Never brewed before, starting with All-Grain

[Homercidal]

Just go for it! I could never do that, but I usually get rushed everytime I brew, or forget some step, and that is my downfall. If you think you understand the process, then give it a go. You might do great, or you might need more practice. Either way, you did it YOUR way. Just remember to relax and have a homebrew.

 

[Homercidal]

Sounds like proposing marriage to the first girl you're going to kiss.

More like having sex with a girl for the first time before kissing her. Likewise, it will be exciting, possibly messy, but at least if you get in trouble, you can just dump it down the drain...

 

[McKBrew]

Let's say I could start all over again knowing what I know now. I'd start with AG. A couple factors keep people from going AG for long periods of time.

1) They are completely satisfied with extract and partial mash. Nothing wrong with that, it takes less time and you still make good beer.

2) Cost: Sure there are a few extra things you need for AG, but you still can get started for a lot less than you thought it would cost.

3) Fear/Uncertainty: The process seems daunting at first, but if you can read a recipe and follow assembly directions for furniture you can brew AG. I'd still recommend watching someone do it once if you can, if not DO IT ANYWAY.

 

[blk94f150]

I would start AG right away if I could do it over again. It's not that much more in startup than extract and you have more control and better beers.

I think the hardest thing for new folks to get is the brewing vocab. Things like hot liquor tun (hot water pot), strike water (water used to soak grains and extract sugars), sparge water (rinsing water) etc.

I was a little timid on going AG, but after I got my first one in the bag I realised how easy it is. It does take a little longer though, but that's what 10 gallong batches are for.


Mike

 

[ThickHead]

Kudos for going straight for the AG. Afterall, the process of making fermented spirits has always been a practice of trial and error. Additionally, I am fairly certain that the pioneers of the process did not start out with pre-made extracts from plastic bags or tin cans.

My first brew was an extract brew. However, from there on out, its AG!

Best of luck!

 

[pahiker6]

This would be a good troll thread huh? HAY GAIZ, HOW DOES I AY GEE BREWED? IMA USE CHOCOLATE XD rofl

If you are for real, I wish you the best of luck. Like many others I wish I had started with all-grain. And I would hold off on the yeast culturing and grain roasting/malting until your second batch.

 

[TeleTwanger]

the reason most start with extract Is because most of the equipment required one already has. Few people already have 10 gallon kettles, 50,000 btu burners, false bottom mash tuns, etc; The cost of doing extract from never brewing before is a lot smaller than all grain. All one really needs is a carboy, a racking cane, and an airlock. Most people could scrounge up a decent sized pot from Grandma or whomever and boil on the stove.

 

[Homercidal]

A friend at work brewed his own, but he had a friend that has been doing it for a long time. They got together and brewed. Next batch my friend brewed while his buddy drank beer and supervised. Now my friend is all excited to do it, but he will be starting with AG. All he needs is a bit of equipment to get started on his own.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

I am also going to throw up the troll/BS flag.

 

[amercuric]

I'm going to be posting pics of brew day if i can get my roomate to take some on his cell-phone. That said, on with the replies:

Let's say I could start all over again knowing what I know now. I'd start with AG. A couple factors keep people from going AG for long periods of time.

1) They are completely satisfied with extract and partial mash. Nothing wrong with that, it takes less time and you still make good beer.

2) Cost: Sure there are a few extra things you need for AG, but you still can get started for a lot less than you thought it would cost.

3) Fear/Uncertainty: The process seems daunting at first, but if you can read a recipe and follow assembly directions for furniture you can brew AG. I'd still recommend watching someone do it once if you can, if not DO IT ANYWAY.

1) As a person that advocates growing their own veggies in whatever yard space they have, as well as spending a year in college dabbling in environmental management... i dunno dude. I'm happy with doing it like they did back in 1000 BC.

2) As a college student, it's busting my wallet. But then again sacrificing a few sessions at the local pub would offset the cost. I also don't have a girlfriend or "SWMBO" or something like u guys like to call it. =P

3) It's VERY daunting. This is like a huge project for me and I've been spending virtually all of my free time researching DIY beer equipment so far. The local home brew shop is of no help and I don't have any friends that homebrew (poor souls).

I think the hardest thing for new folks to get is the brewing vocab. Things like hot liquor tun (hot water pot), strike water (water used to soak grains and extract sugars), sparge water (rinsing water) etc.

This is what YouTube is for. Seriously without YouTube's contributors showing me visually how it's done I don't think I would have gotten very far.

Kudos for going straight for the AG. Afterall, the process of making fermented spirits has always been a practice of trial and error. Additionally, I am fairly certain that the pioneers of the process did not start out with pre-made extracts from plastic bags or tin cans.

Thanks. It's been daunting so far but I think it will all turn out good. Wish you all could beer there on my first run.

If you are for real, I wish you the best of luck. Like many others I wish I had started with all-grain. And I would hold off on the yeast culturing and grain roasting/malting until your second batch.

