Time Efficient Brewing (or How To Brew When You Have Kids)

[Mick0s]

Hi all, I think I already know the answer to this one, but thought it was worth putting out there for those who know better to tell me that its stupid.

So, I've been BIAB'ing for about a year now, with only 5 brews under my belt, mainly due to the fact that September saw the arrival of my son, to add to the now 2yr old, daughter. As the title suggests, time to myself is now at a premium, and setting aside 5 hours for a brew is seeming more and more difficult, unless I want to hang out in the garage until midnight.

So I had the thought the other day, would it be possible (AND a good idea) to spit te brew day into two parts. Say, running the initial mash during the day, when timings are a little more lenient, leaving the wort there for a few hours, and then later on kicking up the temperature for the boil and hop additions?

My current plan would probably be to get the mash going in the early afternoon, then hoist the bag, maybe covering the urn with some cling-film to stop any crap getting in there.

Now, skip forward to after dinner, and kids baths, and kids beds, and kids being kids and not wanting to go to sleep, etc. I could fire up the urn again, get the boil underway, and actually guarantee I'll be around for when the hop additions need to take place, and whirlpooling etc. rather than chasing after Violet up the driveway, or prying crayons out of Lucas' fingers.

I rekon that not having to start from scratch after dinner, I could foreseeable be done and dusted by around 9 or 10 (thanks no-chill!) which is MUCH more appealing when I look back at those Canberra winter night-brews that I did the year just past.

my only concern is that this might inadvertently effect the wort somehow (maybe the lower temperatures, or oxidisation), however part of me assures me that its just like starting out with a can of extract, or a fresh wort kit for a brew...


Thoughts?

 

[The Judge]

What about:
Tues night: spend 30 mins to set up gear, weigh out / mill grain and set a timer to get water up to strike temp for 7pm on the next night.
Wed night: mash and boil from 7-9pm. Stick to well modified malts and you can reduce your mash time down to 30 mins. Chuck into a cube and no chill at 9pm. Fill pot with water and go to bed.
Thurs night: thank god you filled your pot with water so you don't have a dried-out sticky mess to painstakingly scrub tonight. Now you have a 30 min clean up.

Of course this means the Mrs will complain at you for 3 nights on the trot that you're not around to watch this season's X Factor with her.

 

[Mick0s]

What about:
Tues night: spend 30 mins to set up gear, weigh out / mill grain and set a timer to get water up to strike temp for 7pm on the next night.
Wed night: mash and boil from 7-9pm. Stick to well modified malts and you can reduce your mash time down to 30 mins. Chuck into a cube and no chill at 9pm. Fill pot with water and go to bed.
Thurs night: thank god you filled your pot with water so you don't have a dried-out sticky mess to painstakingly scrub tonight. Now you have a 30 min clean up.

Of course this means the Mrs will complain at you for 3 nights on the trot that you're not around to watch this season's X Factor with her.

Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by "well modified malts"?

And miss X-Factor? But how will I know what Guy Sebastien is wearing nowadays?!?!?!

 

[droid]

the best thing i've done (2 kids 5&7) is increase capacity, initially capacity was 23 ltrs, then 40 ltrs, then moved away from glass to kegs and went to 60ltrs - I enjoy brewing but can't say ive missed not brewing for nearly a month, it seems there's more time to fine tune a recipe, get the ingredients, do a starter, drink beer that's had more time to condition etc

not for everyone but definitely, undeniably more time effective

good luck!

 

[Killer Brew]

Just get them to assist with hop additions

 

[mofox1]

I've done the mash and brought it to a 15 min boil before turning it off for the night, resuming the next morning. Obviously no hop additions the night before.

Note that was by accident, not design, but it worked out well.

Timers to kick off heating water and having the grain crushed the night before is probably one of the best ways though.

 

[Ciderman]

With the amount of time spent cleaning I find doing two brews back to back with the second mash overlapping the first boil saves me a couple of hours.

 

[contrarian]

I have 2 kids under 5 so understand that brewing time is at a premium. What I would suggest is just leaving the mash for longer. The only difference I have noticed with a longer mash is that you end up with a higher attenuating mash and a slightly drier beer but I don't mind that.

I have mashed in and then not ended up being able to get the boils going for 3 or 4 hours with no ill effects.

So just mash in when you can in the arvo and after the kids are in bed get the boil going. Too easy!

 

[pist]

Best improvement for me was increasing capacity. I was already single batching in a keggle, went and bought a 100L pot for double batches. Can knock out 3 batches in the one go if need be. This cuts down the amount of time i have to allocate to brewing

 

[The Judge]

Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by "well modified malts"?

