Cost of All-Grain Vs. Extract!

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

I've also been thinking about going all grain, not just for the cash savings but also for the experience of making beer literally from it's base ingredients. Right now it costs me about $30-25 for a 5g batch of extract brew buying from my LHBS. I'm thinking of buying a couple 10g coolers and converting them to go all grain. I think I can do this for under $100, but maybe you guys can give me some tips on how to save even more cash. I already have a 30qt kettle and 125,000 BTU turkey fryer burner for doing full boils, plus an immersion chiller. I'm thinking I need the following:

- 2 60qt Ice Chest Coolers with drain plug ($26.88 ea.)Walmart
- 2 Ball-type Shutoff valves ($6.17 ea.) Lowe's
- additional pipe fittings, nuts, washers, o-rings ($15???)
- 2 SS braided faucet connectors for filter ($3.84 ea.) Lowe's

Grand Total = $88.78 + tax = $95.22

I'm really not sure how much all the fittings are going to cost, so feel free to correct my estimate. And let me know if I am missing anything else.

 

[auto]

I've also been thinking about going all grain, not just for the cash savings but also for the experience of making beer literally from it's base ingredients. Right now it costs me about $30-25 for a 5g batch of extract brew buying from my LHBS. I'm thinking of buying a couple 10g coolers and converting them to go all grain. I think I can do this for under $100, but maybe you guys can give me some tips on how to save even more cash. I already have a 30qt kettle and 125,000 BTU turkey fryer burner for doing full boils. I'm thinking I need the following:

- 2 60qt Ice Chest Coolers with drain plug ($26.88 ea.)Walmart
- 2 Ball-type Shutoff valves ($6.17 ea.) Lowe's
- additional pipe fittings, nuts, washers, o-rings ($15???)
- 2 SS braided faucet connectors for filter ($3.84 ea.) Lowe's

Grand Total = $88.78 + tax = $95.22

I'm really not sure how much all the fittings are going to cost, so feel free to correct my estimate. And let me know if I am missing anything else.

Coing from the same place you are, chiller, pump/venturi, associated fittings.

 

[TexLaw]

I'm thinking of buying a couple 10g coolers and converting them to go all grain.

Why do you need two? One for each head?


TL

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Very funny Tex, but no...I was thinking one for 170F hot water, and one below that would be the MLT. Is that vierd?

 

[MikeFlynn74]

I was thinking one for 170F hot water, and one below that would be the MLT. Is that vierd?

Um what? I am totally lost

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Ok, this might be completely retarded but I've seen these setups with brew sculptures and the very top unit is a kettle with a burner for the hot water. Once that gets to the appropriate temp, it's gravity fed down to the MLT to start the mash. After 30-60min mash it is then sparged with X amount of 170F water, and collected in the brew kettle. I just thought that if I had two coolers, one could be for hot water at 170F and the other for the MLT. Is this wrong, or overkill, or what don't you get?

 

[Blender]

Ok, this might be completely retarded but I've seen these setups with brew sculptures and the very top unit is a kettle with a burner for the hot water. Once that gets to the appropriate temp, it's gravity fed down to the MLT to start the mash. After 30-60min mash it is then sparged with X amount of 170F water, and collected in the brew kettle. I just thought that if I had two coolers, one could be for hot water at 170F and the other for the MLT. Is this wrong, or overkill, or what don't you get?

You can batch sparge with a single cooler. Read this page.>> http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

 

[RoaringBrewer]

There are definitely "sculptures" that use two coolers, one for a HLT and one for MLT. I like my cooler MLT, it does just fine, but I always wondered why use the cooler HLT. I'd probably just use another kettle with burner on it for the HLT. Heat it up when getting near sparge time, and sparge...

I just don't like the idea/extra step of heating water in a kettle, carrying it up a ladder, and dumping it into a cooler for holding (HLT made of a cooler can't be heated obviously) until sparge time. One its dangerous and two if you dump it in the cooler too early you are going to lose some temp until sparge time anyway...

I guess this is why most of the best sculptures are 3 kettles/keggles with heat/burners for temp control, etc?

My ghetto "rig" is one cooler and two kettles set on whatever i can find for height. I heat my sparge water when its time to sparge and thats it. No need for two coolers...

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

There are definitely "sculptures" that use two coolers, one for a HLT and one for MLT. I like my cooler MLT, it does just fine, but I always wondered why use the cooler HLT. I'd probably just use another kettle with burner on it for the HLT. Heat it up when getting near sparge time, and sparge...

I just don't like the idea/extra step of heating water in a kettle, carrying it up a ladder, and dumping it into a cooler for holding (HLT made of a cooler can't be heated obviously) until sparge time. One its dangerous and two if you dump it in the cooler too early you are going to lose some temp until sparge time anyway...

I guess this is why most of the best sculptures are 3 kettles/keggles with heat/burners for temp control, etc.

Ok, that makes sense. I suppose I only need one...but should find another pot to heat up the water for my MLT at the appropriate time. I was thinking I would make this easier by heating the entire volume of water up at the beginning, but I wasn't thinking about the temp delta after 30-60m. As always, thanks for the info!

 

[Philip1993]

Let's say your AG setup costs you $300(cheap), and you save $10 per batch(probably less), you'll need to brew 30 batches to recover the cost.

I'm with TexLaw. I runoff into the brew kettle, and use an IC anyway, so I had everything except a MLT. All new parts, grand total for a SS braid MLT was about $50...

My first AG batch used "recycled" yeast, so I walked out of the LHBS with all my ingredients and the total was $17.xx (5gal @ retail)

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Question: I already have a 5g cooler that I could possible use. Is this large enough for a 5.5g batch?

Using Ed's Haus Pale Ale I would need a total of 10.5# of grain, and 3.5g of water in the MLT. Is a 5g large enough for all that? If so...I'm going to Lowe's and getting my hardware today!

 

[BierMuncher]

Question: I already have a 5g cooler that I could possible use. Is this large enough for a 5.5g batch?

Using Ed's Haus Pale Ale I would need a total of 10.5# of grain, and 3.5g of water in the MLT. Is a 5g large enough for all that? If so...I'm going to Lowe's and getting my hardware today!

Yes.

I did up to 14# grain bills in my 5-gallon before moving up to 10-gallon batches.

 

[BREW N QUE]

A five gallon cooler will hold about 12 pounds of grain + strike water. If you find you need a bigger MLT later you can just buy a 10 gallon and transfer your fittings.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Kick a$$...I'm going to lowe's...then to the LHBS for my grain bill! AG this weekend, :rockin: !!! Thanks for all the help!