New All Grain Setup

I'm just getting into home brewing and I have a question on some equipment. I did my first brew last weekend in the kitchen, not too bad but I had enough of the malt extract syrup already. I'm ready to go all grain.

I'm handy with DIY projects so making a mash tun, chiller, ect is no problem, but my questions are:

I'd like to make 5 gallon batches so should I go with a 5 or 10 gallon cooler for a mash tun? Is there any problem with a lot of head space?

This is certainly a better price so can I use this? Amazon.com: Bayou Classic 3066A 30-Quart Outdoor Turkey Fryer Kit: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Or should I do it right and start with this instead?Amazon.com: Bayou Classic SP10 High-Pressure Outdoor Gas Cooker, Propane: Patio, Lawn & Garden

and Amazon.com: 40 QT COMMERCIAL ALUMINUM STOCK POT - NSF: Home & Garden

Any other suggestions?
Thanks

You asked the most common question of all time... 5 gallon or 10 gallon. Definately 10 gallon! You can do 5 and 10 gallon batches in them... what if you want to mash at 2qt/lb with 10lbs of grain?? That is 5 gallons of water alone...

Do the 10 gallon, and get the largest pot you can get, that is another sticky point for new AG brewers as well. Make sure you have at least a couple extra gallons of capacity in there so that you dont get regular boil overs.

I would go with a bigger cooler, rectangular is cheaper. I wouldn't go any less than 10 gal for a full boil. I use a 15 gallon pot for 5.5 gal batches.

+1 for all above , im a new brewer as well , I made my setup with 5 gal , drink coolers , "should have read more HBT before i started construction"
My setup works but its tricky. I wish i would have gone with the 10 gal , and probably will be rebuilding them in the future.

Most people lean towards the stainless steel brew pot. I would to IMP

I am new to AG brewing but I asked the same questions you asked and I am definately glad I went with the 10 Gallon cooler and you will need a large Boil pot, I ended up with a 13 Gallon one thinking it would hold me for a while. Well... now I want to do 10 gallon batches and need a larger pot, but I just picked up a keg for that

The point is, take whatever you are thinking of getting and double that

humann_brewing said:

The point is, take whatever you are thinking of getting and double that

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Best advice I have seen in a long time. You will be glad you did, trust me...

thanks for all the quick responses

What about the Bayou Classic burner? Will the 10psi version get the job done or should I go with the the 20psi one?

20psi if you plan to do 10gal batches in the future. Probably does not matter accept for the lag time for the water to heat up.

If you go with the smaller burner you might need to controle the heat from the burner if you boil outside in the cold weather... surround it with bricks or create some kind of a wind barrier. although bricks are cheap here

GL - with your build.

Rather than starting a new thread, the preferred approach on the forum seems to be using existing threads. So I'm hoping some of you would like to add some more thoughts to this one.

I've made I believe 6 batches thus far, all partial-mash and all have turned out pretty good (a couple awesome, a couple so-so).

Aside from experience, of course equipment/cost is a factor. Right now I'm sporting a 4-gallon kettle, a 5-gallon carboy, a 6-gallon carboy, a quality thermometer, and smaller important fare (auto-siphon, good storage space, etc). I'd make a 5-gallon batch, using a gas stove, and I generally like to make IPAs.

Reading threads on the forum, I feel like I could tackle it, but I'm worried I don't have the equipment to really do it right, and I'm especially nervous I don't have the experience to try it yet. Maybe I should go less and less extract in my recipes and slowly get the feel for it?

So to you AG experts, when did you feel you were ready to make the leap and WHY?

thanks!

Sensei_Oberon said:

...So to you AG experts, when did you feel you were ready to make the leap and WHY?

thanks!

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I'm no expert, that's for sure, but I made the leap when I wasn't hitting the final gravities that I expected with extract. Now, no problemo!

I did extract brewing for two years before I moved to AG. If you have a good source of high-quality extract (I did), you can make very good beer with extracts and either steeped grains or very small partial mashes (which have pretty much identical equipment requirements, they're just marginally different in technique).

I decided to go AG for two reasons. One: I wanted to do things the hard way. Two: I wanted more control over the brewing process. They go hand-in-hand. If you're interested in brewing "standard" recipes, there's really no reason to do AG. Price isn't even much of a factor: you will spend so much on equipment that it will take about ten batches brewed before you start breaking even on the cheaper grain vs. extract. Long before the break-even point, you'll be eyeing an upgrade to something, trust me.

The benefit to AG is total control over your ingredients. What's in an amber extract? Depends on the producer. Do you want to brew a rye ale, or a good wheat ale? Better find a good source of rye or wheat extract. They exist, but once you start departing from the old standby IPAs and stouts, AG gives you a lot more utility. You can also gain a lot of fine-grained control over the finished product: do you want a "chewier" beer? Mash at 156 or 158.

