What's the threshold regarding AG minimalism?

As many of you may already know, I sold about 80% of my brewing equipment. What I didn't sell was my kettle, one Better Bottle, thermometer, bottling bucket, autosiphon, and bottle capper. I'm now thinking of brewing a few times a year as minimally as possible. I know I can do full boils on my home stove and I can handle going back to bottling (only because it'll be so infrequent). To chill, I can use ice and take my time since I know infections don't occur easily. When I was brewing full blast, I thought about making a new MLT so I actually bought the cooler. I'm thinking all I have to do is convert that cooler and I'll be back in business. I've got lots of hops and yeast left and I can by pre-crushed grains. I'm only talking maybe 4 times a year here. Convenience equipment aside, am I missing anything?

For 4 batches a year, you are good to go. Start doing more and you'll want a new chiller.
I have basically what you have with a cooker, IC and several fermentation freezers due to the heat here in Florida

Do you still have a bottling wand, airlock, blow off hose, strainer or hop bags, starsan, and PBW?

Need any Nottingham?

niquejim said:

For 4 batches a year, you are good to go. Start doing more and you'll want a new chiller.
I have basically what you have with a cooker, IC and several fermentation freezers due to the heat here in Florida

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Good to hear. My temps will be fine, especially in the next six months...

EdWort said:

Do you still have a bottling wand, airlock, blow off hose, strainer or hop bags, starsan, and PBW?

Need any Nottingham?

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I still have the bottling wand, don't use airlocks, can buy new tubing for blowoff, got 2 hop bags, and can use oxyclean. Regarding the Notty, I have about 15 packets + some US05/S04, but danke...

Soulive said:

Good to hear. My temps will be fine, especially in the next six months...




I still have the bottling wand, don't use airlocks, can buy new tubing for blowoff, got 2 hop bags, and can use oxyclean. Regarding the Notty, I have about 15 packets + some US05/S04, but danke...

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Between you and Ed no wonder everyones out

niquejim said:

Between you and Ed no wonder everyones out

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I didn't realize there was any shortage...

Good to see you back around here. You might want a grain bag? Then you can mash in your kettle on the stove and pull the bag/grains out when your done. Straight to the boil! My BIL does it this way, all on the stove.

blacklab said:

Good to see you back around here. You might want a grain bag? Then you can mash in your kettle on the stove and pull the bag/grains out when your done. Straight to the boil! My BIL does it this way, all on the stove.

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I'm unfamiliar with grain bags. Do they make them big enough for 10lbs of grain? Can you batch sparge with this method? I'm fine with converting another cooler, but all on the stove is even easier...

I have one that I used before I got my MLT with the spigot. I bought it at AHS, about $10 I think. It's just a big old bag that can hold up to 15lbs or so of grain. It basically will take the place of your SS braid in your MLT. You can put the grain in the bag + water and bring it up to mash temp on the stove. Then try to keep it at mash temp with some sort of insulation, or just by turning the stove on when the temp drops. Your mash temps are sort of all of the place, but it works. sort of a ghetto direct-fire system. After an hour, just pull out the grain bag(with grain inside) let as much wort as possible drain out. You get garbage efficiency, but it's AG quality beer. Just up the grain bill with a couple of extra lbs of 2 row.

Soulive said:

I'm unfamiliar with grain bags. Do they make them big enough for 10lbs of grain? Can you batch sparge with this method? I'm fine with converting another cooler, but all on the stove is even easier...

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You could always use a 5 gallon paint filter or two. They're nylon so you can reuse them as long as they're cleaned. I think that might hold 10 lbs of grain, but you might have to use both that come in a pack and split the grain up a bit. I usually pop in to Home Depot to buy them.

Any ideas what my efficiency would be like with that bag? I used to get around 80% with the ss braid. Does anyone know how you sparge with the bag?

And you thought you were gonna downsize.....

Read over your post Soulive.
I cant comprehend the reasoning of downsizing with this hobby.
My advice is buy all your equipment back

Cheers
BeerCanuck

Soulive said:

Any ideas what my efficiency would be like with that bag? I used to get around 80% with the ss braid. Does anyone know how you sparge with the bag?

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Dude - you used to mash for real. The bag is going to be boring. I'm assuming you still have your big boil pot. Just put all of the grain the in the bag, Heat mash water to 170 in the boil kettle, and turn off the flame/element. Put bag/grain in, and attempt to hold it roughly at mash temp for an hour. Remove grain/bag, and boil per usual. You're going to get 50-60% with this method. The main difference is you gotta lift that bag out of the wort and let it drain as much as possible. With your cooler/braid, you could wait all day. With the bag your time is limited and you're not going to get as much wort out of the grain.

I'm just stoked that you're still going to brew!

Soulive said:

Any ideas what my efficiency would be like with that bag? I used to get around 80% with the ss braid. Does anyone know how you sparge with the bag?

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I've only done it a couple of times, but so far the results are good. Just pull the bag out after holding the temp, let it drain, grab a colander or strainer and put that over your pot. Stick the bag in colander/strainer and slowly, gently pour the sparge water.

I haven't gotten around to tracking efficiency yet but it seems to work well. Should be easy peazy for a vet like you.

Thanks guys, but I think I'm just gonna convert another cooler. I mean I already have it, so I'll only need the spigot parts. I just can't accept efficiency under 70%...

Soulive said:

I'm unfamiliar with grain bags. Do they make them big enough for 10lbs of grain? Can you batch sparge with this method? I'm fine with converting another cooler, but all on the stove is even easier...

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There are a whole group of brewers out there, mainly in Australia, that are into a technique called Brew in a Bag. The mash in a large polyester bag. Check out this site for a few pics How to go from extract to AG for < $10. There is even a wiki on the subject.

Paul

LayMeister said:

There are a whole group of brewers out there, mainly in Australia, that are into a technique called Brew in a Bag. The mash in a large polyester bag. Check out this site for a few pics How to go from extract to AG for < $10. There is even a wiki on the subject.

Paul

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Thanks for the link, thats interesting! I just realized why I have to mash in the cooler. I heat my mash/sparge water in my boil kettle, so mashing in their isn't feasible. Like I said, I don't mind converting another cooler. I mean it only takes about 15 minutes and $15...

maybe I misread the first post but you only have one kettle? wont you need a second as an HLT or are you going to drain from the cooler into the BB and use the kettle you have as an HLT?

Soulive said:

Thanks for the link, thats interesting! I just realized why I have to mash in the cooler. I heat my mash/sparge water in my boil kettle, so mashing in their isn't feasible. Like I said, I don't mind converting another cooler. I mean it only takes about 15 minutes and $15...

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I thought it look pretty cool. Everything is done in one kettle and the efficiencies are about the same or better than batch sparging since they mill the grain as fine as possible. I thought I might give it a try for kicks since the bag will only cost a few dollars.

Paul

I would definitely say add the mlt cooler, and your golden. I myself have downgraded a bit and gone on a hiatus. Its too tough to keep everything in the condo as it is.

Sounds like you've got what I've brewed about 10 or 15 batches with before I upgraded....and still...didn't upgrade much.