Thinkin bout going all grain...

So I have made several Extract brews the last year but just recently came to own a Sankey keg. I figured "Nice brew pot!" but then got to thinking. "Hmmmmm, I could go all grain with a few more pieces of equipment." I have right now:

15g Keg that I am gonna cut to top out of
Propane burner (not sure of the btu's, use it for boiling crawfish)
A 10g (I think) igloo cooler that I could make into a MLT (Whatever that is)

What else would I need. I want to get the necessities first and if I like AG as much as extract I can expand.

Here's a link to turn your cooler to a mlt

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

I actually did it yesterday to an igloo and it worked great. Only hard thing to find was the 3/8" fender SS washer, but to convert it was about $25 from home depot

Looks like you have everything you need to at least get started, which is where I am at. I just need to pick up a bigger kettle soon and a better wort chiller and I am in business!

You'll absolutely need a chiller. Immersion chillers are the best bang for the buck.

Possible a second pot to use for heating sparge water.

I have a 4 gallon pot I use for extract brews. I guess that would work. I have some tubing just waiting to be turned into a chiller. Now I just gotta figure out HOW to all grain brew. It sounds like a foreign language when I hear folks talking about it.

It just looks hard and intimidating, if you can extract brew, you can run a basic all grain brew setup. I just made the swap myself a few months ago and it is amazing how much better the beer tastes, using an igloo cooler for a MLT is an awesome way to get set up without spending an arm and a leg.

I'd also suggest spending 20.00 and treating yourself to beersmith software. It really helps keep track of the mash and sparge water calculations. Efficiency, etc... Makes going all grain much less confusing.

Totally worth it. The only extra investment for me was converting a cooler into my mash tun. I know a lot of people will convert another into a hot liquor tank and build a sparging device, but I just batch sparge and get exceptional results!

I have beersmith on my computer at home. So I got that much going for me.

So the basic process would be:

Heat Strike water
Pour in MLT
Pour in grains
let sit for allotted time and be heating sparge water
run a few pitchers of strike water out of bottom and pour back in MLT
Run off first runs to boil pot
Start boil pot on flame
Run sparge water over grains
run off sparge water into brew pot
bring to boil
add bittering hops
boil allotted times and add hops at specified times.

Have I got this basically right??

More or less, yeah. I like to let my sparge water sit on the grains for ten minutes or so. Picked up 2 points of efficiency when I started doing that.

Bottenbrew said:

It just looks hard and intimidating, if you can extract brew, you can run a basic all grain brew setup. I just made the swap myself a few months ago and it is amazing how much better the beer tastes, using an igloo cooler for a MLT is an awesome way to get set up without spending an arm and a leg.

Click to expand...

Use an igloo cooler, forget about anything else other than batch sparging. Get beer smith for sure. Do a lot of reading but just get the basics down. Get a second pot for sparge water, make your chiller, use a bazooka tube in the bottom of the MLT. So much better than extract and you can tailor make your beers buy getting to know all of the malts out there. that was the most fun for me. once you get your temps right and your yeast under control you will be amazed at the quality improvement, i dont care what anyone says, all grain is superior considering extract quality and other factors. once you get the hang of it you can make beers just as good if not better than any brewpub or 6 pack you buy at the store. i wish i would have just gotten into all grain to begin with so i could have made the mistakes earlier. definitely dont be scared though. if you are sitting reading how-to's and what not, just try it, just bite the bullet. then you will understand what everyone is talking about, mash out, sparge, vorlauf, etc.

oh yeah and grain is ridiculously cheaper than extract. that is a huge plus if you are trying to justfy equipment expenses.

hope this helps. i changed to all grain about 8 months ago i couldnt love it more. then i started kegging and now i need more friends to drink my beer so i can have more space to make more beer. it really is a wonderful problem to have. i brew every other weekend and would do it every weekend if i had more time.

MississippiSlim said:

I have beersmith on my computer at home. So I got that much going for me.

So the basic process would be:

Heat Strike water
Pour in MLT
Pour in grains
let sit for allotted time and be heating sparge water
run a few pitchers of strike water out of bottom and pour back in MLT
Run off first runs to boil pot
Start boil pot on flame
Run sparge water over grains
run off sparge water into brew pot
bring to boil
add bittering hops
boil allotted times and add hops at specified times.

Have I got this basically right??

Click to expand...

Yes you got it. Once again I would suggest starting out with batch sparging and if you are going to be conscious of efficiency you need a way to reliably measure volumes of wort in your kettle, etc.

What is batch sparging and what is whatever the alternative is? Forgive ignorance. as far as efficiency goes, I am not sure what that is either other than you get the most out of your ingedients by using the right temps and etc? Am I on the right track?

BTW, What is a basic SMASH recipe that makes a decent brew ( Maybe something in the lawnmower ale category?) I make a blonde with 6lbs Extra Light DME and citra hops that I like. What malt to use for something in that realm?

