All Grain Brewing, Making the jump and how YOU found it

Having had a really good year brew wise, myself and my buddy have decided that in the new year we'll make the jump from extract to all grain. We've been lucky (well, careful too!) to have made several good beers. Some ok, some good, and some especially good. Having done partial mashes for our last two brews we feel it's a good time to get in to all grain properly. Thankfully a member from a homebrewing group I am in is going to walk me through a typical brew day for him to give me a good feel for it, but what I really want to do also is to pick your brains. What was the jump like for you? Big deal, not a big deal? What problems did you encounter and what advice would you have liked to have been given when you started brewing all grain.

Thanks!
Graeme

After one extract batch, I jumped to all-grain. After watching hours of Youtube videos and reading countless posts on HBT, I felt fully prepared and it went pretty smoothly. The only thing that I had issues with was hitting and keeping my mash temps. I'm sure I could have gotten that down, but by my third all-grain batch, I had a HERMS rig up an running.

Except for some minor tweaking, the rig has been running perfectly and my brew days go very smoothly. They're long days, but great fun. I can't imagine going back to extract now. I just love the satisfaction of going from a bag of grain to a bottle of beer.

I always thought going AG would be really difficult, but I watched a few YouTube videos from Chris Knight starting with this one: and it didn't look hard at all. I picked up an Igloo cooler and the necessary fittings, and the rest is history.

I didn't find it terribly difficult. It took a couple batches before I got everything nailed down (sparge temps, batch sparge speed) but it was really not rocket science. My most recent batch (my 3rd) I finally good good efficiency (74%) and I can't think of a reason to ever do an extract brew again.

My total investment was about $80, but I could have done it a lot cheaper if I'd shopped online for the parts. Seemed easier to get the bulkhead and torpedo from my LHBS.

Overall it was a lot easier and cheaper than I ever thought it would be. Glad I did it.

Good feedback guys, thanks. I've been watching some videos like this. The only thing I really need is the cooler, and my homebrew store sells them fitted.

More satisfaction in brewing AG for me. I like taking raw ingredients and building up from that. I read through batch sparging techniques from Bobby M and Denny's websites and while nervous the first time It all came together and by the second batch I was relaxed with the process. Now using a RIMS set-up and the only part I don't love is clean up.

I've only done three AG and they're all still in primary, so I haven't tasted any of them yet.

The only problem I had was a stuck mash on the first one. (Cream of three crops, sticky mash).

I cut the slits in my PVC manifold with a metal cutting band saw and they were just too fine for what I was mashing. I ended up putting on some heavy rubber gloves and pulled it out of the cooler for a little fast re-work with a drill.

EvilGnome6 said:

After one extract batch, I jumped to all-grain. After watching hours of Youtube videos and reading countless posts on HBT, I felt fully prepared and it went pretty smoothly. The only thing that I had issues with was hitting and keeping my mash temps. I'm sure I could have gotten that down, but by my third all-grain batch, I had a HERMS rig up an running.

Except for some minor tweaking, the rig has been running perfectly and my brew days go very smoothly. They're long days, but great fun. I can't imagine going back to extract now. I just love the satisfaction of going from a bag of grain to a bottle of beer.

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I began extract brewing in the mid 80's for about 2 years. This was the pre hopped extract beer with sugar added and the yeast was a big old block we just hacked some off and tossed it into the garbage pail we used as a fermenter. After 2 weeks we just sat down and bottled the hooch. Had a few exploding bottles and such but It made us drunk but was not that great a beer. In the summer of '08 I decided I was going to brew again due to my love for craft beers. I too researched things very thoroughly. My first 5 batches were partial mash beers that were great compared to days of old. I have been brewing all grain ever since. Up to 32 batches. Started with a converted cooler and am now about halfway to my single tier 3 keg system.

I actually researched the dick out of home brewing before I committed to finally buying the things I need. I wanted to make sure I had the best of what I needed so I wouldn't need to go back. I built a mash tun and my first planned brew will be a partial mash followed directly by an all grain batch of the same beer to compare the two (and save money on yeast). So, I'm really only doing extract as a comparison. Diving straight into AG because all the beers I want to make (and make my own recipes for) are all AG. Skip the petty stuff and go straight to AG and move on from there.

I found this single webpage by Bobby M to be really helpful for me: http://www.suebob.com/brew/allgrain.htm
Scroll down to the bottom if you just want the "how to".

I've been away from brewing for 15yrs. Two weeks ago, I brewed my first batch in 15yrs...a mash/extract batch and it was easy. Like others, I read a lot and watched a lot of youtube videos. This weekend I'll be brewing an AG batch and I don't think I'll have any problems. It will be a modified Aussie BIAB batch (no sparge) using a beverage cooler with a recirc pump and an electric heat tube. I have always prepared a step-by-step brewing schedule. I read through it pre-brew so there are no surprises. I have everything sanitized and ready go.

I got into all-grain after researching Brew In A Bag (BIAB) technique. If its only a 7 dollar investment in an extra large grain bag, why not make the jump?

I too watched the Chris Knight YouTube videos when I was thinking about making the jump to All-Grain.

