I think i am ready to go all grain

Hi, my name is Tim.

I am a beginner at homebrewing. I have three extract kit brews, under my belt, Two light ales, and a pumpkin ale in secondary right now. been brewing three weeks.

Today i put together a 26 quart igloo lauter tun, with 20 inch braided stainless manifold. I also picked up a 30 qt stainless turkey fryer. total cost 100 dollars.

So I think all i need now is my bottle of propane, 10 lbs of grain, some hops, and yeast, and I am in all-grain city.

9lbs two row pale ale malt.
1lb of a darker malt.
2 ozs hops.
ale yeast.

I plan on using the batch sparge technique.

Is my over all theory correct, or am i leaving something out.

If you don't have a wort chiller of some sort you will want to get one. Cooling full wort boils using an ice bath will probably take a loooong time. A simple immersion chiller is easily constructed, if you do a search you'll find lots of threads on how to build one.

Not sure what kind of beer you're looking to make, you may want poke through the recipe database. Edworts Haus Ale seems to be very popular (haven't made it myself). You could also order a kit of your favourite commercial beer from an online source like Austin Homebrew Supply so you don't need to worry about the recipe part and can concentrate on the process.

Good luck with your first AG batch!

Edit: I forgot to mention, if you haven't already I would highly recommend reading howtobrew.com

bradsul said:

Edworts Haus Ale seems to be very popular (haven't made it myself).

Click to expand...

What the heck are you waiting for? Get cracking man! :cross:

You are right about the chiller i got plans on that, Defalco's is four blocks from my house, so no need to mail order any supplies.

Might make things easier....
You don't need a manifold to batch sparge, you can just lay the SS braid out. Won't hurt anything if you do (would need it to fly sparge), but could save you some time and money.

EdWort said:

What the heck are you waiting for? Get cracking man! :cross:

Click to expand...

It's actually something I want to make but I'm having trouble sourcing vienna malt and the only 10L malt I can get is carahelle. I can't get my beloved biscuit malt anymore either, my English-style IPA just isn't the same with victory as a substitute.

It really is that easy. Think complicated oatmeal

As far as chilling is concerned I use the bathtub. Fill with the coldest water three times and it should be chilled. Takes like 45 mins.

RDWHAHB, and welcome to the club

I was pleasantly surprised how simple AG brewing is. Think it through, then dive in.

Ahhh, the first AG batch. I bought an AHS kit with an extra pound of 2 row (I knew my efficiency would suck) and went for it. It was fantastic! 8 months later I am wondering why all of my friends still brew extract.

Ah, don't forget a good thermometer, and check it in boiling/ice water first.

bradsul said:

It's actually something I want to make but I'm having trouble sourcing vienna malt and the only 10L malt I can get is carahelle. I can't get my beloved biscuit malt anymore either, my English-style IPA just isn't the same with victory as a substitute.

Click to expand...

Austin Home Brew can hook you up on both the Vienna and Crystal 10L. They are open today.

damn,lhbs. does'nt open till ten. I am gonna get the ingredients, then. Got the gas, and the thermometer.

Thanks for the help.

EdWort said:

Austin Home Brew can hook you up on both the Vienna and Crystal 10L. They are open today.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately getting that shipped to Canada is problematic.

tgreene7 said:

damn,lhbs. does'nt open till ten. I am gonna get the ingredients, then. Got the gas, and the thermometer.

Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

Enjoy your first AG, no matter how much you may worry ahead of time it'll still be a lot of fun!

heres a link to creating your own immersion chiller, i made one and did my first all grain yesterday which was great fun and really easy. the immersion chiller cooled my wort in around 25 minutes.

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/pipexdsl/q/aqrx09/easyhomebrew/diy.html

I think it's cool how people are diving into AG after only a few extract batches.

There is definitely way more flexibilty and control in brewing AG.

In addition to what others have already said if you plan on formulating your own recipes it never hurts to download some software such as beersmith or promash to aid you in that. They also have a variety of tools to help you while you're brewing so they can be beneficial. Not a necessity but worth having...

Also, I made the mistake of thinking my equipment was big enough for the 5 gallon batches I am brewing but as it turns out, I was wrong. I have a 9 gal brewpot right now but wish I had 15 gal. I always find myself wanting to brew a little more each time and taxing the limits of my system. You can upgrade down the road though if need be.

Important thing is don't stress and have a good time with it.

Good luck on your first AG brew. Let us know how it goes.

bradsul said:

Unfortunately getting that shipped to Canada is problematic.

Click to expand...

Hey Brad -- have you tried to ship grains from them to Canada? I actually contacted them to see if they would, and they claimed it was no problem.

Or do you mean that the cost would be prohibitive?

FlyGuy said:

Hey Brad -- have you tried to ship grains from them to Canada? I actually contacted them to see if they would, and they claimed it was no problem.

Or do you mean that the cost would be prohibitive?

Click to expand...

Cost prohibitive. They only ship to Canada via UPS and that pretty much means UPS is going to double the cost of the order with their ridiculous brokerage fees.

Right, I agree.

Try Alternative Beverage -- I have found their shipping to be on par with Paddock Wood.

Got all the stuff for edworts haus ale. The grain is in the initial soak right now. This stuff smells much better than the extract cans.

I love the smell of the mash too.

Yeah, gotta love that mash smell...maybe there's a way to bottle it Oh wait....we already do

I actually feel more like I'm really making beer with AG. Extract is pretty good, but there's something "ancestral" about making your beer from grain the way it has been done for generations....

its in the fermenter now. It was successful. Ended up with 4.5 gals of wort, with an OG of 1.060. I cheated and added the last half gallon, to give me an OG around 1.055 with five gallons.

next time I will work figure out the water amounts better. I think my mash, sugar conversion worked out okay.

Its already starting to bubble, so its beer for sure.

Thanks for all the help, now I can say that I brew beer.

bradsul said:

Unfortunately getting that shipped to Canada is problematic.

Click to expand...

Try Todd and see what shipping insiide Canada is like.
http://www.skinaneybrewing.com/Malts.htm

tgreene7 said:

its in the fermenter now. It was successful. Ended up with 4.5 gals of wort, with an OG of 1.060. I cheated and added the last half gallon, to give me an OG around 1.055 with five gallons.

next time I will work figure out the water amounts better. I think my mash, sugar conversion worked out okay.

Its already starting to bubble, so its beer for sure.

Thanks for all the help, now I can say that I brew beer.

Click to expand...

Congrats! And there's nothing wrong with topping up the fermenter, don't feel bad about that! You'll get the volumes figured out as you get to know your system.

I just did my first AG and just in the morning put a large garbage can of water into my refridgerator(a commercial style one) and then placed the wort into the water about 6 or so hours later, worked well. Cooled the entire wort within about 45 minutes.
Daum