Just finished a back to back to back brew day. Probably too much because I feel like crap now, but it’s my own fault for running so low. I’m getting too old to brew in the cold like this. IPA, RIS, and an arrogant bastard,
It was icing up my keggle and mash gun during clean up, I kept feeling this slimey stuff and I’m like “WTF!?” and then I scraped it with my fingernail and yep, a layer of ice was forming. Where’s spring!? :evil:
Way to step it up! I did a double today and as I was cleaning up, I was thinking, “Maybe I should have gone for the third batch…” But even after 2 batches I’m feeling it. I’ve been working through the endless winter by only heating water and boiling wort in the garage. I mash and sparge indoors, and also chill indoors. So cleanup is done inside with chiller water. It’s a hassle running back and forth, but way better than roughing it out in the cold for hours.
I’m just anxious to get out in the garden - hopefully sometime before June!
Way to go fellas. When I do a 15gal batch it takes about 6hr, and that usually tires me out pretty well. Of course I have at least a dozen beers in the cellar at any given time.
Once I did two 10-gallon batches in a day (pilsner lager). It was cold out and that was one long day. Don’t think I want to do that very often. Kinda nice to fill 4 kegs all at once though, a few weeks later.
A couple of times I’ve made a 10-gallon batch of a strong Belgian Christmas ale, and I had to mash the grain in 2 sessions since there was so much. That was another really long day. So I can relate to what you are saying.
Wow, that’s ambitious. The most ambitious I’ve ever been:
I brewed two half batches in one day last summer, but that involved only one mash/sparge with two boils.
In January I brewed once on Saturday and again on Sunday.
I didn’t mind brewing on successive days. The thing I liked about that is that I only had to prepare starter wort once. That’s actually the thing I like least about brewing.
I like double brew days - it gets a lot more done in one day. But I make 10 gallon batches and have two boil kettles, so I can run the second batch on the heels of the first batch, just by cleaning out the mash tun and running the second batch right into the mash tun and second kettle. Lotta times the second batch will be the longer mash style, such as a pils.
This is pretty much my standard practice. Think about what I want to do with each brew, then organize the work to get everything done efficiently. Last sunday I brewed a wheat beer with a 90 min boil, followed by a cream ale with an adjunct mash. Got everything done and cleaned up in about 6 1/2 hours, then was able to spend the rest of the day with the kids.
Dang, a triple brew day, that’s wild! I’m only in for one batch a day. If I need to get sh*t done, I’ll brew 2 days in a row, which I did 2 weeks ago actually. Had some Czech pils yeast to use, so I brewed a Czech dark lager one day, then a Czech pils the next day.