It's much easier than I could ever believe.

i got into all grain after 3 extract brews and reading Dave Millers Homebrewing guide. i always thought that all grain was hard and complicated until i read the section on infusion mashing and some researching on the google. and it is cheaper and gives you more room to experiment i think.

For me it was purchasing Beersmith. I wasn't about to be doing all those temperature and volume calculations every time.

I've been brewing for 28 years...ever since a great fellow at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds convinced me that I could make 2-3 cases of beer for the princely price of $14. Keep in mind that was back in the days when homebrewing had just been legalized again. Anyhow, after a couple attempts I was on my way and indeed I could squeeze out a few bags of extract and have a very drinkable beer. Of course, over the years the prices doubled, and to boot, my brewing skills improved drastically.

One day, I decided that I could make a quantum leap and improve the good beer I had been making and start brewing beer that was of the quality that the micros and the regionals make. So, after researching extensively on Homebrewer's Digest and on the first true websites devoted to the craft, I piled up a list of equipment and started brewing AG.

It immediately gave me an artisan's freedom I never had with extract or mixed batches. Of course, my first attempts were clumsy, but at least I had a solid idea of how things should look from my extensive background brewing partial grains/extract batches. The first couple of beers came out better than what I had been brewing, and after a period of improving equipment and procedure, I quickly got to the point where I am very happy with my own output.

To do that, I ended up with a stripped-down 3 burner Sabco burner setup with my old modified Sankey kegs for HLT and Boiler. I built myself a Gott cooler setup because it's easier to maintain temps in it rather than in the Sankeys (used to use a 15g. Sankey for mashing.) I built a 50-foot immersion cooler one day because I got tired of the old 3/8" job that had been with me from the extract days. I bought a mill. I got a refractometer. I got a precision digital thermo. All this stuff one step at a time as I could afford it, never too much so that SWMBO got ticked off when the Visa bill rolled in.

In other words, move into it slowly is my free advice. Know how to brew a decent beer from extracts and have a good fermentation and finishing (bottling/kegging) set up first. If you want to do AG, research how the experts and how the common guy does it -- do both. Start relatively simple. Learn what works, what doesn't, what makes things easier and what's a waste of your hard-earned money. DO NOT try to build one of those wet-dream automated breweries before you learn how to do each step - milling, mashing, vorlauf, sparge, boil, chill, etc. You will end up with too many unknowns and you will spend too long trying to put it all together.

One day, if you are like me, you will have a computer-controlled fully automated 1 bbl. brewing setup where you simply input your recipe paramters to the computer. But if you try that before you do it the hard way, I think you will be sorry.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

My first brew ever was all grain, done by myself, this June. I had read mainly 'How to Brew' as my 'training'. I built a 3 tier post-style rig with keggles etc in time for my 2nd batch a month later, and now I'm up to 11 batches, most of them 10 gallon. Party On, its not a big deal.

I did my first two brews from extract a few months ago and got hooked. Made the jump to AG for my third.

My first AG brew day, from the start of heating the strike water, to pitching yeast into a carboy of chilled wort, took 9 hours, not including cleanup. And I had all the right equipment. The beer I produced was truly amazing, though.

These days an ordinary brew day takes me more like 5 hours, but the first couple were fairly drawn-out. Best to start at lunchtime and don't make any plans for the rest of the day, until you get your process dialed in.

I started all grain after 4 or 5 batches or so. I figured that all grain took almost the same amount of time as a partial mash--the all grain took a lot longer but I've gotten the time down significantly. I already had the cooler so after a couple of trips to home depot and Lowes I had made a bulkhead fitting for a cooler I already had and was ready to go.

If you have a cooler already just go to home depot and buy parts to make your own bulkhead and SS braid. I got all caught up in which coolers would be the best and just ended up using an old rectangular cooler that I had lying around. I'm happy with it and get better than 70% eff: good enough. That's the only extra gear you need if you have a good fermentation space and a pot big enough for full boils.

After reading every post I could about brewing, and prepairing for my first extract brew, I read about doing a full boil with extract having a better flavor, I checked my turkey fryer pot and found very little room for the full boil volume, so I looked into a bigger pot, and found I could convert a keg into a kettle. I made one and thought that I now need some way to cool the wort down. so after researching Immersion coolers and building one, I realized that I am really only a 20 dollar cooler away from all-grain. so I got the cooler and knocked out a batch of EdWorts Haus pale as my first batch, I am actually glad I started out brewing all-grain, as the learning curve really made me understand the process better,and in an odd way I feel more connected to my beer because of it.

Like EvilGnome, I too did a single extract batch and then made the jump to AG. No big deal. My thought was "why not learn the whole process, once?"

Gather your needed gear and get to it. There are lots of great resource online, especially youtube.

Make the jump!

I put off making the jump for a couple months, but when I did I wondered why I didn't do it sooner. It helped me to lay out everything on a sheet of paper so I didn't forget anything. After I was done with my first AG batch I couldn't figure out what I was nervous about to begin with.

