Do not fear all-grain brewing.
Intro
There have been lots of threads (recently and historically) about concerns with consistency and accuracy in all-grain brewing. Stuck sparges, missed mash temps, volume control problems (collected too much/not enough, mash wouldn’t fit in tun, etc.), and my favorite, inconsistent efficiency, seem to be commonplace. I suppose those fears/issues are what keep people away from all-grain brewing - nonsense. This may be unusual, but I enjoy the brewing more than the drinking. The feeling of control and craft you get while brewing from grain can not be matched. This will be a bit cumbersome, but I thought it would be nice to put together a “little” all-grain primer. It may have been done before, but I wanted an opportunity to offer my own thoughts and ideas, while passing along some of the best information I have come across. I have learned a lot from this site, and I thought it would be appropriate to contribute something useful to the next group of brewers coming into the hobby. Some thoughts are semi-original, others are simply regurgitated from reliable sources. At this point, it is hard for me to distinguish between the two.
My AG primer will break this process down to four parts; the crush, the mash, the sparge, and a little bonus, “common pitfalls”. Once the wort is in the kettle, you are on your own. I’ll explain what works for me, and why. For full disclosure, I run a continuous (fly) sparge on a 5G system. My mash tun and hot liquor tank are both igloo coolers, which obviously, can not be directly heated. My experiences will obviously be tailored to my system, but the principles can still be helpful for a batch sparger or someone with a direct fired mash tun. Proof-reading this, I believe the principles apply regardless of how complex or simple your brew house is. Tailoring nuances are part of the fun of this hobby – so good luck there.
It will become obvious that I am a bit of a process junkie. This primer leans heavily on a repeatable, well planned process. A brewer who enjoys a more artisanal – no two batches are the same – approach may not see this information as valuable. That’s okay. On the other hand, to a new all-grain brewer, or to someone who wants to be able to repeat a recipe, I hope you find my tips and experiences to be of use.
Please give me a few minutes to get things copied and pasted, and then I would be happy to hear anyone’s thoughts, questions, or additional contributions.
Joe
Intro
There have been lots of threads (recently and historically) about concerns with consistency and accuracy in all-grain brewing. Stuck sparges, missed mash temps, volume control problems (collected too much/not enough, mash wouldn’t fit in tun, etc.), and my favorite, inconsistent efficiency, seem to be commonplace. I suppose those fears/issues are what keep people away from all-grain brewing - nonsense. This may be unusual, but I enjoy the brewing more than the drinking. The feeling of control and craft you get while brewing from grain can not be matched. This will be a bit cumbersome, but I thought it would be nice to put together a “little” all-grain primer. It may have been done before, but I wanted an opportunity to offer my own thoughts and ideas, while passing along some of the best information I have come across. I have learned a lot from this site, and I thought it would be appropriate to contribute something useful to the next group of brewers coming into the hobby. Some thoughts are semi-original, others are simply regurgitated from reliable sources. At this point, it is hard for me to distinguish between the two.
My AG primer will break this process down to four parts; the crush, the mash, the sparge, and a little bonus, “common pitfalls”. Once the wort is in the kettle, you are on your own. I’ll explain what works for me, and why. For full disclosure, I run a continuous (fly) sparge on a 5G system. My mash tun and hot liquor tank are both igloo coolers, which obviously, can not be directly heated. My experiences will obviously be tailored to my system, but the principles can still be helpful for a batch sparger or someone with a direct fired mash tun. Proof-reading this, I believe the principles apply regardless of how complex or simple your brew house is. Tailoring nuances are part of the fun of this hobby – so good luck there.
It will become obvious that I am a bit of a process junkie. This primer leans heavily on a repeatable, well planned process. A brewer who enjoys a more artisanal – no two batches are the same – approach may not see this information as valuable. That’s okay. On the other hand, to a new all-grain brewer, or to someone who wants to be able to repeat a recipe, I hope you find my tips and experiences to be of use.
Please give me a few minutes to get things copied and pasted, and then I would be happy to hear anyone’s thoughts, questions, or additional contributions.
Joe