All Grain Equipment

[BeerBelly]

I had the good fortune to meet someone last night. He was an All Grain Brewer before he had children but still has all of the equipment. He has offered to let me use his stuff until he can get back into brewing. So for the small fee of sharing some brew, I am set up in All Grain.
I thought it would be a while before I made this step up, he said it isnt too much harder than partial mash. My wife is excited too, I wont be spending "comma money" on beer gear, anytime soon.

BB

[Stodbrew]

Nicely done! Let the games begin!

[Fast_Eddy]

If you're anywhere near Austin, TX I'll gladly give you the one day all grain clinic.

[Caffinehog]

If UT Austin had accepted me into grad school, I'd gladly take your all-grain clinic.

[BeerBelly]

If you're anywhere near Austin, TX I'll gladly give you the one day all grain clinic.

Thank You Fast Eddy, I may take you up on that. It will be a little while before I can do anything, we are building a house and it has been time consuming.


BB

[OldHooky]

That's a nice way to get stuff. This happened to me before I started brewing. I was at a customers house one day, and the subject of homebrewing came up and I told him that I was thinking about doing it. Next thing I know, he's loading all this gear into my truck. Carboy, bottles, bottle rack, capper, fermenting bucket, bottle caps, ect. Sorta gave me a kick start.

[BeerBelly]

It does make it easier to get started. Especially when you arent sure if it is an investment you want to make, or something you will stick with. I am bad about getting real excited about something, gearing up, doing it for a short time and never touching it again. IE the back pack, and gear in the garage. IE the guitar in the closet. ETC ETC

Of Course beer is a bit different, I am going to drink whether I buy it or make it!!!

BB

I drink therefore I get drunk- BB:D

[toneyc]

Same thing here. I was standing in the hallway at work, talking to the guy two doors down about maybe starting to homebrew when the guy in the office between us says he has all the stuff that he doesn't use anymore and that I'm welcome to borrow it for a batch or two. It got me started and I never looked back! That was just over 3 years ago, and I brewed my third all-grain batch last weekend. I should have brewed this weekend, but I didn't realize that I would empty three kegs this weekend. I'm in trouble.

:)
Toney.

[OldHooky]

It's funny. I brew about a batch a week, and I always seem to be running out. I just brewed my fifth all grain batch. How many batches did you brew with extract. After my 1st batch, I started planning to switch to all grain. I brewed four using extract. I helped my brother in law brew his first batch a couple of weeks ago using extracts. It felt like making a cake from a box versus making one from scratch. Didn't seem right.

[Fast_Eddy]

Here's something funny(to us brewers anyway) - I've been occassionally using extract batches as my yeast propagation mechanism. That way I get a super-sized yeast starter in a week and also 5 gallons of good beer.

[OldHooky]

I still haven't had the nerve to propagate yeast to use in a batch. I've made it a couple of times, just to see how to do it. But I didn't use it. Maybe next time.

[toneyc]

Let's see, there are 52 weeks in a year, divide by 2 is 26, times 3 is 78, plus the odd additional weekend... I brewed about 90-100 extract batches before going to all grain. I really didn't have any plans to go to all grain, the jargon is very confusing, some of the RIMS and brew sculptures that people have are just way over the top. So I was extremely excited to find that you could do it without all that *stuff*, you could do it with a bucket and a false bottom! OK, now where was I going with this? Oh, like this weekend, for example. I'm in a crunch, I will probably do a couple of extract batches back-to-back just to get a couple of batches in the pipeline. The thing about having 6 corny kegs in the freezer and drinking off them round robin is that 3-4 of them can go empty at once! Imagine my shock and dismay at emptying 3 kegs last weekend and finding a fourth almost empty!

:)
Toney.

[OldHooky]

I've been considering getting a keg system. I'll probably wait until I have an extra fridge. My thought was to brew ten gallon batches, bottle half and keg the other. I give away alot of beer, so I don't think I can ever get away from bottling all together.

[DarCoop]

I have a question for the keggers in here- Did your beer consumption go up when you switched from bottles to kegs. I know beer seems to go down so much easier when it is on tap and with it always on tap, I am afraid I will "grab a quick one" more often ot top off my glass...

[toneyc]

No, not all at once. I think it was the Imperial Pint glasses that did it. I was thinking last night, "I've only had three beers" and then I did the math, 3x20=60, 60/12=5. So I had the equivilant of 5 regular 12oz beers. But I'm still brewing every other weekend with the occasional third weekend thrown in every now and then, so I don't really think my consumption has increased all that much. I just don't have three pints every night!

:)
Toney.