New to AG

[hoppybrewster]

Hey all. Looking into AG. Bought a Coleman 70qt extreme. Gonna get a 8 gallon brew pot. That's where I'm at. I've read a fair amount in this thread. I've been extract brewing for years now so I have a bit of a clue. Seems like AG is a lot like extract in that there are a lot of opinions on methods and operations. What I need is a good starting point, a bible or primer. Can someone point me to a good generic starting point, numbers, methods, videos, procedures etc.


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[jekeane]

John Palmer "How to Brew" is the Bible. Everything you need to know about your AG day is in there. It can be found online for free. However that is the first edition and is a bit dated. Buy the third edition online or at your lhbs and read it. I go back to it for reference often and have read it twice.

 

[wfowlks]

are you looking for like the general process? If you use beersmith you can create a report that is the brew process/brewing steps which will give you step by step instructions on how to do All grain.

 

[govner1]

John Palmer "How to Brew" is the Bible. Everything you need to know about your AG day is in there. It can be found online for free. However that is the first edition and is a bit dated. Buy the third edition online or at your lhbs and read it. I go back to it for reference often and have read it twice.

+1 on reading Palmer. Also if you're planning 5 gal batches I'd strong recommend at least a 10 gal BK.
How do you chill? How do you manage ferm temps?



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[hoppybrewster]

are you looking for like the general process? If you use beersmith you can create a report that is the brew process/brewing steps which will give you step by step instructions on how to do All grain.

I would like to know the proper equipment setup. Why do some use two burners? Sparge methods. BIAB or not, and why? Mash tun setups. Etc.


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[hoppybrewster]

are you looking for like the general process? If you use beersmith you can create a report that is the brew process/brewing steps which will give you step by step instructions on how to do All grain.

I would like to know the proper equipment setup. Why do some use two burners? Sparge methods. BIAB or not, and why? Mash tun setups. Etc.




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[hoppybrewster]

+1 on reading Palmer. Also if you're planning 5 gal batches I'd strong recommend at least a 10 gal BK.
How do you chill? How do you manage ferm temps?

Emersion cooler and I use a ferm chiller temp controlled.

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[kroach01]

I used a cooler for a mash tun at first. Pros were good temperature control, cons were significantly increased brewing time, more equipment to deal with.
I now do BIAB. Pros for this are huge time savings (at least 1/3 less than a cooler mash tun time), much less stuff to clean. Cons are difficulty of controlling temperatures because you have to leave it on a burner. Also the bag can melt/tear which is a minor catastrophe.

 

[Tutsbrew]

+1 on reading Palmer. Also if you're planning 5 gal batches I'd strong recommend at least a 10 gal BK.
How do you chill? How do you manage ferm temps?



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+1 on the 10 gal kettle. Why not now rather than realizing the rationale for it AFTER ya get an 8 gallon?

 

[hoppybrewster]

+1 on the 10 gal kettle. Why not now rather than realizing the rationale for it AFTER ya get an 8 gallon?

Ok...........



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[IslandLizard]

+1 on everything above.

How are you heating your kettle?

To do a 5.5 gallon all grain batch you'll need to boil 6.5-7 gallons of wort, at minimum. Hence the 10 gallon kettle over an 8 to reduce splashing hot wort everywhere. But boiling 7 gals of wort takes a good amount of heat, most stove tops cannot deliver.

A 70 quart cooler has a lot of headspace, air above the mash. That's where most heat loss starts to occur. You can cover the mash with a double layer of aluminum foil to reduce the heat loss somewhat. For comparison, I use a 52 quart cooler which is rarely more than half full of mash, unless I brew Higher Gravity (>1.070) beer. At smaller mash volumes, heat loss is an issue, even with the smaller cooler.

For the record, I use an 8 gallon More Beer Heavy Duty kettle on a 3500W (240V) Induction plate (IC3500). That's a nice balance of equipment, and I can brew indoors all year. I still have my propane setup for doing larger boils.

 

[wfowlks]

I used a cooler for a mash tun at first. Pros were good temperature control, cons were significantly increased brewing time, more equipment to deal with.
I now do BIAB. Pros for this are huge time savings (at least 1/3 less than a cooler mash tun time), much less stuff to clean. Cons are difficulty of controlling temperatures because you have to leave it on a burner. Also the bag can melt/tear which is a minor catastrophe.

