The tips and tricks of experience

[philjohnwilliams]

While I also hate the end-of-brewday cleanup, I also love a relaxed brewday; from mashing to post-boil chilling. It also doesn't help that I brew outside and I cleanup in the basement and I really don't like leaving my brew kettle unattended for too long.

I brew outdoors as well but I do have easy access to my basement brewery area.

 

[Craigerrr]

This is something rlse that I like to do between brew days. When I have a few minutes to spare I will assemble my mash tun or weigh out my grains or collect water so that on brew day I am ready to go.

Same here, I measure out grains and hops a few days in advance of brew day, and vac seal the dry hops to keep them fresh. The night before I measure out the water and add the salts. I will also recirculate the strike water and agitate with spoon to dissolve the salts.

 

[^Tony^]

I brew outdoors as well but I do have easy access to my basement brewery area.

I started cleaning everything outside and that made things easier than trying not to get water all over the floor and balance a 15 gal kettle on the counter. I never leave things dirty so I use the garden hose and dish soap/StarSan and just wash and rinse right outside by back gate (so the dog doesn't roll in it afterwards.) In fact, it has made things so much easier I am going to build a sealed cedar storage cabinet on my deck to store everything non-perishable. It gets too cold here to brew outside during the winter so I only do summer brewing anyway. I figure it is no different than keeping everything on a shelf in the basement and then I only have to haul everything around once in the spring and the fall each year!!

 

[^Tony^]

Same here, I measure out grains and hops a few days in advance of brew day, and vac seal the dry hops to keep them fresh. The night before I measure out the water and add the salts. I will also recirculate the strike water and agitate with spoon to dissolve the salts.

I start hauling gear into the kitchen a piece or 2 at a time a few days before brew days. Then I assemble everything for the kettle and measure up all my grains the night before. I am already putting things back in storage by the time the boil starts. Then I sanitize everything for the fermenter while waiting for the boil to finish. Otherwise my brew day can feel very very long.

 

[philjohnwilliams]

I started cleaning everything outside and that made things easier than trying not to get water all over the floor and balance a 15 gal kettle on the counter. I never leave things dirty so I use the garden hose and dish soap/StarSan and just wash and rinse right outside by back gate (so the dog doesn't roll in it afterwards.) In fact, it has made things so much easier I am going to build a sealed cedar storage cabinet on my deck to store everything non-perishable. It gets too cold here to brew outside during the winter so I only do summer brewing anyway. I figure it is no different than keeping everything on a shelf in the basement and then I only have to haul everything around once in the spring and the fall each year!!

I will use my garden hose to rinse out the mash tun and other small bits, but I leave the kettle for cleaning indoors because I don't want to potentially leave any hop matter on the lawn where my small dog that eats anything she finds could get at it. Otherwise I think I would clean even more outside.

 

[Craigerrr]

I brew in my garage, and when it is nice, in my driveway. I keep all of my equipment in the garage too. I am fortunate to have a catch basin grate at the end of my driveway, I dump my hop residue there and bring the hose out to rinse/wash stuff there too.

 

[^Tony^]

I will use my garden hose to rinse out the mash tun and other small bits, but I leave the kettle for cleaning indoors because I don't want to potentially leave any hop matter on the lawn where my small dog that eats anything she finds could get at it. Otherwise I think I would clean even more outside.

yup. My thoughts too. I'm lucky my back gate open into the alley so I can keep the hops out of the yard. I never leave anything more an bubbles in the alley afterwards but I feel better that the dog can't get at it.

 

[^Tony^]

I brew in my garage, and when it is nice, in my driveway. I keep all of my equipment in the garage too. I am fortunate to have a catch basin grate at the end of my driveway, I dump my hop residue there and bring the hose out to rinse/wash stuff there too.

1 of my best friends has a catch basin grate in his garage floor...he has super easy clean up! I may even impose on him this winter if I get the urge to brew.

 

[Hawkbox]

I really wish I had water and drainage in my garage. Winter brewing involves a lot of carrying back and forth from my basement which is annoying.

 

[^Tony^]

I really wish I had water and drainage in my garage. Winter brewing involves a lot of carrying back and forth from my basement which is annoying.

