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I believe you should be able to do both. Spend the money on temp control. Then, you can piece together a modest all grain set up with very little money at all. You could do Brew in a Bag or pick up a cooler at Goodwill or a Salvation army store for a couple of bucks and with a little...

In my opinion, the two most important things in brewing are sanitation and temperature control. If you use the right recipe, follow proper procedures, sanitize everything that comes in contact with your post boil wort, pitch the right amount of properly prepared yeast, and control the...

For your MLT, I'd recommend a stainless braid and batch sparging. It's simpler to construct and if you stir and vorlauf you'll get great efficiency. The manifold is great but if it's not designed properly you'll get channeling and your extraction will suffer.

Could just be a stirring issue. I often find that my temp is a little off when I first check the temp but, after stirring the mash and letting it sit to equalize for a few minutes, it seems to give a more accurate temp. I have a digital therm. with a probe that I leave in the mash with the lid...

I just found this software in another thread. I really wish that I would have found this before brewing these beers. It seems I should have dropped my grain bill by about 3 lbs.

I listened to the Jamil podcasts about Fuller's London Pride and ESB. I absolutely love the ESB and I would love to get something close. The general consensus was that to get the true ESB you'd need to do a parti-gyle. But, to me, most of the information on parti-gyle brewing is just...

I built one myself a couple of weeks ago. I gave it a test run last weekend on an ESB and it worked great. My plan is to eventually add temperature control so that I'll be able to maintain the proper temperature. I am on the way to creating a HERMS system a piece or two at a time. I used a...

1 & 2 have been pretty well covered. 3. kind of takes trial and error to find out. On my system, 15 gal converted keg, I been averaging a boil off of about 1.8 gals in 90 mins. with a soft rolling boil. However, I've recently changed burners and my boil off rate seems to have increased. Your...

I believe that when you hear people refer to sparge times they are talking about fly sparging. Just like you, I batch sparge and I leave the water in for 10 min but, I try not to get above 170F. You don't want tannins to be extracted from the grain husks.

I batch sparge with a cooler and a braid. I routinely get eff. in the low 80s. Here's my procedure: Mash: I dough in with 1.25 - 1.5 quarts of water per pound. I put the hot water in first (a little hotter than my desired temp.) I close the lid to preheat the tun. When the temp drops...

I bought a grain mill a couple of weeks ago and I've been dying to use it. So, when my feet hit the floor yesterday morning I had brewing on my mind. Ive been planning to brew a Classic American Pilsner for a few weeks and I've listened to Jamil's pod cast several times. I decided to try a...

The hydro readings were taken at 61 deg. F. Thanks for your calculations. I think that's about the same number that the online calculators came up with. Do you any idea where the Beersmith numbers come from? Their is probably some setting that I need to adjust in the software to get a...

The Grain Bill: 7# Vienna 1# Flaked Corn 8 0z. Munich 4 Oz. Caramunich III Collected 6.5 Gallons (pre-boil) @ 1.039 Post-boil 4.75 Gallons @ 1.050 Thanks for your help.

I downloaded a trial copy of Beersmith. It looks cool but I'm not sure how much I would use it. Anyhow, I just finished an all grain brew. I punched the numbers into Beersmith to see what my efficiency was. It shows three different numbers. Actual efficiency: 95.36 % Efficiency...

Hello... My name is Kornbread, and I'm a tipper. I gently lift the end farthest from my drain and slip a rolled up towel underneath.

I know what you mean. However, I do get some measure of satisfaction from making things myself. The cooler hasn't been too perilous so far. I had the thing laying around already and I've already made a dozen or more batches with it with less than $20 worth of parts. I guess in the future I...

That's a great Idea. I only wish I'd read it yesterday... Yesterday I bought a small tube of Silicone and some larger stainless washers. I put a small bead of silicone between the layers of washers and between the largest washer and the cooler. I'm going to give it the water test Friday...

I checked at Lowe's the other day for something rubberish to use. The only thing I was able to find was black rubber grommets. I don't like the idea of that black rubber leaching petroleum based chemicals. I'm thinking I may try some Silicone Caulk behind a stainless washer.

Mission Aborted: I woke up this morning excited about brew day. Today I was supposed to be brewing my 1st lager. This would be my first brew day in 7 months. I got my stuff out, cleaned it up, and begun heating my strike water. Once I was up to temp. I dumped it in to my cooler to...

If I might humbly suggest. I made a video of my stove top all grain brewing process. You can find plenty of plans around for converting a cooler to a MLT.