I think the people use two burners mainly for the fact that they wont have to move a heavy pot. I personally do BIAB because it requires less equipment. When I first started I used: http://www.brewgeeks.com/a-biab-brewday-scoundrel.html as a guide. I think it is pretty thorough and does a good job explaining. You can also explore that site for other things as well

I have not had a problem keeping my pot at a constant temp for the mash because I wrap my kettle in reflectix. It was like 15-20$ from Lowes.

 

[hoppybrewster]

+1 on the 10 gal kettle. Why not now rather than realizing the rationale for it AFTER ya get an 8 gallon?

What's the cheapest source for the 10 gal?



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[hoppybrewster]

+1 on the 10 gal kettle. Why not now rather than realizing the rationale for it AFTER ya get an 8 gallon?

What's the cheapest source for the 10 gal?




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[hoppybrewster]

+1 on everything above.

How are you heating your kettle?

To do a 5.5 gallon all grain batch you'll need to boil 6.5-7 gallons of wort, at minimum. Hence the 10 gallon kettle over an 8 to reduce splashing hot wort everywhere. But boiling 7 gals of wort takes a good amount of heat, most stove tops cannot deliver.

A 70 quart cooler has a lot of headspace, air above the mash. That's where most heat loss starts to occur. You can cover the mash with a double layer of aluminum foil to reduce the heat loss somewhat. For comparison, I use a 52 quart cooler which is rarely more than half full of mash, unless I brew Higher Gravity (>1.070) beer. At smaller mash volumes, heat loss is an issue, even with the smaller cooler.

For the record, I use an 8 gallon More Beer Heavy Duty kettle on a 3500W (240V) Induction plate (IC3500). That's a nice balance of equipment, and I can brew indoors all year. I still have my propane setup for doing larger boils.

Is a turkey fryer burner enough for a 10 gal BK for a 5 gallon yield?

 

[wfowlks]

I got a 20.5 gallon kettle and it's awesome. Was like 120 when I bought it on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VXKJJ8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[wfowlks]

For the burner a turkey frier might have problems if it has a safety shut off. I have used the SQ14 burner with success

 

[BigPerm]

I used a cooler for a mash tun at first. Pros were good temperature control, cons were significantly increased brewing time, more equipment to deal with.
I now do BIAB. Pros for this are huge time savings (at least 1/3 less than a cooler mash tun time), much less stuff to clean. Cons are difficulty of controlling temperatures because you have to leave it on a burner. Also the bag can melt/tear which is a minor catastrophe.

While I see the allure or BIAB (I've never done it), I don't think it's that big of a time savings if you want decent efficiency. I use a 10 gallon round cooler and batch sparge. Most of the time the lauter takes me about 30 minutes, and after the first runnings are out, they're heating in the kettle. At boil by the time the sparge is done.

 

[BigPerm]

Is a turkey fryer burner enough for a 10 gal BK for a 5 gallon yield?

It should be. The only drawback will be is its especially cheap and the burner has low output capacity. Then it'll take a little longer, but still an upgrade over a kitchen stove.

FWIW, when I first started AG, i had a 5 gallon igloo and 2 5 gal stock pots. Using a fly sparge, I'd fill one pot halfway, then fill the second pot completely, and then top up the first with the final runnings, to get roughly equivalent gravities in both. I did both pots on my kitchen stove and just split all additives (hops, etc) in half and added to each kettle. Always an option if you're looking to get some experience with equipment you already have before jumping in with both feet (although you will get there eventually, guaranteed).

 

[jekeane]

Bayou Classic SQ14 is a great burner for the price about $50 on amazon with free shipping. I think Lowes may carry it as well.

As for a kettle I think your major question should be, "Do I want to invest in a pot even though I may not love brewing?" You could get something like this for $170 and likely never need to upgrade unless you want to go bigger. http://spikebrewing.com/collections...s/10-gallon-brew-kettle-2-horizontal-couplers There are many pots like this on I just happen to like the horizontal fittings. You could find a 40 quart stock pot with no fittings for $50 as well it wont be the best quality in the world and you'll eventually want fittings however you'll only make a $50 investment if it turns out you don't like brewing.

