Equipment to start AG?

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ElleWoods

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Hi Everyone!

I've read hundreds of threads here on equipment people use to brew all grain, but I'm not sure what to get exactly.

My husband and I have been brewing extract and partial mash brews for the last couple of years and he's mentioned he would like to do all grain soon. I figured I could get him some things as part of his Christmas present...but I'm struggling with what I should get, so please give me suggestions? Hopefully this is the right place to put this thread :)
 
a big cooler for mashing, copper/pvc for a manifold (or a nylon strainer bag if you want to do it quasi-BIAB style), and you're pretty much good to go!

high5 for brewing supplies for christmas too ;)
 
I'm using the app which I'm not very good with still, it cut off my text so I'm including this in a new reply :-/

We currently have a 15G Penrose Kettle (http://brewhemoth.com/penrose-kettle) with a Bayou classic burner, we have tons of other things (wort chiller, buckets, glass carboys, etc) too of course but the kettle and burner are all we have for the brew setup at them moment (that I can think of off the top of my head?)
 
neosapien said:
a big cooler for mashing, copper/pvc for a manifold (or a nylon strainer bag if you want to do it quasi-BIAB style), and you're pretty much good to go!

high5 for brewing supplies for christmas too ;)
Click to expand...

Excellent! Thanks for the quick response :) It sounds like there isn't much to add - are there any must have brands/models or any to stay away from?
 
I would go with a 10 gallon round beverage cooler and either a "kettle valve" and "kettle screen" (mix of stainless and plated brass) or a cooler convesion set up frm brewhardware.com to convert it for batch sparging.
 
Since it hasn't been thrown out there yet...you'll need at least a 10 gallon kettle :).
 
Sorry, I missed your post about having a kettle already and saw someone suggest a 10gal kettle. You can get away with an Igloo cooler for a mash tun. Some people that go AG have a 3 kettle system; boil kettle, mash tun and hot liquor tank.
 
If I don't want to go with plastic for the MT - what are the options? I've seen a lot of posts of people insulating old kegs or stainless kettles - do these work well too?
 
Have you considered just getting a custom-sewn mesh bag to do BIAB brewing? For $20, you're ready to go. Then you can make it more complicated as you see fit.
 
ElleWoods said:
If I don't want to go with plastic for the MT - what are the options? I've seen a lot of posts of people insulating old kegs or stainless kettles - do these work well too?
Click to expand...

Stainless doesn't conduct heat very well (compared to Al) and therefore will work well as a mash tun. They can be insulated or placed over a burner if it's necessary to reheat.
 
throwing this out there.... but if you start going all grain, I love my three keg system. 15.5 gallons each. which is plenty of space for a 10gal batch.

I would also note that if you have not switched out to kegs at this point, you might want to. Because at this point in the game I have pretty much come to the conclusion that bottling sucks!! and I only do it to give away, I'd much rather drink my beer on tap!
 
Gregwarro said:
I would also note that if you have not switched out to kegs at this point, you might want to. Because at this point in the game I have pretty much come to the conclusion that bottling sucks!! and I only do it to give away, I'd much rather drink my beer on tap!
Click to expand...

This is also another thing that he has talked about :D

Is it too much to do both at once? Should we do kegging before AG or vice versa?
 
If you want to go basic all-grain just purchase a 10-gallon Rubbermaid cooler. It sounds like you already have a kettle which you can also utilize as your HLT. You'll need a couple buckets to hold wort while heating your sparge water and draining your mashtun. It's not pretty but it's effective. If you want something that looks cool you'd have to be willing to spend more. I'm not sure it's really worth it. Kegging on the other hand is something that is totally worth the expenses!
 
+1 Darwin18 Go straight to kegging and a ten gallon cooler. Toataly the way to go.
 
ElleWoods said:
If I don't want to go with plastic for the MT - what are the options? I've seen a lot of posts of people insulating old kegs or stainless kettles - do these work well too?
Click to expand...

Even though stainless doesn't transfer heat as efficiently as other metals, and even with insulation, you can't quite achieve the same insulating characteristics as you can with a cooler setup. With mashing (the most critical, defining ndstep in all-grain), it's important to be able to hold a temp within a degree or so to get the beer characteristics you desire. Unless you have an external means of accurately heating a metal mash tun (read automation), you'll be battling inconsistency and temp swings. That is why the cooler setup is so popular. It does very well at holding temps without an external heat source. If you need to adjust temps, you can resort to decoction methods, stirring or adding hot/cold water. Typically, once you have your system dialed in, that isn't necessary. As you're starting to figure out, though, everyone kind of has their own way.

That said, if it were my money, I'd buy another 15G pot for my HLT, a 10G round rubbermaid cooler as the MLT and all the proper hardware to get valves on all the equipment. I'd also spring for a sightglass on the HLT kettle (very handy) and possibly one on the boil kettle (not as critical, but handy when you're trying to do 90/120+ minute boils). That will do you for all 5G batches and most 10G batches. If you need to do big imperials, barleywines, etc in 10G, you can add a larger cooler mash tun down the road. If you want to splurge, spend it on your own mill first in addition to the above. There's no doubt you could dive full on into AG with that setup and make some mighty fine beers.
 
Thank you everyone for the excellent advice, I went ahead and purchased the cooler MT that BullGator mentioned and then over-splurged on kegging equipment at KegConnection - now hopefully I got most everything since I don't want to be too much of a half-gifter, lol :)
 
You won't regret the purchase KegConnection. I've purchased my original kegging setup and then my expanded setup from them. Great service and got my shipment fairly quickly as I recall.
 
ElleWoods said:
Thank you everyone for the excellent advice, I went ahead and purchased the cooler MT that BullGator mentioned and then over-splurged on kegging equipment at KegConnection - now hopefully I got most everything since I don't want to be too much of a half-gifter, lol :)
Click to expand...

Oh... if I could get my wife that interested in beer and brewing. Your Husband is truly a lucky man!!

Now all you need to do is brew a batch behind his back and have it kegged and under the tree for Christmas!! You will never see a kegerator put together quicker I am sure!!

:mug:
 
Gregwarro said:
Oh... if I could get my wife that interested in beer and brewing. Your Husband is truly a lucky man!!

Now all you need to do is brew a batch behind his back and have it kegged and under the tree for Christmas!! You will never see a kegerator put together quicker I am sure!!

:mug:
Click to expand...

lol - too funny! I love trying new beers, I'm a wimp though when it comes to hops...although fortunately for me IPA's aren't his favorite either thankfully :)

He mentioned brewing up something this weekend...so that means by the time Xmas arrives it would be ready to go ahead and Keg maybe? So excited about that idea, but kind of tough trying to keep my mouth shut... :eek:
 

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