Easy Stovetop All-Grain Brewing (with pics)

DeathBrewer said:

sure. it would work the same as a stockpot.

i would try to HIT my temp when i added grain and then MAINTAIN with oven.

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won't the grain drop the water temp? I was thinking of having water above desired temp., and add to grain because of anticipated water temp drop.

Thanks for letting me pick your brain

yes, sorry if that was unclear. you want it to be above your mash temp (usually about 12°F above, in my experience) so that when you add the grains and stir, you are right where you want to be.

The point is, you want to try and calculate so that when you drop the grains in and stir it up, you are at your desired temp. cooling/heating after the grains are in there is a real pain.

GroovePuppy said:

Planning Oakham JHB for my next batch and my LHBS doesn't sell Extra Light DME. This seems like a good way to get the results without building a mash tun.

So when I plug the details into BeerSmith is this the profile called "Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge"? (The recipe calls for 2 row Pale Malt which I assume means light body.) For a 7.8lb grain bill it suggests 9.78QT @ 161F.

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beersmiths mashing stuff is kind of confusing and really doesn't help much wit the way i do things.

i'm assuming light body means that you have enough water so it isn't really THICK, but i may be wrong. i'm sure it has nothing to do with the grain type.

that looks just fine, tho...but the temp will depend on your equipment and circumstances.

DeathBrewer said:

beersmiths mashing stuff is kind of confusing and really doesn't help much wit the way i do things.

i'm assuming light body means that you have enough water so it isn't really THICK, but i may be wrong. i'm sure it has nothing to do with the grain type.

that looks just fine, tho...but the temp will depend on your equipment and circumstances.

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No, light body, in this instance, refers strictly to the mash temp. At between 148 and 152 you get "light body" 154 "medium body" and 156 - 158 "Full body"

Since you quote your target originally, Death, as 154, I assume you are aiming for the midground of effectiveness between the two enzymes and medium body.

ahh...gotcha. that makes sense and indeed i was shooting for "medium body" for the banana bread! i usually make my beer more dry, shooting for the 150-152 range.

DeathBrewer said:

yep! that's a good way to boil down a large volume:

i don't like to do that, tho, because cooling is a PITA.

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True. On both counts. My last brew was a strong Belgian with 16 # grainbill for a 5.5 G batch. I collected 9 gallon of wort and boiled in two pots to 6 in 90 minutes. Worked great.

At the end I carefully transferred both to my 10 gallon pot with an IC and cooled it in 15 minutes. PITA, yes, but it works during the cold months. Actually I am getting a new Viking cooktop for X'mas from the wife so this will all be moot for me in the near future.

For the JHB I think the "Light Body" is the one @150F for a real low SRM like the commercial version.

One thing I realized you don't get with this method is the filtration. The cooler mash tun instructions I've seen show the wort recirculated before taking the runnings. Do you have another way of clarifying or do you just make cloudier beers?

Planning on getting a turkey fryer after Turkey Day. Now I know what I'm doing with the extra pot I'll end up with! :rockin:

GroovePuppy said:

For the JHB I think the "Light Body" is the one @150F for a real low SRM like the commercial version.

One thing I realized you don't get with this method is the filtration. The cooler mash tun instructions I've seen show the wort recirculated before taking the runnings. Do you have another way of clarifying or do you just make cloudier beers?

Planning on getting a turkey fryer after Turkey Day. Now I know what I'm doing with the extra pot I'll end up with! :rockin:

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I do a combo of irish moss, cold crashing, and gelatin in the kegs and I've gotten absolutely clear beer with similar methods that DB has described.

all you are doing with recirculation or "vorlaufing" is getting the grain and particles out of the wort. the bags i've seen and used have a fine enough mesh, much more so than you would get from a false bottom or even a coil. not much gets through and it sets a grain bed up in its own way...it always pours through the bottom of the bag, after all.

