All grain brewing needs?

I am seriously thinking of doing AG brewing and was wondering what all I need above what I already have.

1- 6.5 Gallon Glass Carboy
1- 5 Gallon Glass Carboy
1-6.5 Gallon Plastic Fermenter
1-6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Spigot
2-Universal Carboy Bungs
2-Airlocks
8 Inch Funnel
1-Hydrometer
1-Bottle Brush
1-Carboy Brush
1-Twin Lever Red Baron Bottle Capper
2-Liquid Crystal Thermometers
1-Bottle Filler
1-Fermtech AutoSiphon
1-Siphon Tubing
1-Shutoff clamp
1-Thief
1-90 bottle dryer stand
1-Long high temperature thermometer
1-5 gallon ceramic coated kettle
1-turkey fryer that came with burner and 35qt aluminum pot (has worked with 5 gallon extracts)

At this point the 5 gallon batches have worked out ok but if I decide to do some 10 gallon batches I want to already be prepared.

Right now all I am doing it bottling but will likely move to kegging at some point as many homebrewers seem to be doing.

Essentially all you need is a wort chiller, and a mash tun for the basic setup (batch sparging). This is the easy/cheap method for all grain http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

As tbulger said, a cooler mashtun with a stainless steel hose braid for a manifold and a wort chiller. Both can be easily made for cheap. In addition to Denny's site also check out http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

I hate to barge in on this discussion since I've only done extract, but is his brew pot big enough? I want to go all grain in the not too distant future, but my brew pot is a 5 gallon and I thought that was too small.

no, you need a bigger pot, i think 30qt is the minumum, you need to start with 6-7 gallons to boil down to 5.

tbulger said:

no, you need a bigger pot, i think 30qt is the minumum, you need to start with 6-7 gallons to boil down to 5.

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I had a boilover making a 5.5 gallon batch in a 15.5 gallon keggle. Definitely get the biggest pot you can find and/or afford. I'd imagine doing 5 gallon batches in a 7 gallon pot would be very, very problematic.

I have a 7.5 gallon pot that I just used to boil about 5.5 gallons of wort. I didn't have any problems, just make sure you watch it at the beginning and after each hop addition. Your 35 qt. pot should be fine.

Your 35 qt aluminum pot should be fine for 5g batches.
How accurate is the thermometer? You need something accurate to one or two degrees.
As has already been said, add a cooler type MLT with false bottom, braid, or manifold, and you should be set to go.
If you brew enough and can get bulk grains locally at a reasonable price, you may also find a grain mill useful. Mine paid for itself in less than a year.
You may also want to get a few spare bungs and airlocks. The bungs eventually wear out, and I have broken a few airlocks trying to extract them from the bung.

-a.

So what's the minimum size for a 5 gallon batch? I'll be picking up a turkey fryer soon and most have 30 quart pots. Any problems with aluminum?

As for the thermometer, are the electronic grilling thermometers accurate enough?

And I second the motion to get extra bungs and airlocks. I've broken air locks removing them from the bungs, and I've accidentally pushed bungs into the carboy.

fritz_monroe said:

So what's the minimum size for a 5 gallon batch? I'll be picking up a turkey fryer soon and most have 30 quart pots. Any problems with aluminum?

As for the thermometer, are the electronic grilling thermometers accurate enough?

And I second the motion to get extra bungs and airlocks. I've broken air locks removing them from the bungs, and I've accidentally pushed bungs into the carboy.

Click to expand...

Others have had success with 28 quart pots, but that's really pushing it. Like I said, the bigger you can find, the better. As for aluminum, that's the debate that never ends: aluminum vs. stainless steel. I went with SS, just to be on the safe side, but others have been very happy with using aluminum.

I'm not sure about the electronic grilling thermometers. I use a dial thermometer that goes up to 212 degrees. It's accurate within a degree. I wouldn't go cheap on the thermometer, personally. There are a lot of crap ones out there.