What is the Minimum Equipment for AG Brewing?

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efreem01

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Hey All,

I've been progressing in my beer brewing pretty steadily for 6 months. Now i have 5 batches under my belt with a few extract and PM's in there. I'm interested in doing AG brewing because i want more control over the finished product. With extract, to some extent all of my batches have a similar taste.

What is the minimum equipment i would need to purchase to do AG brewing? I think that i'm a brewer for life, so eventually i'll buy all of the equipment my heart desires.

Here is what i'm working with:

24 qt aluminum brew kettle
6.5 gallon primary carboy
5 gallon secondary carboy
7.75 gallon plastic bottle bucket w/no lid

I just got an upright fridge/freezer from my future father-in-law and a temp regulator, so soon i'll be lagering away as well!
 
You'll need a mash tun and hot liquor tank.

The mash tun can be made from a cooler (a 10 gallon cooler works well for 5 gallon batches), a piece of braided stainless hose with the rubber lining removed, and a bulkhead fitting with a valve.

The hot liquor tank is nothing more than another kettle big enough to hold your sparge water (typically 3-5 gallons for a 5 gallon batch).

A wort chiller is highly recommended. You should consider a slightly larger boil kettle as well (7.5 - 10 gallons). A grain mill is optional, as you can order your grains pre-crushed.
 
If you can fit your pot in the oven, you can heat up your mash in the pot on the stove-top, then use your oven as an insulator (preheat it to 150 or so then turn it off). You can make a lauter tun out of two nested buckets, one with holes for a false bottom. This method works with the least amount of additional equipment, but it's a little bit of a pain.
 
The other thing you're going to need (unless you already have one) is some sort of higher-powered burner. I use cheap turkey fryer sets from WalMart, but you can spend a little more money and get a nice Bayou Classic with a higher BTU rating than the turkey fryers. But take it from me: once you're doing full 5+ gallon boils, your kitchen stove (unless you have a really powerful gas range) is not going to cut it anymore.

As for the MLT, you can buy a cylindrical Gott picnic cooler and buy a false bottom from a brewing supply shop (they make them in sizes specifically for certain coolers); then you just need to replace the cooler dispenser with a plastic spigot or faucet.

I concur about the bigger kettle. I have a 32-qt kettle, and it's a little small for high-gravity batches. I usually have to split up my wort and boil it down until it'll all fit into one. I'd go for a 10-gallon pot if you can afford one. You'll thank yourself later.
 
I use an 8 gallon pot and it's almost too small. It's boiled over during the last two batches.
 
I know this is going to be a while off, but eventually i want to get into 10 gallon batches. I was inspired to do this after my honey brown and cheesefood CCA batches were drunk before the following batches were even drinkable. I guess i just need more beer! :cross:

So i'll probably need a larger brew kettle than even 32 qt. There's a restaurant supply store near my apartment with a wide range of pots. They even have one that's over 150 qts!! I'll see what i can dredge up.
 
Don't forget that you will need a good, quality thermometer. I think digital is best. Easily under $15. You may already have one for steeping grains but worth mentioning.

If you aren't ready to dive right into all grain you could try a mini mash. All you need there is a course large nylon bag (and thermometer). You can do the mash in you bottling bucket. I did this once, it was great, I am on my way to all grain.
 
I strongly recomend just morgage the house and buy a ready made brewery!!!!!JUST KIDDING dont hesitate to talk to your local brewery about "out of service kegs" you can make just about anything for your brewery with them. But PLEASE get "out of service ones" and respect the companys that brew for a living:tank:
JJ
 
Buford said:
I use an 8 gallon pot and it's almost too small. It's boiled over during the last two batches.

Trust me, there's no pot big enough to eliminate the possibility of a boilover (I once boiled over a 5 bbl batch in a 15 bbl system :cross: )

But you do want a pot big enough to get a good rolling boil going, without having it slosh over the top. I have a 7.5 gal and a 9-gal pot...I can boil a 5-gal batch in the smaller pot, but I have to be a little less vigorous on the boil initially.

Also, if you're after the true bare minimum setup, you can get by without a HLT. Use your kettle to heat your water, and collect your mash runnings in a bucket. Then transfer the runnings back to the kettle when you're done sparging. It's an extra step, but not that much trouble. I often do this if I'm going to hold the wort (say, overnight) before the boil.
 
Hey All,

I just wanted to give an update:

In the time since i wrote my original post, i've been slowly accumulating equipment here and there moving towards my ultimate goal, All Grain Brewing. As i had mentioned, i went to the local restaurant supply store and they were selling a 60qt aluminum pot for only $80! I figure that should take care of the 10 gallon boil without much problems. But, i'm moving to 10 gallon someday, not soon. Instead i bought a 2nd primary and i just brew twice as often!

