want to try all grain without getting all technical like

[spam]

I have been reading,and reading,and reading,,but there is to much techno mumbo jumbo in everything I read about all grain brewing. Is there some "rule of thumb" or very basic ways to understand all grain?

From what I understand you just have to heat some water to 145f and soak the grain in it for an hour,then rinse the grain with more hot water,keeping the grains from ending up in your brew,,,then you have wort that you can brew with,,,,Am I close??

 

[bob1852]

Pretty close, but you want your temp higher than 145. Find a bobby_m post and read the all grain primer in his sig. It makes ag easy to understand.

Edit, here it is: http://www.suebob.com/index.php?opt...in-primer&catid=40:brewing-articles&Itemid=66

 

[kh54s10]

I did my first all grain recently.

I used Don Osborn's video, [ame=http://youtu.be/JMHLqnWCNjE]Easy All Grain Brewing - Batch Sparge Method - YouTube[/ame] to learn batch sparging and again as a last minute reference

I used this site: Brewheads.com - Batch Sparge Calculator for my amounts and temperatures.

It is much easier than you might think from all the "did I ruin my beer threads. Just be careful and pay attention to what you are doing. Go for it.

 

[dttk0009]

The technical 'mumbo jumbo' is what makes brewing easy. Understanding how mashing works helps avoid mishaps and mistakes, like thinking that what you're doing is simply 'soaking' your malt. Really though, it helps with choosing your ingredients, knowing their roles, effects and outcomes, which grains to use for which styles, etc.

If you are interested in raising the bar in terms of quality for your beer, just read a couple of threads in the AG section of this forum. There's lots of old and stickied threads that deal with introductory methods of grain brewing.

My first mash was a partial mash, and I used a guide from this forum. Granted, I only used like, 500g of wheat malt for head retention or whatever, but a mash is a mash.

A good place to start could be here:
How to Brew - By John Palmer

Granted, some of the technical information in that guide is slightly outdated (as it was written a while ago), but it's a great place that lays out the basic knowledge and theory behind homebrewing. If you're not comfortable with all grain, stick with extract brewing for the meantime, in my opinion. I know I did.

 

[boswell]

Just pick a different hobby and buy the beer you like. No one'll be mad at you.

 

[Butter]

Yeah spam, that's basically all that there is to it. Just get a recipe of a style you like, or think you might, and do an all grain batch. You're only really adding two more steps, mashing and lautering. After that its just like an extract brew. If you miss a specific mash temp or hop addition I'm pretty sure life will go on. Just try it.

 

[Bmorebrew]

You don't really have to get all technical to be able to make good beer the AG way - some like to keep it simple, some like to continually chase scientific details (do a search on how many of us are engineers, chemists, etc), but to each his own. This is a hobby, put in only as much effort as you care to, lest it cease to be fun for you.

You don't need to do tons of research, you can pretty much use certain rules of thumb to start and see where it leads. For example, start by making beers this way:

1. Use recipes that have a grist somewhere between 8 and 12 pounds of grain.
2. Use the same amount of water to mash and the same amount to sparge every time - after a few batches you'll figure this out. For example, 3.5 gallons to mash, 5 gallons to sparge.
3. Use the same mash temp range of 152 - 154 give or take a couple of degrees. This really means getting your strike water to between 164 and 168 or so. Play with it.
4. Mash for an hour. You won't need to to starch conversion tests.

If you do this a bunch of times, you'll start to dial in your process, and maybe over time you'll start to tweak here and there. This may or may not prompt you to slowly get into the more technical aspect of brewing, but if it doesn't, no worries. You don't need to worry about the enzymatic activity of alpha amylase to make quality beer.

Remember, you do this because it's fun.

 

[JonM]

And there's nothing wrong with doing small, 1/2 batches while you dial in the process. You can experiment with $10 of ingredients instead of $20.

 

[spam]

thanks guys,I will start by reading the links provided. it's just in some of the reading I have done every step has 10 formulas and 3 pages of charts before you get to the next step witch has more charts and formulas,,just hard to follow ya know....?

 

[bighorn_brew]

I would re-iterate, just pick a known recipe that produces results, follow basic procedure, if you miss your target times, no worries. I am pretty laid back in my approach to making beer, I have a job that demands technical and personal involvement. I brew to have fun....and like the variability that my approach affords me. I don't stress about taking a gravity read pre/post boil nor post fermentation... Sometimes I make starters sometimes I don't. I do stress about hitting target temps but that is about it. Sanitation in fermenter buckets/carboys is big. Many of my micro/craft brewer drinking friends admire my results, but best of all....I think my beer taste excellent.... I only had to toss one batch, a week or so ago I let a dunkelyweizen fermentation temp get outta control,,,,I realized it and instead of trying to deal with it, I just dumped it....I thought I was going to be really stressed out about wasting time/ingredients but actually was kinda liberating...Don't be afraid, go all grain...

 

[JonM]

Google Green Bay Rackers mash calculators. You plug in the temp of your grain, the temp you want the mash to be, and it calculates the other stuff for you. Easy.

 

[bernerbrau]

If you're turned off by charts and formulas, use the calculators over at rackers.org to calculate your strike water temperature. For your first mash, try to target 152F. That way if you're too high or too low you've still got a lot of wiggle room both ways.

That's about as simple as it can get. I put in my grain weight, my mash thickness (I aim for 1.5 - seems to get me more accurate results if slightly less efficiency), and I use the result to determine when to stop heating the strike water. I'm usually good to within 2-3 degrees.