I live in the same region as you. During the spring/summer/fall I use a garden hose and my outdoor tap for the IC. I guess I could find a way to use it during the winter but that sounds like way too much work for what I like to be a laid back, sitting in the sun, kind of day. I have found out the hard way that a snow bank just doesn't get the job done the way you need it to.

I have been eyeing up a no cooling brew technique (apparently it's popular in Australia) but have not yet tried it. Anyone heard of it?

 

[Hawkbox]

I tried a no chill batch in my stainless fermenters and it worked fine. I brew in my garage in the winter and use a 60 gallon tub of water for primary chilling. It just involves a lot of carrying equipment and RO water back and forth from the house.

I just put it in the brew bucket and then leave the brew bucket outside or in the garage overnight depending on the weather.

 

[^Tony^]

I tried a no chill batch in my stainless fermenters and it worked fine. I brew in my garage in the winter and use a 60 gallon tub of water for primary chilling. It just involves a lot of carrying equipment and RO water back and forth from the house.

I just put it in the brew bucket and then leave the brew bucket outside or in the garage overnight depending on the weather.

What kind of beer do you do that with? I tried that with a west coast style IPA and it tasted like someone crapped grass clippings into the glass...

 

[Hawkbox]

Uhh I can't remember exactly but I think it was a saison? I'm not sure a hoppy beer is where you want to go with that because of the longer hop exposure at temperature.

 

[Craigerrr]

I tried a no chill batch in my stainless fermenters and it worked fine. I brew in my garage in the winter and use a 60 gallon tub of water for primary chilling. It just involves a lot of carrying equipment and RO water back and forth from the house.

I just put it in the brew bucket and then leave the brew bucket outside or in the garage overnight depending on the weather.

I am fortunate also to have my electrical panel in the garage, I have 240V 4500W heater, and keep the garage at about 40F during the winter. This allows me to keep everything in the garage. The only thing I keep in the house are my grain sand hops.

 

[Hawkbox]

I keep all those in the garage as I have storage and freezer out there, but the power comes through the house instead of the other way around and it would be expensive to change now. The heat is natural gas but I'd have to plumb in lines for that too which is more hassle than it's worth.

 

[Ward Chillington]

So simple it's stupid! I have always lamented that my lid doesn't cover completely because of the tubing coming out. I think I will still use the lid, and a clean dish towel to cover the openings in .

Not the greatest picture but you get the point!

Something else I do is to allow gravity to do as much of the work as possible, as long as I get my hot liquor to the top of the tower, it's down hill from there...so to speak. While I have a pump, I keep its use for moving water and moving water only. I then use the warm water left in the Igloo after cooling down the wort to do the initial cleaning of my kettle after gravity puts the cooled wort into my Carboy.

 

[^Tony^]

What kind of beer do you do that with? I tried that with a west coast style IPA and it tasted like someone crapped grass clippings into the glass...

Ironically I JUST listened to a Brulosophy pod cast last night about no chill brewing. If you brew an IPA you need to make some major adjustments to the hops schedule. Apparently it works well for low hop beers though.

 

[Hawkbox]

Yeah that was what gave me the idea. Stainless steel isn't going to melt or crack like glass so it was safe to try. I wouldn't try to store it like the Aussies do but to just overnight cool it worked fine.

 

[Head First]

Its pretty nice having a dedicated brewing space. Then there is a place for everything and everything is in it's place. Well suppose to be in its place anyway.

 

[Bubba Wade]

Ironically I JUST listened to a Brulosophy pod cast last night about no chill brewing. If you brew an IPA you need to make some major adjustments to the hops schedule. Apparently it works well for low hop beers though.

With the no-chill method, you need to develop the recipe around the 60 minute hops and the dry hops. Since it takes quite a while for the temperature to fall below 170-180 °F, any other hop additions will continue to isomerize until the wort cools off. Since the 60 minute addition is almost fully converted anyway, you only need to make a minor adjustment. So, if you have an IPA recipe you can modify to use only 60 minute hops and dry hopping, you should be able to make it work.