels book for you!
Am going to do another one this Friday, But will cheat by working from home - that way I can switch boiler on & then when heated take a tea break so I dough in at 4pm. Hopefully this will mean that when I finish for the day I am already ready to heat the water for sparging. Would love to hear how you get on though?
My advice would be to write a list of all the actions in as much detail as you can & follow it. Maybe you can get the boiler filled and in position ready, before work, so it just needs a switch on as soon as you get in? I always forget silly things like 'change tap on boiler for one that fits the hop back .... ' etc. The list should help this issue! Also If you brew in the kitchen, might consider buying the family a fish supper to keep the kitchen interuptions down to a minimum? Although people DO cut down their mash times and boil times - I feel the word benefits from a long boil. message me though if you really want to cut the boil time down & I'll look up hop util verses boil time details from my Ray Daniels book for you!
Am going to do another one this Friday, But will cheat by working from home - that way I can switch boiler on & then when heated take a tea break so I dough in at 4pm. Hopefully this will mean that when I finish for the day I am already ready to heat the water for sparging. Would love to hear how you get on though?
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prolix
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Vossy1
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Vossy1
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Calum
I regularly do evening brews. Infact I did one tonight.
Its simply a case of making the right preperations.
1, Last night I weighed out the grain and also filled the HLT with 15 litres of water.
2, I had arranged to get away from work early so would be home for 4:45pm. To get a head start I had asked SWMBO to switch on the HLT at 4:15pm. I got home on time to find the HLT boiling away merrily
. SWMBO had got a bit ahead of herself and switched the HLT on a bit early incase she forgot (eh?) Anyway, I used some of the hot water to warm up the mash tun and cooled the rest to 78c. In the end I was doughed in for 5pm.
3, I began the runoff at 6:30pm and did my batch sparging. I do my runoff and sparging in three stages. Initial runoff and two separate batches. This part was finished by around 7:15pm.
4, For the boil I am using the proverbial sledgehammer on a drawing pin. My 8.8kw/hr boiling ring makes short work of 30litres. I was boiling by 7:25pm.
. I did a 75 minute boil taking me to 8:40pm (ish).
5, I left the wort for 20 minutes to settle and then ran off into the bucket.
6, Now the controversial bit. I slap the lid on the bucket and leave to cool overnight. I don't have a chiller so I find it easier to leave to cool overnight and pitch the yeast in the morning. However, when I do a morning brew (like I did on Saturday) I will fill the bath with cold water and chill a bit quicker.
So there you have it. All done and dusted for the back of nine.
Its simply a case of making the right preperations.
1, Last night I weighed out the grain and also filled the HLT with 15 litres of water.
2, I had arranged to get away from work early so would be home for 4:45pm. To get a head start I had asked SWMBO to switch on the HLT at 4:15pm. I got home on time to find the HLT boiling away merrily
. SWMBO had got a bit ahead of herself and switched the HLT on a bit early incase she forgot (eh?) Anyway, I used some of the hot water to warm up the mash tun and cooled the rest to 78c. In the end I was doughed in for 5pm.3, I began the runoff at 6:30pm and did my batch sparging. I do my runoff and sparging in three stages. Initial runoff and two separate batches. This part was finished by around 7:15pm.
4, For the boil I am using the proverbial sledgehammer on a drawing pin. My 8.8kw/hr boiling ring makes short work of 30litres. I was boiling by 7:25pm.
. I did a 75 minute boil taking me to 8:40pm (ish).5, I left the wort for 20 minutes to settle and then ran off into the bucket.
6, Now the controversial bit. I slap the lid on the bucket and leave to cool overnight. I don't have a chiller so I find it easier to leave to cool overnight and pitch the yeast in the morning. However, when I do a morning brew (like I did on Saturday) I will fill the bath with cold water and chill a bit quicker.
So there you have it. All done and dusted for the back of nine.
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Wez
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Wez
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subsub
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SiHoltye
I have split brews across 2 evenings. Mash the first, and boil the second. All Seemed OK. I ran off the MT into the fermentor to store overnight, given I do this anyway as I use my boiler as HLT it doesn't create any extra cleaning for me, and the boil is one big sanitization so I feel quite happy with this.