going all grain tell me how to spend my $400.00

[donjonson]

Iwhat I have:
5 gallon pot,
6 gallon glass carboy.
1plasric brewing bucket.
1 plastic bottling bucket.

And all the other little nicnacs that come in a common $130 startup kit.

Here is what I think I need :

Bigger pot (what size?)
Gas burner (which one)
Circular 10 gallon beverage cooler. ( what do I need to turn this into a mash tilun?)


What else do you recomend I get?
Can you suggest specific products for the items above?

Thanks!

 

[brewmadness]

A wort chiller.
I just bought a turkey fryer kit with a 35 qt pot. spent about $20 to convert a cooler I had to a mash tun. A $35 to build a wort chiller. I should be good with a basic setup for all grain. Can't wait to put it all to work.

 

[cwheel]

Can you post a link to the 35 qt pot?

 

[JNye]

pots size should be a minimum of 10 gallons, but consider 15. hard.
i would get this burner http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewi...ow-profile-banjo-burner-burner-and-stand.html

as far as the cooler. if you are barch sparging I would get a rectangular one. Batch sparging is very dependent on stirring the mash very good. Grain depth is not much of a concern. Rectangular is better for batch sparging and circular is better for fly sparging.

you'll need this for the cooler http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/mash-boil-screen.html
and a couple weldless bulkhead/valve setups(one for the cooler one for the pot) There are cheaper supplier of these fitting, check out the sponsors. Enjoy the upgrade and do lots of reading. After that get a mill.

 

[donjonson]

How do I gulf a wort chiller for $35?

 

[Dynachrome]

I use multiple 5 gallon pots and spread them over multiple burners on the kitchen stove. I use a rectangular 70 quart Colemen Extreme cooler with braided lines for mashing and I use HDPE 5 gallon buckets with lids for fermenting. I have to take some things into consideration with this style.

You already have a carboy so fermenting isn't an issue. Do you ever want to do double batches?

You know, at first I was fermenting right in the boil pots...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/first-all-gain-attempt-ed-worts-haus-pale-ale-164288/index2.html

 

[Dynachrome]

How do I gulf a wort chiller for $35?

Go to Fleet Farm, Home Depot, or some such. Get a few feet of copper tube. Bend it around something of the right diameter like a 1 gallon pickle jar. Sile it off and put some small hose fittings onto it. Make it adapt to whatever faucet you are using for cooling water, voilà.

 

[bnmir]

Copper is still pretty expensive, I'm not sure you'll make an immersion chiller for $35, but it will be cheaper than buying ready made. Go to a hardware store and buy 50' of copper tubing, some vinyl tubing to fit over the ends, stainless hose clamps to attach, and a garden hose to barb adapter. You'll find plenty of instructions, but basically wind it around something round to form a coil.

 

[Demon]

Burner - $50
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009JXYQ4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

10 gallon stainless steel kettle (aka "megapot") - $83
http://www.waresdirect.com/products...national/Stainless-Pot168823?trackURL=froogle

10 gallon cooler - $40
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...Flow=3&catalogId=10053&langId=-1&ddkey=Search

Cooler conversion kits run about $25 everywhere, add in another $50 for misc hoses and connections and you're good to go.

 

[IceFisherChris]

If you want you can get the coolers but I don't think it's necessary at all. I have done great all grain with nothing more than an 11 gallon pot, a smaller 4 gallon pot, a couple plastic buckets, and a gas stove. Why buy a cooler when you already have a large enough vessel, and also one that already has a drain on it?

1.) Mash in 11 gallon pot on stove. Get up to temp, dump in the grains, then turn to the lowest heat setting (or switch on and off every 5 minutes. whatever works to keep the temp)
2.) Pour (grains, wort, and all) into a plastic bottling bucket that has a paint strainer.
3.) Open drain valve and drain back into big pot.
4.) Pour in sparge water, let sit, then drain again.

I won't do it any other way for awhile, it worked perfect and I got 70-75% efficiency. Keeping temperature on the stove was extremely easy too. I just turned the heat on low and came back to check the temp every 5 minutes. Barely had to touch anything.

