25 replies to this topic

[BrewerGeorge]

About half way through the boil on a sweet stout now (that will get choco nibs in secondary). MLPA is mashing alongside it. Since I only have the one heat source, I can't start heating the sparge water for the MLPA until the stout is the ferm and kettle cleaned out. I hope to be done by 9:00. Full cleanup maybe be tomorrow...So I've got four hours to kill. Entertain me Blue Board.

[MakeMeHoppy]

Kinda of a late start on a Sunday for a double batch eh? I was targeting this weekend to do my small batch low gravity beer, but I got a couple calls from work and I'm afraid to start and get interrupted.As far as entertainment, I got nothing

[ncbeerbrewer]

About half way through the boil on a sweet stout now (that will get choco nibs in secondary). MLPA is mashing alongside it. Since I only have the one heat source, I can't start heating the sparge water for the MLPA until the stout is the ferm and kettle cleaned out. I hope to be done by 9:00. Full cleanup maybe be tomorrow...So I've got four hours to kill. Entertain me Blue Board.

I can completely understand your situation with only one heat source same here. The last two weekends I have brewed double batches and done exactly what you said too, turned into about an 8 hour day for me. I am currently boiling a 10 gallon batch of Belg Tripel. I thought about doing this one as a split batch since I normally brew 5 gallon batches but figured for a sunday afternoon its 10 or nothing. Good Luck hope you fare well the rest of the way. mike

[jammer]

I did a double brew day once. Once. Too damned much work for one guy, at least with my simple system. Now I just do one brew, then ill try to get other 'beer chores' done, like kegging, racking, etc.

[BrewerGeorge]

Thanks. Chilling the stout now.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Thanks. Chilling the stout now.

in the future could you have started heating some of the water on your kitchen stove in a couple of pots?

[BrewerGeorge]

in the future could you have started heating some of the water on your kitchen stove in a couple of pots?

Yeah, but then I'd have to carry it. My system is set up so I barely carry anything, especially hot. I did heat a couple of quarts of wort in the microwave because the MLPA strike wasn't quite hot enough and the stout was already boiling.Twenty minutes into the MLPA boil now. Won't make the 9:00 estimate, but I took a break after the sparge to have dinner and finish the episode of Dr Who that I'd started during the stout boil. Call it 10:00.

[djinkc]

Brew on. I haven't had the gumption to tackle a double brewday yet. But, 10 gal at a time keeps the taps going.I supervised (watched and drank beer) a couple of the LBG guys doing 3 at once on two rigs. That's right, three simultaneously. And they were step mashing all three on top of it. Funny, several things on both rigs were electric. Jason wasn't happy with the heat ramp up. So he opens a shed door by the garage and fires up a gas powered 240v generator for a second 240v source. Just wow.......... Actually he has multiple wows in his brewery. Made my setup, which I'm very happy with, look like a beginner.When I left it was pretty much under control, sparge and boil were all that was left. Damn.............

[BrewerGeorge]

Done. Only about 8 minutes late from the revised goal. All that's left is pitching, and I won't do that for a couple hours to give the wort a chance to cool a little more in the cooler. Whew!

[siouxbrewer]

Congrats I've only done two double batches, both took over 12 hours and I was feeling the pain the next morning

[BlKtRe]

Its all about equipment. I do doubles all the time in not much longer that a single. Planning is key tho. Tending two boils is PIA. But if spaced our right, when one kettle is done chilling and in the fermenter, the second boil is ready to go. Its not my favorite thing to do and sort of takes the enjoyment out of brewing since it turns into work. But it also cuts down on multiple brew days so I can do other things I like to do.

[BrewerGeorge]

I am beat this morning.

[SchwanzBrewer]

I have done one double batch, it was a stout and MLPA. Took about 9 hours total and that was on the stove. Beers came out great, but man that was tiring.Cheers,Rich

[sleepy]

So how long was your total brewday? And can you provide some specifics for what happened when? I've been trying to figure out how to do double brews for a while now, and any experience/tips would be much appreciated.

[ncbeerbrewer]

So how long was your total brewday? And can you provide some specifics for what happened when? I've been trying to figure out how to do double brews for a while now, and any experience/tips would be much appreciated.

Kevin,Let me see if I can detail a double brewday for you that I have done and hope this helps in your planning. I have one propane burner, one stock pot 5 gallons and another stock pot 15 gallons. I typically weigh out and crush both of my grain bills. Then I will heat strike water for batch #1. Mash into my 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler. Heat my sparge water in my boil kettle. Sparge and collect my running to get my boil volume typically 7 gallons for a 5 gallon batch. Then I boil for 60-90 minutes, chill with my immersion then transfer into cleaned and sanitized carboy. Once beer one is off my one burner and being chilled I start to heat my strike water for batch #2. From there I just follow what I described above with no worries on a third batch. A brewday such as that for me took me around 9-10 hours but I think being limited to one propane burner slowed me down too. Still I love it and would do it in a heartbeat again. Yesterday I brewed 10 gallons and was done in about 6 hours.

[CaptRon]

I did a double brew day once. Once. Too damned much work for one guy, at least with my simple system. Now I just do one brew, then ill try to get other 'beer chores' done, like kegging, racking, etc.

This.I only did it once, and that was the time I ended up with 7 gallons of water on the kitchen floor which ended up destroying the laminate and while we were at it we just remodeled the kitchen.

[ChefLamont]

I used to do doubles somewhat regularly, but then it started to feel more like work and suck the run and relaxation out of it all. I will still do them from time to time. However it is only if supplies are dangerously low or I have an event coming up that I am brewing for.<hijack> I have thought about adding another burner to my stand and making another keggle. That way if I have a beer that I want a lot of and is not too big in gravity/grist, I could actually do 20 gal. I could also mess with hopping and other variations between the two for some variety. I just havent gone and done it yet.</hijack>

[Stout_fan]

IronKite and I are going to do a three beer partigyle on the Samiclaus this year. Should be interesting. We did a two beer partigyle last year.If I could just get rid of that darned Pilsner malt I could knock 1 1/2 hours off the brewday.

[BrewerGeorge]

So how long was your total brewday? And can you provide some specifics for what happened when? I've been trying to figure out how to do double brews for a while now, and any experience/tips would be much appreciated.

It was 8 hrs from the time I started heating water until I was done cleaning up. As for process, my system is sort of odd with an electric kettle as its only heat source so I'm not sure how helpful my procedures would be. I rarely do doubles because my setup essentially requires that I do them serially with almost no overlap. I did manage to mash the 2nd this time while the 1st boiled by increasing the water volume and temp in the HLT (unheated, just a cooler for holding water really) so it could both sparge the 1st batch and strike the 2nd batch. Even this was a bit of a cluster because I couldn't add more heat. Having a heated HLT would make this MUCH easier to do. The second mash just sat there for about 2 hours while the first one finished, I cleaned up, and heated the 2nd's sparge water. I'm not exactly the model you want to follow to set up a two-batch system.

[Beejus McReejus]

in the future could you have started heating some of the water on your kitchen stove in a couple of pots?

This is what I do.

I am beat this morning.

Sounds like we had the same idea yesterday. Although my brewday didn't get started until after 8:00 PM. :facepalm:ETA: Oops, looks like you brewed a couple days ago now that I look closer.