tips & tricks when going all grain.

Hey everyone, I was looking for some input of tips and tricks for going all grain. I am going to finish up my third batch of extract brewing and I would now like to go all grain.

Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated.

Here are a couple that I wouldnt brew without...

1) Beersmith
2) Rice Hulls
2.5) skip the bazooka tube or other gadgets and get a false bottom.
3) Basic or advanced water treatments(basic is just campden and ph5.2)
4) Fermcap in boil
5) adjust efficiency down so that preboil you can dilute to hit target og instead of boil off to hit og
6) use a stainless steel shaker tin and submerge og sample in ice to cool to 65 for hydrometer instead of temperature adjustment. The temperature adjustment is never right.
7) Go ahead and treat your yeast right... Use a starter and oxygenate as much as possible. Use mrmalty.com

If money is an issue, and you have a kettle large enough for full boils, look into brew in a bag (biab)

Basically you put your grains in a mesh bag that goes into your kettle. Then you can get your feet wet with just a few bucks.

If you can find someone to brew with, it may help. It really isn't that much more difficult than extracts.

Add 1 quart of water per pound of grains to your mash tun(12 lbs. of grains = 12 quarts of mash water), add grains, stir, then add addtional water slowly until you hit your temps. This makes it easier to hit your temps while still maintaining the 1.25-1.5 quarts per gallon ratio.

I disagree with the statement above about water for your first all grain. I buy bottled water from Walmart and use the following link to adjust my water based on the style.(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/) There is no reason to get fancy with water chemistry that early in the game.

Good luck and have fun with it. It's easier than it sounds!

Relax and realize no matter how bad you screw up you are going to make beer.

Opinions all over I guess. Here are my rebuttals/refinements for someone just starting all grain.

1. Heck yes Beersmith
2. Bazooka screen is fine; been using mine for years. Rice hulls only needed if you're milling crazy fine or using wheat or rye
3. Water treatments haven't been needed for me; I brew with spring water from my local supermarket. When I need to do a Boho Pils I'll do water treatments.
4. Heck yes Fermcap, in boil *and* fermenter
5. Boil off will happen, just get a well calibrated dipstick for your boil kettle so you know how much
6. Buy a refractometer for pre-pitch gravity readings: they're down to $30ish, and consume less wort with no need to cool a big sample
7. Starter for liquid yeast, rehydrate your dry

Also:

A. Get as big a pot as possible and do full boils. 8 gal minimum if you do 5 gal batches. Go for 10 gal if you can.
B. If you do electric brewing buy or build a heat stick. Stovetop eyes need help.

-Rich

The 5 gallon beverage dispenser system works great and isn't too costly for starting all grain, just a suggestion to check out. You will love the all grain process and won't want to go back to extract!

-Beersmith is a great tool. Will help make sure you've got what you need (don't get caught up in all the little settings and variables at first)
-Calculate with a low expected efficiency, 60 - 70 %, your first few times as you learn.
-Have extra boiling water & cool water at your disposal when you mix in, you probably wont hit your target exactly, and you can use either to raise or lower the temperature accordingly.
-Mix thoroughly at Dough-In (when you add water to the grain). This is one of the biggest mistakes new brewers make with All Grain.
-After mashing, it really is just the same as extract.
-RDWHAHB

Cheers!

mrdauber64 said:

I buy bottled water from Walmart and use the following link to adjust my water based on the style.(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/)

Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I've made a note for that coming day when I do need to fiddle.

-Rich

Take detailed notes. It takes a few batches to figure out volumes. So notes on how much is left behind in your mash tun, grain absorbtion , etc. Figure out a way to measure the volumes in you boil kettle. I have a stck that is marked with volumes. All this helps you figure out how much water you need for mashing and how much boil off you get. A few batches and you should be able to dial it in.

If you are the handy type, you can save a lot of money by making your own mash lauter tuns, sparge arms, and the like.

