Easy Stovetop All-Grain Brewing (with pics)

[DeathBrewer]

I'd shoot for 1.5 gallons absorption (6 quarts.) It varies, but the general rule is 0.125gal/lb of grain.

So:

15 qt = 1.5 = 13.5 quarts
Sparge = 8 quarts
Total volume before boil = 21.5 quarts (5.375 gallons)
Boil-off is usually about 1.25gal/hr (depending on your system), so expect a little over 4 gallons.

How big is your second pot and how good is your burner? Can you increase the sparge to 12 quarts? It will increase your efficiency. You can also split between the two pots if it helps.

If you have a colander, I would recommend pouring some of your sparge water over the grains before you dunk them in your sparge. It will also increase efficiency.

It will work fine as you have it, you just might be a little low on gravity, depending on what efficiency you are shootin for.

Have fun!

 

[NYCBrewGuy]

My 2nd pot is pretty small - hence the smaller sparge. I do have a big strainer than I can use so I'll try that. Put the recipe together assuming pretty low efficiency (~60%) so hopefully this works out OK. That said, maybe I'll have two "sparge" pots going to try and get the efficiency up. This is a Belgian IPA hybrid and I'm aiming for OG at 1.080. BrewSmith thinks I'll get there with 60% efficiency. If I come out higher than that... well, that's fine with me, I've got a decent size starter going...

Thanks DeathBrewer - your partial mash tutorial was a huge help and I'm looking forward to going all grain.

 

[DeathBrewer]

You can probably get 60% with that water. Doing the two-pot sparges may help, too.

 

[wcarter1227]

I cant do a bigger boil than 5 gallons and figure i boil off about a gallon give or take, can i top off with tap water to get 5 gallons or would i be better off just doing 3 gallon batches until i could get a bigger brew pot?

 

[DeathBrewer]

With all-grain, it's a little tough because you will get low efficiency. The partial boil is not really the problem, more of the fact that you won't be able to properly sparge your grains. With a little bit of extract to get the gravity up, it's easy...I used to do that all the time.

I used to top off with tap water. Sometimes it's ok, depending on the water (I ruined a few batches with crap water), but now I always keep a bunch of unopened gallon water containers for top-off. It's nice to keep them in the fridge, too, so you can top off with cold water and further help cool your wort.

 

[Stuntman]

Death,
Cool tutorial. I got to find me that grain bag!
I would use it to take out the hops, while going into primary, before pitching.
Even comming out of a Mash tun that bag would sure keep things clear!

Really is cool you took time to do this last year, I sure could have used it when I started.

 

[Jzak09]

So I have a 7.5 and a 5 gallon pot. If I wanted to do a full volume boil without topping my fermenter off would I simply sparge with more water?

I'm thinking, using your method, I'll mash with the 3 gallons (in the 5G pot) and sparge with 4 or 5 gallons (in the 7.5G pot)... and cook her down until I get my five gallons... WOuld this increase my effeciency?

 

[DeathBrewer]

You'll probably need more than 5 gallons of water for a "full" boil. You'll want 6.25 gallons or so total and you should figure ~0.125 lbs gallons per pound of grain.

 

[Jzak09]

Right, so I figure 4 or 5 gallons to sparge with and then the 3 gallons form the mash (more like 2gallons figuring in the absorbtion). So I guess what I am asking is is it kosher to sparge with the 4 or five gallons?(benefits?) I would then add the mash water(is this called liquor?) to the sparge water to make 6 or 7 gallons for the boil....

 

[DeathBrewer]

yes, that will increase your efficiency. If you have a colander, pouring some of the sparge water over the bag before transferring will help further. The mash water is called "wort".

 

[Jzak09]

duhhh..... Thanks dude. Awsome tut. Life changing.

 

[NYCBrewGuy]

Well... boiling as we speak. Definitely think the method works but had some speedbumps. Spilled about 1/2 gallon when I was draining the bag. Only hit a little above 50% efficiency. I think 12 lbs of grain might be a bit much for my equipment. Gonna stick to lower gravs or smaller batches until I step up my equipment or at least buy a bigger kettle (currently have a 6 gallon stock pot). Still, the wort smells good so far and I'm looking forward to the results. Thanks all.

