All Grain After 1 Batch of Mr. Beer?

So I currently have my Classic American Light beer recipe from Mr. Beer (got it from a kit) fermenting in my brown keg and I am really getting the itch to do something as soon as its done. I have been doing some research and my friend picked up a kit from Brooklyn Brewshop. It seems to be a 1-gallon kit but it uses raw ingredients instead of the can of HME that comes with the Mr. Beer kits - and this is something I would like to try my hand at so I could move to making custom recipes from a collection of raw ingredients.

One of their kits is linked below (which sounded delicious to me):
brooklynbrewshop.com/1-gallon-beer-mixes/jalapeno-saison-mix

My question is few parts:
1. Is it feasible to go from a canned HME straight into an all grain recipe? I want to explore the many options out there, but not sure it would be overwhelming as my second batch. I feel pretty confident I could do it though if given instructions.

2. If I just bought two of their 1-gallon mixes and just doubled everything in their instructions, would I end up with a correct 2-gallon mix I could use in my LBK?

3. Is $30 (2 x $15) overly expensive for a 2-gallon batch of beer for a homebrew?

Thanks in advance for your insight into this!

Stigy said:

So I currently have my Classic American Light beer recipe from Mr. Beer (got it from a kit) fermenting in my brown keg and I am really getting the itch to do something as soon as its done. I have been doing some research and my friend picked up a kit from Brooklyn Brewshop. It seems to be a 1-gallon kit but it uses raw ingredients instead of the can of HME that comes with the Mr. Beer kits - and this is something I would like to try my hand at so I could move to making custom recipes from a collection of raw ingredients.

One of their kits is linked below (which sounded delicious to me):
brooklynbrewshop.com/1-gallon-beer-mixes/jalapeno-saison-mix

My question is few parts:
1. Is it feasible to go from a canned HME straight into an all grain recipe? I want to explore the many options out there, but not sure it would be overwhelming as my second batch. I feel pretty confident I could do it though if given instructions.

2. If I just bought two of their 1-gallon mixes and just doubled everything in their instructions, would I end up with a correct 2-gallon mix I could use in my LBK?

3. Is $30 (2 x $15) overly expensive for a 2-gallon batch of beer for a homebrew?

Thanks in advance for your insight into this!

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I know many others have used those kits, and found them very good. Northern Brewer also has "one gallon" kits. I think with good instructions you could easily do an all-grain batch as long as you have the equipment you need. You could look at the equipment kit and see what they have listed for equipment, and then check the northern brewer website, to see if they have the same equipment and we can also help you get what you need.

2. Yes, probably. But to make a 2 gallon batch, keep in mind that you will be starting with about 3.5 gallons of wort, so make sure your stove can boil that much! Try it in a 5 gallon pot with water first, before you make a $30 (or more!) mistake.

3. Sure seems that way to me. Most extract (5 gallon) kits are in the $35-45 range, with all grain being less. A 5 gallon AG ingredient kit is typically $25-35.

1. There are people who have gone all-grain very quickly. It depends on what method you use. BIAB requires a bag. For a 1-gallon kit, you probably already have the boil kettle and adequate heat. Just get a paint strainer. Many all-grain brewers use a mash tun, which requires some purchasing and usually some handywork. How to Brew, by John Palmer, contains a lot of information you should know before brewing all-grain. So, if you do your homework, jumping into all-grain can be a success.

With that said, many brewers don't dive head-first into AG brewing. There are other factors that people consider before that step. One important thing is fermentation temperature control. No matter how you make your wort, temperature control plays a major role in how good or bad a beer can be.

Another factor is boil volume. A full-volume boil can also make improvements to hop utilization and reduce the risk of darkening during the boil. As a 1-gallon brewhouse, this isn't much of an issue. But for 5+ gallon brewers, many cooktops don't put enough heat out to keep 5 gallons boiling.

One thing to consider before going all-grain is your water chemistry. Various chemicals normally found in drinking water can have a profound impact on beer. You may need to alter your water chemistry before mashing.

