Hi y'all from Atlanta, GA

[JakeSpooky]

Long time drinker, first time brewer...making a black IPA I found on these forums. Love the site, full of useful information. I'm interested in making hefeweizens, but am unsure about sparging. Also, I've seen a lot of references to using a cooler as a mash tun, but I'm unsure about the procedure. I don't imagine you can boil wort in a cooler; do you add the wort to the cooler after cooling it? And if so, do you add your steeped grains to the cooler? I'm such a n00b!

 

[HatchetJack]

Howdy Jake, there are numerous youtube videos of guys doing all grain brews.
That would be a great place to start and get an understanding of it.
Plenty of brewers here to help you out too once you get a better understanding of it.
I was at Max Lagers downtown this weekend and they have a nice hefe on tap.

 

[Maxkling]

Welcome from the South Side. 2 pieces of advice, go to just brew it in Fayetteville and talk to Doug, he has helped me a lot and I support his store fully. You can try out other brew stores that maybe near you, but I can vouch for them.

Next piece, go to this site and read http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html . Then buy the new edition, it has more info and updated info.

Also look around on youtube and visit http://www.brewingtv.com/episodes/ .

My two pieces of advice DON'T BREW UNIT YOU HAVE A PROPER WAY TO CONTROL FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE. I was almost gave up because of this issue. Search the site, I just a chest freezer with a external thermostat. Also I hope your handy.

To answer you question, I guess you did an extract batch as your first brew. A mash tun is used in all grain to get conversion from the grains. You don't do this in extract, you also don't steep in all grain, just extract. You have a cooler with a manifold or screen to filter your wort and grains, you heat up water to your desired temp and mix it with the grain in the cooler and let it sit. Then drain the cooler with a valve. If you search and read up it will make 1000X more sense.

 

[JakeSpooky]

Hey guys, thanks for the info. I've been past Max Lager a lot, but I'm actually spending the summer in Milton, so I probably won't get to stop in until I get back ITP in August. I'll check Just Brew It out next time I'm south of the city...for now I'm using Hop City on Marietta.

Thanks especially for the mash tun info! I think I get it now...extract at 150* or whatever the appropriate temp is in the cooler, then collect the wart and boil. Thanks!