I would say at the minimum get a bigger pot and probably a propane burner if you don't think your stove is powerful enough. I balanced mine over two burners and it was just enough to give a decent boil.

 

[sweet_corn]

I would go with the square cooler. use a braid or a manifold. I am guessing you could have a mash tun for $30. Wort chiller is a must. Seriously consider a 15 gallon kettle. Get another bucket so you can have 1 primary and 2 secondary going...

 

[MRbutlertron]

Your mash/lauter tun doesn't necessarily have to be circular, you can probably find larger cheaper rectangle ones that will do the trick just fine. I have a circular 10 gallon one now but if I ever make the switch to 10 gallon beers I'm sure I will have to buy a larger cooler.

 

[MRbutlertron]

And definitely a wort chiller, don't make the jump to all-grain and then dilute your delicious nectar with water

 

[donjonson]

If you want you can get the coolers but I don't think it's necessary at all. I have done great all grain with nothing more than an 11 gallon pot, a smaller 4 gallon pot, a couple plastic buckets, and a gas stove. Why buy a cooler when you already have a large enough vessel, and also one that already has a drain on it?

1.) Mash in 11 gallon pot on stove. Get up to temp and turn to the lowest heat setting (or switch on and off every 5 minutes. whatever works to keep the temp)
2.) Pour (grains, wort, and all) into a plastic bottling bucket that has a paint strainer.
3.) Open drain valve and drain back into big pot.
4.) Pour in sparge water, let sit, then drain again.

I won't do it any other way for awhile, it worked perfect and I got 70-75% efficiency. Keeping temperature on the stove was extremely easy too. I just turned the heat on low and came back to check the temp every 5 minutes. Barely had to touch anything.

I would say at the minimum get a bigger pot and probably a propane burner if you don't think your stove is powerful enough. I balanced mine over two burners and it was just enough to give a decent boil.

Interesting so you heat up the grains and the water at the same time? You don't heat the water then pour the grains in?

 

[IceFisherChris]

Interesting so you heat up the grains and the water at the same time? You don't heat the water then pour the grains in?

I guess I said that wrong. I do heat the water to the proper temp and then dump the grains in.

 

[Golddiggie]

I did my first batch, last night, with a propane burner and cooler MLT... That just kicks ass all over the playground. :rockin:

My recommendation for 5 gallon batches:
32-40qt kettle (either get one made, or modify one)... I have a 32 quart aluminum stock pot with a 1/2" no weld ball valve installed now. <$100
48-70qt cooler converted into a MLT. I have a 70qt Coleman Xtreme cooler (have had it for years) that is now my MLT. Added hardware to make the MLT <$75
Get a decent propane burner. I picked up this burner... Kicks ass. You can get one that's cheaper and should still do a solid job. I believe the SP10 is a popular model.
Get a grain mill... I picked up the Barley Crusher due to it coming ready to rock and roll right out of the box. Using my cordless drill to power it makes it work really, really well.
Wort chiller... I made my own wort chiller out of 20' of 3/8" OD copper, fittings and tubing. You should be able to make one for under $50 without much effort at all.

Use the 5 gallon pot you have now to heat sparge water. Use the new pot to heat the mash water and collect the wort. Get silicon tubing to go from the ball valves into the kettle and then into your carboy. Makes things so much easier, it's not even funny. Yes, you can use other tubing, but you'll want something with a higher temp tolerance for the wort from the MLT... Silicon does triple duty.

I was doing BIAB before this batch... While you can do really great all grain batches that way, you're really limited by your pot size (for mashing grains)... With a decent sized cooler, those limitations go away. I'll be able to mash up to about 45# in my cooler. Plenty for future 10 gallon batches or 5 gallon batches of a BIG brew... :fro:

 

[chapa]

I suggest some kegs that you can convert, so then you can easily do 5 or 10g batches(you can usually find them a lot cheaper than a 15g stainless/aluminum kettles---or even a 10g kettles for that matter). I think Sam's has some decent priced aluminum pots though.

