Noob all grain questions

So I have been brewing from extract for some time now and today I built a mash tun. Think its time to take the plunge :rockin:

Q1: Since I have always brewed from extract it was never necessary to have a pot large enough to boil five gallons. Always just added water before pitching in the primary. Can I extract all the sugar and goodness from the grains with three gallons of water, then add two gallons into the primary before I pitch? Or should I just suck it up and buy a bigger pot (I don't have an abundance of spare coin at the moment, just had to take my sickly hound to the vet AGAIN!)

Q2: I've never paid a whole lot of attention to water chemistry before with extract and I've managed to pull off some pretty awesome beers -- If I do say so. But I've heard that the chemistry is pretty important with mash. Why is that and what do I need to be paying attention to?

1 buy a bigger pot, a lot bigger. 5 gallons over what you think you'll need. 2 for boil over and another 2 for boil down.
2 It depends on how messed up your water is, if your getting good beer with extract give it a shot. It makes more of a difference with lighter beers vs something like a stout.

Buy a turkey fryer with a 30ot pot and use your current pot for your mash out water and such.

You could also do 3 gallon AG batches.

How do you plan on mashing?

I built a mash tun from a 10 gallon gatorade cooler, a ball valve and stainless steel braided hose. Thanks for the responses!

you could do a top up, I suppose. I think most people don't do that because you'd need to pull enough sugar out of the grain for the whole batch with the smaller amount of water. probably not too easily done. If you get an aluminum pot, it is much cheaper than stainless, or look for a used one.
I haven't messed with water chemistry yet, and my beers taste pretty good. I just use bottled spring water. If your water is working for extract, chances are it will work for all grain.

If you are going all grain the you go full boil, it's just the way to do it.

If there are really extenuating circumstances then do smaller batches that allow for full boil.

If you really want 5 gal and have to top off then you need to calculate the recipe for the partial boil and top off water to achieve the proper OG

uxo said:

Buy a turkey fryer with a 30ot pot and use your current pot for your mash out water and such.

You could also do 3 gallon AG batches.

How do you plan on mashing?

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This is what I have, $59 for both at Home Depot. Works great, I do 6.5 gallons, then boil down to 5gall in 90 minutes. A bigger pot would be nice, but this was a good start, and to develop house recipes, then will go to 10 gall batches.

Thanks everyone for all the awesome feedback. Very helpful.

If you dont already have one, don't forget a wort chiller of some kind as well, if you plan to do full boils.

By the way, took your advice. The beer is so much better with the chiller than without. Changes the game entirely although I'm fairly sure I broke the kitchen sink...

Just buy one thing at a time, you will get there. I would have at least a 7-8 gal pot for a 5gal batch. You can boil over real easy with a full 5gal boil.

You might want to start eith 3gal batches.

brewhaha_rva said:

By the way, took your advice. The beer is so much better with the chiller than without. Changes the game entirely although I'm fairly sure I broke the kitchen sink...

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I did as well! I decided to rig up fittings for my outside hose, works much better and keeps the wife happy!