AG - Here I come!

[jimzman]

Hey guys. You guys are great on this forum as I have learned so much just from reading through the various threads. I've Extract brewed several years ago and just recently brewed another extract kit. After reading the various threads on AG brewing, I'm convinced that'll be my next batch method.

With all the different methods and equipment setups out there, I want to make sure I have a decent understanding of the process.

Am I correct in thinking the 3 burner setups I see would be (1) Mash water, (2) The actual Mashing vessel and (3) the Boil Kettle for the wort?

How about the 2 burner systems, (1)Mash Water, (2) Boil kettle for wort. I guess this would be using a coller to do the actual Mashing in.

Single Burner set-up. Use the burner to bring the MAsh water to temp, Mash in the cooler, use the same burner for the sparge water and the boiling of the wort.

I'm sure everyone has a personal preference as to which setup works for them, so I won't even ask for opinions From a cost perspective, I'd be using a single burner/cooler for now.

BTW, I'll be bottling my IPA which has been in the primary for 3 weeks now. Before I found this thread, all previous brews have been primary/secondary carboy. From what I see here, it's now the preferred method so we'll see what happens. It makes sense to not disturb the fermentation. And again, I'm sure there are a lot of opinions as to which method is best, so we won't go there.
Thanks guys,
Jim

 

[maida7]

I'm a single burner person. I'm gonna guess that most people only have the one burner.

I don't use a secondary. All my beers go straight from the primary to the keg.

 

[Brocster]

Hey guys. You guys are great on this forum as I have learned so much just from reading through the various threads. I've Extract brewed several years ago and just recently brewed another extract kit. After reading the various threads on AG brewing, I'm convinced that'll be my next batch method.

With all the different methods and equipment setups out there, I want to make sure I have a decent understanding of the process.

Am I correct in thinking the 3 burner setups I see would be (1) Mash water, (2) The actual Mashing vessel and (3) the Boil Kettle for the wort?

How about the 2 burner systems, (1)Mash Water, (2) Boil kettle for wort. I guess this would be using a coller to do the actual Mashing in.

Single Burner set-up. Use the burner to bring the MAsh water to temp, Mash in the cooler, use the same burner for the sparge water and the boiling of the wort.

I'm sure everyone has a personal preference as to which setup works for them, so I won't even ask for opinions From a cost perspective, I'd be using a single burner/cooler for now.

BTW, I'll be bottling my IPA which has been in the primary for 3 weeks now. Before I found this thread, all previous brews have been primary/secondary carboy. From what I see here, it's now the preferred method so we'll see what happens. It makes sense to not disturb the fermentation. And again, I'm sure there are a lot of opinions as to which method is best, so we won't go there.
Thanks guys,
Jim

Good luck on the transition! You will learn a lot and enjoy the outcomes. In your process of moving to AG, you may want to consider a few partial mash batches as a way to better understand the process, and make better beers at the same time.

:rockin:

 

[Bobby_M]

3 burners only if you have a metal mash tun that you want to direct fire. This is more a hassle than anything if you don't really really really want to step mash.

1 burner is easy and cheap. The only downside is that you have to collect your runoff (wort) into a spare bucket while you wait for your "kettle" to be empty. This means you can't start heating until the sparging is done. You can alternatively move your sparge water to a holding vessel (bucket/cooler whichever) so that you can drain your wort directly into the kettle and start heating. You have to heat it up a lot hotter though because you'll lose heat in the process.

2 burners shaves about 15-30 minutes off of your brew day because you can fire the kettle with first runnings while you still have sparge water in your hot liquor tank.. well, it's faster.

 

[JJL]

I actually just started AG brewing recently myself. I use a single burner for the boil only with a 30qt SS stock pot. I mash in a 10 gal cooler with a stainess braid as a filter. I heat all of my strike and sparge water on the stove, since usually I can get 3 or so gals of water boiling per burner on my stove at the same time. I typically do a single infusion mash, although, I could probably do a 2 step infusion with the 10 gal cooler. And I batch sparge.

 

[maida7]

2 burners shaves about 15-30 minutes off of your brew day because you can fire the kettle with first runnings while you still have sparge water in your hot liquor tank.. well, it's faster.

I'm making the jump to 10 gallon and looking at the new logistics a 2nd burner could really come in handy.

 

[DrawTap88]

New single burner AG brewer here too.

I use my old 5 gal SS pot (great for extract) to heat mash and strike water, got the HD cooler mash tun, bought a new 10 gal aluminum stock pot to collect my runnings and to boil, and bought a Bayou Burner model SQ-14 turkey fryer for the burner.

Good luck. Let us know when you have questions.

 

[passedpawn]

3 burners only if you have a metal mash tun that you want to direct fire. This is more a hassle than anything if you don't really really really want to step mash.

1 burner is easy and cheap. The only downside is that you have to collect your runoff (wort) into a spare bucket while you wait for your "kettle" to be empty. This means you can't start heating until the sparging is done. You can alternatively move your sparge water to a holding vessel (bucket/cooler whichever) so that you can drain your wort directly into the kettle and start heating. You have to heat it up a lot hotter though because you'll lose heat in the process.

2 burners shaves about 15-30 minutes off of your brew day because you can fire the kettle with first runnings while you still have sparge water in your hot liquor tank.. well, it's faster.

+1. Why repeat the perfect answer.

 

[jimzman]

And yet again, I'm learning more and more with every reply/post I read. Thank you very much my fellow Brewers. Soon I'll be able to RDWHAHB

 

[bullinachinashop]

In a single burner setup, you can heat strike water, mash in to your cooler, heat sparge water while mashing, move sparge water to second vessel to free up your boil pot, then batch sparge right into your boil pot.

The only thing that sucks about this method is that you have to move nearly boiling water around.

It's really nice when you can set up a gravity or pump system, but this approach will work well to start.

For smaller batches, there is a stovetop method that works well.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

Just doing it will help you develop a method that works for you.

Good luck,

Bull