All Grain...I'm Afraid..

[j1n]

BIAB is all grain brewing. You can do AG with one, two, or three vessels. It's all a matter of personal preference, budget, available space, scrounging skills, and/or DIY skills.



Pulley's are cheaper than MLT's, and many people already have ladders (or structures over their brew space to attach an eye bolt.) If you don't have a ladder or overhead structure, then yeah, it's extra equipment. Different people have different situations. For small enough batches you don't need a bag suspension method.



The point is, if you already have the equipment to do extract, the only thing additional needed for all grain is a suitable bag. If you want to add more equipment, have the budget, space, etc., just like to tinker, whatever, then there is nothing wrong with starting AG with three vessel.

Brew on

Of course its all grain. you know what i meant.

i dont own a pulley or ladder and id bet most people dont own one.

The benefit i see is just that, less equipment. The process imo isnt any easier. it seems like it has its own challenges and i think biab is the best route not for ease but for cost.

 

[doug293cz]

If you decide you want to go the MLT route, you might consider the following as a way to get where you want to be without having to do it all at once.

1. Decide what size mash tun you need for the largest batch you think you might want to brew in the next few years (until you have enough money to buy replacement equipment.)
2. Pick out a cooler that will meet your needs, and make sure it has a bottom drain.
3. Get a bag that fits your new cooler.
4. Make beer by mashing in your cooler using the bag. You can try both full volume and batch sparging. You don't need to lift the bag until it is time to clean out the MLT.
5. Enjoy your home brewed beer while you pursue the next step.
6. Research and design your ultimate (until the next one) MLT + sparge system that will fit in the cooler you already bought.
7. If while doing the previous step you decide you like the system the way it is, then skip the next two steps.
8. Build your ultimate (until the next one) MLT + sparge system.
9. Brew beer using your new traditional mash tun.

Brew on

 

[te-wa]

go all grain.. i will nevah evah go back to extract. AG is so much more hands on.. like the model rockets kids used to build. you had to glue on the balsa fins, shape the nose cone, butt the holding pin on the fuselage, etc.. nowadays they come fully complete and you shoot it up. where's the fun in that?!

AG has many things i love about it, you'll also want to get a stir plate and flask to make yeast starters. i have a 10 gal igloo, false SS bottom, 15 gal SS boil pot, and i do fly sparging with a pasta colander and my vorlauf pitcher. a cooler with ice water and a re-circulation system of wort chilling is a must, as well as temp control w/ a freezer and temp controller combo. my next move is stepping up to a 12 gallon conical fermenter, to make recycling yeast easy, and do double batches. no respectable chef uses canned tomatoes, they will take the time to boil and peel the skins, remove the seeds and make sauce from scratch. it is arguably much better and only takes a short time to do it better. be that chef!

it takes about 5 hours from time i start to heat strike water to pitching yeast.

 

[Beernik]

[SNARK] Yeah, hanging a pulley is way more complicated than this! [/SNARK] Sorry, I couldn't resist

The advice on planning is spot on. Do it well or do it over.

Brew on

I don't have a pully. I have a basketball hoop. It's been in my driveway for at least 12 years. This is the first thing I've used it for.

My current build is a 3 vessel HERMS. BIAB is just a rest stop in the process of building it.

 

[doug293cz]

go all grain.. i will nevah evah go back to extract. AG is so much more hands on.. like the model rockets kids used to build. you had to glue on the balsa fins, shape the nose cone, butt the holding pin on the fuselage, etc.. nowadays they come fully complete and you shoot it up. where's the fun in that?!

AG has many things i love about it, you'll also want to get a stir plate and flask to make yeast starters. i have a 10 gal igloo, false SS bottom, 15 gal SS boil pot, and i do fly sparging with a pasta colander and my vorlauf pitcher. a cooler with ice water and a re-circulation system of wort chilling is a must, as well as temp control w/ a freezer and temp controller combo. my next move is stepping up to a 12 gallon conical fermenter, to make recycling yeast easy, and do double batches. no respectable chef uses canned tomatoes, they will take the time to boil and peel the skins, remove the seeds and make sauce from scratch. it is arguably much better and only takes a short time to do it better. be that chef!

it takes about 5 hours from time i start to heat strike water to pitching yeast.