if you have TOO much grain in the boil, you could get some tannins or astringency. this is why you vorlauf, not for clarity. but anything in the boil will fall out in the primary after fermentation regardless. this is not a problem with this method, anyway...i do not notice any difference between this and my batches using the other method.

now, if you want a brilliantly clean, extra clear ale, you CAN go to extremes. a friend of mine filters at every stage. he vorlaufs and has an inline filter for the mash. he recirculates and has a filter for the boil, and he sometimes filters after fermentation is complete (with a wine plate filter.) this makes some great beer with excellent clarity and they are indeed very smooth. however, it is a lot of work and i could get very close using my method and simply filtering after fermentation is complete. it just depends on how anal retentive you want to be.

in any case, my beers certainly aren't cloudy, the SMaSH i have on the counter now has brilliant clarity after only two weeks in the primary...i can see the whole bottom bit of trub

DeathBrewer said:

i'm not sure what you mean by the stainless. you can use any type of pot you want. i left my equipment locked at my friends house once and had a friend bring over a couple ceramic pots to use.

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I mean I've heard that you shouldn't boil your wort in an aluminum pot, so only ceramic or stainless steel stockpots should be used. I can't remember the reason... something to do with acidity?

i'd run a search on this forum "aluminum vs. stainless steel" and you will find a lot of argument that aluminum works just fine.

i've always been a fan of stainless steel just because it's way cooler

from everything i've read, you can mash and boil in aluminum...no problem.

(EDIT: you can boil in aluminum...whoops!)

well holy crap! I didn't know it was one of those subjects people actually argue over... I thought it was one that was pretty much unanimously decided on. I will have to check that out. Using a cheap aluminum pot compared to a 75 dollar stainless pot would be great

So I definitely want to try this method, but the only problem is I have a 30 qt pot and a 16 qt pot. Is there any way it would be possible using this equipment? Or do I need a bigger pot?

I think I'm going to add your Vienna/Northern Brewer SMaSH to my too brew list but I will use one of my MLTs. What advantage does this method have over just using a MLT? My stove top has a microwave over it so close that my 30 quart pot doesn't fit anyway.

Hey DB, thanks for the advice in my thread earlier, I used this method today.

I added both pans to 4 gallons added some (9#) DME and had a full boil in the garage. Cant wait to taste this, and to try more batches of other recipes.

Ben25 said:

So I definitely want to try this method, but the only problem is I have a 30 qt pot and a 16 qt pot. Is there any way it would be possible using this equipment? Or do I need a bigger pot?

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you could do a smaller batch, or a lighter ABV beer, or you could do a partial mash. basically, you are limited to the amount of grain you can use by the size of your pot.

there are other ways, tho. you could mash in your larger pot, then heat up the sparge water in your small pot. after you mash is done, you can sparge by pouring the sparge water over the grains in a colander. this method is not as effective as the tea-bag method of dunking the grains, but it does work.

Conroe said:

I think I'm going to add your Vienna/Northern Brewer SMaSH to my too brew list but I will use one of my MLTs. What advantage does this method have over just using a MLT? My stove top has a microwave over it so close that my 30 quart pot doesn't fit anyway.

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no advantage, except convenience. i just wanted to show people that you don't need all this fancy equipment to do an all-grain batch.

definitely try out my SMaSH. it's the bomb

Great thread. I've only done two batches of extract but felt like I would try your partial mash technique next. After reading this it seems like I should give this a shot instead. Is it too big a jump in technique?

Also, FYI for those looking to get a second large pot. If you prefer SS over aluminum, the 30 Qt turkey fryer kits at Sports Authority (in my area anyway) come in both varieties and cost less than $40.

i use a 30 qt pot for almost all my 5 gallon batches, no matter which method i use. that'll work great.

check out my PM thread...i think it's probably best to start with that.

no matter what, you can't read too much before you move forward. the more you know, the better off your first go will be.

DB, I think I'm going to try EdWort's Haus Ale (all grain) using the stove top method. Any tips for mash water volume and sparge water volume?

