bad start! ....

Sorry about this guys, I'm posting this because of the lack of responses I have had for my last thread. I am new to homebrewing. I haven't even when out to complete my homebrewing setup. I still need to purchase a few things still.

I'm planning on jumping to the real deal and making my first batch of home brew with the All grain method. I like the idea that I have more control over what I am brewing. Extract brewing is smart and easy, but just not for me.

I'm looking for all the advice I can get from ya'll, I have noticed that the homebrewing crowd is way more polite and cordial than most groups.

If I can get advice from "Grain to Glass" it would be most loved. Thank you

I am also searching this forum for any advice I can read.

One of the biggest virtues of homebrewing is patience.

ma2brew said:

One of the biggest virtues of homebrewing is patience.

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Thank you. I'm lacking patience. But if I don't have a good project...I don't know what I'll do.

I am most likely buying the rest of the equipment need tomarrow...thats why the persistence. But thanks....I'll need that advice. Perhaps this hobby with help me grow up! haha

You need to have a good general conception on how the all grain process works.You should consider purchasing "How to Brew" book by John Palmer and this will give you a solid foundation on how the process works.

What type of sparging method are you going to do? What type of equipment do you have?

Blender said:

You need to have a good general conception on how the all grain process works.You should consider purchasing "How to Brew" book by John Palmer and this will give you a solid foundation on how the process works.

What type of sparging method are you going to do? What type of equipment do you have?

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whoa....I started reading this online...this book is confusing yet informative, now I don't know what sparging method I want to do...what do you do? haha...He even goes into depth about temperatures and how well certain grains will convert start to sugars...

My advice is read, read, read and then read some more. I spent about a month of solid reading and researching before I made the jump into all grain (as opposed to starting with extract). I found that by doing all that research I saved myself a lot of potential mistakes and hassles. I finished my fifth AG batch last Sunday and they've all thankfully gone great and I've learned even more.

90% of the work on your first AG brew will be planning, cleaning and sanitizing. The actual brewing work is the easiest.

bigdaddyjay said:

Sorry about this guys, I'm posting this because of the lack of responses I have had for my last thread.

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You'll generally get more responses when you give them more descriptive titles. Nondescript titles get less traffic.

If you're going to try going all-grain from the get-go, make sure you read up on the process, and understand the investment you'll be making in equipment. You want to buy equipment that you'll be happy with going forward.

Definitely read "How to Brew", plus search the posts here, since most questions have been asked and answered many times. The wiki section is also a good resource. There are also some nice all-grain brew sessions that have been posted on YouTube (HBT'ers like Bobby_M, among others, have posted some).

In regards to your question of sparging, many of us use batch sparging which is easier for beginners and it gives good results.

AG isn't too complicated and can be done without learning the ropes with extract brewing, but you'll be better off doing your homework before you dive into it.

Good luck with your brewing.

bigdaddyjay said:

whoa....I started reading this online...this book is confusing yet informative, now I don't know what sparging method I want to do...what do you do? haha...He even goes into depth about temperatures and how well certain grains will convert start to sugars...

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Well that is all part of the all grain process. That is why you will need to have at least a basic understanding of how beer is made with grains before jumping in. It is like homework only better because there is a payoff.

What type of beer do you like? Why not get a good extract brew and make that while you learn a bit. That is the way a lot of us started plus you learn about boiling, cooling, fermenting and temperature control needed to make a great beer.

I was in the same boat when I started makin brew. I thought I wanted to go all grain right off the bat. You probably could to, but I would reccommed as a new brewer to get a "Kit" beer from you LHBS if you have one where you live, otherwise I would purchase one online that is a supporter of this site. AHBS comes to mind. Do not get one of the pre hopped cans. They are to easy and you could do it in you sleep. Get one that has steeping grains in it, dome dry malt to play with as well as smoe liquid malt. Then you can play with the hops aas well. I think this route will get you more into the learning curve that all grain is going to be. Read john Palmers book. I have read it probably eight times, and I still learn something. AADD you know... You Tube is you friend. There are a few good movies on there that really go in depth on the all grain. Bobby M has some good videos as well. Then ask lost of questions, even though they have been asked before its still OK to ask again. At least thats what I have been doing. Here are a couple of videos on You Tube that I have bookmarked. I dont know if he is a member here or not, but I think he does a great job oe explaining things.

This is part one.





This is part two

I can imagine that Palmer's book could be confusing if you have never brewed, but it makes a lot more sense after you have brewed a batch or two, so stop whining, and start brewing.

-a.

I would recommend that you go ahead and first start with one extract recipe as your first beer. Extract also gives you good tasting beer: all grain just lets you tailor your beer while being more complex. By doing extract for your first beer, you can see how the whole fermentation stage works. With your second brew, you can get into all grain and see how to "extract" from your own malts.

The bible of brewing books that I started with (and still refer to) is "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing", Charlie Papazian. Available at most bookstores....starts you off with the basic explainations of beer ingredients and have never had a bad recipe from Papazian.

My advice would be to do some extract brewing prior to moving to all grain. I made the move to all-grain after only two batches of extract with grain and it turned out bad; didn't brew again for three or four years. Now I'm back brewing extract and enjoying it.

Don't take that to mean you can't move to all grain right away; many folks do. But if you find Palmer's book confusing then my advice would be not to move so quickly to all grain unless you have experienced brewers working with you. You can make great-tasting beer with extract with grains, move to partial mash, then go all grain. By then most likely nothing in Palmer's book will seem confusing.