I'm not telling you this to dissuade you. I just think that if you approach these issues well-prepared, you stand a better chance of making a really good beer.

As for your second question, on the nanobrewing scale, most things are going to scale linearly. With that said, you may be able to save yourself some money by making sure you use the appropriate amount of yeast. It's likely that these kits use 5.5g sachets of yeast. This would be an appropriate pitching rate for about 2.5 gallons, for many beers. You can double-check it at http://mrmalty.com. If you plan on brewing a 2-gallon batch, you would only need one 5.5g satchet.

All grain usually requires more equipment and time. Some people even skip the extract kits entirely and go AG. It is all down to how much time you are willing to put in and all. I say go for it if you want. I love doing AG now.

Wow thanks for all the replies!

So the kit I posted is in fact an all grain kit correct? It seems like it from the instructions on their website.

Might I be better off moving to an extract kit in between before going all grain on my second try or as long as I am patient and follow the instructions, I should be fine with all grain?

Also my final question (for now since youre all so helpful) - does Northern Brewery have 1 gallon all grain kits because I couldn't find them. If not, is there someone that does?

Honestly I might spend the $30 just so that I can be experienced with grain recipes and brewing. It also makes sense price wise because a case of craft beer is probably a bit more expensive if not the same price for 2 gallons.

Stigy said:

Wow thanks for all the replies!

So the kit I posted is in fact an all grain kit correct? It seems like it from the instructions on their website.

Might I be better off moving to an extract kit in between before going all grain on my second try or as long as I am patient and follow the instructions, I should be fine with all grain?

Also my final question (for now since youre all so helpful) - does Northern Brewery have 1 gallon all grain kits because I couldn't find them. If not, is there someone that does?

Honestly I might spend the $30 just so that I can be experienced with grain recipes and brewing. It also makes sense price wise because a case of craft beer is probably a bit more expensive if not the same price for 2 gallons.

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Malted Barley Blend, Belgian Candi Sugar, Hops and Yeast (Jalapeno not included, but nice to add) being whats included, yeah I would say it is all grain. Not an extract in sight.

Stigy said:

Wow thanks for all the replies!

So the kit I posted is in fact an all grain kit correct? It seems like it from the instructions on their website.

Might I be better off moving to an extract kit in between before going all grain on my second try or as long as I am patient and follow the instructions, I should be fine with all grain?

Also my final question (for now since youre all so helpful) - does Northern Brewery have 1 gallon all grain kits because I couldn't find them. If not, is there someone that does?

Honestly I might spend the $30 just so that I can be experienced with grain recipes and brewing. It also makes sense price wise because a case of craft beer is probably a bit more expensive if not the same price for 2 gallons.

Click to expand...

You may want to do an extract kit first, or you can do the AG small batches. The AG has a steeper learning curve, but you can definitely do it if you're interested and have good instructions.

I saw the 1 gallon batches in the Northern Brewer cataglogue, so I looked on their website. I found them here: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...arter-kits/one-gallon-small-batch-starter-kit but they may very well be extract batches and not all-grain kits. It's not clear, but that's how it seems to me.

I really wanna go AG myself, but I am taking it a bit slower...I went from Mr Beer to partial mash. I have a LOT to learn before I go AG.

Do your homework and you will be fine. I skipped extract altogether and my first batch was very drinkable - Yooper's right about the learning curve though: it takes a few batches before you get your process down. Read a lot and make checklists for brewday to be sure you have everything at hand. HBT has helped me a lot, read all stickies in the forums.
There are a ton of recipe calculators on the interwebz, use them.
Once you get your process down, AG brewing is no harder than cooking a meal from scratch.

I would not recommend doubling up a stovetop AG recipe for your first one. Aside from the long heating/boiling times, that kit has you mashing and sparging with normal household pots and strainers. You might find that doubling the amount of grain would be too large for a household pot/strainer.