Even then, you can do almost every recipe you can think of as a partial/mini mash with a small amount of grain and a lot of pale malt extract (look at all the 2-row in the recipes, which is very easily replaced by pale malt extract), and a mini-mash can be done with a grain bag in a 4 gal pot very easily. And if you want a more dextrinous wort, add some malto-dextrin. There is really almost no rational reason to go AG that I've found.

That's where the "hard way" comes into play also. I make bread from scratch. I make beer from scratch. I am going to learn how to make cheese this upcoming year. For whatever reason, I like doing things the hard way.

I'm also a geek. I love science. I love thinking about enzymes and testing pH and working out residual alkalinity. AG gives me a venue for my inner nerd to shine. My wife, reading this over my shoulder, says, "You have an inner nerd? I thought it was all outer."

As to the original question: I went with a 10gal cooler MLT, and am VERY happy with it. I like heavy beers, and would hate to have tried to make a wee heavy (20 pounds of grist) in a 5gal cooler. If you're putting the time and effort into making an MLT, might as well make one that maximizes utility. I figure it will be useful for mashing even if I upgrade to a 10gal system for a while (until I buy a bigger MLT for the 10g heavies). I also have an 8 gal boil kettle and the 20 psi Bayou Classic burner. I'm *very* happy with them, although I also strongly recommend a wort chiller of some sort to go with that system. 5 gallons of boiling wort takes FOREVER to chill in an icebath, and only 10 minutes to chill with my homemade chiller (50' of 3/8 copper tube attached to a pump). See what I mean about spiralling expenses?

Still, I love doing AG beer, even if I recognize that it's much more equipment heavy and not necessarily any better-tasting beer than using high-quality extract.

Sensei_Oberon said:

Reading threads on the forum, I feel like I could tackle it, but I'm worried I don't have the equipment to really do it right, and I'm especially nervous I don't have the experience to try it yet. Maybe I should go less and less extract in my recipes and slowly get the feel for it?

So to you AG experts, when did you feel you were ready to make the leap and WHY?

thanks!

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Experience? My first ever batch of beer was all-grain. The only way you'll get the experience is by DOING IT!

I would highly recommend taking on a DIY project of converting a 10 gallon rubbermaid water cooler into a mash/lauter tun. Once that's built, grab a 10 gallon pot and a wort chiller and you're basically there.

The hardest part of all grain brewing is calculating the correct measurements for all your ingredients (grains, water, salts, temps). But there are so many resources out there that all that hard work has been done for you.

Extract brewing just doesn't cut it once you realize just how awesome beer tastes when it was made the all-grain way.

Don't think, just do it!

And with a community like this you will never be at a loss for help.

ajs349 said:

New All Grain Setup

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With an AG setup the rule of a thumb is to go 1.5 times your batch size, so if you're going for 5 gal batches you need 7.5 gal boil kettle/turkey fryer + 7.5 gal MTL cooler. For 10 gal batches: 15 gal boil kettle/keggle + 15 gal MTL.

As I thought, I have much to learn. As ambitious as I am about these things, perhaps I should perfect the art of extract brewing first. I have a supply of good LME locally, and logically should make many different types of beer that way first.

But as MN says "just do it!" This may come down to getting my wife to allow me to buy more equipment.....I suspect many of us find that to be the most difficult part of homebrewing!

Sensei_Oberon said:

But as MN says "just do it!" This may come down to getting my wife to allow me to buy more equipment.....I suspect many of us find that to be the most difficult part of homebrewing!

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Yep. The only thing between me and that pretty 10 gal setup, is the responsible half of the relationship.

Another good place to look is Sams Club online. I got my 60 qt brew pot there for around $60 bones. Not a bad deal and it's been awesome for double batches

Sensei_Oberon said:

Rather than starting a new thread, the preferred approach on the forum seems to be using existing threads.

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I dunno about that. IMO I think it muddies up the conversation... especially when I'm searching for an answer to a specific question I have. When the thread is bouncing all around the board it's sometimes painful to read all the stuff that has nothing to do with the OP. Just my opinion... and I've taken threads off-topic myself, I'm not claiming sainthood. Kinda helpful to just stick a though so anyone skimming through for answers can skip it.

Sensei_Oberon said:

So to you AG experts, when did you feel you were ready to make the leap and WHY?

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I've never done extract. I started with a converted cooler and would batch sparge and vorlauf. I made some good beer but stressed to much trying to hit my temp and hold it so I then built a ghetto HERMS rig which I'm really happy with as it gives me consistency so I can tweak my recipes knowing that the process is sound.

The best thing with all grain is the satisfaction of crafting something completely from scratch and building your own wort profile.