Making the move to ALL GRAIN

I have brewed 4 batches. All 4 used specialty grains. 3 were from extract the 4th came from a homebrew contest. I started with 6 gallons of wort that came from pilsner malt.

I have a 5 gallon beverage cooler with a SS braid. I am going to batch sparge.

The first AG beer I make is going to be a Wit. My wife loves WIT beer and I wanted to do a beer that she was heavily involved in making.

I also have an aventinus clone that I am also going to brew. This is a beer a friend challenged me to make. I am not a big fan of aventinus but I will drink it. I am mostly turned off by the $4 for a 12oz price tag. I am sure to thoroughly enjoy aventinus homebrew. He is going to help me on that brew day also.

So with my first two AG batches I will have a willing brew helper. All the other batches were done solo.

:rockin: Now that that's out of the way.


Any advice??

Also I purchase bottled water since my water is POOL FLAVORED. How many gallons should I have on hand??? I am thinking 7 gallons.

Rice hulls make lautering easier.

Don't sweat it if your efficiency or final volume doesn't come out exactly as planned. It takes a few brews to figure out the quirks of your system.

Brewsmith is awesome. Get it, it's worth it. Tells you how much water you need, in addition to 100 other things.

bryanjints said:

Any advice??

Also I purchase bottled water since my water is POOL FLAVORED. How many gallons should I have on hand??? I am thinking 7 gallons.

Click to expand...

A actived charcoal RV water filter will help with the poor quality water. You'll be using quite a bit, so buying bottle water is going to get expensive. The filter will run you ~$15-30, and attaches to a standard garden hose. I recommend attaching it directly to the spigot. The bottled water for a single batch might be $7-10 @ $1 per gallon, and you might run out. The RV filter will last for hundreds of gallons.

Something like this:
http://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/WCInLineFilters.htm
(I've never ordered from these guys, but you get the idea.)

bryanjints said:

Any advice??
.

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Plan your brewday in advance.

If you crack your own grain, crack it the day or so before and store it well.

Weigh out and label your hops additions the day before.

Write down an outline of the day's plan, even if it's just rough (day before).

Take notes of any deviations that occur on the day (you may make the best beer of your life and have no idea how to replicate it).

Drink beer but not so much you fall in the kettle or forget the hops additions.

If you make a mistake/error/stuff up whatever: work your way around it. Lateral thinking will make you a better brewer. Panic and stress won't.

manticle said:

Plan your brewday in advance.

If you crack your own grain, crack it the day or so before and store it well.

Weigh out and label your hops additions the day before.

Write down an outline of the day's plan, even if it's just rough (day before).

Take notes of any deviations that occur on the day (you may make the best beer of your life and have no idea how to replicate it).

Drink beer but not so much you fall in the kettle or forget the hops additions.

If you make a mistake/error/stuff up whatever: work your way around it. Lateral thinking will make you a better brewer. Panic and stress won't.

Click to expand...

Thanks.


I guess I could have found all this by searching through posts but sometimes it just makes it easier to ask a question.

your gonna need more than 7 gallons depending on your grain bill and how much water the grains absorb and your boil off.

plan for it to take all day, and be very patient during sparging. very patient. clean up before you start, as you go, and immediately after finishing... the mess adds up really fast.

Don't drink until the boil, and hold off till it hits the carboy if you can. I start my brew when the sun comes up. Get as much set up the night before as you can, including containers of water, etc.

Beersmith for sure! Or one of the others available. I use Beersmith and love it. I am pretty new to AG myself. A few things I have learned recently:

Have a good thermometer (or several to compare). Temps are very important.

Stir the Mash well. I got poor efficiency on my first few tries and then started stirring every 20 minutes. I think I jumped about 10 points.

With a new HLT, I have moved to fly sparges. I had a terrible stuck spage with my first AG wheat. I was batch sparging, fully draining the MLT between batches (probably compacted the grain) and using rice hulls. If you can fly sparge, I would recommend it at least for the wheat.

Hope all goes well! I think I only lasted about four extract batches as well

DilvishTheDamned said:

A actived charcoal RV water filter will help with the poor quality water. You'll be using quite a bit, so buying bottle water is going to get expensive. The filter will run you ~$15-30, and attaches to a standard garden hose. I recommend attaching it directly to the spigot. The bottled water for a single batch might be $7-10 @ $1 per gallon, and you might run out. The RV filter will last for hundreds of gallons.

Something like this:
http://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/WCInLineFilters.htm
(I've never ordered from these guys, but you get the idea.)

Click to expand...

I use that filter but I have it hooked up to a white potable water hose designed for transfer of drinking water to RVs. It is supposed to not have the "hose flavor." It seems to work. I drink the water before brewing every time and it tastes better than tap and I can't get any notes of "hose".

Eric

I like the brew day checklist and recipe sheets at brewersfriend.com. It definitely keeps me from forgetting anything or starting before I have all my ducks in a row.

Eric