user 29674
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- Joined
- Dec 28, 2008
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I just popped my AG cherry last night, and wanted to post a message for those perusing this forum thinking about going AG.
It's easy to read some of the more advanced posts in here and think that AG is really hard and you can't do it. However, those conversations are just that - advanced conversations of experienced AG brewers trying to perfect their technique.
Going AG added two hours to my brew-day. Two. And they weren't a hard 2 hours, it was mostly about waiting. There's a little math and calculations to do up front to know how much water to use, and proper temperatures, but aside from that its not any harder than extract.
As for equipment, much like above its easy to see other people's AG setups and think you need all kinds of fancy equipment. Not true. I converted a Igloo Cube cooler that I got at target for $20, and $20 worth of parts at the hardware store (went with the stainless braid method). You don't need any fancy manifolds and such to get your first AG brew under your belt. Keep it simple for your first go-round and move on to fancier things as you get better at it. Also, I didn't have a HLT, or at least not a separate one. My Boil Kettle and my HLT were the same thing. I Lautered into my bottling bucket while my BK was being used as my HLT, once done I poured the wort from the bottling bucket into my BK and off to my boil. Edit: I forgot to mention that I don't have a chiller of any type (yet) either. I put my BK into a tub full of cold water and just wait. If my tap water is on the warm side, or I'm feeling impatient, I'll freeze a few gallon jugs of water, sanitze the outside of one and drop it in the kettle, and drop the others into the tub of water to speed up the process a little. The bobbing of the jug in the BK helps by circulating the wort a little, too. end edit
Anyways, that was all. I just wanted to post as someone who was intimidated but decided to go for it anyways. It was way way easier than I thought it was going to be, and was actually a pretty relaxing experience. And I managed to get 83% efficiency on my first try.
Anyways, that's all. I hope this is helpful to get other new AG brewers started.
It's easy to read some of the more advanced posts in here and think that AG is really hard and you can't do it. However, those conversations are just that - advanced conversations of experienced AG brewers trying to perfect their technique.
Going AG added two hours to my brew-day. Two. And they weren't a hard 2 hours, it was mostly about waiting. There's a little math and calculations to do up front to know how much water to use, and proper temperatures, but aside from that its not any harder than extract.
As for equipment, much like above its easy to see other people's AG setups and think you need all kinds of fancy equipment. Not true. I converted a Igloo Cube cooler that I got at target for $20, and $20 worth of parts at the hardware store (went with the stainless braid method). You don't need any fancy manifolds and such to get your first AG brew under your belt. Keep it simple for your first go-round and move on to fancier things as you get better at it. Also, I didn't have a HLT, or at least not a separate one. My Boil Kettle and my HLT were the same thing. I Lautered into my bottling bucket while my BK was being used as my HLT, once done I poured the wort from the bottling bucket into my BK and off to my boil. Edit: I forgot to mention that I don't have a chiller of any type (yet) either. I put my BK into a tub full of cold water and just wait. If my tap water is on the warm side, or I'm feeling impatient, I'll freeze a few gallon jugs of water, sanitze the outside of one and drop it in the kettle, and drop the others into the tub of water to speed up the process a little. The bobbing of the jug in the BK helps by circulating the wort a little, too. end edit
Anyways, that was all. I just wanted to post as someone who was intimidated but decided to go for it anyways. It was way way easier than I thought it was going to be, and was actually a pretty relaxing experience. And I managed to get 83% efficiency on my first try.
Anyways, that's all. I hope this is helpful to get other new AG brewers started.