Whoa dude(tte), if his SWMBO sees this she might shut the whole operation down. Got to ease into things gradually to avoid roadblocks being thrown up. Then again, maybe SWMBO likes good beer, and fully backs him. They are not a myth, they do exist.

Brew on

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

Whoa dude(tte), if his SWMBO sees this she might shut the whole operation down. Got to ease into things gradually to avoid roadblocks being thrown up. Then again, maybe SWMBO likes good beer, and fully backs him. They are not a myth, they do exist.

Brew on

SWMBO took a google search but I figured it out haha. She goes to tastings with me but she's more of a wine drinker. She doesn't care what I do so long as I stay within budget as we just bought a house. Money is tight but it's not ramen noodle every night tight either. I figured I'd make the switch because honestly, I'm not tired of being forced to drink PBR all week because I can't afford the premium stuff every day. I'm basically paying $20 for 50 some premium brews. Or $40 for a hundred.

Still looking at some DIY mash tun instructions. The issue I'm running into is I haven't found a list that has given SKU numbers. I want to be able to go in to Home Depot give the list to the guy lol and be like "here's the SKU numbers, don't come back empty handed, have fun". (I'm partially kidding)

SWMBO is spending 'our' money on paint (for which I'm of course being put to work with). I should be able to spend some of my money on equipment that will save 'us' money on brew.

When I make the switch to 10 gallon brews, it will be after I've hit 90% consistency with my beer. Also, I'll make the equipment investment in one shot. [BOLD]Speaking of equipment,[/BOLD] does any one know where to get that thermometer and probe like that guy in the video had? Could could be helpful too.

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

Probably the best video I've seen on how do built it and this list (which isn't associated with the video) seems to match up well with the parts he's using. http://mainlinebrewers.com/projects/mlt/

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Looks like you are definitely leaning towards making your own MLT. That's awesome - you've found something that interests you and will be fun to make - then even more fun to use!!

I just want to chime in on the BIAB/pulley discussions. I do BIAB, and I don't use a pulley.

I made the switch from extract to Pm then to BIAB-AG, so I've got the old smaller 5-6 gal kettles I initially had, plus a couple newer 10.5 gal kettles with strainer buckets. On my first AG batch moving up from PM, I didn't take into account that 12 lbs of grain wouldn't fit well in the large colander to drain (hell, it was very tight with 7 lbs from my PM recipe), and I didn't have a pulley.

So, when the mash was done, I got creative, and grabbed 3 extra large cans of tomato sauce or beans or whatever they were from the pantry. Did a quick soak and scrub to get the labels and adhesive off. I placed the 3 cans down inside the kettle. Placed the strainer bucket on top of that (this obviously requires having a kettle with a strainer bucket), giving it pretty good clearance from the bottom. Then it was just a matter of lifting the bag for a few seconds from the cooler over to the bucket. Then press down like crazy with either thick rubber gloves, or a spare smaller pot-lid. I poured the liquid in the cooler into the kettle combining with the drained-liquid, then moved the bag back to the cooler, added more hot sparge water for 10 mins, moved back to the strainer bucket sitting in the kettle on top of large cans, and squeezed again. Done.

The only thing I had to do was move the "first runnings" into a spare old pot, or a bucket, for the 2nd draining, because the liquid was approaching the height of the cans after the first draining when combined with the liquid from the cooler.

Easy, and no pulley. Not saying it's the best method, but it worked beautifully, and with minimal lifting for only a few seconds at a time when moving from cooler to bucket and back a couple times. Not difficult, not high tech, but easy and effective.

I've seen others modify fermenting buckets with holes drilled to do a similar thing (bucket within a bucket), and it actually seems way easier to squeeze the grains (more like pushing down on them) from the ground rather than while hanging from a pulley.

Bottom-line, find what sounds interesting and fun to you, get creative, and make some great beer!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[ncbrewer]

Still looking at some DIY mash tun instructions.

This website has the simplest mash tun instructions I've seen: http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

I used a drilled stopper instead of the minikeg bung - works the same. Simplified it by not using a valve - I just wrapped a cppper wire around the end, forming a hook. to stop the flow, I hang the hook on the cooler handle.