Wort chiller for sure.

Grain mill.

SQ14 burners...far superior/durable/efficient to turkey fryers. Only $50 for a burner already mounted to a solid stand.

I use an ICE CUBE square cooler. I think I got it from Sams, its blue with cup holders in the lid. I like it because it doesn't matter how large or small your grain bill is, because its more square and tall than it is wide, so the grain & water has a consistent surface area.

GOOD Thermometer...I've heard Taylor brand is reliable and cheap.

I LOVE my sight glasses/thermometer combo kits from Bobby M.

March Pumps rock also, but that'll put you back $100 right off the bat, but it makes transferring water/wort much simpler!

Good luck! Building your system is half the fun!

 

[Dynachrome]

Look for virgin HDPE buckets if you go this route

 

[coryforsenate]

A 10 gallon thick-wall aluminum pot, either buy or make your own counterflow chiller, a propane tank and burner.

You can drill a hole, add a bazooka filter and nipple with a ball joint handle, and use the pot as both your boil pot and your mash tun.

I spent $40 on my pot and $50 between the filter and joint etc, spent $70 on a nice counterflow chiller, and $100 on a propane tank and burner.


oh, and get a grain mill and some extra glass carboys.

 

[redde2brew]

If you plan on doing 5 gal batches you can use your 5 gal pot for a HLT for now. You will need a bigger pot or keg for boil. If you gonna do bigger batches get bigger stuff. Make your mash tun several youtube videos using a 10 gal or 48qt cooler. Propane burner I like the one with a BG10 or BG14 burner put an adjustable regulator (0-30psi)on so you can control flame better

9 gal brew pot (saw on ebay) $69 plus shipping (it had a ball valve weldless included)
48qt cooler at kmart $30
ball valve, stainless braided line and washers for cooler conversion at Lowes $30
Brew stand w/ burner $70 regulator $25
Digital Thermometer with probe $25
25 ft Copper tubing to make wort chiller $30 or just use ice bath in sink for now

There you go around $275 you can be started. I also recommend digital scales, long spoon or paddle, gloves, and if you are serious about AG use the rest of you money in fermentation temperature control (fridge or deep freezer with temp control).

 

[chapa]

I use an ICE CUBE square cooler. I think I got it from Sams, its blue with cup holders in the lid. I like it because it doesn't matter how large or small your grain bill is, because its more square and tall than it is wide, so the grain & water has a consistent surface area.

I should also mention that the ice cube cooler is 60qt and fits everything from small 5g batches to large 10g batches...even high gravity brews @ 60% efficiency-and the walls are thick so it holds temp flawlessly.

 

[donjonson]

I should also mention that the ice cube cooler is 60qt and fits everything from small 5g batches to large 10g batches...even high gravity brews @ 60% efficiency-and the walls are thick so it holds temp flawlessly.

I have heard that you hlget lower effciency with the square coolers when doing small 5 gallon batches. Has anyone had that experience?

 

[bovineblitz]

How do I gulf a wort chiller for $35?

There's a really cheap one at learntobrew.com that I bought after shopping around. Good quality too.

I do AG batches with full boils in an 8gallon pot, though I recently acquired a 10gal pot with a ball valve mainly for use as a HLT... previously I was pouring hot water from the 8gal pot. I decided that wasn't really very bright, haha... I still use the 8gal pot for boils, works fine with Fermcap-S to control boilover.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Glad to see you are going to get at least a ten gallon cooler. That way if you decide to make big batches or big beers you are already set.

 

[munche]

You might as well have titled this thread "How many different ways can you brew beer all grain?" :fro:

A pot and burner are good investments even if you aren't going all grain. Then your choice is building a cooler MLT, doing BIAB, or getting a fancy stainless MLT. With your budget, cooler or BIAB are going to be the best options. Brew in a Bag tends to be limited by your pot size, but will likely cost the less. You can build a rather large cooler mash tun for relatively cheap that will have all the capacity you need. That's the route I went.