Evening Brewing

[Rick_UK]

As I have a busy work and family life, devoting a whole day to brewing at the weekend can be tricky and gets me grief from my GF.

So for my thrid AG brew I decided to brew in the evening. My schedule was as follows:
8:00 Kids to bed.
8:15 - Mash On
9:15 - 9:30 - Prepare sparge water
9:30 - 10:00 - Sparge & Lauter
10:00 - 11:15 - Boil
11:15 - 11:30 - drain to FV
12:00 - 7.00 - Sleep
7:05 - Pitch Yeast

I use hot water from the combi boiler so it doesn't take too long to reach strike and sparge temp, this saves quite a bit of time.

I'm a little nervous about having left it to cool overnight and any ill effects from this. But it was sealed in the sterile FV so hopefully no problems.

Overall this seemed like a better time for me to brew and providing this one turns out ok will be doing the evening shift for all my brewing.

Rick

[fatnurse]

I always brew in the evening, me and a mate normally make a night of it on a friday and maybe do one now and again in the week. Must say hadn't thought of using the combo to bring water up to temp, anybody know if this has any adverse effects on the brew?

M

[danbrew]

Re: combi boilers... I've seen people mention it on here before. The water is coming from the same mains. The internal workings of the boiler will be clean/ sterile and food grade - after all, there are no warnings on hot taps saying 'don't drink this water'. I don't see a problem - or at least can't remember anyone mentioning anything from the posts I have read...

[crookedeyeboy]

I do it all the time, makes no difference at all just saves you time and energy. Beer still tastes the same, in fact even if you had a chlorine issue in your water the heat would drive it off.

[delboy]

I also use the hot water from the combi boiler.

[fatnurse]

Wicked, I'll be using the hit tap next time then

[Gricey]

God, why didn't I think of that

[chris_reboot]

That's pretty much my regime as well.
wait till kids bedtime, then HLT on.
I can get the kit out, HLT filled from hot tap, mashed in all in 1/2 hour, then as above, usually yeast pitched by midnight.

clean MT and boiler next morning.
works well around the kids, otherwise too dodgy with hot liquids and little hands in the way.

[Rick_UK]

I read a good thread, probably on here somewhere about using hot water from the combi as I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea or not. Consensus seemed to be that it is definitely ok and many brewers do this without issue. I did do a taste test where I cooled some hot water from the combi and compared it to water direct from the rising main - no difference in taste I could tell and so far no brewing issues.

As an aside I'm wondering if it is worth bothering investing in a wort chiller (given the price of copper currently). My main worry about not cooling quickly is the essential oils from the aroma hops being denatured by too much heat. Is there any way around this without forced cooling?

Rick

[jimp2003]

Copper pipe is quite reasonable here: 10mm Copper Pipe x 10m @ £16.92 inc VAT just make sure you buy the external bending spring if you try to make a chiller.

I agree with you Rick that evening brewing is an interesting idea and one that I had not thought of until now. It would certainly help me maximise my weekends..

[ChrisG]

I'll be brewing tonight start at around 6:30pm and probably finish close to 12. Although my last batch only took me 4 and a half hours!!!

I was sure i had forgotten to do something, but the beer turned out really well.

[haz66]

Once i`m set back up i intend to do most of the brewing in an evening mainly because now its getting back into
camping season so will spend most weekends in the lakes.
The wife will get the mash water on before i get home from work so it will be ready to go as soon as i get in, giving me plenty
of time to be able to do it without rushing around.

[far9410]

when this was last mentioned( hot water from tap) the consensus was combi boiler water was ok to use, but avoid if, like me you hav e water header tank system ( lots of nasties in there)

cheers

[floydmeddler]

I'll be brewing tonight start at around 6:30pm and probably finish close to 12. Although my last batch only took me 4 and a half hours!!!

I was sure i had forgotten to do something, but the beer turned out really well.

Jeee, that's some going. What was your efficiency?