I think you should go for the 1gallon kit you linked, see what you think, and if you want to make bigger batches, you could start investing in a brew in a bag (BIAB) set up or regular all grain at that point. I've never done BIAB but people rave about it for 3g batches and larger. 30 dollars for a 1g batch of beer is expensive compared to regular all grain brewing, but as far as an introductory lesson into the concepts of mashing and sparging, I think it's pretty cheap.

AndrewD said:

I would not recommend doubling up a stovetop AG recipe for your first one. Aside from the long heating/boiling times, that kit has you mashing and sparging with normal household pots and strainers. You might find that doubling the amount of grain would be too large for a household pot/strainer.

I think you should go for the 1gallon kit you linked, see what you think, and if you want to make bigger batches, you could start investing in a brew in a bag (BIAB) set up or regular all grain at that point. I've never done BIAB but people rave about it for 3g batches and larger. 30 dollars for a 1g batch of beer is expensive compared to regular all grain brewing, but as far as an introductory lesson into the concepts of mashing and sparging, I think it's pretty cheap.

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+1.
Being European, I have no idea about the cost of ingredients where you're at, but the rest I can heartily recommend. I bought a contraption normally used to keep large quantities of mulled wine warm which I use to brew, however, I have done my first batch (6g) successfully on my stove. Lautering with normal household equipment can be a bit of PITA though - decide what batch soze you want to make and invest in an effective lautering system early (the two buckets method gives you a working lauter tun on the cheap).

I went from mr. Beer kits to 5 gallon extract kits to 5 gallon partial mash kits. Im still doing partial mash kits but im making my own recipes and using more grain. I will soon be moving to AG but IMHO doing all of these ways has taught me a lot and is the best way ( for me) to move into AG.

I started with all grain and the kit from BBS. I had all the equipment necessary beyond what comes in the box (strainer, stock pot, fkip-top bottles) so I was off and running.

Not really as scary of a leap as you think. I didn't even know there was extract when I started until I came on this site. I've done double brew days with 1 gallon batches but never a 2 gallon at once. I would definitely check to see if your stove can handle it. My stove boils 1/2 gallon an hour. My pot is only a 10 inch diameter though so yours may vary. In otherwords, with the right pot...your only boiling 2.5-3 gallons, which almost any decent stove can handle. Hope this helps

You know, if you're afraid your sotve cant handle the whole volume, maybe try to figure out if decoction mashing is an option. It's widely overglorified and actually way less of a chore than you think. Due to an equipment malfunction I was forced to do a decoction on my third ever batch, and I'm still undecided whether it's in fact easier than infusion mashing - plus, it gives you great caramel aromas and flavirs unavailable to other brewing methods.

Wow what an enormous response - thank you everyone.

I have decided on what I plan to do next and I think I might just take it slower as I would definitely like to understand what each step does and understand what is going on as the beer does its thing. I definitely want to have a full understanding of the process before I do something that gets messed up and I end up wasting a decent amount of money and get discouraged on my second or third batch.

I think this was just brought on by the fact that the kit my friend picked up is all grain from Brooklyn Brew Shop and it kinda made me want to do it, but honestly I would rather have better beer as a final outcome than mess up some steps in the beginning because its overwhelming.

I think I may move to the "Recipes" section of Mr. Beer (HME, LME and Hops) next to do some hop boils since I found one that sounds really delicious. And then based on that outcome then move to some more advanced stuff. https://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/1246/nm/Camilla_s_Folly

I think its definitely tempting to move along at a quick pace because the outcome is beer, but I definitely want to learn what each step does and the course I described above (HME > Recipes > Grains) may be my best bet so I don't rush anything.

Definitely looking for some more opinions though - just curious as to what other opinions are on this subject about speed to all grain.

The 1 Gallon kits at Northern Brewer are Extract kit's with specialty grains that are steeped in hot water for a period of time (20 to 30 minutes I think) before the extract is added and the wort is boiled. Hops are included in the kit and are added a various times during the boil.

The 3 Gallon kits at Northern Brewer are all grain - BIAB and so don't require a mash tun/sparging, etc... but you would need at least a 5 gallon brew pot I beleive.