I found extract brewing through a hand me down copy of Papa Charlie's book. A month later, I found HBT. About another month later, I had to brew AG. Had to.

Well, me and some college friends was holed up in a rented cabin in the Ozarks and the beer we'd stockpiled started to run low. For some reason my car wouldn't start, not sure why, and during the middle of the night someone, or something, yanked the wires out of the one truck we had. We scratched our heads and I finally I said, "Well, I've started brewin' and I've got some malt extract and hops in the trunk, but it's gonna take a couple of days, maybe even a week. You guys can try walkin' to town but it's a far piece."

Then Samantha said, "I found some barley in the pantry. Can you use that?"

I said, "I'll see what I can do."

So I started showin' them how to brew. Then one by one, each night, one of them would just disappear. (Anyone buying this tale?)

Long story short, I was the only one to survive the onslaught of - something. SyFy channel said they were going to make it into a SyFy original movie, but I'm not holding my breath.

In sum, these "creatures", best way I can describe them, hated porters and stouts (to the extent that they started feeding off each other), but loved IPAs and ESBs. So far as I know, they're still sitting in the woods, howling at the moon, waiting for me to return from the trip for more Fuggles and Wyeast.

There. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Well, I blame the usual suspects on this board.
The real kicker for me was:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/
That convinced me that I could do all grain on an old electric stove, and I had to try it.
After a lot of help, feed back, ideals, and suggestions from this site I have been able to really make some great tasting fresh brews.

Some great tales and feedback guys, I definitely think it's the only way for me to go now. I've been doing full boils and partial mashes now for a while, and all grain is really just on a bigger scale. The converted cooler is all I need for now and I can get that no problem. It will be a long time before I have a 'wet dream' set up! I don't intend to upgrade to something like that until way down the line. I'm looking forward to the new year now and I'll let you know how my first AG batch went. Cheers!

One more point...

I started extract brewing in 1992. I continued brewing for about five or so years, at which time life took over and I stopped doing it. At the time, I was considering going all-grain and had bought the 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler and a JSP MaltMill.

I found time to pick it back up around 2003, telling myself that bottling was the worst part (justification for a kegging system). That lasted a few years until life happened again. I was still itching to go all-grain, but just didn't have the time.

So... about a year ago, I came back for round 3. This time, I said, I'm not going to do it unless I go all-grain. I then proceeded to "invest" a sum of money into it and haven't looked back.

By the time I did my first all-grain, I had been researching it off and on for about ten years. I read Papazian, Miller, and Palmer, in addition to researching it on a buttload of web sites. I will admit that I was a little disappointed after doing it the first time-- not because it didn't work, but because it seemed too EASY. Yes, easy. Sure, it took more time than extract, and there were a few more steps, but I definitely was kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

I did four extract batches, then when I decided to buy a house I took a six-month hiatus on brewing, but not equipment buying. I figured when I moved into my house, I wouldn't be able to spend money on brewing equipment, and all-grain was a goal of mine. So I took those six months and used the $30-$40 a month of ingredient money to piece together my all-grain setup. When I moved in, I was all set to brew.

BobbyM's tutorial was a big motivation for me. IMO, it's the most straightforward tutorial I've read on an all-grain homebrewing process. I've made my own tweaks, but I still pretty much use his exact techniques and have got my process locked down. 80% eff. every time, hit my volumes every time, hit my temps every time. I highly recommend a new all-grain brewer to read his blog first, takes all of the mystery out of all-grain brewing.

For me it all started in college. I had a friend who was brewing and I'd just turned 21. He said, "Dude you can brew amazing tasting beer for the price of a cube of coors light (a former staple)" Being a broke college kid, it seemed obvious -- I had to become a brew master! So I got a decent equipment kit and a kit for a stout...I think. Can't exactly remember my first brew...Anywho did that for a piece. Think I did 8 extract kits. So I graduated college and I retired my brewing dreams (left my equipment with my parents).

Fast forward 3+ years and I asked myself, WHY AM I NOT BREWING?! So I went to my parents place and picked up all my gear and headed to the LHBS immediately. I did probably 8 kits the past year. After discovering HBT about 6 months ago I HAD to go AG. The bug had finally bitten me to the point money was no longer an excuse.

So I checked out a bunch of videos and builds and got down to it. Built my mash tun, got my kettle and a space big enough to brew it up! I've done a few brews now and I honestly ask myself each time - "WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?!!"

If you find yourself getting the itch, just go for it! You don't need a self-automated, Rims, Herms, etc to make a decent AG brew.

electric_beer said:

For me it all started in college. I had a friend who was brewing and I'd just turned 21. He said, "Dude you can brew amazing tasting beer for the price of a cube of coors light (a former staple)" Being a broke college kid, it seemed obvious -- I had to become a brew master!

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Holy smokes! Is that you Kyle? I thought you was dead, killed by them beer craving creatures that came out of the woods! What happened? Are any of the other fellas still alive?



Yeah, that's still my story, and I'm naming electric_beer as an eye witness.

It's better than the one about the guy floating on a life raft full of barley and hops, cause his "middle of the pacific" beer tasted salty!