 

[togabear]

I can't do this method -only got a 4G stock pot and a few smaller pots. I would like to as I have done there partials this way and it works great, so thanks man! Tutorial really helped. For all those who don't have have a pot big enough, use your bottling bucket and just add the strike water there and then your grain. I got almost 14 lbs of grain in there without any problems. It could definitely hold more too, but I dont think anything with a very high gravity. Use a grain bag though! I didn't do this and waited a really long time for the bucket to empty. Just boiled in separate pots after.

 

[NYCBrewGuy]

Another question for all you out there: do you chill 4-5 gal. of hot wort in an ice bath? And if so, how long does it take for you to get down to pitching temp. It seems to take me a good 40 mins to get down to a temp that I'm comfortable pitching at and I worry that during that time my hops utilization is effected. My beers always seem to be more bitter than planned. Could slow cooling be the culprit?

 

[DeathBrewer]

No, your beers shouldn't be too bitter from late addition hops. I used to take an hour to cool with my ice bath method, before I started changing out ice.

How are you calculating bittering? Be sure to calculate alpha acids...if you are just going by quantity then there is no way to be sure.

 

[New-B-Brewer]

I just read the last couple pages of posts and wanted to add my experiences to the thread.

I've used this basic method on two batches now, both big beers and IPA and a Tripel. I have two 5 gal pots so I basically made 2 2.5gal batches and combined them in the fermenter. I mashed in the two pots, sparged each bag in and Ale Pail and then split the sparge water between the two pots to bring them to about 3.5 gals and boiled them down to 2.5 in about 60-75 mins. The biggest problem with this method was keeping the sparge water up to temp in an ale pail. I found the best best was to put it in a cooler that was filled with 190 degree water then shoot a little high on the sparge water and start sparging when it hit the right temp. Still lost a few degrees over the 10 min sparge but I've hit 64 or 65% efficiency both batches so I can't complain. I've detailed my Tripel a few pages back.

 

[Stuntman]

No, your beers shouldn't be too bitter from late addition hops. I used to take an hour to cool with my ice bath method, before I started changing out ice.

How are you calculating bittering? Be sure to calculate alpha acids...if you are just going by quantity then there is no way to be sure.

Another good one Death. I am brewing tomorrow after work, after reading this post, you reminded me, so I am going right now to get some water bottles out of the recycle bin and freeze some water in them. Sure makes cooling faster when you have plenty of ice. I also have a coiled copper chiller I hook up to the garden hose. Just over fifteen minutes, if I have enough ice, I can usually pitch. Lot of stirring (considerable drinking).

 

[Azharen]

What are you using to cool Ur fermentation chamber? I haven't seen the cooling chamber done vertically in any of the plans I've seen so far.

 

[HomelessWook]

i would love for this to be sticky'd with its brother.

 

[DeathBrewer]

What are you using to cool Ur fermentation chamber? I haven't seen the cooling chamber done vertically in any of the plans I've seen so far.

Not sure who you are asking about what? Are you talking about this?

If you google "son-of-fermentation chiller" you will find the instructions I based this model on. It uses two jugs of ice and a computer fan.

i would love for this to be sticky'd with its brother.

It once was! They reference each other and they are in my sig, so I think people can find them just fine, tho.

 

[GroovePuppy]

i would love for this to be sticky'd with its brother.

Amen. I've been AG'ing for a year now using this method and made some delicious beers.

 

[DeathBrewer]

DIAICYLF. Forever.

 

[Azharen]

@DeathBrew: That's the guy I meant. Been looking JT's Mother of Fermentation Chiller build. I suck at wood working, so I decided to buy a Utility Cabinet; insulate it and run the Temp Control through to the door. I'm thinking I may even be able to get lagering temps if I use water resistant paneling and caulking. I'd still have to test that theory during the summer. I should still be able to do standard fermentation all year round. But that's down the line. CO2 equipment for kegs and wort chiller are my short term projects.

