What Are The Best Ag Time Savers

[Bobby]

i am with pumpy. i find an immersion heater to be a useful little tool. i turn it on in the mash if need be, if not i put it in the hlt so i dont need to use the burner as much.
picked mine up for under 10 bucks.

i hate chilling so the no-chill gets my vote as well.

 

[jimmy01]

$10 for an immersion heater!!

Bobby that's a steal. Got to be happy with that.

I've still got one on my wish list


Dave

 

[wee stu]

Organise yourself ( everthing in its place )

Good advice, but not always so simple to follow.

I am a very disorganised brewer. Last brew day took an extra 45 minutes cos I couldn't find my electric HLT :huh: .

Hard to think that a gleaming stainless 30L urn would be hard to spot. Normally it is never a problem. This time, unfortunately, I had put it away properly after the last brewday.

Sadly, I never thought to look in the big white cardboard box

45 minutes in the shortest day of the year, made the difference between a double and a single brew day.

 

[matti]

Planning is essential.
For infusion mash.
2 days a head prepare starter and a have everything ready to go (no surprises). One afternoon.
Brewday
15 min doughing in. (saturating mash enterily)
5 min correcting temp +1 h wait for mash.
30-60 min sparging. pending method
Boil 1h
Cooling wort, pitching and cleaning up.
Any one doing this in less then 4 hours tell me how.
(My partial took me 5 hours with single decoction)
ITS a HOBBY/DEVOTION...

 

[matti]

Reliable equipment and no family you can mow the lawn through mashing and awell trained spouse can add the portion of hops a set times while you weed the garden. Then at clean up time let the Kid loin in and serve them Pizza LOL

 

[tangent]

gotta agree with Stu there as well
i spent 20 mins looking for thread tape on the last brew - jeez that pisses me off

 

[Josh]

I don't really have any time savers apart from the setup ideas already mentioned. If you want time savers stop reading.

Whenever I have a spare Saturday set aside for brewing I will relax and take my time doing everything. I like to start around 11am, so when everything is going, I can sit back and listen to Daryl Brohman and the other clowns on the Continuous Call team. Some of the funniest things you'll hear on radio.

 

[Jye]

I cant believe no one has said dont drink :blink:

Like the others I try to be prepared, have the grain crushed and the HLT filled. I also try and get up early to start brewing... this way by the time SWMBO gets up it will look like your brew day only goes for 3hrs instead of 5.

 

[Duff]

I like to start around 11am, so when everything is going, I can sit back and listen to Daryl Brohman and the other clowns on the Continuous Call team. Some of the funniest things you'll hear on radio.

Ditto, I've got a couple of radios around the house going so I don't miss anything

I used to swear by brewing 20L batches, and for a double brew day would dough in the second as I added the first bittering hops to the first. Now, after doing 40L batches it is so much easier and doesn't add to brew day time at all as others have mentioned. If you have the setup to do a double batch then give it a try.

Other than that, probably the only other best AG time saver is uncrack a Fresh Wort Kit

Cheers.

Josh, the Porter was fantastic BTW :beerbang:

 

[user 384]

Most AG brewers enjoy their brew day,time is not really a big issue,have a few beers while enjoying your hobby.

I love my brew days! Although I mentioned how you can make more efficient use of your time I don't really care it takes me longer than expected, because I find the process of AG a pleasant distraction from daily routine. It's hard to beat having a day off work on a nice sunny Autumn or Spring day and "wasting" the whole afternoon standing around your mash tun and kettle.

Spending 8 hours at the office is crap. I'll never say "oh what a great day I had in front of the computer today". But spending 8 hours doing a tripple decoction, that's something I'm happy to do.

Cheers
MAH

 

[Tony]

I have found that brewing a 52 liter batch (this gives me 50 liters for the keg after racking) means i have to brew less.

once a month at present

A few cold beers from the tap makes brew day more fun too.

cheers

 

[Josh]

I like to start around 11am, so when everything is going, I can sit back and listen to Daryl Brohman and the other clowns on the Continuous Call team. Some of the funniest things you'll hear on radio.

Ditto, I've got a couple of radios around the house going so I don't miss anything

Other than that, probably the only other best AG time saver is uncrack a Fresh Wort Kit

Cheers.

Josh, the Porter was fantastic BTW :beerbang:

I've done a couple of fresh wort kits and found them very good.

Great to hear the porter went down well.

 

[Jim_Levet]

A Sparge Arm.
Let's face it without a sparge arm you are dead set kidding yourself!
Zipping up "the Suit"
James

 

[Stuster]

A Sparge Arm.
Let's face it without a sparge arm you are dead set kidding yourself!
Zipping up "the Suit"
James

Don't worry, James, us batch spargers are 'armless. :lol: :lol:

Sorry, sorry, sorry. It won't happen again. :blink:

 

[Josh]

A Sparge Arm.
Let's face it without a sparge arm you are dead set kidding yourself!
Zipping up "the Suit"
James

Or you could make an aluminium foil "plate" and stab holes in it to fly sparge.

 

[mikem108]

BYO had a big article about brew day time saving
http://byo.com/departments/1289.html

1. Pre weigh hops and grain ahead of time
2. Crack grain night before or whilst heating strike water
3. Get water heated automatically while you are still in bed
3. Thinner mash means I need less water to sparge
4. Make sure everything is clean at hand and ready before you start.

 

[crozdog]

not a time saver, but a time helper:

I have a $5 count down timer I picked up from Aldi. I set it to count down numerous activities such as mash duration & the time till the next hop addition. It is small and disk like, just perfect for slipping into the pocket while I do something else.

Cheers

crozdog

 

[stephen]

The best time saver I found is to have plenty of time.

When I have time everthing seems to go smoothly.

When I set a schedule and try to fit it into a specific time frame then everthing seems to blow out!

When I have time the brews are made quicker than when I set time!

Someone with a PHD in time management can explain it, I certainly can't!

Steve

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I just know that it takes up most of sunday. But I am fanatical about start time, cause I like to get the mash started just before 12:00, then go and watch Landline on the telly. Works out perfect....

I try not to drink to much during brewday, cause I forget things and that takes up valuable time latter... h34r:

 

[Tony]

hey stu.

drink plenty and set reminders on your mobile

beep beep, add irish moss.

beep beep, its boiled dry you idiot, put down the beer and check the ketle

i do agree, heavy drinking only induces mistakes.

I do recall the tamworth brew day we went off to cook the BBQ and left pumpy hovering over the kettle.

I dont know how long it boiled for but i had to top it up by a few liters

ahhhhh it wasnt a bad beer considering we drank more than we brewed that day

cheers