I wanna go AG!

[larin1477]

Can anyone point me in the right direction ...ie various texts and such...on all grain brewing...is it that much harder than what im doing now?...currently I am using extract with specialty grains...any help will be appreciated...thanks in advance to all

[Cosmic Charlie]

I'm sure others can help you out with the AG, but here's some info for an "intermediate" step - mini-mashing:

http://www.byo.com/feature/1536.html

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Cosmic Charlie
I'm sure others can help you out with the AG, but here's some info for an "intermediate" step - mini-mashing:

http://www.byo.com/feature/1536.html

I personally skipped mini-mashing. It just seemed like a PITA for me. Check out HowToBrew.com (http://howtobrew.com) and do some reading on the all-grain chapters.

[hooky]

I made the jump to AG at Christmas. howtobrew.com was a great help as was this site and some other things I found.

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/index.php

http://www.weekendbrewer.com/startwithallgrain.htm

http://www.listermann.com/Store/WannaMash.asp


http://www.midwestsupplies.com/faq/all_grain_faq.asp

For me a lot of the fun of doing this has been the hands on portion of buidling what I needed. I've got a boatload of those links too if you want them.

[barleyburps]

I may not be the right one to give you advice, because I started out all grain years ago, and would not consider doing anything but. I think it has a lot to do with a persons personality. My philosophy is with all grain, the beer you make is undisputably yours. Other than growing the hops and growing and malting the barley, nobody else has any say in the outcome of your beer.

I am not at any point putting down anybody who brews from extract, as I'm sure they are able to get as good of a beer as someone who does all grain. Perhaps sometimes better.

To answer your question, is it worth it. . . . All grain requires a full day set aside for brewing, and a bit more equipment. In the long run, if you're willing to spend the time on initial money, all grain can be cheaper than extract, or buying commercial craft beer.

good luck on your decision. . .

[dparsons]

If you can pour 165 *F degree water into a cooler, mix in grain, let it sit, and then drain it out then you can do all grain brewing. Other than that the process is the same as extract except that you don't add extract.

[hopshead]

I want to second dparsons comment. I just brewed my first all grain batch and I did on the cheap. First of all I wanted to batch sparge so I would not have to buy a hot liqour tank. My setup was a 36 quart xtreme cooler from Coleman ($32) and a very large (2' by 3') nylon mesh bag from the LHBS ($7) and that is it. I put the grains in the bag added my mash water and the cooler held the mash temp at 154 degrees F for an hour. Then I drained the mash water into a spare plastic bucket and added my sparge water to the cooler and let it set for 10 min. I used the math in Palmer's book to determine my efficiency and it looks like I was about 69%. Not bad for a cheap system, and with grain being cheap it is next to nothing to buy an extra pound or two to hit your original gravity.

[Uncle Joe]

tempting, tempting.

[Vienna Lager]

From pre-heating my tun to pitching the yeast is 4 hours. Add about 20 mins. to heat 4 gals. of strike water to about 15 degrees above your target mash temp. and start to finish is less than 4 1/2 hours. During the hour long mash and hour long boil I busy myself with any number or prodjects around the house so it is not 4 1/2 hours of wasted time.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Uncle Joe
tempting, tempting.

Do it, Do it

[Uncle Joe]

OK, you convinced me.

Expected first AG brew date: May 15

[dparsons]

Most excellent!

Do read up on the process so you understand what is happening.

[Mad Scientist]

And always remember that we are here to help....

[hooky]

Originally posted by Vienna Lager
During the hour long mash and hour long boil I busy myself with any number or prodjects around the house so it is not 4 1/2 hours of wasted time.

Repeat after me...

No time spent brewing is ever a waste of time.

No time spent brewing is ever a waste of time.

No time spent brewing is ever a waste of time.

No time spent brewing is ever a waste of time.

You might also whisper this into the ear of a sleeping SWMBO at various times in the night.

Can't hurt.

;)

[larin1477]

Same here Joe...plan on switching to AG in middle of May...hey anyone think I could get away with asking my LBSH to crush 20lbs of grain at a time to save on the grain mill for a little bit?...would that be asking too much of them?...lol

[larin1477]

Another question...is there a list somwhere of all the grains that dont need to be crushed for mashing?..

