Thinking about All Grain

[nos33]

So I have everything that I need for extract brewing and have 2 almost 3 batches going. What am I going to need to make the leap into All Grain? I have seen several several different set-ups from the cheap to expensive, from the store bought to the home made. I have access to all sorts of tools to make my own stuff but am a noob.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[IrregularPulse]

The first step would be to list what exactly it is you have for extract, then we can tell you. Basically, you need at least a 5Gallon cooler (10-12G recommended), a minimal pot size of 7 gallons, a chiller of some sort and a couple buckets and a large spoon.

 

[user 21663]

This is my setup for 5 gallon batches:

10 gallon kettle
Wort Chiller
Converted Cooler for Mash tun ( http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html )

Most of the other stuff ( siphon/racking cane, tubing, fermenter, etc ) I assume you have from your extract setup.

When you get going, you can get fancy with pumps, whirlpool wort chiller, ph meter, refractometers, etc.

One of the biggest improvements, for either extract or AG is fermentation temperature control.

 

[nos33]

I currently have:

1. primary bucket
2. bottling bucket
3. 30 quart kettle
4. propane burner
5. wort chiller
6. (24" spoon and 24" paddle) on order
7. 2 thermometers
8. 5 gallon glass carboy
9. 5 gallon plastic carboy
10. 1/2 gallon glass jug
11. 1 gallon glass jug


there are other odds and ends but that is basically my set-up

 

[michur]

Your going to need a MLT. There are some great resources on the forum to make either one either out of a cooler or converted keg. Also a HLT or something else to keep the strike/sparge water in.

 

[nos33]

so sparging is slowly draining the water out of the mash and then replacing it with more hot water right?

 

[XXguy]

Fly sparging is slowly draining the wort out of the mash while you (slowly) replace it with more hot water. You can also do a Batch sparge. Either one works.

If you do a slow sparge (fly sparging), it almost requires that you have a separate vessel for an HLT.

If you do a batch sparge, you can use your boil kettle to heat up the sparge water, and just drain off the first runnings into a spare fermenter bucket until you dump all the sparge water in at once. Once your boil kettle is empty, just transfer the first runnings back into the boil kettle & start heating towards a boil. Meanwhile, you can use the bucket again to collect your second runnings.

I'd vote for getting a larger boil kettle if you're looking to do 5 gallon batches, and use the 30 quart pot as your HLT.

 

[nos33]

a friend of mine has a couple decomissioned kegs that we want to convert to keggles. I am going to make them into keggles pretty soon. will that be enough for what I need?

 

[RM-MN]

Do a search for "brew in a bag" and compare what's required for that compared to what you have on hand now. If you can tolerate a smaller batch, you may already have most of what you need,

 

[malkore]

a friend of mine has a couple decomissioned kegs that we want to convert to keggles. I am going to make them into keggles pretty soon. will that be enough for what I need?

yep. you can brew 10 gallon AG batches in a keggle.

going this route, I'd say get a 10 gallon cooler for your mash tun...bare minimum.

I only use a 5 gal cooler but I don't make 'big beers' so I rarely touch the 10 gal cooler mash tun I also own.

 

[mightynintendo]

Your going to need a MLT. There are some great resources on the forum to make either one either out of a cooler or converted keg. Also a HLT or something else to keep the strike/sparge water in.

Your boil kettle can easily double as a HLT. You just need to have another bucket to collect your runnings as you heat your sparge water.

 

[mightynintendo]

Having a large boil kettle (10-15 gallons) will be enough to cover most 5-10 gallon brews. You have to boil the full volume of beer when brewing all grain. Also, as previously mentioned, a mash/lauter tun is required.