Triple Batch Brew Day

[jacknohe]

I have four kegs (purchased from CB while the four keg special was still running ). Emptied the first one with lots of help at a Christmas party. The other three all blew within a few days of each other last week. I had some help with those too but... you know... Maybe not that much... :unsure:

Anyway, my large keg fridge wasn't needed to keep kegs cool so I figured I may as well ferment multiple beers using a similar yeast/temp since I had space. What the hell, lets whack three brews in and go for gold!

On Saturday I brewed three BIAB beers (Black IPA, SNPA, LCBA) in an urn back to back. Got up early and got stuck into it. Definitiely a long day but I found you can still do a bit round the house and keep SWMBO happy during the mash times. During the boil I'm never too far away but can do general house chores. Made lunch for the kids. Even squeezed in a run. Then had a power nap during my third mash.
Chewed a whole day, but, looking over at my three Jerry Cans of wort, it was all worth it! :super:

I used to think 20-23L batch size would always be enough for me. It certainly made me think about increasing batch size. Small steps... Small steps...

 

[enoch1973]

Can anyone tell me how many brews you can get in on a Sat.? Anyone? Humm????

 

[bignath]

If i had enough cubes......

A typical 3 vessel double batch (2 x cornies) takes me just a nudge under 4 hours.

If i started at 7am and finished at say, 11pm i reckon i could squeeze out 5 doubles in those 16 hours as with some clever planning you can overlap beers...

Would i like to do this all in one day though? **** no.

Have done two double batch brew days before and that's enough time spent in the brewery for me.....

 

[jacknohe]

If i had enough cubes......

A typical 3 vessel double batch (2 x cornies) takes me just a nudge under 4 hours.

If i started at 7am and finished at say, 11pm i reckon i could squeeze out 5 doubles in those 16 hours as with some clever planning you can overlap beers...

Would i like to do this all in one day though? **** no.

Have done two double batch brew days before and that's enough time spent in the brewery for me.....

Yeah, I know what you mean. I've done two before and thought I'd never do that again. Oh well... Had to push through...

With BIAB and one vessel (Urn) I was restricted to a sequential batch process. I can see how the three tier setup would allow for some overlap.

 

[Yob]

Can anyone tell me how many brews you can get in on a Sat.? Anyone? Humm????

depends on how much prep work you have done, milled grain the day before, have recipe's ready to go, HLT on a timer etc.. all these things aid in reducing the time needed on the day... It all depends on how much prep work you do or how long you want to spend on stuff in the same day.. and what equipment you are using to a degree I guess...

Sat for me was a single but poorly timed (wasnt sposed to be brewday), no recipe, no milled grains, no HLT on a timer and it took me forever to do a single batch, I was happy though, I didnt really mind and was quite plastered by the end of it

 

[argon]

Have done two double batch brew days before and that's enough time spent in the brewery for me.....

I agree... have done 2 doubles in a day a couple of times = 4 cubes by way of 50HLT, 50MT & 80KT. Usually dough in about 7.30am all cleaned up by about 2.30pm. Plenty to do on the day even if you have the HLT on a timer and grain crushed.

For me it has to be a day by myself or i get too annoyed and things start ******* up. Just take things nice and relaxed and all is good. I could probably squeeze out 6 cubes if i wanted to bust my arse though and be done by 7pm... but i'm not a fan of 10hr brewdays.

 

[adryargument]

Did a double double batch yesterday (90 Liters) with only one burner and a Rims unit on a 3v system.
Took some messing around and juggling pots in between.

Started at around 11am-6pm - This also included 3 hours of torrential rail and lacquering / installing the 1.5m fermentation coffin/chamber.

I did have a huge drop in efficiency for both batches - but i put this down to trying to rush the sparge etc to make way for the new batch. Then rushing the last batch to get out of the rain.

Effort++ i felt like a drowned rat.

 

[jacknohe]

I did have a huge drop in efficiency for both batches - but i put this down to trying to rush the sparge etc to make way for the new batch. Then rushing the last batch to get out of the rain.

Effort++ i felt like a drowned rat.

Yes, I experienced something similar the first time I did a double batch brew day. Screwed my water and boil-off calcs due to rushing and the brews were diluted a little. Luckily they turned out alright though. Tasted like Mega-Swill but drinkable. All my friends thought they were great! :lol:

I planned much better this time and hit target OG on one and was one point under on the other two which I'd put down to the half litre of water I added extra. Still, pretty happy though.

 

[stux]

I picked up a 98L pot for Christmas because I can't keep up with party season just brewing singles

Now I can do a double trivially, and I can squeeze out a triple with some messing about.

The only way I can keep up with supply during summer is by fermenting back to back double singles... ie two 25L fermenters of different beer every 3 weeks, and even doing that, I know it takes me months to get in front... and then you get Christmas/New Year etc...

...

And then you run out of grain

 

[QldKev]

<<snip>>

I used to think 20-23L batch size would always be enough for me. It certainly made me think about increasing batch size. Small steps... Small steps...

I started at 25L batches (I like to push the brewing to the max to fill 1 and a bit kegs)
Then I went onto dual 25L batches, ie. 2 side by side.
Then I tried a double and a single simultaneously, that was hard work

Now I just do a 100L batch, should have done it ages ago. With the burners I use (2 x Nasa under the kettle) it doesn't take much longer than a single brew.

While I enjoy brewing, having to do a brew almost every weekend was too much. Now I only have to brew once a month or so, sometimes I even do a single for the fun of it.

QldKev