Basic All Grain System

Ive been an extract brewer for about a year now. I want to get into all grain brewing. I came across this site that sells this item:

http://northernbrewer.com/pics/thumbs/basic-ags.jpg


How do I use this type of set up and what are the steps that I need to know? (step by step in lazy man terms would help...Im kinda slow...)

If I wanted to make my [FONT=&quot]favorite extract style brew would the ingredients be the same for this AGS set up?

Thanks for your help
808:rockin:
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So far everything I have read (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) says replace the extract with a base malt and use the same ammount of specialty grains as the recipie calls for, also since doing 5+ gallons in the boil instead of 2-3 you need to reduce the hops like 20% because bigger boil yeilds better hop utilization.

808beer said:

Ive been an extract brewer for about a year now. I want to get into all grain brewing. I came across this site that sells this item:

http://northernbrewer.com/pics/thumbs/basic-ags.jpg


How do I use this type of set up and what are the steps that I need to know? (step by step in lazy man terms would help...Im kinda slow...)

Click to expand...

The bucket with the spigot is your hot liquor tank (HLT), and the one without the spigot is your lauter tun.

With that system, the steps would be:

Mash, in a pot or a seperate mash tun (like a plastic cooler)

Heat water to about 185 F, dump it into the HLT.

Dump the mash into the lauter tun.

Sparge: water is slowly added to the mash from the HLT, while wort is slowly drained from the lauter tun.

Boil as w/ an extract recipe.

Conversion is pretty easy, as Budbo said. The reason you use less bittering hops is that the SG of you boil is a lot lower when you do a full boil, and less dense liquid = more efficient extraction of alpha acids.

cweston said:

The bucket with the spigot is your hot liquor tank (HLT), and the one without the spigot is your lauter tun.

With that system, the steps would be:

Mash, in a pot or a seperate mash tun (like a plastic cooler)

Heat water to about 185 F, dump it into the HLT.

Dump the mash into the lauter tun.

Sparge: water is slowly added to the mash from the HLT, while wort is slowly drained from the lauter tun.

Boil as w/ an extract recipe.

Conversion is pretty easy, as Budbo said. The reason you use less bittering hops is that the SG of you boil is a lot lower when you do a full boil, and less dense liquid = more efficient extraction of alpha acids.

Click to expand...

Could he do the mash in the bucket like people do in the cooler? I'm assuming he would have to insulate the bucket pretty well some how....

Could he do the mash in the bucket like people do in the cooler? I'm assuming he would have to insulate the bucket pretty well some how....

Click to expand...

Yep . . . sure could. If you are doing a single infusion, you could mash in the bucket and wrap a sleeping bag around it for insulation. This would work pretty well. Your LHBS will even sell you a 5-gallon bucket sized gran bag, so that you can get all of the grain out of the bucket . . . a "sparge" of sorts.

I've never done this, but I know its been done.

Beer Snob said:

Could he do the mash in the bucket like people do in the cooler? I'm assuming he would have to insulate the bucket pretty well some how....

Click to expand...

Yeah--you could probably wrap an old sleeping bag or something around it.

I would aosl be a little concerned about a plastic bucket for a HLT. If you were batch sparging it's be fine, but for fly spraging it seems like you'd lose a lot of heat in the HLT before the sparge was done.

I would recommend that you research batch sparging. It's simple and easy. You can convert a cooler into your mash tun for a bit less than that system. Check this link -> http://tastybrew.com/articles/dennyconn001

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/ This site explains it pretty well and even has good pictures.

Ok, don't be afraid. All grain is not all that difficult once you have got the hang of it. I follow a general rule of 1 quart of water per lb of grain for mashing. Lets say you had 10 lbs of grain, you would then need 10 quarts of water to mash. There are 4 quarts in one gallon so 10/4 = 2.5 gallons of water. You would heat your water to about 170-175 degrees and place it in the bucket with the screen on the bottom(the plastic disk with holes in it). Add all of the grain to the bucket an mix thoroughly. The temperature of the mixture should be at a correct mash temp. You can adjust the temp by adding cold or boiling water until desired temp is achieved. Now cover and wrap the bucket in a blanket and let sit (stirring occasionally) for 1 - 1.5 hours. After this, recirculate liquid over top of grain until the clarity improves. Now, take apx 6 gallons of 170 deg water and sparge (rinse over the top of grain) and collect the wort. Transfer to you boil pot and you are ready to add hops/etc..... After doing it a few times, you will refine your style.