Here is what i have to work with for equipment:

6 Gallon Economy MLT kit from morebeer - $40
24 qt brew pot (will probably use for heating sparge water)
60 qt aluminum brew pot (for doing a full 5 gallon boil and beyond)

I'm not sure which wort chiller i'll eventually go with. I've heard the advantages/disadvantages of all and i guess i'll wait and see what happens. Also, i want to go with a 2-cooler MLT/HLT design, but can't find the damn coolers anywhere! I am just going to buy it from morebeer when they're in stock.

I'm inspired to do an AG brew and have already crafted my first recipe (my first!).


6# Munich Malt
1# Crystal 60L
1# Candi Sugar (Amber)
2oz Spalter Hops (60 Min)
1oz Spalter Hops (15 Min)
WLP029 German Ale yeast
 
Take the aluminum pot back and get a SS. I run two Professional kitchens. The aluminum WILL react with both the malt and definitely the acids from the hops.

I know it's priecy I bought my pot through work and paid $130 for a SS 40qt so I know a 60qt will cost you.
 
Almost any home improvement store will have the coolers. Also, don't be afraid to go with a square cooler. I am assuming you are setting up for Fly sparging? If so, the round is negligibly better.
 
For a pot you can always buy a cheap turkey fryer kit. I got mine for 35, I think and it came with a 30 qt SS pot. I have less that 200 bucks in my all gain stuff. 35 for the burner and pot, 40 for the wort chiller, 50 for my mash turn, and another 30 for a propane tank. I have never had a boil over with my 30 qt. and I have had it inchs from the top.
 
Ed's idea of using the squirt bottle with water will solve the boil over issue..

Also didn't see it mentioned but a scale always comes in handy when brewing AG.
 
Drunkensatyr said:
Almost any home improvement store will have the coolers. Also, don't be afraid to go with a square cooler. I am assuming you are setting up for Fly sparging? If so, the round is negligibly better.

I always assumed you couldn't use a rectangular cooler. No one on the board had any pictures of a rectangular MLT. I can get a 48 qt rectangular cooler for cheap, but what do i do for a false bottom?
 
(This was posted in another thread, with some mods to this version)

I've been brewing all grain for a year. I think a significant amount of grain and appropriate, quality liquid yeast make worlds of difference in the outcome. You don't need anything too fancy. I brewed on Sunday with the following equipment :

Mash Tun :
4x ~3.5 lbs of grain in homemade cheese cloth bags (1 sq yd each) tied off with cotton string ($4)
a former bottling bucket with a spigot ($6)
a zero degree sleeping bag as insulation (appropriated from camping supplies)
vinyl tubing to move hot water/wort and avoid the dreaded Hot Side Aeration (and minimize splashing) (~$5, depending on length)
thermometer ($12)
small tables and stools for gravity assistance (appropriated apartment furniture)

Boil/sparge :
22 qt (that's 5.5 gallons) SS Tramontina pot from Wal-Mart (~$55)
12 qt (that's 3 gallons) SS Tramontina pot from Wal-Mart (bought for sake brewing and cooking 5 years ago, ~$35)
12 qt (see above) SS pot (temporarily appropriated from roommate)
3 burners from gas stove in student apartment

Wort Chiller
50' 1/2" OD copper tubing ($45)
very improvised PVC tubing and fittings to neck down water from sink ($10)

I designed the wort chiller to fit in either size pot. With 3 pots, I boil faster and evaporate more.

I mashed with about 3.5 gallons. The temp was 135F after 30 minutes because I tired not to use the sleeping bag, and an iodophor test indicated that I had failed to convert all the starch, so I pulled off about 2 gallons of wort, added another 2 gallons of water and brought that up to 165 F, added insulation and mashed for another half hour. When that was done, the wort incited an apprentice brewer to say "WOW! That's sweet!" and the iodophor agreed that the enzymes and additional heat had saved the day. I pulled off about 3 gallons of wort, and then steeped the grains in as much sparge water as would fit in the plastic bucket before pulling the wort off. I pulled about 8 total gallons of wort off the grain (it stopped tasting good & sweet at that point), and boiled it down to about 5.5 gallons. So long as the grain bags aren't packed too tightly (the grain has space to move) I have never had a problem with mashing.

It works great for the price. I've been at least partial mashing on incredibly old, dirty, poorly repaired, low output college student stoves for 2 years without problems, and the boil never gets so vigorous that the pot boils over if I split the batch, even with high gravity batches. It did take me rather a long time to get from filtered water to sparge temp, and from mash out to boil, but my equipment is cheap, and I have wireless internet, books, a stereo and a tv nearby... (and a closet of hombrew)


That said, I would ideally own a 5.1 kW single hob induction heating unit with automatic temperature control and two 15 gallon stainless polarware pots with spigots and one false bottom, but I'm lacking the ~$2000 to do that right now...
 
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