Rick

davesrose said:

I would recommend that you go ahead and first start with one extract recipe as your first beer. Extract also gives you good tasting beer: all grain just lets you tailor your beer while being more complex. By doing extract for your first beer, you can see how the whole fermentation stage works. With your second brew, you can get into all grain and see how to "extract" from your own malts.

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Rick_R said:

My advice would be to do some extract brewing prior to moving to all grain. I made the move to all-grain after only two batches of extract with grain and it turned out bad; didn't brew again for three or four years. Now I'm back brewing extract and enjoying it.

Don't take that to mean you can't move to all grain right away; many folks do. But if you find Palmer's book confusing then my advice would be not to move so quickly to all grain unless you have experienced brewers working with you. You can make great-tasting beer with extract with grains, move to partial mash, then go all grain. By then most likely nothing in Palmer's book will seem confusing.

Rick

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I third this advice, start with a couple extract with grain kits, to work on your process, you will be surprised how LESS confusing Palmer and/or Papazian will be once you have some of your basic process down.

There's SO MANY more variables involved in AG brewing, and therefore so many possible steps to miss, or which could go wrong....If your basic processes are sound from experience brewing a couple kits, you'll have less new variables to potentially miss/screw up.

With kits, if you miss your OG, or something else goes wrong, you can troubleshoot your process to figure out what YOU did wrong, since the kits themselves are nearly foolproof.

This is also a good thread to read...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54362

bigdaddyjay said:

Thank you. I'm lacking patience. But if I don't have a good project...I don't know what I'll do.

I am most likely buying the rest of the equipment need tomarrow...thats why the persistence. But thanks....I'll need that advice. Perhaps this hobby with help me grow up! haha

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Looks like you've received some great advice so far! I'll chime in with adding that I agree with doing at least a batch or two from an extract kit. It'll be way easier to learn the process that way, and you can still buy and use the equipment you need for AG. You can learn about the sanitation needed and the fermentation process, and then move on to learning to mash after that. It's a real natural progression that most AG brewers have been doing for a long time. I did my first beer last September, and I've now done 3 all grain batches, and might do another tomorrow. If you're a quick learner you'll be making good beer real soon.

If you have the opportunity, though, you might see if there's someone experienced nearby you to help brew a batch with the first time. It would really give you a leg up on the learning curve.

Good luck.

This vid actually got me interested in beer brewing and shows a great overview of the all grain brew process.




There is actually 8 separate parts, this is only the 1st. The rest should be clickable after this one plays through.

go to youtube there are instructional videos that tell you exactly what to do.

The thing is, brewing is a craft. There are a thousand ways to go from a pile of grain to a glass of beer, and most of them are right. That's why nobody can really give you a step-by-step account of how to do it. It's a simple process, but there are a fair number of steps involved.

That's not to say you can't brew a good AG beer on the first try. You probably can. However, you need to have a good understanding of the process from a very detailed level. If Palmer seems confusing, I'd suggest more research.

If you're dead-set on brewing AG from the get-go, maybe you could find a brewer in your area who's willing to let you sit in on a brew session, just to see how things really go while brewing. Nothing ever works out perfectly, and having a good understanding of the whole process helps you respond to those minute-by-minute problems that are bound to crop up in almost every brew session.

Lastly, patience is a HUGE component of making good beer. In fact, second to sanitation, I think learning to wait is the key to making good beer, instead of just drinkable beer.

I just got into home brewing at the beginning of the year. The first thing I did after looking at hops prices, was buy some rhizomes so I could grow my own. You should look into that next spring (it's probably too late to plant them now, for this season).

My first batch was a Belgian Wit extract kit that my parents-in-law got me for Christmas. It turned out awesome (as kits tend to do), and showed me the possibilities of what I could do.

I'd very highly recommend doing a kit first, just to get familiar with your equipment, sanitation procedures, clean-up, and the rest of the process. Don't look at it as "the easy way" of making beer. Look at it as a way to learn how to use your tools, and enjoy 5 gallons of great beer as a reward. Keep a bottle set aside, out of reach for now (keep reading).

Read "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing," by Charlie Papazian.

If you want to start using grain, and you see yourself as a do-it-yourselfer, I recommend you buy some good brewing software. I bought Beer Smith for about 20 bucks. My buddy uses Beer Tools, and he likes that, too. I like Beer Smith because I can print out a "brew sheet" to use on brew day that gives me the step-by-steps of the recipe. The other nice thing about brewing software is that it allows you to figure out bitterness, estimated O.G., allows you to scale your recipies to different batch sizes, helps you calculate water temperatures, and more.

As a next step, I recommend you plug the recipe that your kit used into your brewing software, note the estimated O.G., and then delete half of the "base malt" extract out of it.

Then, add grain malt (just use some US 2-row pale malt) into the software instead in steady increments until the estimated O.G. gets back to where it was before you deleted half of the extract.

Don't forget to crush

Follow mashing procedures on brew day for your grains, add the rest of your fermentables, and finish brewing the batch just like you did with your first kit beer.

After fermentation and bottle conditioning, try the beer. Crack open the bottle you saved from your first batch, and compare. See what you think. Note the differences.

From there, if you think you want to keep going with all grain, you'll have a pretty good idea of what you're up against, and what you'll need to do.

Read, read, read. Trust me, you will avoid hundreds of unnecessary mistakes that'll save you hundreds of dollars.

Thank you follow beer drinker for your wonderful advice!

I have found someone that has a little experience in AG brewing who has agreed to help me.

I plan on doing 2 batches. I'll get back with ya'll to let you in on how it tastes.

I will also be filming it for youtube. I'll give you'll the link after I have completed my project....(If it was successful)

I am also reading reading reading. And it is all starting to come together for me.