If there’s one thing I’ve learned—and heard many, many times from other brewers—it’s that we want to find new ways to shorten the brew day. The nice thing is, there are lots of lesser- and well-known ways to do that. Today, we’re going to cover preheating your mash and sparge water.
Remember that phrase that a watched pot never boils? It’s so true, and I think it’s especially accurate when you’re brewing, and the day is so long anyway. I personally don’t enjoy standing around waiting for water to boil, but once you fire up your propane tank, it’s not a great idea to leave it unattended, unless total disaster is your thing. I brew in my garage, where fumes can get kind of nasty, so the less time I have to crank up the propane, the better.
One solution that’s worked very well for me is to preheat my mash/sparge water. This gives me the freedom to go about my business for most of the morning until it’s time to get the show on the road. It’s a fairly simple solution, and it frees up quite a bit of time, allowing me to not only do more productive things with that time but also save propane throughout the process.