Going all grain

[bramptonbrewer]

I want to start doing AG, but I'm not sure where to begin. Is a turkey fryer ok? Is the aluminum pot (7.5 gallon) ok for 5 gallon batches. Do I need a grain mill? I've heard about the corona mill, but i can't seem to find any in the toronto area. I've got my mash tun ready to go.

 

[MedicMang]

That's how I started. I bought a turkey fryer. If your local homebrew Shop will crush your grains for you, then you can wait on that. Seems to me like you're all set.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Look into brew in a bag. Turkey fryer is fine. It generates heat like everything else. You don't need a mill unless you local shop doesn't crush grains and I'd be surprised if they didn't. If you have the mash tun ready then you can use the turkey pot to heat up your mash water, soak the grains, drain into a fermentation bucket and refill with a second batch of 180F water to mash out/sparge with.

 

[mgortel]

7.5 gallon pot for 5 gallon all-grain is to small. You will need a10 gallon pot at a minimum.

You can use the 7.5 gallon pot you have to heat up sparge water...since you will want to drain your mash tun directly into your new 10+ gallon pot.....so you still will need the 7.5 gallon pot (i.e. not wasted).

 

[tootal]

+1 with Brew in a bag. I wish this was known when I started, much easier than what we were doing! As mentioned, use the 7.5 for heating water and get a 10 for mashing and boiling.

 

[Bean]

I would swap out the aluminum pot before I purchased a mill.

 

[pennyloaf]

Think I got my 9 gal pot for a good price (do you have a burner?)

I made a post about my cheap all grain setup for around $300 or so

 

[kh54s10]

7.5 gallon pot for 5 gallon all-grain is to small. You will need a10 gallon pot at a minimum.



You can use the 7.5 gallon pot you have to heat up sparge water...since you will want to drain your mash tun directly into your new 10+ gallon pot.....so you still will need the 7.5 gallon pot (i.e. not wasted).

Not true. I brewed 10-20 batches in one til I found a deal on 10 gallon pots. You do have to start the boil carefully to avoid boil overs.


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[VikingChrisColby]

A turkey fryer is great. A 7.5-gallon pot for a 5.0-gallon batch is workable, but limiting. You'd better off with a 10-gallon pot. You don't need a grain mill right off the bat, but they are nice to have if you brew a lot.
I've written a few things for beginning all-grain brewers on my website. Here are the links. Hope they help.

Should You Go All-Grain?
http://beerandwinejournal.com/go-all-grain/

Your First All-Grain Beer
http://beerandwinejournal.com/first-all-grain/

All-Grain Brew Day Walkthrough
http://beerandwinejournal.com/walkthrough-i/


Chris Colby
Editor
http://beerandwinejournal.com/

 

[jabba11]

some good advice here. You can do a 5 gallon batch in a 7.5 but like they said pay close attention or youll boil over. I will also add this. Many people myslef included want to go all grain, they do what you are doing and buy a turkey fryer no mill etc etc..If you think you are serious about doing this long term though I would HIGHLY reccomened you spend some money (wallet and wife approved) and get some decent equipment. I have a tureky fryer a darkstar burner and now I have an edelmetal banjo style burner. I started with the 7.5 gallon aluminum pot then bought a 10 gallon bayou now have a blichman. I also grind my own grain with a barley crusher which I buy in bulk. What I am saying is that if you think you are serious youll end up buying better equipment anyway. Can you do all grain with a corona mill and a turkey fryer, yep you sure can, and it can be good beer but with better equipment comes better process, control, and efficiency and generally speaking better beer.

 

[hou_me]

Go for it, dude! Start looking for a bigger kettle, though. Try a sporting goods store- that's where I got my kettle and it was way cheaper than going to the brew shop for it.

 

[divrguy]

A turkey fryer is great. A 7.5-gallon pot for a 5.0-gallon batch is workable, but limiting. You'd better off with a 10-gallon pot. You don't need a grain mill right off the bat, but they are nice to have if you brew a lot.
I've written a few things for beginning all-grain brewers on my website. Here are the links. Hope they help.

Should You Go All-Grain?
http://beerandwinejournal.com/go-all-grain/

Your First All-Grain Beer
http://beerandwinejournal.com/first-all-grain/

All-Grain Brew Day Walkthrough
http://beerandwinejournal.com/walkthrough-i/


Chris Colby
Editor
http://beerandwinejournal.com/

Chris Colby on HBT! Nice!

Chris is a regular on Basic Brewing and a hellofa brewer and mad scientist! Good stuff on his website too!

Also, I picked up a 10 and 15 gallon pot from Thundergroup on amazon! Very good quality for a great price. The one thing I learned and a few others have already mentioned is buy the best you can afford the first time. I say that if you really believe you are going to brew for the long haul. I would venture to say that most of us here on HBT knew that when we decided to brew..it was all in.


Cheers!

 

[bramptonbrewer]

Almost there. Picked up my burner and 8 gallon pot today. All that is left is picking the recipe and ordering the ingredients.

 

[bramptonbrewer]

Oh and the wort chiller. Haven't decided whether to make one or buy one yet. We'll see, but i probably make my it.

 

[blackonblack]

I went right in to all grain. I bought a kit online with all the gadgets. I bought an 8 gallon pot on ebay . I built my mash tun out of a water cooler according to dozens of articles online .

