bobbrewster
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- Jun 23, 2008
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Anyone want to switch to all grain but live in a no bedroom apartment and don't care to or have the money to have 2 bedrooms full of brew equipment? Also, if your reason to switch to all grain is because you love calculus and must "hit the number" every time, then this post may not be for you. I've written this post for the home brewer who enjoys making beer as a fun hobby, not as a disciplined science. Nothing against the mad scientist brewers(some are good friends and make amazing beers) it's just not me. I like to keep it cheap, simple and fun. Below I've taken a little from all the different types of "simple" all grain instructions listed on this forum(my favorite) and a few from others and developed what I like to think of as the "simplest" all grain brewing while maintaining at least 80% mash efficiency.
--Let's do this...
1st... Equipment needed...
-basic brew kit with bottling bucket
-thermometer
-20qt pot
-16qt pot
2nd... Equipment NOT needed...
-mash tun
-lauter tun
-turkey fry propane burner
-10 gallon pot
-ability to boil 6+ gallons of water
-wort chiller
-measuring devices
-strike water
-PH tests
-calculator
-PHD in chemistry
3rd... Mash!!!
(I'm going to get hammered by the vets on here but here we go...)
-Take your dry, crushed grains and dump them directly into your empty 20qt pot.(no grain bags etc. needed)
-Put this pot in your sink and fill it with warm/hot (who cares what temperature) tap water(if drinkable) until the water level is roughly an inch or two above the top of the grains. (this is your mash tun.)
-Put your pot filled with luke warm soupy grains on the stove, clip your thermometer on the side and turn on medium/high heat. (no strike water needed.)
-STIR CONSTANTLY until your soupy grains reach 155d (+-5d)
-Remove from heat and monitor temp/stir about every 10 to 15 minutes adding heat if needed for a total on one hour. (more of a step infusion mash)
-Meanwhile, take your empty 16qt pot and fill it nearly full with water and heat on stove to 170d (+-5d)
-(optional) Take a sip of your mash at the beginning and end of the hour to notice sugar conversion!
4th... Sparge!!!
(I'm going to get hammered by the vets on here again but here we go...)
-Place bottling bucket on counter top and insert a paint strainer/sparge bag etc. of some kind inside the bucket and cloths pin/clamp the bag around the top of the bucket(difficult and possibly messy with very tall bottling buckets, make sure bag is secure to top or have a buddy hold it!)(this is your lauter tun)
-Pour your soupy(now sugary) grains into your bottling bucket.(don't make a mess)
-Rinse out your 20qt pot and place it on ground below bottling bucket.
-Attach one end of your siphoning hose to your bottling bucket spigot, place the other end in your 20qt pot and open the valve on your bottling bucket to roughly half flow.
-Your sweetness should begin to flow into your pot. If not, your heavy bag of grain has most likely clogged your valve. Easy fix!!... Gently pull your grain bag up and away from the opening to the valve, take a large spoon such as a typical brew stick or ladle(must be spoon shaped) and place it over the opening to the valve and let your bag rest on the back side of the ladle. This will hold the ladle in place over the opening, freeing up your hands. This almost always fixes any clogging issues.
-Take your 16qt pot of roughly 170d water off the stove and slowly pour it evenly over your grains at about the same rate as your half open valve is releasing the sweetness into your 20qt pot. This should not be rushed but there's no need to spend hours sprinkling tiny drops of water over your grains either. 5 to 15 minutes of slowly sparging will be quite sufficient.
-Slowly sparge until you run out of sparge water or your 20qt pot is nearly full then turn your valve off and set your bottling bucket aside.
Last... Back to normal brewing...
-Now this will only leave you with 3 or 4 gallons of wort and you're thinking... "I've always been told you have to boil 6 plus gallons of water in a huge pot right?"
-No, now you simply boil your 3-4 gallons of "extract", concentrated, high gravity wort that you've just created and follow your hopping schedule as normal.