 

[HomelessWook]

Amen. I've been AG'ing for a year now using this method and made some delicious beers.

just bottled my first brew (all extract) and i am going to my LHBS on Thursday to get ingredients for a pale ale partial - i am going to be using deathbrewers method :rockin:

 

[agenthucky]

now, it can get pretty close to the brim in a 5 gallon pot. this is greatly beneficial because you will see very little loss in mash temperature when you minimize the headspace. however, be careful to give yourself enough room for the bag and for stirring or you could have a mess on your hands.

i use promash to calculate. the banana bread ale recipe had 11.75 lbs and i used 3.25 gallons of water, which is about 1.1qt/lb. this gives me a total volume of 4.19 gallons when i add the grains.

DB, another great thread. Now, pardon me if you've answered it before, but I haven't finished this thread yet, and wanted to ask the question before I forget:

A) Is there a chart or formula for the volume of a certain amount of grain. I noticed you have 11.75 lbs of grain and it took .95 gallons. Is there a way to predict this impact, so better planning on what equipment to use.

B) You mentioned having less headspace helps keep your mash at temp. Is this true for headspace, or volume of mash water? You have just about 5 gallons of space occupied in the 5 gallon kettle. If you had the same 5 gallons in a 7 gallon kettle, would it cool quicker? It seems to me, knowing my limited physics, that it's just the amount of water that is slowing down the cooling, but I am not sure.

 

[agenthucky]

Also, I noticed your stove is off. When you hit your mash temp, do you turn your burner off, or leave it on Low. When I steep, to keep temp I turn it to a lower setting, if it's off, I loose temp.

 

[DeathBrewer]

DB, another great thread. Now, pardon me if you've answered it before, but I haven't finished this thread yet, and wanted to ask the question before I forget:

A) Is there a chart or formula for the volume of a certain amount of grain. I noticed you have 11.75 lbs of grain and it took .95 gallons. Is there a way to predict this impact, so better planning on what equipment to use.

Here are some good mash calculators that I use: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

If you are talking about absorption, then it is MUCH less than with mash tun. General rule is 0.125 gallons per pound of grain, but that drops to less than half that with the bag.

B) You mentioned having less headspace helps keep your mash at temp. Is this true for headspace, or volume of mash water? You have just about 5 gallons of space occupied in the 5 gallon kettle. If you had the same 5 gallons in a 7 gallon kettle, would it cool quicker? It seems to me, knowing my limited physics, that it's just the amount of water that is slowing down the cooling, but I am not sure.

It's true for the volume of the mash and lowering the headspace also helps. Yes, I think it would cool quicker in a 7 gallon, but the amount and time would probably be negligible. It's fine if it drops a few degrees and if you insulate the vessel, it shouldn't drop at all...even with a bit of headspace.

It's about MASS. It matters little whether it's solid or liquid or a mixture thereoff.

Also, I noticed your stove is off. When you hit your mash temp, do you turn your burner off, or leave it on Low. When I steep, to keep temp I turn it to a lower setting, if it's off, I loose temp.

Turn the burner off. You don't want your mash temp to get too high. If you're concerned about losing temp, wrap up the mash tun with some towels or blankets (off the burner, of course) but I do not advocate using a burner for temperature adjustment after you have mashed in.

 

[agenthucky]

Here are some good mash calculators that I use: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

If you are talking about absorption, then it is MUCH less than with mash tun. General rule is 0.125 gallons per pound of grain, but that drops to less than half that with the bag.

In your experience, how much grain have you put in that bag at one time. I am going to try this tomorrow and I have 13.25 lbs of grain. This should take 5.2 gallons in a 5.5 gallon kettle I have. I just am wondering if the bag will hold up. Should I split it in half and do it twice? I do have all day...

 

[agenthucky]

Well, I did it anyway. 13.35 lbs and it came to the brim of the kettle. Just enough room to stir. Lost a degree or two, and spilt a little, but I reached 73% on my first try, so I'm happy.

Thanks again!

 

[DeathBrewer]

I don't think I've done that much, but definitely had some small spillovers when I tried to push it. That's why I always recommend less until you get a handle on it and have the room to stir.

Glad it worked out!


I'm currently writing an all-grain tutorial for my roommate. We made his Black Lager tonight, but we didn't hit our numbers perfect and the brew session took longer than expected, so I'm going to do a step-by-step and see if we can nail it down next time. Hoping to use it so he can learn the process in and out...much detail. Coming soon!