The roasting of the malt is unquestionable for me. It's just a personal thing. But after talking with the guy at the HBS and you guys, im gonna skip the yeast culturing to cut down of variables.

A friend at work brewed his own, but he had a friend that has been doing it for a long time. They got together and brewed. Next batch my friend brewed while his buddy drank beer and supervised. Now my friend is all excited to do it, but he will be starting with AG. All he needs is a bit of equipment to get started on his own.

They say you need a 10g brewpot, propane gas tank and burner to accomodate the higher volume of mash (first runnings + sparge) for AG. Thats all great and fine but books and rent take priority. So, I'm gonna save some $ and brew in the kitchen on top of the range with a "5 gallon" kettle. It's been done before (YouTube ftw).

Now I'm gonna get scientific. I'm assuming the feedback inhibition concentrations of alpha and beta amylase are such that I won't have to add enough water to overflow my brewpot. That's why I'm going with the 5g. In essence, i don't need no stinkin 10g brewpot.

I am also going to throw up the troll/BS flag.

Troll this: I've tested the basics out by making a "tea" out of malted grains in a "coffee cup calorimeter" @ 150'F. It tasted nice and sugary so now I can scale it up in the 10g mash tun. I'm assembling my wort chiller tomorrow. Would take pics if I had a digicam. So I drew you a pic:

 

[TeleTwanger]

I'm gonna save some $ and brew in the kitchen on top of the range with a "5 gallon" kettle. It's been done before (YouTube ftw).
concentrations of alpha and beta amylase are such that I won't have to add enough water to overflow my brewpot. That's why I'm going with the 5g. In essence, i don't need no stinkin 10g brewpot.

I don't know it seems like you are just doing AG to prove a point. Do you want to make good beer or just impress people with your skills? I don't see how you are going to mash enough grains with the ability to only boil 4 gallons of wort to do 5 gallon batches. Yes it can be done (I guess) but why bother? You are going to be a slave to your kettle and be very limited to doing really low gravity beers. You could probably get away with mashing 7 lbs of grain with a thick 1/1 mash and end up with around 4 gallons wort for the boil and end up with a 1.037 beer. You'r better off doing PMs and mashing 6 lbs or so grain and adding a few lbs dme. When I did pms I would mash about 50% fermentables and the rest I'd get from DME and the beers were indistinguishable from AGs.

 

[The Pol]

I began brewing with all grain as well... had never been to this site, didnt know anyone that brewed. It is really not that hard, it is not that complicated, and I have yet to make a bad batch. (3 years brewing AG now) You have to do a little reading and pay attention to what you are doing, but skipping extract IMHO is not the giant leap that some make it out to be.

Congrats, good luck and may the force be with you!

 

[amercuric]

You could probably get away with mashing 7 lbs of grain with a thick 1/1 mash and end up with around 4 gallons wort for the boil and end up with a 1.037 beer. You'r better off doing PMs and mashing 6 lbs or so grain and adding a few lbs dme. When I did pms I would mash about 50% fermentables and the rest I'd get from DME and the beers were indistinguishable from AGs.

You have a point. So my plan is that I'll just pour the maximum capacity of water my brewpot can store into the mashtun (10 gal Coleman cooler with SS braid) and get a feel for how many pounds of grain I can mash. I'll get some DME so if the original gravity is low I'll just add some DME. Thanks TeleTwanger.

BTW, not trying to impress anyone. I'm just a DIY'er college student with little money so I'm forced to innovate instead of doing everything the conventional way.

 

[TeleTwanger]

You have a point. So my plan is that I'll just pour the maximum capacity of water my brewpot can store into the mashtun (10 gal Coleman cooler with SS braid) and get a feel for how many pounds of grain I can mash. I'll get some DME so if the original gravity is low I'll just add some DME. Thanks TeleTwanger.

My rough calculations are:

7 lbs grain (6lbs base malt, 1 lbs specialty(crystal, black, etc)) so for a thick mash you could do 1qt per lbs giving you 7qts h20. Then you could sparge with 3 gallons ( a little less than .5gallons per lbs)and end up with about 4.5 gallons wort. After 1 hour boil you'll end up with about 3.5 gallons. Top off the primary to 5 and you should be around 1.035 @70% mash efficiency.

You could do an even thicker mash or less sparge water but the problem with efficiency makes this counter productive. If you add just 2 lbs dme you'll bump up the OG to around 1.050 and 3 lbs would be 1.060.

 

[amercuric]

Okay so today I return the 5 gallon pot for a larger one.

Then I'm making the wort chiller with 20' of 3/8" copper tubing, plastic tubing, and a barbed hose adapter. I know the proffessional chillers have 25' of copper, but I can always upgrade later with more pipe and a brass compression valve if needed.

--UPDATE: I managed to have the kind folks at OSH cut me 25' instead of the precut 20' coils at Home Depot.