Diving in head first!!

I finally made the decision to say screw it and just dive straight into all grain and skip the extract. I know there are those out there laughing and shaking their heads right now, but too bad, my mind's made up!! I have my mash tun rigged up (coleman cooler with ss hose braid). I bought a 30 qt turkey fryer setup today and I have a couple extra pots to heat strike and sparge with. I won't bore you with the other equipment but suffice it to say equipment wise I'm covered.

I'd like to do a Clone of my beloved Boulevard Pale since I can't get it out here in Ohio, but haven't seen any recipe's out there. In a perfect world I'd rather do the Boulevard Single Wide IPA but I'd better steer clear and save some cash should things go bad wrong! Here's a listing off Boulevard's website, can anyone help me craft a recipe from this??

STYLE: American-style Pale Ale

INGREDIENTS: Pale, Caramunich & Caravienne malts. Magnum, Cascade, Simcoe & Fruggles hops.

STARTING GRAVITY: 12.2 degrees Plato

ALCOHOL: 4.2% by weight, 5.4% by volume

BITTERNESS UNITS: 31 IBUs

AVERAGE EBC COLOR: 20

I may be naive but I make up for that with inexperience!!:rockin:

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. It is not so uncommon to start with All Grain and I don't think anyone will shake their head.

It sounds like you have done some homework but just keep an eye on the numbers and the boil. If you are doing 5 gallon batches in that 30 Qt pot, you are going to have to watch very closely for boil overs. I boil 5 gallon batches in a 13 (52 Qt) gallon pot for example. A little over kill but it was cheap.

I have not had this beer before either so I am sorry I can't be much help in that department.

I'm hoping my LHBS has some fermcap drops to help in the overflow department. I'm putting everything into Beersmith to see if I can play with the numbers and get somewhere close. The turkey fryer is a temporary setup as I am waiting to get my keggles welded up and I think I just heard the mailmain drop my SS fittings in the mailbox That was fast!! Ordered the fittings late Tuesday!! Thanks to Stainless Steel NPT Pipe Fittings, Valves, High Pressure and Tube Fittings - 304 and 316 !! Anywho, back to the Beersmith to play around with the numbers!

Thanks for the encouragement!

I may be naive but I make up for that with inexperience!!:rockin:

EuBrew said:

I finally made the decision to say screw it and just dive straight into all grain and skip the extract. I know there are those out there laughing and shaking their heads right now, but too bad, my mind's made up!!

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I'm not laughing. So many times new brewers spend money on stuff they'll eventually upgrade or don't need. It's a waste of money. I say if you're really serious about homebrewing, jump in with both hands and feet. You'll save in the long run buy not buying some of the dumb equipment that's pawned off on people new to the hobby.

Now if you're not sure homebrewing is what you want to do. That's another story.

Good luck. One suggestion, though... do you have a friend or anyone local who can "hold your hand" (figuratively, unless it's mutual, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I digress...) for your first brew or two? It may not be necessary, but it might help you relax and learn.

I helped my GF do her first beer, a partial mash, and then her second, a full mash, doing a wheat beer both times. I had just started all-grain a couple months earlier, but had (about five years ago) been an extract brewer. Now, if she wants to brew, she kicks me out of the kitchen since I tend to start doing things to "help" out of habit.

Good luck, you'll be fine.

Do you and friends there that are going to brew with you, I find it helpful to have someone else around when brewing.

The only thing that looks like it will eventually end up being pawned off is the turkey fryer setup since I'd like to go all electric at some point. I've been wanting to do this since college like 15 years ago, just never had a place to do it, now I do!!

Fortunatley for me my GF is as into beer as I am. She is listed in my Beersmith program as my assistant so things should be interesting/fun/fine. Not sure this is something my Mother would like to hear but I finally found a use for my Chem minor from college

Welcome from Ohio. Me and TheGuy (from hilliard) had a group brew a couple weeks ago. We'd be down for another person. You could bring your equipment down and brew with us.

IrregularPulse said:

Welcome from Ohio. Me and TheGuy (from hilliard) had a group brew a couple weeks ago. We'd be down for another person. You could bring your equipment down and brew with us.

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I appreciate the invite and will definitely take you up on that after I have a session or 2 under my belt! Are you the guy who posted something on craigslist recently about a brew club?

Rock on Man!

i went from brewing 1 extract batch to a full HERMS rig.. welcome to the club

EuBrew said:

The only thing that looks like it will eventually end up being pawned off is the turkey fryer setup since I'd like to go all electric at some point. I've been wanting to do this since college like 15 years ago, just never had a place to do it, now I do!!

Fortunatley for me my GF is as into beer as I am. She is listed in my Beersmith program as my assistant so things should be interesting/fun/fine. Not sure this is something my Mother would like to hear but I finally found a use for my Chem minor from college

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You're lucky... my GF went into Beersmith and made herself the head brewer, with ME as the assistant. She's such a wise-ass...

Tell your mom she's lucky you're not cooking meth or something... that is, if you don't cook meth. :cross:

EuBrew said:

I appreciate the invite and will definitely take you up on that after I have a session or 2 under my belt! Are you the guy who posted something on craigslist recently about a brew club?

