Quick All Grain Brewing (kids)

[Elliott75]

With two young kids, I'm looking for ways to cut corners, but still do all grain brewing, always with an emphasis on saving time. I'm willing to give up some efficiency and cost along the way, so long as it saves time.

Grainfather g30, bluetooth, counterflow chiller. Stainless fermentation, not pressure ferm, but temperature controlled.

Any good ideas?


I was considering weighing out my grains the night before, and in the morning before work, setting it up to mash for approx 12 hours whilst I was out at work. Full boil volume for the mash, no sparge.

When I get home, lift up the grain basket to drain. And once the kids are in bed (approx 2 hours later), carry out my boil. Perhaps even cutting down some boil time, and increasing hop mass to counter that.

Would mashing for that long be okay? With a large volume of water?

If I didn't sparge, any ideas how much it would affect the efficiency, given the extended time for mashing?

What do you do about a mash out temperature, if you don't bother to sparge. At some point between mash temp and boiler temp I'm going to get to the mash out temp.


Any other good ideas for cutting corners? Open to all sorts of ideas!

 

[clib]

I mash in with hot water from the tap, I have a combi boiler. Usually at about 55C. Then I raise the temp of the mash slowly to mash out temp, remove the grain and bring to boil. I often boil for 30 minutes these days. Roughly an hour and a half from mash in to the end of the boil, depending on batch size/water volume of course. Works well for me.

 

[jof]

I've done overnight mashes before. Bring to mash temp, leave it going for 1 hour, the retire & start the boil the next morning.

So you start the mash in the morning & then the boil when you return would fit.
Although if you have 2 hours between getting home & kids in bed & your system is sufficiently automated, you could mash then.

(Only control I have is a rotary timer I can set to heat for up to 2 hours.)

 

[Agentgonzo]

The G30 has a delayed start mode. So as well as preparing your grains, you can prepare your water the night before (also helps off gas the chlorine) and set it to wake up in the morning so you can dough in as soon as you get up.

Mashing for 12 hours whilst you're at work isn't a problem. At the very worst, it'll end up with much more fermentable wort (single temperature infusion) but with the g30 you can set the mash out and automatically and it'll push the temperature up without you doing anything and stop the beta beta amylase making it too fermentable. At worst it'll cost you a bit more electricity to keep it at 75° whilst your at work. Maybe get the insulating jacket. This is basically pasteurisation temperature, so not a lot can go wrong. Long mash will actually increase your efficiency slightly... But efficiency is just a number and for homebrewers it equates to an extra handful of grain in a brew. Don't worry about it - take note and adjust future recipes to take account of your process instead of an arbitrary number dictating your process

No sparge/full volume may not save your time. As soon as you start sparging, the heater goes on full to raise it to the boil. So as long as you can sparge with hot water the limiting factor is how long it takes your wort to get up to a boil, not the time taken to sparge.

You can cut short the boil to 30 minutes instead of 60. Warning, here be dragons (mostly internet trolls/keyboard warriors).

Once boiled, you can use the counterflow chiller to reduce the temp to 80° then pause there whilst you put the kids to bed. Dropping from 100 to 80 pretty much stops the alpha acid isomerisation so your beer won't get overly bitter. It'll hold that temperature naturally for many hours, maybe dropping to 70 or 65 or so.
Once the kids are tucked up safely in bed, you can add a hopstand addition if necessary, then transfer to the fermenter and wash up.

If you don't mind using a lot of water, crank the water tap up to full when you use the CFC and you can get faster transfer times as the wort will be cooled faster

 

[Agentgonzo]

What do you do about a mash out temperature, if you don't bother to sparge. At some point between mash temp and boiler temp I'm going to get to the mash out temp.

Mash for 1 hour as normal, then set it to do the mash out (75°) - which can be done automatically by the g30 without you needing to do anything. Then just leave it there for however long it needs to sit until you are ready to boil. At 75° it's relatively stable (pasteurisation temp) and can be left for hours without really changing the chemistry of the wort.

 

[Elliott75]

I need to get more confident in using the tech. I don't know how to do anything clever like a delayed start or setting it to do anything in my absence. I don't have a WiFi thingy, so would I need to do clever things in the app?

 

[Elliott75]

So I could dough in with cold water at the start of the day and then set it on a delay to heat up to mash temp with the grain in it? Ready for me to come home?

And does the pump turn on on a delay too?

 

[MashBag]

If I didn't sparge, any ideas how much it would affect the efficiency, given the extended time for mashing?

Don't sparge.

What do you do about a mash out temperature, if you don't bother to sparge. At some point between mash temp and boiler temp I'm going to get to the mash out temp.

Go straight to boil.

Don't chill. After boil leave the lid on, everything is now pretty much sterile.
Remove any insulation and runaway.

Come back the following day and setup for ferment & pitch.

You may consider just adding a heat supply, an inkbird and a sleeping bag. Fermenting the brew where in the kettle?

Idle beer making needs mainly the space to leave it setup. A brew shed is ideal.

I normally think of it as 4 days.
1.Setup. 2.Boiling. 3.Pitching. 4.Bottling

Much much much more manageable imo.

 

[MashBag]

So I could dough in with cold water at the start of the day and then set it on a delay to heat up to mash temp with the grain in it? Ready for me to come home?

And does the pump turn on on a delay too?

I cold hold overnight 20°c and start mash about 04:00 wake up to boil.

Check what you can and can't do on your controller. You might what to be present for mash.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I need to get more confident in using the tech. I don't know how to do anything clever like a delayed start or setting it to do anything in my absence. I don't have a WiFi thingy, so would I need to do clever things in the app?

The grainfather app is pretty straightforward. You don't need WiFi, you connect your phone to the grainfather with Bluetooth the night before. When you set up your brew schedule in the app, there is an option to add a delay when you go to start the brew, so that rather than starting to heat the water straight away, it'll wait your desired time (ie, until morning) before starting to heat the water

 

[Agentgonzo]

So I could dough in with cold water at the start of the day and then set it on a delay to heat up to mash temp with the grain in it? Ready for me to come home?

And does the pump turn on on a delay too?

Set the unit on a delay the night before, filled with cold water and prepare your grain. Then go to bed. In the morning, it'll turn on by itself and heat the water and hold it at the mash temperature until you're ready.

When you get up, dough in and start the mash. It'll keep the temperature steady and turn the pump on. You can then leave for work. If you've set a mash out (recommended) it'll automatically raise the temperature at the end of the mash to do the mash out. Once it's finished the mash out it'll just sit waiting for you to come home, raise the basket and proceed to the boil

 

[DuncR]

As stated above the gf delayed start is really simple to use, fantastic to wake up to mashin temp already sorted. However, I do usually find something goes awry during mashing which needs hands on tweaking (but that’s a personal thing)