Next Step?

[adamlikesbeer]

This is my first post here, but I've been an active reader over the past 3 months. This is partly because every question I've had so far, theres already an answer to in another thread so far, and I'm not a fan of wasting people's time.

Now I have a personal question related to moving to quickly into this hobby. Basically, i want to know if there's any reasons I SHOULDN'T move up to all grain yet.

Heres my background so far. I read about brewing a ton in February, turned 21 on March 1st, and by March 10th I received my first orders from Austin Homebrew and Midwest Supply. So far I have brewed 4 batches: 3 Extract kits, and a partial mash. I have one more extract and another Partial mash kit left to brew.

I have read what is available of How To Brew online, another short book on brewing beer, and hours and hours of threads here on HBT. I feel at this point, I understand the process and have knowledge of enough techniques to take the next step, but I don't want to move to quickly or make any costly mistakes.

I also need to mention I am a college student on a budget, but definitely plan to keep this hobby going regardless. I understand the equipment cost may be high at first, but in the long run All Grain will be much more economically feasible, and I'm really interested in having the ability to make recipes or modify existing ones rather than buying each ingredient in a kit.

Another factor is that a friend from work who got me into brewing has been doing all grain for about three years, and has been somewhat of a mentor for me, so I wouldn't be going into it blindly either.

Sorry for such a background, but I felt the info applied to my question.

Is there any reason I should stick with extract or partial mash brewing if I think I'm ready to move to All grain?

and

Will All Grain be more affordable even though I need to build a mash tun and wort chiller?

Thanks

 

[bgruis]

No reason at all to hold back. I had the same dilema about 9 months ago. I did a few extract batches about 15 years ago and then left the hobby. When I started looking at coming back in to the hobby the same thoughts occured to me...extract vs all grain.

1. You know you love the hobby so theres no reason to think your buying a bunch of equipment thats going to be gathering dust in a couple months.
2. All grain is WAY cheaper in a very short period of time...so from a practical stand point your SAVING yourself a bunch of money in the long term.
3. Go big or go home

jk...but you get the point.

As you've noticed there are so many resources on here regarding equipment...you dont have to spend $800 to get started...there are so many low cost alternatives that you start up costs dont have to be out of this world.

Good luck

 

[BendBrewer]

Will All Grain be more affordable even though I need to build a mash tun and wort chiller?

Thanks

It might start to be cheaper during the second year. Nothing addicting is cheap sadly. If you can keep it at a cheap MLT and chiller than go for it. I couldn't. Spent thousands. 10 gallons now runs me about 40 bucks if I include the propane.

 

[Bmorebrew]

You're likely to get a bunch of yeses, nos and maybes. I would say Yes you will save money going AG, as long as you have a pretty good stove.

I pretty much pieced my equipment setup together dirt cheap - a nice big cooler I got for free from someone, the CPVC manifold inside was cheap as was the valve assembly.

I bought a ~8 gallon (32 quart) aluminum tamale pot off of ebay for $30 and my cooktop gets me to a boil no problem.

Hoses are fairly cheap, and I built my own wort chiller for far less than what you might buy one for - I purchased two 25' segments of copper tubing, wrapped em around some cannister and connected em together with tygon tubing. One goes in the wort, the other in the MLT that is filled with ice and water, a pre-chiller if you will.

After only a few batches that money is recouped when you buy grain in 55lb. increments - which works for me, I got a corona grain mill for xmas- buy your hops by the pound online (any high alpha for bittering will work) and try to reuse your yeast as much as possible. And you can toast your own grain too - takes work, but its fun for me.

After a few batches, it pays for itself.

For me, the biggest outlay for a "technology upgrade" was in going from bottling to kegging. But that is definitely worth it.

Personally, I prefer AG - its more fun. I've done both and I have nothing at all against extract brewing, but for me its worth the extra couple of hours and work to enjoy something that truly is "hand-crafted".

PS - I only consider a beer "hand-crafted" if it is milled by hand.

 

[adamlikesbeer]

\

PS - I only consider a beer "hand-crafted" if it is milled by hand.

This is my main dilemma ; )

It's hard for me to feel like I'm actually brewing beer when I mix up some syrup water and follow a direction sheet with pre-measured ingredients. The experimentation aspect is what turned me onto this. I want to brew beer that I am more involved with from start to finish, so I can feel like it is something I really made. I'm pretty creative, so the extract kits just aren't cutting it.

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I haven't caught in another forum that would advise me against it.

As far as cost, which is cheaper to build as a mash tun? I've looked at instructions for rectangle coolers with an HPVC frame for filtering, and also the round coolers with the stainless steel braid. Anyone have any arguments for or against the different mash tuns?

I know this has been discussed also, but I don't want to go for the cheapest if the other design is preferred.

 

[bgruis]

And to clarify my point....I assume a basic all grain setup to include 2 x 15 gal keggles (1 as HLT and 1 as boil kettle) a Gott cooler Mash Tun and 1 or two Banjo burners.

 

[BendBrewer]

An even more basic set up would be a BIAB set up. You could start there and upgrade.

But screw it. Sounds like you're hooked. Go with a Round cooler and a manifold and get yourself a couple of kegs.

 

[TTB-J]

To me, partial mashing is the best of both worlds. You don't need to do all of the equipment upgrades and you can still be as creative as you want to be (all you're really doing is replacing some of the base malt with extract). But if you're set on going AG then I say go for it.

Only advice I will offer is that you leave that God-forsaken school that you are in. Rock Chalk.

 

[manoaction]

I do all grain with a single 13 gallon stockpot on a stove and a cooler. The jump to all grain cost me nothing more than a cooler and stainless braid.

The only reason NOT to go all grain is that there are more variables. More variables mean more control, but also more ways to make mistake. Mash efficiencies, mash temps, and eventually water chemistry mean more ways to make mistakes.

I would definitely suggest you go all grain because it's way more fun from my point of view.

 

[adamlikesbeer]

Only advice I will offer is that you leave that God-forsaken school that you are in. Rock Chalk.

I'd rather be a Tiger than a Jayhawk any day.