Advice on all grain brewing equipment

I'm looking to purchase the necessary equipment for a 5 gallon all grain brew (from mash to fermentation). My budget is around 600 dollars.

I'd like to buy equipment that I won't 'outgrow' right away. I know genereally what I need - brew kettle, carboy, mash/lauter tun, etc. - but recommendations as to specific products would be appreciated. If somebody could help me put a shopping list together for a complete system within my budget that would be amazing.

My setup:

15g aluminum kettle = 72$ and able to do 5-10g batches, + 20$ for ball valve (amaz0n)
10g mash tun cooler = 47$ for cooler, + 30$ in parts at Lowes (look at flyguy's cheap easy MLT thread)
10g hot liquer tank cooler (electric)= 47$, + 30$ in parts at Lowes (you could just use a 10g kettle though)
20' counterflow chiller = 60$ from lowes. Built using Tiber's thread (check the DIY section, its quite easy)
Stir Plate = 20$ following the cheap easy DIY build (radioshack)

edit: here's the mash tun conversion
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

chiller:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/counterflow-wort-chiller-build-use-182236/

kettle:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CHKL68/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Get a stainless steel pot.

barmyarmy said:

Get a stainless steel pot.

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Aluminum heats faster
Aluminum is lighter
Aluminum is cheaper
Aluminum doesn't cause Alzheimer's like many believe
Aluminum is easy to drill through

Just sayin'

Yup... Ain't nuttin' wrong with an aluminum pot. I've been brewing with an 8 gallon aluminum pot for 2 years... EZPZ.

Gary

thanks for all the input. I don't see any problem with aluminum, but is there a particular stainless steel pot that you would recommend??

Man, you just got me to ponder how much I've spent on gear in the past four years. Kinda scary. Anyway.

Be sure to figure a chest freezer and temp control into the mix. Probably 200 bucks for the pair if you look at craig's list for the freezer. Just a little 5 cu ft is fine. The best advice I have ever gotten from a very seasoned home brewer was to learn how to ferment FIRST. In general, brewing is fairly easy. Awesome beers can be made with extract if they are fermented well.

Big big fan of these kettles: 2-Weld-9-Gallon-Stainless-Steel-Brew-Pot They are surprisingly good quality for being deemed economy.

Look into medium sized pond pumps ($40 - 50 at lowes or hd). You can save a bunch of water and chill faster if you recycle ice water through your freezer rather than blowin it onto the driveway from the hose.

Figure 10gal bare minimum for your mash tun. The blue square igloo coolers are 12 I think and the square shape works great for a copper manifold at the bottom. You'll want to do a batch with like 25 lbs of grain eventually just because you can and you'll be happy to have the room.

Spintab, thanks a lot for your input. I got it in my head that I wanted to start with all-grain, but I think I'm gonna take that advice and learn what I can from extract brewing first. That being said, are there any other products you've had really good luck with?

The Brew pot looks great, pretty sure that's what I'm going to order.

No problem. Extract is a great way to start. Pretty sure everyone starts there. I only made it about three batches before I couldn't take it anymore and went all grain but everyone progresses at their own rate.

I can't think of any other big pieces of equipment that have worked exceptionally well. Just little stuff. Things like a good thermometer, half and full gallon tupperwares for measuring water and whatnot, and an autosiphon. Now THAT was a great investment. An autosiphon. That and a clip to hold it on the side of a bucket.

I know I'll be shunned by the DIY'ers, but if the thought of having to do everything yourself to cut costs doesn't sound appealing there's nothing wrong with getting something like this: http://www.homebrewing.org/Beginning-Homebrew-All-Grain-Kit-Upgrade-6_p_1709.html I personally like SOME DIY projects, but I think trying to put together an entire setup myself buying parts from Home Depot and trying to get every little thing right, I'd drive myself crazy. I'd rather spend all those hours brewing beer rather than making the equipment to make beer.

STEVESKI said:

I know I'll be shunned by the DIY'ers, but if the thought of having to do everything yourself to cut costs doesn't sound appealing there's nothing wrong with getting something like this: http://www.homebrewing.org/Beginning-Homebrew-All-Grain-Kit-Upgrade-6_p_1709.html I personally like SOME DIY projects, but I think trying to put together an entire setup myself buying parts from Home Depot and trying to get every little thing right, I'd drive myself crazy. I'd rather spend all those hours brewing beer rather than making the equipment to make beer.

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While I agree with you that you don't want to spend all your time putting together your equipment, I can tell you that making a mash tun and HLT from coolers is very easy. I put mine together in about an hour one night while I was watching TV.

