getting started in all grain brewing

I am wanting to get started in all grain brewing. im not sure what i should get for equipment. do i need a 5 gallon or 10 gallon mashtun. i brew 5 gallon batchs. i will also need a new brew kettle as mine is too small but what size. Is there anything else i need. any information helps. thanks

Go as big as you can afford. You may one day want to do 10 gallon batches.

First off greetings and welcome to HBT (read obsession).

You can view a pic of my brew stand in my gallery. My kettles are 13.75g and when I boil I'm right at the top (pic of this also in my gallery) of the kettle. You could also go with the converted cooler type for a mash tun. Search the pics here on HBT and you'll find a treasure trove of info. Here's the link to the Sticky that talks about how big your MT should be.

I also agree with rjschroed and go as big as you can afford. I started out doing 5g batches but when I figured it's just as much work to brew 5 vs 10 I went bigger. Sometimes I wish I had purchased equipment to brew 20g.

Wutever, might as well go big or go home. . .1 bbl baby! just kidding man, but I also do the "read" thing too, just had to let you know

I do 5 gallon batches myself right now but I have room for expandability. To go into a little more detail. 5 gallon HLT with sight glass, thermometer, and valve, 10 gallon rubermaid MLT, 12.5 gallon BK with valve. The HLT was my BK when I did extract and might be a little small but so far I seem to be making it work. If I wanted to go bigger I'd swap the BK to my HLT and probably go for a keggle. At that point my MLT might be my restriction but I did all of this with expandability and affordability in mind. When you design your set up the sky is limit. People like John Beere have some pretty advanced and technical setups, pretty sick stuff https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/deep-six-brewing-system-v2-0-a-79435/. My system is fairly simplistic but you can go even simpler with BIAB https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/biab-brewing-pics-233289/

Wecome to HBT - maybe start with brew in a bag ? I use coolers and they get the job done for 5 G batches... a good chiller is a necc

Best of luck to you.

I'm prepping for my first jump into all grain too. Slowly worked up to a keggle on a Bayou Classic and just finished up the copper manifold for my Coleman Xtreme 70qt mash tun.

I appreciate all the help. im trying to keep the cost down as i am getting married soon. what do you think the cost would be.

herky873 said:

I appreciate all the help. im trying to keep the cost down as i am getting married soon. what do you think the cost would be.

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I would opt for a turkey fryer kit that comes with a burner and a 7.5 gallon pot which is plenty big enough. Then convert a cooler to a tun and your ready to go. Nothing else needed really that you prolly don't have already. As far as cooler size I have a 42 QT which is plenty big enough for big beers doing 5 gallons.

The turkey fryer kit I have runs about 60 to 80 bucks and the screen and ball valve and stuff for the cooler was another 60 or so then you just need the cooler.

mrduna01 said:

I would opt for a turkey fryer kit that comes with a burner and a 7.5 gallon pot which is plenty big enough. Then convert a cooler to a tun and your ready to go. Nothing else needed really that you prolly don't have already. As far as cooler size I have a 42 QT which is plenty big enough for big beers doing 5 gallons.

The turkey fryer kit I have runs about 60 to 80 bucks and the screen and ball valve and stuff for the cooler was another 60 or so then you just need the cooler.

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If you have an academy sports in your area you can pick up an igloo ice cube 48qt cooler for about 25 bucks plus a cheap turkey fryer for like 40 bucks. Then all you need is a stainless braid hose and a few random fittings from home depot and you are good to go.

That's what I started all grain with. Later I upsized to a keggle and now can do 13 gallon batches of 1.060 grav beers or smaller batches of higher gravity stuff.

10gl Igloo cooler converted to mash tun ($60 home depot), Bayou Classic fry kit ($59amazon), 10gl pot($58 amazon). That's pretty much it unless you're starting from zero!

where can i find a kewler kitz online. all i see are already made tuns. i just got the 10 gallon igloo cooler. just need the kit.

i guess looking at it the only thing i dont think i could get at a hardware store would be the bulkhead. do you think a stainless threaded coupling would work. or what could you use to replace that.

herky873 said:

where can i find a kewler kitz online. all i see are already made tuns. i just got the 10 gallon igloo cooler. just need the kit.

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I typed that into google and got more information than I could ever want. Did you try a search for it???????

But since you have no time for that kind of crazy typing: HERE

I personally would go with someone who knows how to spell. Which would put half the people that replied to this thread out of the hunt.

A wort chiller of some type, unless you want to explore the no-chill technique, is necessary for full wort boil brewing. A copper immersion chiller will be $50-$100. 3/8"x25' is fine for 5 gallon batches, but get the biggest one you can afford.

If you're looking to do this in steps, the pots/kettles mentioned already are a good start. Plus the cooler mash tun conversion makes it cheaper. But, I would skip over the IC and go directly to a [40] plate chiller. I started with 3/8" copper IC's and eventually had enough and picked up the Chillhog 4000 from Rebel Brewer (along with the RebelSmart) and haven't looked back. You can use it with gravity feed when you're starting off. I'm going to be using mine with a pump for the first time tonight. IMO, the chiller you get/use is just as important as everything else (if not more so). I ended up spending more than the plate chiller cost me on building immersion chillers. Had I known at the start how good plate chillers were, I would have gone with one to begin with.

BTW, you could use the money you'll get as wedding gifts to get some really sweet brewing hardware.

I've also completed my first keg to mash tun conversion today. I'll try to get some decent pictures of it in action tonight. If not, then I'll just take some non-action shots tomorrow...

Good point.

If you get a turkey fryer kit, the kettle it comes with can still be used as a hot liquor tank when you upgrade.