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Just let me know, or I'll let you know when we're meeting up again.
Craigslist wasn't me

Going to the Brew at the Zoo on the 28th?

Good luck, I'm in Columbus too. If you need yeast, I've got a few strains frozen as I can't stand the LHBS.

Welcome to the board...

I dont think anyone here will shake thier head at you for starting with all grain brewing. Really, it isnt that hard, temperature, time and drain... bingo.

I started with all grain a few years back, and didnt have this forum or any brewing friends to offer assistance. You'll do fine. Just plan your day and take your time.

Great job, if I could go back I might have done the same thing...I have a few somewhat useless brew parts. I didn't doubt my devotion to beer, just didn't think ahead.

4 months, 70 gallons, and a keezer full of kegs later...I've learned my lesson lol. Just now getting into All-grain.

humann_brewing said:

If you are doing 5 gallon batches in that 30 Qt pot, you are going to have to watch very closely for boil overs.

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I second that. I'm doing 5g in a 34 qt pot, and its too small IMO.

You need to buy foam control drops with that small of a BK.

Thanks for the responses everyone! I posted some observations here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/1st-all-grain-observations-131599/

I did have a very small boilover because I didn't have my spray bottle primed and I was taking a picture of my first brew buddy, a bug of some sort made it's way into the BK, more protein right? I'll probably order some fermcap when I order supplies for my next brew. I'm working on getting the Keggle MLT ready for my next brew and possibly the Keggle BK, depending on cash flow.

cash flow shmash flow...the government will bail you out if you get in over your head...they did for everyone else...

I think more people would laugh at you for buying equipment for extract not looking ahead to all-grain......

I wish I knew the differences between all-grain & extract when buying my initial equipment. It could have saved me a few bucks.

At the time I was brewing my first batch or two, all-grain was like the holy grail of brewing. I had no idea what it meant or what it was, just that it was awesome and I could not do it lol.

Then I read more about it and thought .................. "wow, that is it?"

Additional equipment soon followed ...............

Awesome. I converted to AG on my third batch, because my mash tun wasn't complete when I was ready to brew my second batch.

When you get the keggle setup, your 30qt pot will make a nice HLT. It's convenient to have two pots because then you can sparge directly into the boil kettle and put a low flame under it, by the time you are done running off the boil will start if you get the flame just right!

I felt the same way and so I went straight into AG. Very glad I did.

Any suggestions on hole placement for my keggle mash tun? I plan on going all electric HERMS eventually but will be making due with the gas for now. Don't really plan on doing any step mashing until I get to the electric. I've got my holes figured out and drilled for the BK :rockin: Found a welder that will put in my fittings for about $40 per keg.

I think I may just transfer my large braided ss from my POS cooler to my keggle MLT until I have the cash for a false bottom. I say POS cooler not because of eff but because the drain sits on an angle that causes the valve to hit the ground so it has to be elevated to get the hose on it and not have all the weight on the valve.

Going back and forth on having a sight glass on the MLT, lots say it causes problems with grains getting in, and if you've got your measurements from the HLT do you really need one on the MLT?

EuBrew said:

Any suggestions on hole placement for my keggle mash tun? I plan on going all electric HERMS eventually but will be making due with the gas for now. Don't really plan on doing any step mashing until I get to the electric. I've got my holes figured out and drilled for the BK :rockin: Found a welder that will put in my fittings for about $40 per keg.

I think I may just transfer my large braided ss from my POS cooler to my keggle MLT until I have the cash for a false bottom. I say POS cooler not because of eff but because the drain sits on an angle that causes the valve to hit the ground so it has to be elevated to get the hose on it and not have all the weight on the valve.

Going back and forth on having a sight glass on the MLT, lots say it causes problems with grains getting in, and if you've got your measurements from the HLT do you really need one on the MLT?

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I dont have problems with grains getting into my sight gauge on my MLT

I do have sight gauges on both MLT and HLT. Sight gauges on my MLT and HLT ran under $4 each... it is nice to be able to verify fluid level in each tun, independently. Also, the more plumbing you place between your HLT and MLT, the more fluid you are going to lose... so even if you pump 16 quarts from your HLT, you wont have 16 quarts in your MLT.

I went straight to AG as well. Someone gave me a Coopers kit after I made my first AG batch because they heard I brewed some beer. I found it didn't taste really good and it seemed too. easy. I actually enjoy the work involved with AG

Houston we have lift off!!! :rockin: Barely 3 piece airlock was stuck at the top, think I may have overfilled it and I have a few bubbles on the top of the wort. Replaced the airlock with one I had sitting in sanitizer anyway. Hopefully when I get up tomorrow I'll have some major yeast action!! Thanks again to everyone for the info and encouragement. I'm thinking I may have to get a couple more carboys and start planning my next brew session!!

Awesome that you just made the jump. Once you go all grain you rarely go back. Cheers to your first tasty brew!

I skipped the extract brewing as well and went right for the AG, I also jumped over the bottling and just keg everything. its good to hear of your success and also having the drive to make your own equipment, I made most all of my gear as well. pretty fun tinkering with the process and the equipment. keeps me out of trouble!