I'm going to mash on my stove and sparge/boil on a propane burner outside. Any suggestions or tips are welcome.

I'm a bit new to this and I don't quite understand the water/grain relationship for mashing and sparging.

Thanks!

ok, i'm assuming you are talking about this grain bill:

8 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
2 lbs. Vienna Malt
0.5 lb. Crystal 10L Malt

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if you are using a 5 gallon pot, i would suggest 3.25 gallons of water for your mash. that's 1.24qt/lb and 4.09 gallons, according to promash. leave you just enough headspace...enough room to do your work.

as for sparge...go with as much water as you can. if you can boil 6+ gallons, go with 4+ gallon sparge.

for batch sparging, you're basically running as much hot water through the grains as you can to extract more sugars. very basic interpretation, but that's the jist.

let me know if you run into any trouble...i don't seem to leave this place

Perfect, thanks man!

So before I do this (probably still a few weeks out) I'll probably beat you to death with increasingly trivial questions.

First out I'll have to do some cross-referencing of my city water report. I know some local brewers AG with tap water so I'm probably good but better to know. So do you measure anything in the pre-boil wort? ph? SG?

i sometimes take the SG of my wort pre-boil. i either take a sample for the hydrometer and cool it in a liter mug with ice water or i just use my refractometer.

i have pretty nice water, i never worry about PH and never adjust. for certain styles, it might be beneficial, but i still make fine beer

DeathBrewer said:

for certain styles, it might be beneficial, but i still make fine beer

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That's what I hear.

I think I'll measure my pre-boil SG just to see how well I'm doing. If my efficiency is stupidly low at least I can boil the wort down before starting the timer to get the gravity up. Do you use tap water or filtered? If tap does your tap water have much of a chlorine taste?

tap water. i top off with bottled water.

i used to top of with tap water, but i had a few beers affected by the chlorine. Chlorophenols are not good for your beer.

EDIT: tap water should almost always be fine. all the bad stuff will boil off. it may mess with the PH of the mash, but i've never had a problem and i've used tap water from many different areas.

I meant to ask, what about specialty grains? You're not supposed to boil those are you? If that is the case, you would still steep those... right? I assume you could do that while the water is heating to 170. Or am I completely off base?

did you read the thread? look over the first few pages again. you don't boil any grains. you add them all together at the beginning after you have your water hot and ready...the base malts AND the specialty malts. this is all-grain

Thanks for the great tutorial.

Awesome tutorial for beginners. This a great way to get into all grain brewing without having to get crazy with equipment.

I am going to give this method a try. I have an 8-gallon brew pot. With a pot this size would it be a good idea to use 5-gallons of water with the initial mash? The initial water temp would probably need to be lower due to the larger volume of water.

DeathBrewer said:

did you read the thread? look over the first few pages again. you don't boil any grains. you add them all together at the beginning after you have your water hot and ready...the base malts AND the specialty malts. this is all-grain

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Yeah.... actually I did, I guess just over thinking it. Sorry.

abonzer said:

I am going to give this method a try. I have an 8-gallon brew pot. With a pot this size would it be a good idea to use 5-gallons of water with the initial mash? The initial water temp would probably need to be lower due to the larger volume of water.

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you should keep the initial mash in the range of 1-2 quarts per pound of grain. i usually stick closer to 1.25qt/lb

Thanks for posting all of this - it helped me do my first AG today. I did Biermuncher's SWMBO Slayer using a nearly identical setup with the exception of doing final boil outside (hey, it's Florida.) Everything went pretty smoothly but managing temps was a little sketchy. I overshot my mash temp a few degrees and did a little adding of cool water and then some boiling when I went too far the other way.

Anyway, my OG after the boil and topping off with ice water to 5g was 1.040 instead of the expected 1.057 - yes should have checked before topping off. So I think my temps are one reason for the bad efficiency but was wondering if I should consider bumping the OG with some sugar since higher temps may mean a little higher FG as well?

nice, good pics

craigd said:

Thanks for posting all of this - it helped me do my first AG today. I did Biermuncher's SWMBO Slayer using a nearly identical setup with the exception of doing final boil outside (hey, it's Florida.) Everything went pretty smoothly but managing temps was a little sketchy. I overshot my mash temp a few degrees and did a little adding of cool water and then some boiling when I went too far the other way.