It was actually a bit of an unnecessary comment, seeing as pretty much all of the base malts you buy from your LHBS are fully modified. It simply means how much of the malted grain's complex starches are converted to simple starches ready for saccharification in your main mash rest. Because the malts we buy are so well modified, you don't really need to be mashing for long durations, and a shorter mash time can produce a fine beer with good efficiency.

 

[Topher]

I like hanging in the garage until midnight!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I got 4 kids and can confirm overnight mashes and split boils are a good way to go.

Oh and back to back mashes, the 2nd done during the first boil is a good way to double output if you have to stay up til midnight.

 

[Dazzbrew]

I too have a couple of little kids and i also have to split up my brew day to suit the family life. My typical brew day runs like this.
lunch time; set up the gas bottle, burner, stand and keggle, add strike water.
4:00 - 5:00ish; heat strike water and dough in. Put the lid on and lagg the crap out of it with old blankets. Then go inside for dinner / bath / put kids to bed.
7:00 ish head back outside raise to mash out whilst stirring the mash, hoist the bag and head on to the boil. During the boil clean and pack away anything you wont need again.
i have usually got the wort cubed and all equipment cleaned up by about 10:00pm.
The next morning the cube goes into the ferm fridge (acting as a normal fridge) to drop the last 10 or so degrees to pitching temp. That night the cube gets added and aerated in the fermenter and yeast pitched.

 

[jbaker9]

I got 4 kids and can confirm overnight mashes and split boils are a good way to go.

Oh and back to back mashes, the 2nd done during the first boil is a good way to double output if you have to stay up til midnight.

If you can find time to brew with 4 kids I think anyone can!

Thumbs up for back to back brews... Mashing while you boil and only one washup. Not for the faint hearted though, I recommend you get your technique down first.

I would increase to 3 batches in one go but I don't drink enough to warrant it...

 

[Kingy]

Definitely double your output. All tho it's a bit risky if you've only done a handful of brews. You don't want to be drinking 40plus liters of **** beer.
I set all my gear up the night/arvo before brew day and have the timers set for 4am. When my alarm goes off at 4:45-5am everything is at temp to mash in.
The brew day can be half over by the time the world Wakes up.
You could always cut back on consumption so there's not so much demand for production haha.

 

[JDW81]

Best improvement for me was increasing capacity. I was already single batching in a keggle, went and bought a 100L pot for double batches. Can knock out 3 batches in the one go if need be. This cuts down the amount of time i have to allocate to brewing

A lot to be said for this. I've increased my capacity so I can brew a greater volume less often. I usually set aside a day and knock out 2 40L batches which I split into 4 x 20L cubes. Each brew gets cube hopped differently, +/- dry hopping and maybe different yeasts to mix it up.

It's bloody handy having 4 cubes in the garage to choose from and with some slight changes here and there, can often get 4 quite different beers from one day at the races.

JD

 

[MastersBrewery]

1 ditch cheap motion dynamics mill motor, kids cost more, and they love milling by hand.
2 build a tripple batch brauclone,(it has delay start built in) in your brew room install tv and pool table, you and the kids can play pool, Xbox/watch tv all while brewing.

yes I did the above and it worked well for me, brew day was around 6 hours but most of that was playing games of pool or watching 22, playing playstation, and ended the day with 60l of fermenting beer.

 

[mr_wibble]

I get everything ready the night before. I have to brew outside, so it all get unpacked & re-packed afterwards.
I do leave the pots and other brewing accoutrements in a clean state, but they get dusty etc, so need a fresh rinse & sanitise.

I flick the switch on the HLT about 5am, mashing by 05:45, ..., into the fermenter and cleaned-up by lunchtime.

What I should do is buy a little time-controlled switch, so when I get up at 5, the HLT is at temperature.

If you can't find 1/2 a day, you could also consider doing 6-pack batches on the stove. Yeah the boil + mash still takes 2 hours, but the pre-heat, & clean-up would be minutes.

 

[mxd]

for me I went to a 60 ltr system and I no chill

I setup the day/days before, then can complete (where I need to be paying more attention) in 4 hours.

 

[earle]

I BIAB in a crown urn and chill. I usually set up the night before and put the urn on a timer so that It's ready to mash in around 8 the next day. If I get my act together on that day I can be chilled, into the fermenter and cleaned up by about 12. If you used a timer to do that but got up much earlier and no-chilled you could be finished and cleaned up by around 9 I reckon.