Handy Masher

[MmmBeer]

Hi guys, I've been on brewing hiatus (also known as purgatory) since I began my move to law school. Now I'm settled and thinking of kicking it up a notch, to partial mash. I saw this item on Heart's Homebrew, my nearest HBS, and it looked like a good (affordable) deal, any suggestions. See item here:
http://www.heartshomebrew.com/home_brew_beer.cgi?cart_id=5481915.31383*Yr3Uq6&p_id=9003&xm=on&ppinc=dave2full

Any input would be welcomed!

[Beerconnoisseur]

It's probably nice for the price, but bear in mind it only has up to 6 lbs. of grain capacity. This can be a problem if you want to switch to all-grain later. Most all-grain batches (of 5 gal.) will have 8 lbs. of grain at a minimum, so unless you like doing multiple-mash-sparge cycles, I would go with a bigger mash tun, like MoreBeer's H704. It's not *too* much more expensive.

And, if I had it to do over again, I would definitely skip partial mashing, and go straight to all-grain. Cleanup is much easier, IMHO!

[MmmBeer]

Yeah, I really want to go partial before I go full. If I waste 22$ that's not a big deal to me as long as the thing works. I want to keep it partial mash/extract because I am not to familiar with all the rests and other stuff involved in full mash. This will leave some room for error in my intial ventures (if I don't get enough out of the grain then I still get the extract).

[MmmBeer]

One more question, on the morebeer mash tun (i took a look, it's about 85$ so it is a considerable larger investment) what do you use for sparging? A sparge arm? What else would work? Trying to move slowly into grain without investing too much.

[Beerconnoisseur]

For MoreBeer's mash tun, you'd use a rotating sparge arm, AG410 (which is about $13). You might have to rotate it by hand, but it works well enough besides that.

The complete all-grain system, B3-150, is $165, but includes mash tun, sparge tank, and you can even add a probe thermometer for $55.

All-grain isn't too hard; most mashes are single infusion, which means you try to hit one temperature (usually around 154 degrees F), and if you miss, oh well. It's not the end of the world, but it can be a little tricky, since even if your water is heated to, say, 168-170 degrees, you will typically "lose" 14-16 degrees when you mix the cooler grains in. You keep the grain at those temps for an hour, then you rinse with 170 degree F water. Finally, you do a full/partial boil with your sweet wort as normal.

Later on, you can get into step mashes, decoction mashes, etc. But you certainly don't have to begin with those when you are starting out.

The biggest upside to all-grain brewing is you have complete control over the final product. The biggest downside is, if you want to consistently produce beer that tastes a certain way, then the temperature you mash at plays a factor, and close does count, in this case. But remember, the oldest recipes known to mankind are for beer, so getting good results isn't exactly rocket science. ;)

[ray m]

Mmmbeer...I, too, considered just stepping up to partial mashing when I wanted to upgrade my brewing procedures. But after seeing & helping my neighbor do an all-grain batch, I decided that just simply jumping to all grain was the way to go. I was of the frame of mind at one point that I had absolutely NO intention of going all grain, but I am so glad I did. It is NOT hard...as beerconn said, just stick with single infusion mashes and all will be fine. If your worried about equipment investment, look up listermann.com and go to "phil's lauter tun" under their mashing & sparging equip. link. I got this complete set-up for $44.95---it's all you really need, unless you do what I did & go to wal-mart to get a decent sized picnic cooler for a mash tun for another $20 & you are set. I agree with beerconn that the morebeer stuff looks awesome, and I may step up my equipment in the future, but for budget-minded folks the "phil's" set-up is great.

[YamahaXS]

I am getting a little more open to the idea of all-grain. I built a wort chiller last weekend to this end. Going to do a full boil next, then maybe, might try an all grain.

[MmmBeer]

I was thinking of using a wort chiller, but right now I just use BIG peices of frozen, sanitized water. I freeze it in sanitized tupperware bowls, with sanitized lids. If you have lots of freezer space it works out well, and the ice cools stuff down considerably without the mess of racking through the wort chiller. Maybe this is just for newbies but it's worked great so far.
Thanks for the tips guys, one last question(s): How do you know if you need temp stops? Are some recipes more reliant on them? Is consistency the only issue?

[toneyc]

B3, heh, I finally got it. Heh heh! Beer cubed, Beer, Beer, and More Beer.

:D
Toney.

[ray m]

I believe, mmmbeer, that temperature rests (step infusion) during the mash are mainly for lager recipes that use lager/pilsner malt as the base...something about these malts not being modified enough, so you gotta do temperature rests/step increases during the mash. Recipes stipulate this, usually. I have no expereince about doing these, though, since I am, currently, strictly an ale brewer. All I've done are single infusion mashes where you heat the mash water to 170* to 175*, add your grain, mix very well to remove lumps, and if the resultant temperature of the mash is between 150* and 158*, all's well & you wait an hour, that's it. Make the plunge!

[Beerconnoisseur]

Palmer goes into how/why you would want to do a step/decoction mash, as opposed to a simple infusion mash. If you'd like to read more about how to do one, click here. (http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter16.html)

The full explanations for these temperature ranges/rests is explained in depth here. (http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14.html)

ray m is a wise man to agree with me on much of the all-grain equipment. ;) The one thing I would add, is that sometimes the most economical equipment can be had by making it yourself. Depending on how much spare time vs. money you have, as well as how much of a DIY guy you are, you can create things which fit your favorite brewing method and beer styles.