first post, first all grain - Passion Fruit IPA

[dab299]

So I've only ever made beer via kits and at best they've been ok and at worst undrinkable. My last experience was an undrinkable 40 pints of flavourless brown water. It not only turned me off brewing but also beer itself. I've been on a gin journey since then, but this year I have found my excitement again...mainly through three beers festivals and how far the brewing world has come.

With this enthusiasm I decided I wanted to make a beer. Not just any beer but a passion fruit IPA. I'd go go full hog and go all grain (first mistake not realising there were intermediary stages). I researched, built the profile and purchased all the ingredients. Second mistake, I was unaware with all grain you needed to go full boil. I have the majority of equipment but my pot in just under 3 gallons and I wasn't ready to invest in anything bigger at this stage. Therefore I scaled to 2 gallons and then completely changed the grain profile of my original recipe.

Bottle day is Saturday and have no idea how it's going to turn out but it's definitely been a learning experience. More importantly I can't wait to start my next one.

So I've been waffling, but do you think it's worth investing in a bigger pot / kettle? I reckon I should get between 14/16 pints from this batch. If it's bad then that's probably a good thing, but if it's good it's going to go very quickly.

If anyone is interested here is the modifed recipe:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 2 gal
OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 17.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 60.8 IBU

Ingredients:
------------

2kg Low Colour Marris Otter
0.5kg Caramalt
6g Azacca (60mins)
6g Azacca (15mins)
10g Galaxy (15mins)
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast labs #1056
15g Galaxy dry hop
254g Passion Fruit (secondary)
226g Mango (secondary) (added after reading that passion fruit needs balance)

 

[ncbrewer]

One consideration is that you also need a burner that can handle the full boil.

Partial mash is also a good option if you stay with the smaller kettle.

An aluminum kettle is a lot cheaper than stainless.

 

[owmatooth]

since we're somewhat getting close to Thanskgiving, a common and cheap entry into all grain are the turkey fryer and burner combos at walmart that pop up on sale for around $50. For this you get a kettle big enough to do a 5 gal all grain batch (i'm a BIAB fan myself) and a burner that'll get the job done. There certainly are much nicer choices for burners and certainly for kettles, but not for this combo at this price. you can always upgrade later.

 

[dab299]

Didn't even think about the burner side. It took long enough bringing 2 gallons up to temperature. No idea what it would take for 7 on the hob.

I'm based in the U.K. so no thanksgiving sales for me. Cheapest I've seen is about £70.

Think partial mash sounds like a good idea for the next one. Thanks both for your input

 

[RustyHorn]

Didn't even think about the burner side. It took long enough bringing 2 gallons up to temperature. No idea what it would take for 7 on the hob.

I'm based in the U.K. so no thanksgiving sales for me. Cheapest I've seen is about £70.

Think partial mash sounds like a good idea for the next one. Thanks both for your input

I got my pot from Wilko. It only holds 15 litres for the boil so isn't going to fully solve your volume requirements, but at £18 it's pretty good. Also, while you're learning, it might be worth doing smaller batches! I get around 20 500ml bottles from each batch.