Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

This was an interesting poll that the Mad Fermentationist did.  Check it out.

http://madfermentationist.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-long-does-your-average-brew-day.html

For a local perspective, I used to spend 12 hrs all-grain brewing 5 gal on the stove in the kitchen.  My last all grain batch outside took 6 hrs from equipment gathering to all cleaned up and I brewed 10 gallons.  hooray for good equipment!

Mine take 7 to 8 hours, including pitching and clean up.

Wow.  I must be doing something terribly right or wrong.  It takes me a little over 5 hours to go from heating the mash water and milling the grains to cleaning up and hosing down.

Perhaps you are just more efficient than I am . . .

The biggest time saver I can see on the horizon is better cooling through the use of a recirculation system.  With 10 gallon batches, it often takes me more than an hour to get the temp down to 70 F.

I also tend to do a fair amount with pilsner malt, so I use 90 min boils to limit DMS precursors.

I'm...um...well, I'm with Jamey on this one.    From the time I pull all my gear out and set up my system to the point where I'm cleaning up and putting the sponge away it's almost exactly 5 hours. (That's with a 60 minute mash and a 60 minute boil.)  Ok, 5 1/2 hours if I do a 90 minute mash.

I also think that fly sparging takes more time than batch sparging does.  I know that Christopher saves at least 30 minutes or longer over me because he batch sparges.

Ah, yes...very true! I didn't mention that I batch sparge. That definitely saves me some time.

I just brewed my first all grain batch and it took a little over 7 hours using a fly sparge. I was having some trouble with my new burner though (turkey fryer style). The flame kept putting itself out when I cranked up the gas and then I realized there was a "choke" mechanism to tweak the oxygen/gas mixture. I think I might save a half hour next time by bring the wort up to a boil faster. Also, there was a torrential downpour right before I was going to sparge and I had to evacuate the driveway and sparge inside. Probably lost 15 minutes transporting equipment.

My new wort chiller worked like a charm though. So much nicer than the water bath method.

Cheers,
Patrick

Hey Patrick,

Congrats on the first all grain batch. The days will get shorter. Not 50% shorter, but shorter.

Looking forward to seeing you at some meetings, and trying more of your delicious beer.

Jamey

Congratulations on getting your first brew day in there!  Rain always sucks.  Invariably, if I set up on the back deck, thinking it won't rain, it always does and leaves me scrambling.  Six or seven hours is about how long mine take, including clean up.

Cheers,

Tom