I haven't brewed in a long while but when I was brewing even once every 1-2 months, I could never get my brew time down. I'd jokingly call myself a "pokey brewer" but I'd also find it annoying that someone could come in and start after me but finish before me.
Were exactly in your process have you cinched some things up to cut the length of your brew day?
Prepping hot mash and strike water ahead of time are huge for me. When I get in I immediately start hot water before anything else but about the lights. I figure if I overshoot I'll just add cold back in till its in the goldilocks zone.
Oh... my... god. Why haven't we done this? http://thechive.com/2013/09/17/guys-rig-up-buddies-plumbing-with-beer-wh...
Ya what lucas said, plus making sure to clean as you go. I find the end of the boil can be a bottleneck zone, so making sure the counter flow chiller is cleaned and primed, your fermentor is santiized and your yeast starter/rehydration is all ready helps wrap up the brew day quicker. Another thing that can speed up the brewday (if you aren't doing a high abv beer and aren't terribly worried about efficiency) is to only do 1 batch sparge instead of two. That alone can save like half an hour.
I usually budget 5 hours for a 5 gallon batch. Heat strike + sparge water first, clean as you go. you can ALWAYS be doing something. Use the iodine test to shorten your mash (sometimes).
I'm good at about 4 to 5hrs. I prep everything before I even get to the brewhouse minus grinding grains. Two burners with water is key if you are the only one brewing. Clean as you go and prep everything else during boil time. Just getting in a groove is key. The last major brew day I was able to get three brews in within 7 hours with good sequencing and two burners.
Thanks for all the replies!
Kinda like Conrad, I get multiple pots of water going, which seems to save a lot of time. My main time spender is doing other stuff around the brew house and loosing track of actual brewing.
Kinda like Conrad, I get multiple pots of water going, which seems to save a lot of time. My main time spender is doing other stuff around the brew house and loosing track of actual brewing.