No Time To Brew

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Hey folks,

So in the last couple of months i have gone from crook as a dog, to being broke and funnily enough absolutely healthy with no time at all to brew

I have a new job which has been very very demanding time-wise. since i started about 6 weeks ago, i have been working 70+ hrs a week (early starts and late finishes) and having a young family has made brewing a bit more awkward as well as i have to do all the good stuff (shopping, bonding with kids i see very little of during the week) on my day off if i have one (Sunday).

I have seriously been considering investing in a keg set-up (instead of bottling to save some time and make things easier) and using the FWK from CB (instead of mashing/boiling).

Fortunately, money is now no-longer an issue and i still love brewing. Can anyone think of anything else i can do to make my brewing days easier (apart from getting SWMBO to do it all for me, which she said quite clearly that she wont! )

Cheers!

A very (VERY) busy _WALLACE_

 

[kelbygreen]

keg for sure. It takes me about 10-15 mins to clean and sanitise a keg then I let it drain from the fermenter slow so it takes like 30 mins but you can do some bonding then. once thats done you can force carb 5mins or just connect at serving pressure and leave.

Apart from that and FWK not to much you can do. The cleaning and sanitising will be the only place for you to look at time saving. But not the best place to scrimp on. I do just rinse fermenters and put bung in split the taps and dump everything in and put sodium perc in and fill to the brim then all you gotto do when you need to use them is rinse and sanitise no need to wipe it over.

 

[Acasta]

Sounds like a real shame.. I wish upon no brewer.
You can also make double batches and keep cubes for longer. That way you brew less and have more beer.

 

[Silo Ted]

Now you have the $$, upgrade to a 100L batch-capable system. You will miss out on the diversity, but will increase brewday productivity x 5

 

[leiothrix]

keg for sure. It takes me about 10-15 mins to clean and sanitise a keg then I let it drain from the fermenter slow so it takes like 30 mins but you can do some bonding then. once thats done you can force carb 5mins or just connect at serving pressure and leave.

Well, it takes me around 45 minutes to bottle and have everything away and cleaned up, so there isn't much of a time saving there. Maybe you just need to look at your bottling process? It's certainly cheaper . . .

I'd like a keg setup, but apart from not having the space for it I don't think it's less work overall, and there will always be cold beer available which I don't necessarily think is a good thing.

 

[Batz]

Fortunately, money is now no-longer an issue and i still love brewing. Cheers!

A very (VERY) busy _WALLACE_

Just buy quality beers or pay someone to brew for you.




Batz :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[kelbygreen]

well 30 mins of that your not doing a thing you can go wash the dishes, mow the lawn, wash the dogs what ever when your bottling your bottling. I could cut them times down by heaps but I aint rushing I could clean and sanitise in 5 mins but I like going slow to keep yeast and stuff out on filling. Then just lift in the fridge and connect gas 2 mins max so say 10 mins work, when its filling you can do other things. You can clean and sanitise your kegs on days you have more time gas them and they will be right till you need them if the gas escapes Id re sanitise though.

 

[leiothrix]

I couldn't leave it alone though. You do something a few times and watch it closely and everything is fine. The one time you leave it for five minutes you know that a hose is going to come off, something will fall over, or whatever.

Not that I'd be watching it like a hawk, but pottering around the general vicinity of it.

Kegs do have the bling factor though, and new toys are always fun to play with.

 

[Maheel]

chuck a sicke ....

FTW

 

[kelbygreen]

true I found kegs helped me out its a bugger lifting them in and out of a chest freezer so I doubt I would do a 50lt one.

Bottling at my house included sitting on the concrete floor with the fermenter on a chair filling and capping by the end I was sore. I could of made benches and a setup to make it easier or I could get a keg system for a few hundred $ more so the option was easy one for me. Plus storing bottles for months in my shed in summer is not ideal and no way in hell they would be coming threw the door of the house lol

 

[dkaos]

Brew in a bag. Gas fire your kettle/tun to heat water quickly. I've gone back to BIAB from 3V and I'm loving the time savings.

I will keep my 3V for high grav beers, but most of the time it will be BIAB.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Go to CB, and ask for their "keg swap" system.

Goomba

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Now you have the $$, upgrade to a 100L batch-capable system. You will miss out on the diversity, but will increase brewday productivity x 5

When the time comes..... I have a brewery on the build at the moment, but due to the birth of my daughter, my own health and well-being, lack of funds, and now lack of time there has been no great opportunity to grab it by both hands and just finish it . 80L! Yeah baby! and think of all that extra wort i could cube by getting a few of the FWK's :icon_drool2:

 

[seemax]

There really is no option for someone who is time poor and has cash and wants all grain beer - 50L Braumeister !!!!!

Plus a big fridge to hold 4 corny kegs.... too easy.

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

chuck a sicke ....

FTW

:lol: Sorry, not an option any more.....

The job requires me to lead by example and if i wasn't at work, i'd hate to think what the other fellers would be doing without me there to keep an eye on everything... :angry:

 

[Brewer_010]

Wallace I brewed fresh wort kits and kegged when we had a new baby plus my uni plus work of 50-odd hours a week. Money wasn't a problem but time was, FWK let me do a bit of brewing / tinkering with hops and bits of steeped grain, but took about an hour from start to finish so I could do it at night really quickly. It was a good balance for me.

Now my brew days are up to 4 hours and its sometimes a right PITA to find the time. I need a braumeister....

cheers

 

[kelbygreen]

do people think there is no work in using a braumeister??? sure I dont have one but I talked to MHB and he said that you still have to do everything. They can be programed to do steps and mash outs but you still have to add the grain and raise the grain and add the hops and all so its not like you set it to turn on at 5 am and when you get up at 8 am you add yeast and ferment

 

[Tony]

im hearing you on the 70hr weeks.

I went to 50 liter batches long ago to halve the amount of time brewing.

Works well for me with a brew on average every 4 to 5 weeks

cheers

 

[manticle]

Your plan sounds perfect. FWK and kegging to keep it simple but still involve yourself with enough of the process to keep the passion alive.

Return to the full thing when life enables.

When I was writing my thesis recently I got through doing a few FWKs. Most were pretty good (still bottled them), some were great.

 

[Batz]

There really is no option for someone who is time poor and has cash and wants all grain beer - 50L Braumeister !!!!!

Plus a big fridge to hold 4 corny kegs.... too easy.

Sounds too easy