Converting to an all grain set-up

Well, I've been doing lots of reading about AG brewing recently and it's convinced me to take the plunge:rockin:. I've only been brewing for about 6 months and have been wanting to do partial mash, but it seems like very little work and much better reward to skip it and go directly to AG. From my understanding, it seems to me that the only thing I need is

-a 10 gallon cooler (I'll convert it myself)
-a larger brewpot (I was thinking in the 7.5 gallon range)

I'm brewing in an apartment on my stove, but it has had no problem at all getting nearly 5 gallons of water up to a strong rolling boil, so I'm not expecting it to be too much of a problem for full volume boils. I already have an immersion chiller.

Am I missing something? Or is it really this simple to get started.

P.S. Is something like this


sufficient for aerating the wort?

Also, any suggestions on where to find the size brewpot I need without breaking the bank?

Oops, here is what I have for wine. Is it also useable for aerating the wort?? http://www.homebrewery.com/images/mixstir.jpg

My 2 cents.

You need a 36-40qt pot. A typical 30qt turkey fryer is dangerously borderline for a boilover. All grain requires a preboil volume of about 6.5g for 5 gallons in the fermenter. 1 gallon of headspace is not enough. Use aluminum if you need to save money. I'd rather have a 40qt aluminum over a 30qt stainless.

Practice dealing with a full boil on an extract batch once, then go to full all grain. You have a wort chiller right? If not, you need one.

10gallon cooler is fine. I started with a 12 gallon rectangular.

I'm working just fine with a 6 gallon cooler, 40qt aluminum stock pot, 25ft immersion chiller, and a small home depot oxygen bottle aeration stone setup. Huge beer batches may require a larger cooler... but you could always make those a partial mash batch. Ya know when you make a huge beer like a barleywine keep your mash water volume lower, like 1qt/lbs, sparge out like 7-7.5 gallons to get great efficiency then add in however much pale-DME/honey/candi to hit your gravity. Boil it for two hours to get down to 5 gallons. You're better off going with a cooler that's just the size you need for a ~7% beer so you keep the grain bed thick. IDK... 6-8 gallons on the cooler seems perfect.

sirsloop said:

I'm working just fine with a 6 gallon cooler, 40qt aluminum stock pot, 25ft immersion chiller, and a small home depot oxygen bottle aeration stone setup. Huge beer batches may require a larger cooler... but you could always make those a partial mash batch. Ya know when you make a huge beer like a barleywine, sparge out like 7-7.5 gallons to get great efficiency then add in however much pale-DME/honey/candi to hit your gravity. Boil it for two hours to get down to 5 gallons. You're better off going with a cooler that's just the size you need for a ~7% beer so you keep the grain bed thick.

Click to expand...

Sirsloop, could you tell me more about the home depot oxygen bottle?

I've got a Lowes and Menards in town. I didn't know that they sold oxygen.

I've been thinking about buying an oxygen tank, but was dreading dealing with a regulator for the tank. I guess I could crack the valve open slowly... or swap the regulator with my CO2 tank when need be.

Any insights you provide would be appreciated.

Jason

go to HD/lowes in the tools/torch section where they have those mini propane/map gas bottles. They should have oxygen bottles that are red. Thats what you want. Go to williamsbrewing.com and get their reverse thread valve (or something like that elsewhere). Get a 2 micron diffuser stone from a homebrew store. Use some random size hoses and creativity to attack the diffuser stone to the end of a rack cane. You'll need like 1/4" (or 3/16 with a clamp) on the valve, like 3' of hose to the racking cane, and I used some hose and a hose clamp to attach the diffuser to the end of the cane. Alternatively you can just get the $50 kit from williams and be done with it. I probably saved 15 bucks by doing that part myself.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAM_S_OXYGEN_AERATION_SYST_P699.cfm
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/OXYGEN_REGULATOR_P700.cfm

You can also do what is called the carboy hump (aka shaking the carboy) which should work fine, couple that with letting your cooled wort fall into the carboy before hand causing a nice splash and you should achieve sufficient aeration.

So it seems like I'm better off getting a 10 gallon pot (I probably would do aluminum) and getting a turkey burner to make it worth it? Does it put me at a disadvantage to have a larger lauter tun than I need?

jason.mundy said:

I guess I could crack the valve open slowly... or swap the regulator with my CO2 tank when need be.

Click to expand...

wont' work. O2 and CO2 regulators are completely different beasts, with different threads and pressures.

just about any hardware store that has welding/brazing supplies will have the little red $8 Benz-o-matic oxygen tanks.

you buy the regulator/rest of the setup online...really its just a valve (no psi gauges) and some sort of stainless steel aeration stone. I like the one from www.williamsbrewing.com


definitely get at least a 9 gallon kettle. I have some boilover issues doing 5 gallon batches in a 9gallon pot. 7.5 gallons just isn't going to cut it....it'll be headaches fighting boilovers. check ebay. i got a nice, heavy duty SS 9 gallon kettle with lid, SS ballvalve already installed, and a large brewing thermometer installed for a very reasonable price (at least IMO for my area).

Good info. Thanks guys.