Man Hours

[millerag]

Have any of you figured out the amount of man hours it takes to make a batch of beer in your system? From beginning to end... I know that there are many variables that can go into beer production.... but was hoping to get some ballpark ideas.

Cheers
Alan

[GlacierBrewing]

Hiya Millerag,
I figure 6.5 hours wort production, 20 minutes tank sanitation (this is done during other duties so it is not completely devoted to the tank), 2 hours wort maintenance and filter/transfer, and 30 minutes carbonation (again it is done during other duties). All told around 9.5 hours for one tank of beer. This is hugely variable as many duties overlap and we do A LOT of multi-tasking.
But there's your starting point.

prost!
Dave

[jvandenbrink]

racking.

I agree with dave. but I would also throw in racking time. Depending on your setup and how big your tanks are this could be anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 hours.

[BrewinLou]

I calculated from the time it takes to put a malt order in, unload the truck, mill in, you get the idea. I did not overlap any labor, which we obviously do multitask on almost every step of the way. But my total to have grain come in to having beer in a bottle or keg on a truck sitting in the street was 40 hours per 30 bbl batch. Packaging added quite a bit of labor, two guys packaging and one on a fork lift every now and again.

[Sulfur]

10

I usually shoot for 10 hours from Mash in to Wort Cooling finish for a "regular" beer. As mentioned, there are many variables.

[millerag]

Thanks

Thanks for the responses they have helped. I guess what it really comes down to is that the hours can really vary depending on system set up and volume of production. I am beginning to think it was a dumb question.