OK, so I tried my "super fast" brew day today. I went from water on to cleaned up in 4:15. Obviously that includes time collecting and heating water.

This is really fast for me, and I could've been faster if:

1. I didn't have a stuck lauter (twice)

2. I had my water collected ahead of time

3. I didn't space out on my kettle heat setting. It was at 73% the whole time heating water, oops.

4. I didn't have to run around looking for my refractometer

5. I wasn't trying to sort of watch the Falcons game upstairs.

With all those things going right I think I can get it down to 3:30, if not 3.

I mashed 17.81 pounds of grain with 15 gallons of water. It was a bit tight. I could put the lid on my cooler, but it was sitting in the foam on top of the mash.

I also missed my mash temp by a clear mile. Started at 156F, I left the lid off for the whole mash trying to cool it down and it finished around 152F, which was my target.

I'm not sure how long I boiled on account of the running around for a refractometer. Not long I don't think. I got a break, and that's all I was looking for. Did a 20 minute Whirlpool/hop stand with a pound of random hops.

8oz more hops for dry hops.

In retrospect, trying to use visual cues to determine conversion was not the best idea because I was using 2.6 pounds of oats. It was hazy, but I could tell I had most of conversion by 15 minutes. I recirced and lautered at 30m. I stirred the mash a lot.

Overall, I like this sort of brew day. Got a little lower efficiency, but who cares. I think I'll try this sort of thing for any session ale I brew in the future.

Does anyone use a grant on their mash tun? I'm thinking about trying to retrofit my HopRocket into a grant to prevent grain bed compaction and stuck lauter.

Forgot pic of mash tun slap full.

I'm looking forward to doing some double-5g batches ala marshmallow soon, and look forward to full volume mashing like you did. I never attempted full volume on 11g batch. That's hairy even in a 70qt cooler - and I'm usually mashing more like 20-30lbs of grain. Even as close as you got it looks nerveracking.

4:15/pretty good though...I suspect I hear a bit faster than you do (gas), and my normal undrunk brewday is like 430-445. I think 4h is a reasonable goal now that I finally got a rolling chest of drawers for my mash tuns to rest atop. Reorganization was fun today. Everything has a place and setup should be super fast. Just need to empty fermenters now and I can try it all out.