I rarely try to dial in my sparge temperature anymore. A couple gallons of boiling water always seems to get me right up to 170 or thereabouts, and the boiling water has cooled off enough by the second batch addition, so I don't bother fighting it.

 

[Homercidal]

The hardest part is probably figuring out how much grain to water to use. The recipe will tell you how much grain your recipe will need. You just calculate how much water you'll need to account for grain absorption and any left over in the mash tun. There is a chart you can look up grain absorption. It's easy.

Calculate the amount of water you add to the grain to get 1.5 Quarts of water per pound of grain. Easy math.

Mash with that much water at a temp that will drop to the mash temp (usually 148-156). So shoot a bit high because the grain and mash tun will likely cool the water down a bit (I think My recipes generally call for about 165-169 degrees F).

The rest of the water is for the sparge, which is simply adding to the mash tun after you drain the first round of water out. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to settle and then drain.

If you do Brew in a Bag, then simply pull the grain bag our of the kettle and place it in another container with the extra water and slosh it around for a few minutes. Then pull it out and let it drain. Mix the two containers and start the boil.

 

[Homercidal]

Tell you what. Post a recipe you want to make and give us the AG method you want to use and we can step through the calculations for you. It's really not hard.

 

[daksin]

Sounds like Brew-In-A-Bag (BIAB) is for you. I'm surprised nobody suggested it. Check out Deathbrewer's great tutorial with tons of excellent pictures and a really good walkthrough.

Reading the comments will give you an even better insight into other options, issues, and troubleshooting.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

 

[Darwin18]

Download a free trial of beersmith. It will give you all the temperature and water additions you'll need. Best piece of brewing equipment I've ever bought.

All-grain is really not very difficult. You're essentially letting the grain soak at a certain temperature, volume of water, and period of time before you drain it. If you batch sparge, you repeat at slightly higher temperature and shorter length of time. You'll a cooler to mash in, a larger pot for the boils, and an immersion chiller.

You can get lost in the details but it is as simple or complex as you want it to be. Worry more about your temperature control and yeast health as that is in my opinion, going to have the greatest overall impact on the quality of your beer.

 

[Beezer94]

Pretty close, but you want your temp higher than 145. Find a bobby_m post and read the all grain primer in his sig. It makes ag easy to understand.

Edit, here it is: All Grain Primer

+1

This was one of the first things I read before trying all-grain and it was great!

 

[alestateyall]

Download a free trial of beersmith. It will give you all the temperature and water additions you'll need. Best piece of brewing equipment I've ever bought.

All-grain is really not very difficult. You're essentially letting the grain soak at a certain temperature, volume of water, and period of time before you drain it. If you batch sparge, you repeat at slightly higher temperature and shorter length of time. You'll a cooler to mash in, a larger pot for the boils, and an immersion chiller.

You can get lost in the details but it is as simple or complex as you want it to be. Worry more about your temperature control and yeast health as that is in my opinion, going to have the greatest overall impact on the quality of your beer.

When I first went to all grain I found beer smith had way too many options, too many choices, and numbers to fill in.

 

[Homercidal]

When I first went to all grain I found beer smith had way too many options, too many choices, and numbers to fill in.

+1

It's a great tool, but if you rely on that to teach you, you're going to be in for some serious learning curve.

I recommend reading up on a few basics, like figuring out grain:water ratio, and strike water temp to reach mash temp. It's not hard to understand.

Once you get the concept down, then download BS and play with it.

And get started! Brew in a Bag is just about as easy as AG can get, without the added equipment and cost.

 

[Yooper]

Trying all grain doesn't have to be "all technical like" at all.

It's actually easier though if you do a little bit of math first, to know your volumes.

The easiest way to do it is to just preheat your mashing vessel, and then use 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain at approximately 11 degrees warmer than your chosen mash temp. Then, drain that after the mash and measure it. Then batch sparge with the amount of water that will give you your boil volume. You can plan on using up to 8 gallons of water in a 5 gallon batch, more or less. Just have that amount of hot water ready, and you don't have to get "all technical like".

 

[brew2enjoy]

If you are anything like me, experience is the best way to gain knowledge. I can read and read all day long, but sometimes just diving in head first is the best thing to do. Get a basic understanding of how the process works, write down your steps and go for it. After the first one, you will know where you need to improve and change your process accordingly. Most of all, have fun with it.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think I mention this in my first video of the all grain primer series. You can make good all grain beer just by watching and imitating someone else's process. Of course, this takes a bit of luck because the devil is in the details. The trouble is, once something goes wrong, you have no leg to stand on. If you don't understand how all the aspects of the process affect the end result, you'll post "why does my beer taste like a bum's assh0le?" and we'll ask a billion questions to help troubleshoot.

That's not to say I don't recommend just jumping in and mixing water and grain in a very loose fashion. It will smell great and you'll learn something along the way.

 

[Darwin18]

When I first went to all grain I found beer smith had way too many options, too many choices, and numbers to fill in.

If you go to the Beersmith website and follow the tutorial, especially for how to set up your equipment profile, it is fairly straight forward.

 

[ABrewingApe]

Jump in and start experimenting, based on pre-proven recipes--I won't repeat the excellent resources already given.

Don't fear the beer; the worst it can do is make good plant food.

Don't fear the engineer, either. Never be afraid to say "I have no idea". More importantly, never NEVER be afraid to say "didn't measure that, don't want to bother". You have absolute power over the size of the damn you give, and all sizes are good.

 

[H-ost]

I read and read and read and read and read.... until I got enough equipment to actually do it. The day before I brewed I watched a youtube video on it and felt WAY more confident simply because I saw it.