The upside to a nicer kettle like the spike or a northerbrewer megapot etc.. is that you will likely use it forever and if you don't like brewing and you keep your pot clean you could likely sell it on the forums or craigslist for a minimal loss. A pot like the spike that was new for 170 would easily resell for 125+ used. A cheap $50 pot with no fittings however wont resell for much because there are so many out there. and why by used for 30 when you can buy new for 50 and have some buyer protection.

BIAB is a good option from what I can tell and should be seriously considered, especially if money is a concern. I would prioritize new spending with a solid kettle, a burner to do full boils, then fermentation temperature control. I personally would do BIAB or full volume extract in order to afford a fermentation chamber and temp controller before I spent money on a mash tun second burner etc...

I went 3 vessel all grain simply because I got a great deal on my set up. I just bought the material to make a bag however to do smaller 2g experimental batches.

 

[MindenMan]

There is a mountain of good advice on this website, and when I was a new brewer, I didn't know what questions to ask, so it took me a bit longer to make decent beer. I use a re-purposed turkey fryer burner for my heat source. It puts out more heat than my 10 gallon kettle can handle at wide open. If you have a turkey setup great, if not you will most likely find one on CL for $20.00 or so. An SQ10 knockoff burner (like I have ), and a 30 quart pot also. The first pot I purchased was a 10 gallon aluminum pot, and I wish I would have gotten a 15 gallon pot, as brewing a 1.060 + full boil, requires a lot of watching the pot for the first 10 or so minutes to avoid boil over.

EDIT:
An SQ10 burner puts out on average 50k BTU and is plenty even for 15 gallons. If you are hung up on how fast you can boil water/liquid, then go bigger, but if propane usage is an issue, the bigger the burner, the more propane will be used even on "low". Doing full boil 5 gallon batches, including heating sparge water, I average three to 3 and 1/2 pounds of propane per batch

 

[blizz81]

What's the cheapest source for the 10 gal?

I would say the cheapest source for a good "5 gallon batch" boil kettle would be, much to many in the brewing world's dismay, paying a bar owner or distributor you know their deposit for a sanke keg ($30) and cutting the top out and potentially adding fittings.


We use a 10gal kettle and it gets iffy with big batches as I've been opting to go with a higher boil volume target + longer boil in order to get more sparge water. Have done a couple at 8gal, and it can be a bit dicey at the beginning of the boil in our 10gal.

 

[hoppybrewster]

Something like this good enough?




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[hoppybrewster]

Bump...........


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[wfowlks]

Are you doing biab ? If so 10gallons will only let you do a5 gallon batch. If not that pot is great

 

[hoppybrewster]

^^^not doing BIAB, thanks


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[wfowlks]

I have the Bayou Classic 20.5 gallon pot and its solid. I think you'll be happy with that purchase

 

[Darwin18]

OP if you're looking for a good primer or guide, you can't go wrong reading through Denny Conn's write up:

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

 

[hoppybrewster]

Thanks guys


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[wilserbrewer]

Hey all. Looking into AG. Bought a Coleman 70qt extreme. Gonna get a 8 gallon brew pot. .

Jmo, I feel your mash tun too large and your kettle too small. Kind of mismatched size wise.

I like the concord stainless pots on eBay, hard to beat for the price to your door.

Check out dennybrew.com for simple batch sparging.
Could also try BIAB
, either to get started or long term as well.
Cheers.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[hoppybrewster]

Jmo, I feel your mash tun too large and your kettle too small. Kind of mismatched size wise.

I like the concord stainless pots on eBay, hard to beat for the price to your door.

Check out dennybrew.com for simple batch sparging.
Could also try BIAB
, either to get started or long term as well.
Cheers.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

Plan on a 44 qt, that's too small? I realize the mash tun is kinda big, more head space than mash. So I experimented, I boiled some water on the stove in a medium sauce pan. Placed the sauce pan in the cooler on a pot holder. This warmed the inside while I heated 12 qts of water to 158. Removed the sauce pan put the water in. One hour later I've lost 2 deg. Seemed to work good. Granted there was no grain in the experiment.


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[Tutsbrew]

We use a 10gal kettle and it gets iffy with big batches as I've been opting to go with a higher boil volume target + longer boil in order to get more sparge water. Have done a couple at 8gal, and it can be a bit dicey at the beginning of the boil in our 10gal.

Boom. ...That's what I'm say'n.