-When you're done with your boil, simply chill your wort, aerate into your fermenter, add water as needed to make 5 gallons, take a gravity reading, then pitch your yeast.
-That's it. Not scientific by no means but will consistently provide you with efficiency greater than 80% in just a few hours with minimal equipment investment. Hope this helps some of you that are hesitant on all grain brewing. Happy brewing!
--Let's do this...
1st... Equipment needed...
-basic brew kit with bottling bucket
-thermometer
-20qt pot
-16qt pot
2nd... Equipment NOT needed...
-mash tun
-lauter tun
-turkey fry propane burner
-10 gallon pot
-ability to boil 6+ gallons of water
-wort chiller
-measuring devices
-strike water
-PH tests
-calculator
-PHD in chemistry
3rd... Mash!!!
(I'm going to get hammered by the vets on here but here we go...)
-Take your dry, crushed grains and dump them directly into your empty 20qt pot.(no grain bags etc. needed)
-Put this pot in your sink and fill it with warm/hot (who cares what temperature) tap water(if drinkable) until the water level is roughly an inch or two above the top of the grains. (this is your mash tun.)
-Put your pot filled with luke warm soupy grains on the stove, clip your thermometer on the side and turn on medium/high heat. (no strike water needed.)
-STIR CONSTANTLY until your soupy grains reach 155d (+-5d)
-Remove from heat and monitor temp/stir about every 10 to 15 minutes adding heat if needed for a total on one hour. (more of a step infusion mash)
-Meanwhile, take your empty 16qt pot and fill it nearly full with water and heat on stove to 170d (+-5d)
-(optional) Take a sip of your mash at the beginning and end of the hour to notice sugar conversion!
4th... Sparge!!!
(I'm going to get hammered by the vets on here again but here we go...)
-Place bottling bucket on counter top and insert a paint strainer/sparge bag etc. of some kind inside the bucket and cloths pin/clamp the bag around the top of the bucket(difficult and possibly messy with very tall bottling buckets, make sure bag is secure to top or have a buddy hold it!)(this is your lauter tun)
-Pour your soupy(now sugary) grains into your bottling bucket.(don't make a mess)
-Rinse out your 20qt pot and place it on ground below bottling bucket.
-Attach one end of your siphoning hose to your bottling bucket spigot, place the other end in your 20qt pot and open the valve on your bottling bucket to roughly half flow.
-Your sweetness should begin to flow into your pot. If not, your heavy bag of grain has most likely clogged your valve. Easy fix!!... Gently pull your grain bag up and away from the opening to the valve, take a large spoon such as a typical brew stick or ladle(must be spoon shaped) and place it over the opening to the valve and let your bag rest on the back side of the ladle. This will hold the ladle in place over the opening, freeing up your hands. This almost always fixes any clogging issues.
-Take your 16qt pot of roughly 170d water off the stove and slowly pour it evenly over your grains at about the same rate as your half open valve is releasing the sweetness into your 20qt pot. This should not be rushed but there's no need to spend hours sprinkling tiny drops of water over your grains either. 5 to 15 minutes of slowly sparging will be quite sufficient.
-Slowly sparge until you run out of sparge water or your 20qt pot is nearly full then turn your valve off and set your bottling bucket aside.
Last... Back to normal brewing...
-Now this will only leave you with 3 or 4 gallons of wort and you're thinking... "I've always been told you have to boil 6 plus gallons of water in a huge pot right?"
-No, now you simply boil your 3-4 gallons of "extract", concentrated, high gravity wort that you've just created and follow your hopping schedule as normal.
-When you're done with your boil, simply chill your wort, aerate into your fermenter, add water as needed to make 5 gallons, take a gravity reading, then pitch your yeast.
-That's it. Not scientific by no means but will consistently provide you with efficiency greater than 80% in just a few hours with minimal equipment investment. Hope this helps some of you that are hesitant on all grain brewing. Happy brewing!