Let’s face it, most of us have jobs and other obligations that can sometimes make it hard to find the time to brew. So, brewing usually happens on the weekends. But what happens when life gets in the way, weekends fill up, but you still want to brew beer?
Here’s a method to simplify the brewing process to allow the homebrewer to brew a batch of beer in one hour.
This method was inspired by brewing Kombucha, which is a fermented tea. Props also need to go James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio, who helped popularize the idea of the 15-minute boil.
In order to successfully brew a batch of beer in one hour, a few traditional homebrewing “rules” have to be broken. It should go without saying that the process uses extract with steeped grains. Secondly, the process uses 2-gallon batches - this lessens the time it takes to heat and cool the liquid. Third, it uses a 15-minute boil, and with such a short boil, you have to throw out the rules on hop additions. Once you accept these departures from traditional brewing techniques, you’ll find that it’s incredibly easy to brew beer in an hour.
Here’s the Cliff Notes version: Add specialty grains to one gallon of water and heat to 170 F. Remove grains and bring to a boil. Add DME and bring to a boil. Set timer for 15 minutes and add Bittering hops. Add Flavor hops at 5 minutes and Aroma hops at flameout. Add another gallon of refrigerated water and cool in an ice bath. Pitch yeast, ferment and bottle.
The One-Hour Brew Day Process
Start by heating one gallon of water and adding any specialty grains. When the water reaches 170 degrees F. remove the grain bag and bring to a boil add the DME and your first hop addition. The total boil time is 15 minutes, which is long enough to sterilize the wort. Add the next hops at 5 minutes and the last at Flameout.
The next step requires a bit of preparation. Grab a gallon of water from the store and place it in the fridge the night before you brew.
To cool your wort, make an ice bath and add the refrigerated water to the hot Wort and place the kettle into the ice bath. Every few minutes, give the Wort a swirl with a sanitized spoon. With this approach, you should be able to get the temperature to pitching temp very quickly.
Once at pitching temp, the process is the same as any other batch.
When you formulate a recipe using this method, you’ll need to experiment with the amount of hops. Hop isomerization, which is what provides the bitterness in beer, occurs when the hops are boiled. Alpha acids are isomerized (one molecule is transformed into another molecule that has exactly the same atoms, but the atoms are rearranged, according to Wikipedia) to form iso-alpha acids, which produce the bitterness. Since a 15-minute boil is shorter than a 60-minute boil, the result is less isomerization of alpha acids and therefore less bitterness. With a 15-minute boil, it’s common practice to double the Bittering hops, which will result in bitterness close to the 60-minute boil. If you’re adapting a 5-gallon recipe, keep the Bittering hops at the same amount, but reduce the flavor and aroma hops.
Aroma and Flavoring hops added after the 15-minute mark are close enough to the standard hop schedule to provide similar aroma and bitterness as in a 60-minute boil. If you have a complicated Hop Schedule, you can divide the time by 4, so a normal 15-minute addition becomes a 4-minute addition.
Here are two recipes using this method, a saison and a cream ale.
Saison
Grain Bill:
Heat 1 gallon of water and add the Crystal 40 in a grain bag. Remove the grain bag when the temperature reaches 170° F. When the water starts to boil, add the brown sugar and Dried Malt Extract and 1 oz. US Goldings Hops. Boil for 15 minutes. 10 minutes into the boil, add .5 oz US Goldings Hops. When 15 minutes is up, add another .5 oz US Goldings Hops and remove from heat.
Move the stock pot to a sink or other container filled with ice and water and then add one gallon of cold water. When the temperature falls below 80° F, transfer the Wort to the fermenter and add the yeast.
When you think it’s done fermenting, take a gravity reading, then wait a day and take another reading. If the reading is the same, it’s time to bottle. If the reading changed, wait till the reading stays the same, then bottle.
Cream Ale
Despite its name, Cream Ale, doesn’t have any dairy products in it. The style originated in mid-1800s America as a response to the light German lagers. Traditionally corn has been added to the mash to help lighten the beer. In this case, we’re using corn sugar for that purpose. Cream Ale isn’t hoppy, or malty, but it is perfect for hot summer days.
Grain Bill:
Heat 1 gallon of water to boiling. When the water starts to boil, add the Irish Moss, Dried Malt Extract, Corn Sugar and 1 oz. Cascade Hops. Set your timer for 15 minutes.
When 15 minutes is up, move the stock pot to a sink or other container filled with ice and water and then add one gallon of cold water. When the temperature falls below 80° F, transfer the Wort to the fermenter and add the yeast.
Bottle after fermentation has stopped.
The Numbers:
Here’s a method to simplify the brewing process to allow the homebrewer to brew a batch of beer in one hour.
This method was inspired by brewing Kombucha, which is a fermented tea. Props also need to go James Spencer of Basic Brewing Radio, who helped popularize the idea of the 15-minute boil.
