dmbnpj

Recipes 

So we have acquired 2 kegs and converted them to keggles. We have also made a hop bag (to make straining easier). We have 2 turkey frier burners we can use. We also have a cooler we can convert into a mash tun. We have also made a counterflow chiller. What we dont have is a march 809 pump. We also dont have the stainless steel spigot fittings that will go on the keggles and the cooler. My question is, is there a way we can do an AG brew with this setup like it is by possibly siphoning or some other method? Or, do we need the stainless spigot fittings and the march 809 pump before we brew?

Yooper

Recipes 

You have WAY more than I have! I have a 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom, with a ballvalve added. I have a turkey fryer, a wort chiller, and a smaller kettle for heating my water. I have some miscellaneous tubing. That's about it.

Many other brewers have automated systems, HERMS systems, etc, but you can AG in a bucket if you really want to.

Take a look at howtobrew.com (the all-grain section) to see the basic "how to" of brewing your first AG batch. It's much easier than you think!

Edit- here's the link: http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/index.html

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

Denny's Evil Concoctions

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Yes, you can batch sparge and siphon the wort out of the mash tun into the kettle for now. You can add a plastic spigot if you want. Also you can use brass for your keggle fittings. (this is where the SS purists will chime in).

Cheap and easy weldless fitting. 3/4 - 1/2" brass bushing with a 3/4 lock nut (home depot has both) and a o-ring on the inside. Brass nipple to brass 1/2" ball valve.





Cheapest place for a brass head march 809hs was http://www.homebrewing.org/March-Pump-125_p_1015.html for $135. You can find the plastic head for cheaper elsewhere, but brass is harder to strip the MNPT ends.

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I may not be an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express........ 6 months ago.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/dennys-quick-dirty-faq-153729/#post1766281

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dmbnpj

Recipes 

Very interesting on the brass way to go. Little confused though. Lowes and Home Depot are right up the street so if I can go there instead of buying online I would like to save some $$$. All the fittings online were going to be around $85 or so going the stainless route.

So, would I be drilling a 1/2" hole in the kegs?

android

Recipes 

the hole size depends on whatever size weldless fittings you end up using. also, you'll probably need some high temp o-rings (the red silicone ones are the preferred ones around here it seems, and online is about the only place to find those). i think i've read others have done it with other o-rings. drilling a hole in a keg is best done with a pilot hole, a step bit, and some lubrication.

check here (Bargain Fittings) if you don't want to stand in the plumbing aisle at HD for like an hour trying to figure out exactly what parts you need. and honestly, you'll probably spend less money if you just buy the pre-made fitting from the website.

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kegged: Blonde, Maibock, Schwarzbier, Oak Aged Dark Belgian

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dmbnpj

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yeah, thats the website i was looking at where all the fittings I will need will cost around $85 or more! was trying to go the cheaper route since so many other items we need are going to cost $$$. trying to save where possible.

SumnerH

Recipes 

You can do all-grain with the brew-in-a-bag method for maybe $10 if you have a big pot and gas burner already, and people get 80% efficiency that way with a little practice. Everything past that is just bonus (though some sort of chiller would be high on my list).

The Brewing Network: How to go from Extract to AG for < $10.00

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On deck: Little Bo Pils, Bretta Off Dead (Brett pale)
Secondary: Oude Bruin, Red Sky at Morning (Sour brown ale)
On tap: Saison Duphunk (sour), Amarillo Slim (IPA), Earl White (ginger/bergamot wit)
Bottled: Number 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale), Eternale (Barleywine), Ancho Villa (Ancho/pasilla/chocolate/cinnamon RIS), Oak smoked porter (1/2 maple bourbon oaked, 1/2 apple brandy oaked)

android

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you can definitely siphon, that would be the cheapest route possible i believe. i think at the minimum, you should make up a bulkhead for the mash cooler so you can drain it, you can get all those parts are HD, look at one of the mash tun cooler threads, the parts should all be listed somewhere.

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kegged: Blonde, Maibock, Schwarzbier, Oak Aged Dark Belgian

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dmbnpj

Recipes 

How do you siphon, and with what, since that wort is going to be super hot?

android

Recipes 

sorry, i misread the OP. i thought you had an immersion chiller. i guess without the pump for CF chiller, siphoning might be a problem.

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kegged: Blonde, Maibock, Schwarzbier, Oak Aged Dark Belgian

ebay temp controller | thermostat temp controller