All Grain......

[Dark_Ale]

I know what your thinking.....Not another allgrain thread....I hate to beat a dead horse here but here goes. I went back and read the threads including all grain for newbies. I understand the concept. Just as Janx said once you see it theres nothing to it. Can you elaborate on the grain acts as a filter, I guess once the hour wait time is up and you start draining the wonderful sweet stuff you dont want to disturb the grain is this correct? And if you were making a 5 gallon batch, then once you begin to sparge once you get through you should have a total of 6 gallons or so, or at least enough to allow for evaporation during the boil, and by that time you should have sparged most of the sweetness out. I guess the part thats confusing me is the manifolds that I have seen at the bottom of the icechest what it the purpose of the manifold hot water up through the bottom?, or to catch the sweet stuff to be drained???? Bare with me here................

 

[Janx]

Can you elaborate on the grain acts as a filter, I guess once the hour wait time is up and you start draining the wonderful sweet stuff you dont want to disturb the grain is this correct?

Correct.

And if you were making a 5 gallon batch, then once you begin to sparge once you get through you should have a total of 6 gallons or so, or at least enough to allow for evaporation during the boil, and by that time you should have sparged most of the sweetness out.

Yep. Exactly.

I guess the part thats confusing me is the manifolds that I have seen at the bottom of the icechest what it the purpose of the manifold hot water up through the bottom?, or to catch the sweet stuff to be drained???? Bare with me here................

Gotcha...it's just a filter... You understand that you need to sprinkle hot water in the top and drain out the bottom. Well, you don't want to pull any grain out the bottom. So a lot of people use a false bottom, which is kind of a colander that creates a liquid space below the grain that you drain out of. I use a manifold that's just a closed system of pipes with holes drilled in it.

In any event, they're all solving the same problem. Allow the liquid to drain without the grain coming out. Dig?

 

[Dark_Ale]

Correct.



Yep. Exactly.



Gotcha...it's just a filter... You understand that you need to sprinkle hot water in the top and drain out the bottom. Well, you don't want to pull any grain out the bottom. So a lot of people use a false bottom, which is kind of a colander that creates a liquid space below the grain that you drain out of. I use a manifold that's just a closed system of pipes with holes drilled in it.

In any event, they're all solving the same problem. Allow the liquid to drain without the grain coming out. Dig?

I'm Digging and ready for my first all grain american brown......Thanks

 

[Uncle Fat]

Good luck man!! Your first all grain batch will be messy (you'll work the process through and it will eventually be less so), but once you do it...... you can't go back!

 

[Janx]

Yeah, have a blast! It will definitely be messy, and there are lots of other steps to potentially worry over...just like in extract brewing, don't stress the minor details. Sanitation is still the most important thing. You won't ruin a batch by hitting your mash strike temp a few degrees off or disturbing the grain a little when you sparge. You're bound to make some mistakes the first swing at it, but no big deal. That's what the next batch is for

Have fun!