In order to successfully brew a batch of beer in one hour, a few traditional homebrewing “rules” have to be broken. It should go without saying that the process uses extract with steeped grains. Secondly, the process uses 2-gallon batches - this lessens the time it takes to heat and cool the liquid. Third, it uses a 15-minute boil, and with such a short boil, you have to throw out the rules on hop additions. Once you accept these departures from traditional brewing techniques, you’ll find that it’s incredibly easy to brew beer in an hour.
Here’s the Cliff Notes version: Add specialty grains to one gallon of water and heat to 170 F. Remove grains and bring to a boil. Add DME and bring to a boil. Set timer for 15 minutes and add Bittering hops. Add Flavor hops at 5 minutes and Aroma hops at flameout. Add another gallon of refrigerated water and cool in an ice bath. Pitch yeast, ferment and bottle.
The One-Hour Brew Day Process
Start by heating one gallon of water and adding any specialty grains. When the water reaches 170 degrees F. remove the grain bag and bring to a boil add the DME and your first hop addition. The total boil time is 15 minutes, which is long enough to sterilize the wort. Add the next hops at 5 minutes and the last at Flameout.
The next step requires a bit of preparation. Grab a gallon of water from the store and place it in the fridge the night before you brew.
To cool your wort, make an ice bath and add the refrigerated water to the hot Wort and place the kettle into the ice bath. Every few minutes, give the Wort a swirl with a sanitized spoon. With this approach, you should be able to get the temperature to pitching temp very quickly.
Once at pitching temp, the process is the same as any other batch.
When you formulate a recipe using this method, you’ll need to experiment with the amount of hops. Hop isomerization, which is what provides the bitterness in beer, occurs when the hops are boiled. Alpha acids are isomerized (one molecule is transformed into another molecule that has exactly the same atoms, but the atoms are rearranged, according to Wikipedia) to form iso-alpha acids, which produce the bitterness. Since a 15-minute boil is shorter than a 60-minute boil, the result is less isomerization of alpha acids and therefore less bitterness. With a 15-minute boil, it’s common practice to double the Bittering hops, which will result in bitterness close to the 60-minute boil. If you’re adapting a 5-gallon recipe, keep the Bittering hops at the same amount, but reduce the flavor and aroma hops.
Aroma and Flavoring hops added after the 15-minute mark are close enough to the standard hop schedule to provide similar aroma and bitterness as in a 60-minute boil. If you have a complicated Hop Schedule, you can divide the time by 4, so a normal 15-minute addition becomes a 4-minute addition.
Here are two recipes using this method, a saison and a cream ale.
Saison
Grain Bill:
- 4 oz Crystal 40
- 2 lbs Light Dried Malt Extract
- .5 lb Brown Sugar
- 1 oz US Goldings @ 15 minutes
- .5 oz US Goldings @ 5 minutes
- .5 oz US Goldings @ Flame Out
- WLP566 – Saison II 0r
- Danstar Belle Saison
Heat 1 gallon of water and add the Crystal 40 in a grain bag. Remove the grain bag when the temperature reaches 170° F. When the water starts to boil, add the brown sugar and Dried Malt Extract and 1 oz. US Goldings Hops. Boil for 15 minutes. 10 minutes into the boil, add .5 oz US Goldings Hops. When 15 minutes is up, add another .5 oz US Goldings Hops and remove from heat.
Move the stock pot to a sink or other container filled with ice and water and then add one gallon of cold water. When the temperature falls below 80° F, transfer the Wort to the fermenter and add the yeast.
When you think it’s done fermenting, take a gravity reading, then wait a day and take another reading. If the reading is the same, it’s time to bottle. If the reading changed, wait till the reading stays the same, then bottle.
Cream Ale
Despite its name, Cream Ale, doesn’t have any dairy products in it. The style originated in mid-1800s America as a response to the light German lagers. Traditionally corn has been added to the mash to help lighten the beer. In this case, we’re using corn sugar for that purpose. Cream Ale isn’t hoppy, or malty, but it is perfect for hot summer days.
Grain Bill:
- 2 lbs Light Dried Malt Extract
- 5 ounces Corn Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Irish Moss
- 1 oz Cascade @ 15 minutes
- Safale US 05
Heat 1 gallon of water to boiling. When the water starts to boil, add the Irish Moss, Dried Malt Extract, Corn Sugar and 1 oz. Cascade Hops. Set your timer for 15 minutes.
When 15 minutes is up, move the stock pot to a sink or other container filled with ice and water and then add one gallon of cold water. When the temperature falls below 80° F, transfer the Wort to the fermenter and add the yeast.
Bottle after fermentation has stopped.
The Numbers:
- 1.048 OG
- 1.011 FG
- 4.9% ABV
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