DarinB
Active Member
I've been doing some ponderation over whether or not to make the switch from my current (and very successful I might add) extract/steeping grains method of brewing. I've come to a few conclusions...
1. I am pretty happy with the beer I'm making now (it even has a few fans who don't love me...) so apparently the current method is working just fine.
2. I am a 'gadget guy', meaning I like hands on stuff, so even though my current methods are successful, I still can't shake my interest in getting more involved.
3. I have decided that brewing 5 gallons at a time is enough for me - I'm able to keep up with demand fairly well, and at this point, thats what my equipment dictates.
4. While I do have a turkey fryer (aka propane burner), I don't necessarily want to sit out in my garage, or in the basement, boiling wort - I like my stove, and would prefer to stick with it.
5. Still can't shake out the feeling of wanting to do this all grain stuff. dammit...
6. Due to my desire to keep using my stove, my boil volumes need to stay around 3 gallons or less. Currently, I do that, then add whatever I need in cold water to the carboy - works fine, lasts a long time, no worries...
7. After spending around 43 bucks for the batch of IPA I recently brewed, I'm getting more and more interested in saving a few bucks here and there...I'm hoping to come up with a method of AG that would help in that quest.
So I broke down and did some reading;here's what I'm wondering...
I've been reading that you can make up for p*sspoor sparging by adjusting up the grain quantities (the method I read suggested up by 10 to 15%). That got me thinking what if you were to adjust up a bit more, say 25% more grain than you would buy for a 5 gallon batch, mash, sparge (I've got a 5 gallon water cooler with nuthin' to do I could modify), and wind up with 2 1/2 to 3 gallons of a more concentrated product that you could then boil off, hop, etc. and add to the plain water - then pitch yeast and from there everything would be business as usual for me.
Does this make any sense at all? Am I nuts/dumber 'n a box of rocks? Am I reallllly reaching? Should I not screw with a good thing?
or...would this maybe work?
1. I am pretty happy with the beer I'm making now (it even has a few fans who don't love me...) so apparently the current method is working just fine.
2. I am a 'gadget guy', meaning I like hands on stuff, so even though my current methods are successful, I still can't shake my interest in getting more involved.
3. I have decided that brewing 5 gallons at a time is enough for me - I'm able to keep up with demand fairly well, and at this point, thats what my equipment dictates.
4. While I do have a turkey fryer (aka propane burner), I don't necessarily want to sit out in my garage, or in the basement, boiling wort - I like my stove, and would prefer to stick with it.
5. Still can't shake out the feeling of wanting to do this all grain stuff. dammit...
6. Due to my desire to keep using my stove, my boil volumes need to stay around 3 gallons or less. Currently, I do that, then add whatever I need in cold water to the carboy - works fine, lasts a long time, no worries...
7. After spending around 43 bucks for the batch of IPA I recently brewed, I'm getting more and more interested in saving a few bucks here and there...I'm hoping to come up with a method of AG that would help in that quest.
So I broke down and did some reading;here's what I'm wondering...
I've been reading that you can make up for p*sspoor sparging by adjusting up the grain quantities (the method I read suggested up by 10 to 15%). That got me thinking what if you were to adjust up a bit more, say 25% more grain than you would buy for a 5 gallon batch, mash, sparge (I've got a 5 gallon water cooler with nuthin' to do I could modify), and wind up with 2 1/2 to 3 gallons of a more concentrated product that you could then boil off, hop, etc. and add to the plain water - then pitch yeast and from there everything would be business as usual for me.
Does this make any sense at all? Am I nuts/dumber 'n a box of rocks? Am I reallllly reaching? Should I not screw with a good thing?
or...would this maybe work?