Extract brewer, going all-grain!

Woohoo!!! I have been brewing on and off for the last few years. Most have turned out well. Decided to go all grain now. I will be doing Batch-Sparging now and hopefully make a few great brews while learning how do do it. It all started when my son two and a half yrs old. HE wanted to go to Home Depot so we headed in there and he sat on the tractors and daddy saw these 10 gallon, round coolers at the end of the aisle. Well one thing led to another and out I came with all the parts for a nice little project to help make beer making even more fun!! I can't wait! :rockin::rockin::rockin:

Did my first last week. Definitely feels more like brewing beer than just cooking up a recipe.

Will post up some pics of the project and hopefully get my first one done in the next week or so. Are there any particularly good recipes anyone can suggest for a hop head who cant get enough of it, especially like the Weyerbachers Double Simcoe IPA! That stuff rocks. Just found it the other day at the local microbrew place!

Try out yoopers dogfish head clone, it's tasty - Although for your first AG, my advice (which you should take w/ a grain of salt) is to do something like BM's https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/
It will cost you around $20, and you can figure things out without breaking the bank on hops cost.
Makes a great beer, tough to really mess it up and in my opinion is a great intro to AG.

Rock On!

+1 to doing something simple, it will definitely help you learn the process and dial down your equipment.

Yeah simple will be great for the first one! I am working on making a keggle for larger boils My 6 gallon is going to limit me quite a bit right now! I will have to keep it down to a 5.5 boil max to have some room for a little sloshing. I can see this being even more involved now, with ordering grains in bulk, and hops, and this, and that. It is a disease we all have! Looks like I will need a bigger garage now too! Does it ever stop?

Congratulations on the decision. I made my first all-grain about a week and a half ago. I don't know how well it will turn out as I broke my thermometer and couldn't adjust for gravity and have no idea where it stands, but hay I am sure I can drink it. You'll really get a thrill at dough in when you first put your grains in that worm strike water if your like me. It smells so good, much better than when you dump LME into a boiling pot. You'll really feel like a "real man" by the time of the first runnings and you see you've made your own sticky wort. I guess there is just something about us guys that makes us want to produce sticky juices

Good luck,
BillTheSlink

Finally got it 95% done and took some pics. I went with a "T" on the inside so It would be less likely that I would get a stuck sparge. I have yet to attach the stainless mesh hose to the "T". I am picking up some hose clamps today, so it will be 100% done. I needed large rubber washers, but none could be found at Lowes. So, I found some 1/8" thick rubber gasket material and traced and cut them out myself. I then used a food grade silicone for an even better seal. I cannot wait to use it! I still need to come up with a recipe to make. Im thinking a nice light beer for my friends who do not prefer the heavy hoppyness like I do.

I was just trying to search for anyone who has done a circle into a T like I have. I think it would be better, but it could also mess up the flow? Anyone ever done this?

I've never seen a "circle T". Most guys with Igloos use false bottoms. I don't use an Igloo but a fermenter bucket. I am going to an Igloo though. You might want to check out Phil's Phalse Bottom at Listermann's . I've got the size for my bucket, but when I go Igloo I'll get the 10 gal. It works great. Cheap and made of plastic or hard Teflon; very easy to clean.

The circle with the T has been done, works well. People that have done it have said they get better eff. than with the straight braid.

Batch sparging will work well with that design.

The Pol said:

The circle with the T has been done, works well. People that have done it have said they get better eff. than with the straight braid.

Batch sparging will work well with that design.

Click to expand...

Sweet. I have searched for the circle mesh, but never did find it. I still have a LOT to learn about batch sparging before I can use it.

Thanks for the feedback on this guys. I will be doing some serious reading about batch sparging. Are there any really "good reads" about batch sparging? Any great books, threads that will get me up to speed. I am still very confused by the effecency and stuff like that. I have been a pure extract guy for about 5 years now.

Here is some useful reading on sparge methods.

Sparging Methods | Brewer's Friend

Thanks for the link! Will read now.