I've only brewed 3 batches and have been AG on all of them. I was lucky enough to have a friend in the hobby that has been a great resource for me every step of the way. Let me give you my line of thinking.

I decided that I would want the ability to do 10 gallon batches eventually so what would be the point of buying a smaller kettle now only to have to buy a bigger one down the road and lose my arse on the first one. So I bought this dude here for less than $70 before shipping. This is a good quality kettle with plenty of wall thickness. I installed the ball valve and thermometer/sight glass combo myself which was very easy.

I picked up a banjo burner made by bayou classic for less than $90 which will allow me to do whatever size batches I see fit.

I was lucky enough to get a very large igloo marine cooler from my parents for free and modify it into a mash tun by picking up a cheap ball valve, brass nipple and a few other inexpensive fittings at home depot. Probably spent about $30 on this.

I bought a 'brand used' thermenator plate chiller from the classified section here for $80 which has really been the way to go in my eyes over an immersion style chiller.

At this point I strictly ferment in half barrel sanke kegs. I have 2 that I bought for $25 and $45.

I also bought 5 corny kegs for $30 each however I had to recondition them with with new o-rings which were not expensive. My reason for going with kegging over bottling was because I was given a freeze that I intend to convert to a keezer eventually. Freezer can be found for cheap on craigslist and can be used as a kegerator with a CO2 tank, gas line, beer line and post fittings and picnic tap without having to go all out and finishing out the keezer like you see on this site. Mine is very simple at this point and I will finish it out later as time and money allow............ Bottling may be a better option for you. Probably would be a bit cheaper depending on the deals you can find. Bottles are generally cheap and or free a lot of times. I've never bottled before but it seems pretty straight forward (all be it time consuming) to me.





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It took me some time to collect all of this. Believe me, I was extremely anxious to brew my first batch but I took my time and got all of the things I needed to brew at the level I knew I would want to be at in a few years. There was a little more initial cost up front but in the long run you are going to save money. A lot of money!

The last thing I will say is that you can buy the fanciest stainless brew kettle there is out there. You can build the coolest brew sculpture the world has seen. You can buy the top of the line stainless conical fermenters on the market...................... Fact of the matter is if you adhere to the recipe's you see on this site, hit your temps, ferment in a environment that is temperature appropriate for the yeast you are using and take all necessary steps to ensure no contaminents are introduced during your brew process then you are going to brew some darn good beer that will rival what the other guys are making with all of that top of the line equipment. So find what you like, buy what you can afford and get to brewing. The magic isn't in the equipment, it's in the knowledge of your ingredients and the brew process itself. We are fortunate enough to have plenty of that knowledge at our finger tips here within this community.

Best of luck and if there's anything I can do to help just let me know.

rklinck said:

While I agree with you that you don't want to spend all your time putting together your equipment, I can tell you that making a mash tun and HLT from coolers is very easy. I put mine together in about an hour one night while I was watching TV.

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And a lot can be said for knowing 'how everything works and where everything goes' so that if, excuse me, when something goes wrong you know exactly what it's going to take to fix it.

ZvalekoM said:

Spintab, thanks a lot for your input. I got it in my head that I wanted to start with all-grain, but I think I'm gonna take that advice and learn what I can from extract brewing first. That being said, are there any other products you've had really good luck with?

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I really wanted to get into all-grain right away too, but my husband and I ended up deciding to stick with extract and partial mash for now. Fortunately, we live in an area that has a good homebrewing community, so we've been able to join up with two homebrewing clubs that have group all-grain brews as part of their monthly meetups. This is perfect for us, since we'll be able to get all-grain brewing experience without making a huge financial commitment. Then, when we're ready to upgrade, we'll have a better idea of the size and type of brewing equipment we want.

Make sure to get a Mash Tun that can handle 10 Gallons so that you can do bigger beers. I thought I could get away with a 5 Gallon Tun, but when I wanted to make a big IPA I had to buy a new one. Now I use the 5G as a Hot Liquor Tank, which is nice, but I was able to get along fine without one before. I'd rather spend money on something else. The same goes for carboy capacity. 6.5 Gallons is first. If you want a secondary, get a 5G. Don't start with the 5G. Otherwise, ball valves and tubing make all the difference. The less pouring the better, so be sure to get those in your equipment from the start.

You should consider getting a good kettle, burner, plate chiller or IC and trying a couple batches of "Brew in a Bag" (BIAB) all grain. Great AG beer can be made with BIAB or with a Kettle and a cooler MLT.

