question about what type of brewing i do

Alright so ive brewed two batches in the first month ive been brewing. I read all about peoples brewing styles here and im wondering how i classify mine.

I buy my ingredients from my lhbs and use a turkey fryer. Use a grain bag boil the grains then add DME/LME then bitter hops then aroma. I do a full boil starting with 5 gallons

What do i call this process?

partial grain.

Punity said:

Alright so ive brewed two batches in the first month ive been brewing. I read all about peoples brewing styles here and im wondering how i classify mine.

I buy my ingredients from my lhbs and use a turkey fryer. Use a grain bag boil the grains then add DME/LME then bitter hops then aroma. I do a full boil starting with 5 gallons

What do i call this process?

Click to expand...

Full boil extract brewing. (assuming the grains in the bag are not base grains and are only for flavors and color. Post your ingredients and we can tell you for certain.)

You're very close to being able to go BIAB/all-grain though...

Alright so now i guess what is entailed with all grain or BIAB( what does that mean).

What am i looking at for moving to all grain and can i do it with my current set up?

Ok last batch i did

4lbs wheat dme
1lb american pale malt
1/2 lb flaked wheat
1/2 lb wheat malt
6 hbus hallertauer hops
1oz fuggle hops

Punity said:

Alright so now i guess what is entailed with all grain or BIAB( what does that mean).

What am i looking at for moving to all grain and can i do it with my current set up?

Click to expand...

BIAB is "Brew in a bag". You don't use extract. Instead, you put all the grains in a large bag that's big enough to line your entire turkey fryer kettle. You heat the grains and water to a mash temp and hold it there for 60-90 minutes, then remove the grains. You then proceed with the regular boil with hop additions and such.

There's a rockin' thread with pictures stickied to the top of the "All grain" sub forum here.

The upside to this method is that you can go all grain and not use extract without having to get new hardware. And it's easy.

Some links (it can look intimidating at first, but really, it's super simple. There are even a few YouTube videos some people have made that show the basic steps.):

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/06/20/brew-in-a-bag-biab-all-grain-brewing-method/

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4650

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/biab-brewing-pics-233289/

BIAB is the first step you should take. ( brew in a bag) if your pot can handle a little bit more liquid, find an all grain recipe to start with, and a 5 gallon paint strainerbag.

Brew In A Bag is a process that uses a large mesh bag to mash right in the brew kettle instead of using a mash tun.

I'm sure you meant to say you steep your grains but just in case, you should never boil your grains. They need to be pulled out before you get to 170F.

Sweet ill talk to my lbhs about this ive probably got a 2 to 3 gallon buffer on my kettle so i might be moving to all grain here soon i hate how sticky the extract makes everything

bleme said:

Brew In A Bag is a process that uses a large mesh bag to mash right in the brew kettle instead of using a mash tun.

I'm sure you meant to say you steep your grains but just in case, you should never boil your grains. They need to be pulled out before you get to 170F.

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Yea thats what i meant. I hold around 150 temp wise for the hour im steeping

unionrdr said:

BIAB can indeed use extract. It's called partial mash. I use a bag for steeping grains with extract,so it's still BIAB regardless. You're just not using a false bottom & stiring watery grains around loosely in the kettle.

Click to expand...

That's. What i thought because i use the bag to steep but maybe i can call it PBIAB

Punity said:

That's. What i thought because i use the bag to steep but maybe i can call it PBIAB

Click to expand...

After seeing your recipe, yes, you're already doing a partial mash brew in a bag.

Cool guess ill try and move on up to all grain and join the big boys haha.

What of bag so do you use for all grain if using a turkey fryer

Punity said:

Cool guess ill try and move on up to all grain and join the big boys haha.

What of bag so do you use for all grain if using a turkey fryer

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The bag just has to be big enough to completely line the kettle. You have to put ALL of your grains in the bag. And they get really heavy when they get wet. If you're planning on 5 gallon BIAB batches, that's a lot of grain and hot water to lift out. Some of the links I provided above show some solutions to this (pulleys and such). You don't need any new hardware, but you do have to plan ahead.

Any sort of nylon bag will work. Laundry bags are popular, and some brew shops sell them. You can also get material and sew your own.

Cool thats nice to know. What type of # am i looking at for all grain
Roughly

Punity said:

Cool thats nice to know. What type of # am i looking at for all grain
Roughly

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Total grain weight for a 5 gallon batch will vary a lot depending on recipes and how much alcohol you want (gravity). Anywhere from 8lbs to 18lbs is a reasonable range. Cruise through the recipe section of these forums and look at some recipes for your favorite styles... you'll get a good idea of total grain volume pretty quickly.

double post

Cool just need to know roughly i brew with my Father in law so im seeing what all grain enrails