[BrewDog]

Pre-crushing grain too far ahead of time is not a good idea. The grain kind of loses its freshness, unless you can seal it up. 20 lbs of crushed grain is awful big to try to seal in a vacuum sealer.

All grains that are mashed or steeped need to be crushed.
The list you might be thinking of is a list of which grains can be steeped vs. those that must be mashed.

Here's a good page with that info. (http://www.bodensatz.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Grains)

HTH-

[dparsons]

Most LHBS's will crush grains for you. Some do it free and some charge a small fee - $.10 per lb. Like BrewDog indicated, doing it too far ahead of time isn't best. You just need to get what you need when you need it for now.

[larin1477]

Thanks for the info guys...

[larin1477]

I figured instead of a new thread Id ask this here...plan on buying an Igloo 48 qt square...but tall cooler..my question is ...to convert should I rig up a false bottom?...Im thinking some sort of screen maybe?...or is it unnecessary as I plan on converting with the plug and mesh piping....

[BrewDog]

The mesh tubing (aka ss braid) is a good way to go, especially if you will be batch sparging.

[larin1477]

My only issue here is finding a moderately priced kettle...Did I hear someone say that Aluminum imparts off flavors?...Lord I hope not...Stainless is outrageous..(price wise i mean)

[MichaelM]

Larin go to ebay and lookup stainless turkey fryers such as this
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bayou-Classic-44Qt-Stainless-Steel-Turkey-Fryer-NEW_W0QQitemZ290102243081QQihZ019QQcategoryZ20674Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or
this one looks really nice too
http://cgi.ebay.com/NAMEBRAND-DELUXE-STAINLESS-STEEL-TURKEY-FRYER-SET-30QT_W0QQitemZ270107552288QQihZ017QQcategoryZ79687 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


this is the exact one I have but I paid alot less for it (think about 89 bucks)
http://cgi.ebay.com/34-quart-Stainless-Steel-Commercial-Turkey-Fryer-Kit_W0QQitemZ330019001863QQihZ014QQcategoryZ20724Q QrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem



that way you get a kickass burner and a large stainless pot.... its what alot of us do and I don't know a single person using one that isn't happy!!! its also about half or less of the price then going and buying stuff separately lol

[larin1477]

Thanks Michael...just put a bid in on the 30 qt!

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by MichaelM
that way you get a kickass burner and a large stainless pot.... its what alot of us do and I don't know a single person using one that isn't happy!!! its also about half or less of the price then going and buying stuff separately lol

Most of use brew in the kitchen for a while, until:

1. The hobby fully takes hold, and you just have to move up in the equipment world

or

2. Wifey kicks you out fo the kitchen.

Usually both.

[Saint-Thomas]

larin: I just made the leap a few weeks ago. It really is painless. I got most of my information here, and some from John Palmer's site. I got my aluminum 15 gal kettle from the army (officially it is "checked out" and might be requested to return home someday!) but I saw a turkey fryer set-up with burner and stainless 5 gal pot for around $50 at Lowes.

I have a 48 qt cooler with a copper manifold. I didn't feel comfortable trying to rig up the bulkhead from off the shelf parts, so I bought someone's used MLT on Ebay. They had bought a bulkhead specifically made for converting coolers to brewing use, and it looked fairly simple to install. I think you can get them from Northernbrewer. My first batch, I tried a combo of fly sparging and batch sparging, because I really didn't fully understand the process, but it turned out to be the best homebrew beer I've ever tasted! My efficiency was around 69%.

I've since figured out batch sparging and use that, since it seems to go a little faster for me, and I get around 75% efficiency with it. So I already had the burner and kettle, the MLT cost $25, it wasn't a huge investment. The biggest problem for me was the mill. MY LHBS doesn't crush grain for you, so I bit the bullet and bought a crankandstein two roller mill for about $80 and a bag of maris otter and a bag of pilsener malt. With four batches under my belt, I've never looked back. Once you get organized it doesn't take much longer to do than extract.