MississippiSlim said:

BTW, What is a basic SMASH recipe that makes a decent brew ( Maybe something in the lawnmower ale category?) I make a blonde with 6lbs Extra Light DME and citra hops that I like. What malt to use for something in that realm?

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I had a Vienna/Citra smash that turned out great. I used 10 lb of Vienna and that got me a 1.050 OG. Vienna is really malty in a smash and went well with the citra. You could also use Maris otter or Munich malt. Smash is a good way to start with all grain for sure.

Do yourself a favor and check out Dennybrew.com. Every thing there is simply put and the pictures really help. Also the top of the page here on HBT for All grain and Partial mash has some sticky threads that have pretty thorough explanations. I made the jump to AG a year ago and found these sources very helpful.

Give 'em hell

Oh yeah, don't get too cranked up with numbers and formulas and confusing stuff. Find out your dead space in your MLT ( it's the amount of water that stays in the MLT after it is drained (what you can't siphon out)), let some software figure your strike water temps and volumes, as well as your sparge water temps and volumes.

It's a lot like sex, the best way to get good at it is to just do it a lot. Spend all your time talking about it, how will you ever improve your techniques, uh, your brewing techniques.

MississippiSlim said:

What is batch sparging and what is whatever the alternative is? Forgive ignorance. as far as efficiency goes, I am not sure what that is either other than you get the most out of your ingedients by using the right temps and etc? Am I on the right track?

Click to expand...

Yes you are on the right track. I asked a lot of questions when I was thinking about trying all grain too...but you will learn a lot your first few times lol.

Batch sparging is the alternative of fly sparging, fly sparging you let your sparge water slowly trickle over the grain bed after your drain your first runnings, the wort you got when you mashed.

Batch sparging you would heat water to 165-175 F and dump it in your mash tun, then stir and let sit for like 10 mins or so, then drain the wort just like you did for the initial mash. Batch sparging is easier and requires less equipment and you dont have as many variables. There are benefits to fly sparging but you can be successful batch sparging then working up to fly sparging.

I do batch sparging and consistently get 75 percent efficiency which I am pretty happy with. The most important variable to efficiency is the crush of your grain so make sure who you get your grain from knows what they are doing. I had that problem I chased my tail for a while and realized the local store didnt know how to set up the mill so I read how to do it and set it up for them, then they finally understood that 50 percent efficiency sucks ass. Now they have big arrows to where I was setting it at and now everybody is kicking the ass of efficiency lol.

Northcalais40 said:

It's a lot like sex, the best way to get good at it is to just do it a lot. Spend all your time talking about it, how will you ever improve your techniques, uh, your brewing techniques.

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lol well said.

Agroff- thats 10lbs malt for a 5g batch, correct?

Also I was told that the 15g keg/boil pot would not be good for 5g batches because I would have more boil off. I am not sure I understand the thermodynamics of this but am thinking of trying. at worst it will force me to make 10g batches which would really suck, huh? LOL!

Sure, while IMHO a keggle is on the large side for five gallon batches, no reason it won't work very well. Boiloff can be easily compensated for by just starting w/ a greater voulume preboil...no biggie.

Read John Palmer's "How To Brew" to start. There's an old edition on-line for free here: http://www.howtobrew.com/

MississippiSlim said:

Agroff- thats 10lbs malt for a 5g batch, correct?

Also I was told that the 15g keg/boil pot would not be good for 5g batches because I would have more boil off. I am not sure I understand the thermodynamics of this but am thinking of trying. at worst it will force me to make 10g batches which would really suck, huh? LOL!

Click to expand...

I have a 15g keggle and do 5 gal batches all the time. i usually start out with a bit less than 7 and do a 90 min boil for lighter colored beers. haha you still got plenty of room with a 10 gallon batch just make sure your burners got the balls to do it and that you got propane!

and yes i would say 10 lbs of vienna would get you to about 1045-1050 og, but depending on your temp control and crush that may vary. but if you want to make a lawnmower beer that isnt too high in gravity that should be a good amount.

MississippiSlim said:

So I have made several Extract brews the last year but just recently came to own a Sankey keg. I figured "Nice brew pot!" but then got to thinking. "Hmmmmm, I could go all grain with a few more pieces of equipment." I have right now:

15g Keg that I am gonna cut to top out of
Propane burner (not sure of the btu's, use it for boiling crawfish)
A 10g (I think) igloo cooler that I could make into a MLT (Whatever that is)

What else would I need. I want to get the necessities first and if I like AG as much as extract I can expand.

Click to expand...

You have everything you need. I did my first all grain with a 24 qt brewpot, an oven, a 16 qt pot to boil additional water, and a grain bag. It worked fine with a protein rest and a saccrification rest. I yielded about 4 gallons and primary'd into a 5gallon carboy. It smells and looks fantastic and it is much easier than everyone makes it out to be.

Good luck!