I also made a wort chiller although this wasn't much of a savings . Mine works but didn't come out the best. I'd look on ebay . There are some really good and cheap ones that id recommend over buying one. It's hard to make one as good as the ones for sale for the price and hassle.

 

[brewerJase]

In the gta brewing gear is pricey. Check out ontariobeerkegs.com. The usually have better prices and flat rate shipping. Also crazy fast shipping. I have one of there OBKrusher grain mills and it's been great. Also to save some cash you can pick up a 55lbs sack of 2-row in Scarborough for $33.60 no tax. At a place called grain process enterprises. (Warden and sheppard)


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[blackonblack]

Oh and the wort chiller. Haven't decided whether to make one or buy one yet. We'll see, but i probably make my it.

Make yourself a mash tun out of a water cooler. You can make a great one at a great price.

Personally check ebay for the chiller. I made one which works but it came out very little savings and likely won't perform as well as commercially made ones.

Ebay has some chillers... It's barely worth making one at the price they sell for . It was a pain to bend that pipe

 

[Jupapabear]

Get fermcap-s! It is amazing at helping with boil overs. I upgraded to a larger pot when I had the money but I still use it even now. I started on a 7.5 Stainless steel turkey fryer pot

 

[Puddlethumper]

Good advice above. I started AG with a turkey fryer too. Still using the pot as a HLT. Also bought an 8 gal. stainless kettle for a BK. It has served me well, but as others have pointed out, you'll need to watch it closely at the beginning of the boil or it can boil over on you. This is especially true when doing recipes that call for a 90 min. boil and 6.75-7.0 gal. pre-boil volume. A 10 gal. kettle would be better, but I've been doing it for a couple years with the same setup and it works.

You only need a mill if you want to buy grain in bulk. IMO this is the very best way for a home brewer to save money. If you decide you want to go with a mill I'd suggest you spend a little time on this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/grain-mills-your-opinion-464996/ This was a highly popular thread and I learned a lot from those who contributed. When I bought my mill I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and why.

Other than that it sounds like you are well on your way. Make some beer, enjoy it and ask questions. This forum is a great place to learn to get better at the never-ending process of becoming a brewer.

Cheers!

 

[Riot]

A 7.5 gallon is way easier to work with if you start a gallon or two in another pot. Combine them after the hot break and boilovers become much less common.

 

[bramptonbrewer]

I'd like to try a simple all grain recipe as my first AG batch.
Does this make sense?
10lbs 2row
1lbs caramel 20L
1 lbs carapils
1oz cscade @ 60
1oz cascade @ 30
1oz cascade @ 5

Safale 05

What do you guys think?
Will this be drinkable? Any suggestions?

 

[blackonblack]

For my first all grain brew (first ever brew really) I bought a pre made kit from midwest. Very handy way to start it out. They have many suggestions and many have Reviews where you can read what others people think. I'd start that way. Free shipping on orders over 60 and no sales tax

 

[bramptonbrewer]

I really don't want to buy a pre made kit, one of the things that I really want to do is try different combinations and see how they change taste and see what I cancome up with. But I also don't want to waste a batch, so that's why I ask if what I posted above sounds reasonable.

 

[blackonblack]

Totally. However all grain brewing is pretty involved . It's very technique sensitive. My first batch was more or less learning the process to make beer less about creativity in the end product. You have to walk before you can learn to crawl. For your first batch focus on the process all the steps and numbers etc. I wouldn't do a super expensive recipe your first brew. Keep it simple for your first one. There a lot more important considerations than ingredients to someone who hasn't done it before. For my second brew I'm going to go with a recipe in the recipes section. What's the difference between that and a kit??

 

[blackonblack]

I also reasoned this when I bought a kit. If you've never brewed before and you brew something that hasn't been brewed before (your own concoction) you have no benchmark to compare it to . It was never made be an expert so how can you compare yours to no data? You may actually learn less.

For example with your recipe there aren't really any gravity numbers . You'd just have to figure it out when you lauter to your kettle. If it was made before you'd have an estimated gravity number from which you can compare your efficiency. Making a first batch outside of a recipe won't shed any light on the efficiency of your setup nor can you figure out why there are off flavors etc.

 

[MedicMang]

The recipe sounds fine. Maybe drop the carapils down to 8 Oz. Not a big deal though. Download beersmith. 30 day trial and it will tell you what your expected gravity should be. It's great for formulating recipes in general. Good luck G.

 

[bramptonbrewer]

The target og is 1052 for 6 gallon batch, and it should finish around 1010. This is not about making the best recipe. It's about learning the process and the equipment, so that when I start trying the more involved recipes I don't have to guess what the numbers are going to be. Such as loss to evaporation during boils and absorption during mashing.

 

[jabba11]

It seems like a reasonable bill and hop addition. Yes you will be able to drink it. Still Im not sure why you wouldn't just go with a recipe that is already out there until you get your "mash tun wet". Most of my "personal" recipes are made off of someone elses and altered to suit my personal tastes. Theres no reason to reinvent the wheel first time out. Still this is a very 'common looking' hop and grain bill fro an American Pale ale save maybe the color which is not a big deal.. youll be able to drink it yes and it quite possibly will be delicious, I cant see how it could be undrinkable.