I also agree with the bazooka screen/ diy screen comment. A false bottom will be muchles likely to give you a head ache.

It is a good idea to have a mesh bag laying around as a backup. My second all grain attempt, the screen got kinked and wouldn't let anything flow through. I could blow on the hose just fine-the kink effectively made a check valve. I ended up "converting" this batch to brew in a bag to get it done. As soon as the brew was finished I ordered a false bottom. No problems since.

-Don't start drinking until the boil starts.
-A pump is worth it's weight in gold.
-Have a buddy come over on brew day and let him drink your beer, so he can clean your mash tun.
-A brew stand is awesome, no need to lift anything heavy or hot water.

^^^

A and C

Go with a 10 gallon pot to begin with. The worst mistake I made was going with an 8 especially if you want to do some bigger beers.

Good 10 gallon pot. Good Burner! DIY wort chiller. If you batch sparge a rectangular cooler with a bazooka screen (not sure where the false bottom comments come from overpriced IMO, and never had a problem with my bazooka tube). Get your process down over a dozen batches or so. Then move into water treatment, I use Bru'n Water and it is fantastic!! it seems like a headache at the beginning but stick with it and it will make sense. Start saving yeast (washing if you like) in mason jars, and plan on buying hops in bulk in the fall harvest.

Are you going to be brewing kits or assembling your own recipes at the start?
I strongly recommend using Beersmith 2. If you have the ability to crush your own grain and have a 5 gallon brew pot you can do 2.5 gallon brews using the brew in a bag method (BIAB). The bags can be paint strainer bags you buy at menards for $1 apiece. You can buy a white food grade bucket (5 gallon size) from Walmrt for $3. These buckets can be used for 2-3.5 gallon size brews and use the same lid as the 6.5 gallon fermentors. This size batch can be easily done on your stove top and will give you some of the basic starts of the all grain process without much initial investment. The software Beersmith 2 has a brew in a bag option. You can get a free trial version for 30 days.

If you decide to skip the smaller biab process you might have to get some other method of heating the wort other than a conventional stove top burner.

I certainly think having a crazy friend to follow you down the long, drunken, dark road of brewing is one of the most important steps. And hey, sometimes you make beer that you're in a hurry to get out of a keg, and someone needs to help.

My AG gear wasn't crazy. My brew buddy already have everything, and I just bought another burner (banjo burner), another 9 gallon pot, another $20 coleman rectangular cooler with a 30" hosebraid and a ball valve on the front. And that was really it. I think having your own grain mill can be really beneficial. We increased our crush a bit, and we finally got our mash efficiency dialed in, and double-milling doesn't seem to hurt.

-Take good notes, ALWAYS!
-Buy grain (and anything, really) in BULK!
-Get your burner dialed in. When I got my banjo burner, I blew through a propane tank in x2 5gallon brews. My buddy gets 6+ brew out of one tank. Yeah, you can hit a boil really quick, but you will waste fuel like crazy. Pay close attention to these things.
-Get a nice thermometer. Nailing your temps really minimizes extra work for you. I have a nice digital thermometer from william sonoma or something. Using a refractometer has proved to be more pain than it's worth. Then again, I also never measure anything pre-boil.
-Get into kegging as quick as possible! I bottled with some friends before I ever got into homebrewing. It totally put me off. So much work. Kegging is so much easier and enjoyable. Granted, you'll end up buying a fridge, but that's another conversation.

I never brewed anything before AG. After getting the basics down with a couple of brews, it's way less intimidating. Good luck, this resource is here for you!

inthesound said:

I certainly think having a crazy friend to follow you down the long, drunken, dark road of brewing is one of the most important steps. And hey, sometimes you make beer that you're in a hurry to get out of a keg, and someone needs to help.

Click to expand...

Quoted for truth. I've brewed more and better in the year since acquiring a solid brew buddy than I did in any previous five years put together. :rockin:

-Rich