Well after about 5 extract batches I decided to move to all grain and bought all the equipment I would need. Now of course I didn't want to spend a ton of money so I looked around and tried to find some reasonably priced stuff and jumped right in. And I must say all grain brewing is alot of fun and not as hard as I thought it would be. I just had a few thoughts about it that might save a few people some headache.
First thing I would say is to learn your grains, because it makes understanding a recipe so much easier. Also makes picking out your grains or substituting one for another easier. The first all grain brew I did (a Belgian wit) I went to the LHBS with the recipe and asked the guy exactly what grains I needed, somehow I ended up with a pale ale malt that was alot darker than what I needed for this style. Now I have a dark belgian white.
When buying your equipment just remember you get what you pay for. I bought the cheapest cooler I could find and now when I mash I have a few small leaks and loose about 6 degrees over the hour. Not good when you really need your temp to stay where you want it. Also when buying your brew pot don't get the smallest possible pot you can use...you will regret it later. I bought a 30 qt aluminum pot and it is a PITA, you cannot boil more than six gallons and anybody that says they can I would like to see it, not to mention the boil overs...it's not fun cleaning up hot sticky wort off your garage floor. When you get your hot break you have to be johnny on the spot with turning down the heat with one hand and a spray bottle in the other...Now my IC worked pretty good until about 95 degrees and wouldn't get any lower, but I live in florida and the tap water is about 87 degrees so I should have expected that and my only other choice at the time was an ice bath but that pot is way to big for my kitchen sink so I put it in my chest freezer @ 28 degrees for about 30 mins and only brought it down 5 degrees. That is something I should have expected but didn't think about.
Last thing I can think of is to just be organized. Have all your ingredients where you need them, know when your adding them, keep track of the time, have all your temps and volumes figured out in advance.
This will make your brew day so much easier and that much more enjoyable....
First thing I would say is to learn your grains, because it makes understanding a recipe so much easier. Also makes picking out your grains or substituting one for another easier. The first all grain brew I did (a Belgian wit) I went to the LHBS with the recipe and asked the guy exactly what grains I needed, somehow I ended up with a pale ale malt that was alot darker than what I needed for this style. Now I have a dark belgian white.
When buying your equipment just remember you get what you pay for. I bought the cheapest cooler I could find and now when I mash I have a few small leaks and loose about 6 degrees over the hour. Not good when you really need your temp to stay where you want it. Also when buying your brew pot don't get the smallest possible pot you can use...you will regret it later. I bought a 30 qt aluminum pot and it is a PITA, you cannot boil more than six gallons and anybody that says they can I would like to see it, not to mention the boil overs...it's not fun cleaning up hot sticky wort off your garage floor. When you get your hot break you have to be johnny on the spot with turning down the heat with one hand and a spray bottle in the other...Now my IC worked pretty good until about 95 degrees and wouldn't get any lower, but I live in florida and the tap water is about 87 degrees so I should have expected that and my only other choice at the time was an ice bath but that pot is way to big for my kitchen sink so I put it in my chest freezer @ 28 degrees for about 30 mins and only brought it down 5 degrees. That is something I should have expected but didn't think about.
Last thing I can think of is to just be organized. Have all your ingredients where you need them, know when your adding them, keep track of the time, have all your temps and volumes figured out in advance.
This will make your brew day so much easier and that much more enjoyable....