Anyway, my OG after the boil and topping off with ice water to 5g was 1.040 instead of the expected 1.057 - yes should have checked before topping off. So I think my temps are one reason for the bad efficiency but was wondering if I should consider bumping the OG with some sugar since higher temps may mean a little higher FG as well?

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you can always add extract to reach your target gravity. if you're going to add it now (after it's already been fermenting) it won't hurt anything. just make sure everything is sanitized, boil and cool, and dump it in.

if it tasted good, i wouldn't worry about it. 1.040 is a decent sized beer.

DeathBrewer said:

you should keep the initial mash in the range of 1-2 quarts per pound of grain. i usually stick closer to 1.25qt/lb

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I was well underway when I asked my question. I ended up using 5 gallons of water in my original mash (at the time this seemed to make sense to me) with about 12 lbs of grain. My sparge temp was a little high too and I did the sparge a little different than you since I didn't have a 2nd 5 gallon or larger pot. I did the sparge by heating 2 gallons of water in a small pot and then poured it over the grain bag into my empty fermenter bucket. I then transferred the sparge liquid back to the 8 gallon brew pot. In the end, after the boil, I had more than 5 gallons but I don't think that is huge deal. The OG was around 1.050 which was close to what the recipe called out for which was 1.054. It is now fermenting away. I will know in a month or so if it turned out!

Also, it was difficult to heat around 6 gallons to boil temperature like you said. I have a flat ceramic cooktop so I thought I would give it a go, but I had to help it out with a small propane torch on the side of the pot to get to a rolling boil (probably not the safest idea, but it worked). My next purchase will be an exterior propane burner.

abonzer said:

I was well underway when I asked my question. I ended up using 5 gallons of water in my original mash (at the time this seemed to make sense to me) with about 12 lbs of grain. My sparge temp was a little high too and I did the sparge a little different than you since I didn't have a 2nd 5 gallon or larger pot. I did the sparge by heating 2 gallons of water in a small pot and then poured it over the grain bag into my empty fermenter bucket. I then transferred the sparge liquid back to the 8 gallon brew pot. In the end, after the boil, I had more than 5 gallons but I don't think that is huge deal. The OG was around 1.050 which was close to what the recipe called out for which was 1.054. It is now fermenting away. I will know in a month or so if it turned out!

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you can do a thin mash and actually do a "no-sparge" with decent efficiency. i prefer to do the 1.25qt/lb or lower, however, and keep the enzymes happy.

sounds like everything worked out well. i used the "rinse sparge" before i started the "tea bag" method (heh...i love these names). The rinse works, but is not as effective as the tea bag.

abonzer said:

Also, it was difficult to heat around 6 gallons to boil temperature like you said. I have a flat ceramic cooktop so I thought I would give it a go, but I had to help it out with a small propane torch on the side of the pot to get to a rolling boil (probably not the safest idea, but it worked). My next purchase will be an exterior propane burner.

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lol, how dangerously awesome. propane burner is always a good investment. until then, however, you can split between two pots and split the hops accordingly. i've made some fine beer that way.

Wow, Yet again you make it sound and look really easy.

Thanks for all the info!

Thanks for this great tutorial made me step up and try a all grain i ordered it the other day from northern brewer it is being delivered tommorow so now i am like a kid at xmas i tested the stuff today to see if it will handle getting 6 gallon to boil that passed got my big straining bag fits nice and tight on my brew pot boiled my top off water and got it chilling picked up my blow off tube today just incase first time im gonna ferment in a carboy my primary bucket got a batch in now already but i cant wait to try this ill be waiting on the porch for the ups man.lol thanks again for the great tutorial will let ya know how i make out