Multiple Batches In One Brew Session

[dpadden]

Having a bunch of kids and minimal time to allocate to brew day, I'm wondering how many people brew more than one beer during the one brew day. i.e. whilst the boil starts on the first brew, the second brew can be mashing away in the Tun. This would add only a couple of hours to the brew day rather than double the time.

No chill would also make this concept easier as they don't necessarily have to go straight into the fermenter either :icon_cheers:

 

[Josh]

Only done it a couple of times, but if you start early enough you can easily do it.

I finished my brewday today around 11:30 and could have done another one had I had another yeast ready to go.

 

[Phrak]

Paddo, I'm in much the same time vs family situation as you.

I've managed to build Brewery v2.0 with large enough equipment to mash & boil triple (slightly concentrated into 17L fresh wort cubes) batches.

* 120L Plastic (HDPE) Storage bin, insulated with a camping mat, and Gaffa Tape h34r: (Holds temp to within 1C with these large batches. Haven't used it during winter yet though!)
* 82L (20Gal) Stainless Brewery Keg
* 50L SS HLT
* 1x Three ring burner with adjustable HP reg

2 weekends ago was her maiden voyage.
Volumes with 14.5KG of grain:
Mash-in with 37L
Batch Sparge Round 1 with 15L @ near-boiling
Batch Sparge Round 2 with 30L @ near-boiling
Pre-boil Volume at 70L

Efficiency into Boiler was apparently 77%, so very happy with the first results.

I have a very very basic setup. No fancy brew stands or pumps or anything like that.
* I use my outdoor Keg fridge to hold the mash tun above the boiler level.
* I get the main volume of my strike water into the tun from the hot water tap @ ~60C, and top it up to the correct strike temp with boiling water from the HLT, sitting on a converted webber BBQ.
* I use 20L plastic buckets to transfer the sparge water from the HLT at waist height to the mash tun on top of the fridge.
* I can then gravity feed the wort into my kettle, sitting on bricks on the BBQ next to the fridge.

If I could change one thing, I'd get an immersion element for the HLT. Having only one heat source is a bit of a pain, but it just means that I have to wait for all the sparge water to be used before I can transfer the 3ring burner and fire up the kettle.

So it can be done with relative ease and minimal cost. Finding a large enough boiler will be the trick to your success.

 

[Ross]

I pretty well always do at least 2 brews, sometimes 3 brews & on a couple of occaisions I've managed 4.
No mean feat as i brew outdoors without lights & the daylight hours are not the longest in Brizzy. All, 90 minute boils & chilled.

Cheers Ross.

 

[goatherder]

I do two in a day from time to time, mostly during comp season. It adds 2-3 hours to the brewday but it makes it a huge day. I find I don't enjoy it as much - there's too much happening at once to just sit back and smell the wort.

 

[dpadden]

I do two in a day from time to time, mostly during comp season. It adds 2-3 hours to the brewday but it makes it a huge day. I find I don't enjoy it as much - there's too much happening at once to just sit back and smell the wort.

I think this is my main worry, bit too much friggin' around and no time to smell the roses...

 

[schooey]

If you have a go, make sure you plan it better than I did when I tried it first.... Ended up in the middle having the kettle hit the boil just as I was ready to dough in and needed to go stir to avoid a boilover. Got back and the strikewater was 2 degrees below where I wanted it. Sparging was right in the middle of hop additions... yatter yatter

When I have a go again next, I'll make sure my hop additions are all measured first and make a bit of a mudmap timeline to check for overlaps, should make things pretty easy. Four brews in a day is just sadomasochistic...

 

[buttersd70]

Have started doing this fairly often....the difference in time to do 2 in a row compared to the time to do 2 seperately is quite significant.

 

[Osangar]

I am only really allowed one brew day every three / four weeks. Any more is too high a bill with the missus.

For me its need that makes me do two brews at a time. Any less and I run out of beer.

But here in lies the conundrum. Brew day is a special occasion, and one must get "off" in a big way.

I get the first one started around 8:00, my brew pal is at my place around 9:30 -. as soon as he arrives, we begin the trashing and go hard at it.

Come 2:00 or 3:00, we are toast, and the second is a messy brew. It always works out tho.

I have tried three in a day, hrmm, this is not to be done again. No man can smoke / drink that amount, it's un-natural.

 

[porky]

We pretty much always do two a day. One double of a brew we know we like and a single of a new one. We have two timers, one for the mash and one for the boil. After doing it many times now it is no problem at all. We start around 9am and finish around 2 or 3pm. HLT is hot before 9am start though, and we plan the day so if we make a wheat beer and start mash in at 50c for the first half hour we do it after the first brew so water heats up faster. We no chill so keep several cubes ready to ferment at all times.

Cheers,
Bud

 

[Frank]

I'm currently doing 50L batches, so 2 in a day is a lot of beer. I could break it down to 2 x 25L but have not yet. With my set up I worked out I could actually do 75L batches at a 3:1, Water:grist, so I did a single mash, and broke it down to 2 boils. One for a straight 50L Pilsner, and 25L for a Ginger Pilsner. Divided it to 2 kettles, added Hops to 1, and Ginger to the other, both finished at the same time and put in the ferment fridge together, inoculated with the same yeast starter. Not a huge range of beers that you could use the same mash profile, but I am intending to break up to 2 x 25L, to compare yeasts, and different hops etc. :icon_cheers:

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I used to do double brew days all the time

A single brew takes me a little under 4 hours. I could knock over 2 in a little under 6 hours

Lots of time is wasted in setting up and cleaning up that you avoid doing twice

It does get a little crazy in parts - cause there is a lot of stuff going on - and with only 1 burner you need to work out how you are gonna heat mash water as well as boil the first batch and avoid heavy lifting

Lately I've started brewing after work and doing only single batches

It's much more relaxed and I'm enjoying having more brew days

But I don't have the commitments to worry about

But it can be done - a second gas bottle + burner makes it a lot easier

Cheers

 

[cliffo]

I usually do 2 brews in one day.

I generally start the 2nd brew after I add the first hop addition to brew #1.

By the time I get brew #1 chilled and into the fermenter then give the kettle a quick clean brew #2 is near ready for sparging.

Saves a few hours over doing two brews on seperate occaisions.

cliffo

 

[Pumpy]

I pretty well always do at least 2 brews, sometimes 3 brews & on a couple of occaisions I've managed 4.
No mean feat as i brew outdoors without lights & the daylight hours are not the longest in Brizzy. All, 90 minute boils & chilled.

Cheers Ross.

What four brews in one day .

I am over it doing one in a day .

I dont see you selling that Viagra for Mashing Ross ??

I feel inadequate

Pumpy

 

[Korev]

When I have needed volume of the same beer then I brew at a higher gravity and dilute typically max 20% water before fermentation. You do need to compensate in the grain bill bit more carapils/crystal say and up the hopping a bit to make sure you get a reasonably balanced beer after dilution.

So double batch in the same duration as one batch!

Korev