New to AG

[IPAman]

I plan to start AG this year. What to set up equpment. What would be a good start for equipment? First I need to buy a 10 g ss kettle, I have read that you can use a SS kettle to sub as a mash tun has anyone gone this route or should I go with a insulated cooler? Thanks

 

[double_e5]

Go with the 10 gallon round cooler. Cheaper than SS and very easy to convert.

 

[jerryodom]

I started with a 10 gallon cooler round, a 15 gallon aluminum pot and the two 5 gallon stock pots my wife has. I also have a propane jet burner.

The cooler is great. I have no heat loss problems and it seems an easier time than my friend with a 15 gallon ss mashing tun.

 

[Dloucks]

Things I would do right off the bat if I could do it over.

1. Bigger kettle. I have a 15.5 keggle now and I can't believe I ever cooked in a 7.5.
2. 10g mash tun. I wasted my time with a 5g cooler for all of 3 batches before I needed to upgrade for a large IPA.
3. Chiller, preferably 50'.

I would even go so far as to say I would have held off on buying carboys, grain mills, refractometers to get the above pieces right, as they have made a much bigger difference in my brewing than having the pretty glass carboys.

Lastly I would have made a bigger beer my first couple batches. A brown or an IPA is more forgiving of off flavors, and high OG is helpful, so that if your effeciency isn't so great your first time through you don't end up with a 3% wheat like I did!

 

[bdnoona]

Things I would do right off the bat if I could do it over.

1. Bigger kettle. I have a 15.5 keggle now and I can't believe I ever cooked in a 7.5.
2. 10g mash tun. I wasted my time with a 5g cooler for all of 3 batches before I needed to upgrade for a large IPA.
3. Chiller, preferably 50'.

Lastly I would have made a bigger beer my first couple batches. A brown or an IPA is more forgiving of off flavors, and high OG is helpful, so that if your effeciency isn't so great your first time through you don't end up with a 3% wheat like I did!

+1 to that. ^^^This is very good advice. Listen to it.

 

[IPAman]

Thanks for the info, after reading other threads and going back to a couple of my books I will go as adviced with a 10g insulated cooler. I will still need a new brew pot , couple suggestions in above threads say 15g? Can I get by on less? or what reasons that the 15g is better? I plan only to do 5g batches, I do want a good SS pot but not sure I want to spend a ton of money, any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

I think there are a few ways to go about making the all grain switch, but it all depends on how much money you want to invest up front. For me, I wanted to see if All Grain was worth the extra time and equipment so I started small. Here was my initial setup:

I used my 7.5g Aluminum boil kettle that came with the turkey fryer. I used this for both my HLT and the Boil Kettle. Kind of a pain in the a$$ lifting stuff around, but it worked for me and I didn't have to buy another pot. I used my bottling bucket to catch the first runnings from the mash, then dumped the wort into the boil kettle when I'd finished the last sparge. I had an old 5 gallon square drink cooler that I wasn't using, so I added a stainless steel braid manifold and a ball valve to it for around $20. I already had a propane burner from the turkey fryer kit. Voila, all grain!

The 5 gallon cooler is fine for 5 gallon batches of gravities lower than 1.060. But I decided to buy a 10 gallon round rubbermaid cooler so I could make some bigger beers. I used the same manifold and ball valve from the old 5 gallon cooler, so it only cost me $40 for the bigger setup.

Since that point, I've upgraded to a 15 gallon sanke keg for both the boil kettle and the HLT, and purchased a march pump. I also purchased an additional burner so I don't have to move the kettles around. Now I can do 10 gallon batches and I don't have to lift anything. This setup cost me about $350, so it was considerably more expensive than simply going all grain. I think it's well worth the money to do 10 gallon batches, but that may not be something you want to just jump into.

 

[bdnoona]

I built this, it works well and is really inexpensive:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

I bought this and am very happy with it. It was a tremendous upgrade from the 7.5G pot that came with my turkey fryer.
60 qt. NSF Medium Weight Aluminum Stock Pot

 

[Dloucks]

Thanks for the info, after reading other threads and going back to a couple of my books I will go as adviced with a 10g insulated cooler. I will still need a new brew pot , couple suggestions in above threads say 15g? Can I get by on less? or what reasons that the 15g is better? I plan only to do 5g batches, I do want a good SS pot but not sure I want to spend a ton of money, any suggestions? Thanks.

The reasons the 15g is mentioned is that often times you can find a decommissioned kegs that are SS for 30-50 dollars. cut a hole in the top and you just bought a 15g kettle for half the price of a 10g aluminum kettle.

Plus you have the added security against boilovers and the ability to upgrade to 10g batches if the need arises.