You might be perfectly happy with this method and might want to invest the rest of your money in fermentation temp control or a kegging setup.

Also, one of the keys to making AG brewing "cheaper" is buying a grain mill and getting 2-row in 50lb sacks.

Subbing for all-grain switch

Actually I second that. I knew from the start that I wasn't really interested in extract brewing, so I did it only once to get the basics down before jumping into all-grain. But if I had it to do over again is probably add the intermediate step of trying Brew in a Bag first. However, if you need to buy a new pot for it, go with a real, large brew pot with a thermometer and valve or else you may be faced with wanting to upgrade in the future. But you can worry about the mash tun later.

For batches over about two gallons I have never understood the allure of BIAB. How do you hold a hot heavy bag of wet grain up so it can drain? You build some sort of mechanical winch thing that ends up costing as much as a cooler and manifold. Then you're still left with a big hot dangling bag of grain to avoid. Now for small batches it's perfect. Lift the bag up, stick it in a colander for a bit and you're good to go.

I would say a great intermediate step is batch sparging. You can do it with just a mlt and a kettle. No need for sparge arms and three tier stands or pumps.

Get the equipment to to 10G BIAB. Get the equipment to completely control your fermentation- Oxygen stone / injector, stirplate, and temp controlled fermentation.

Great BIAB + temp. controlled fermentation will make fantastic beer. Then, adding a HLT and Mash tun not so big a step. I like a direct-fired mash tun, as I do Belgians and lagers regularly. Want to do lots of high OG beers.

Mine looks almost identical to denny's dennybrew batch sparge setup but with an extra burner. You don't need ball valves temp probes or sight gauges on the hlt and boil kettle to start. Just a big pitcher to transfer sparge water, and an autosiphon for the cooled wort.

Cheap and easy has worked so far for me.

Mojzis said:

Aluminum heats faster
Aluminum is lighter
Aluminum is cheaper
Aluminum doesn't cause Alzheimer's like many believe
Aluminum is easy to drill through

Just sayin'

Click to expand...

^ that and you can get a 52qt for under 40 bucks.

I'm planning on making the switch soon as well. I already have a turkey fryer with a 30qt pot that I use for my extract brews.

I'm thinking of using the 30 at for heating my sparge water and buying another pot for my wort. Should I pick up a 40qt or go ahead and step up to a 60? I only really plan on doing 5 gallon batches.

One of the YouTube videos I watched on batch sparging, the guy lautered off 10 gallons and let that boil down to 7 before starting his 60 minutes. I had never seen that done before, but Im pretty new to all grain. If that were a pretty standard procedure, I could see a 60qt being worth the extra money.

Switching to AG does not require a lot of new expensive equipment. A lot of the equipment mentioned in this thread is no more necessary for AG than it is for extract or BIAB. A lot of it may help you make better beer, but it is not required.

In my opinion. the only thing you absolutely need to switch to AG is a mash/lauter tun, and these are cheap and easy to make. I used an old 52 quart rectangular cooler I already had and spent about $12 - $15 on a ball valve and one piece of CPVC and a handful of connectors and other fittings. That is literally all I spent to make my initial move to AG after two extract and one BIAB batches.

Some people may need a bigger BK than they have been using. Size is more important than whether it is stainless steel or aluminum, especially if you want to do large batches. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of stainless is that you can soak it in Oxy. You don't need ball valves, sight glasses, and thermowells. Use an auto-siphon, long stem thermometer and a wooden dowel (marked to measure volumes in your kettle). You can heat your strike and sparge water in your BK and use a bucket to hold your runnings so you don't need a separate HLT.

Some people may need to buy a propane burner. I just re-purposed the burner from an old bullet -style smoker. It has no problem bringing 13 gallons to a roiling boil.

Most of the other equipment mentioned in this thread are things that you should use to make your beer better whether it is extract or AG. Others, like kegging equipment, while nice are not necessary. It is no more of a pain to bottle 5 gallons from an AG batch as it is from an extract batch.

Bottom line, don't let the thought of buying a lot of equipment scare you away from trying AG. You will eventually buy more equipment (get a grain mill), but you don't need it all to start.

I say that a 60 is worth it if you can get it now. Once I started AG, I said "only 5 gallons" too. In less than two years, went from 5-30 in 5 gallon intervals, skipping 25. I wasted a ton of money on pots. I'm getting ready to step op for a 1bbl system.

IMO, leave yourself room. You can still do 5g in a 60qt, but if you want to do bigger, even once, you'll need something bigger.

I still busy out the turkey fryer for test batches of new recipes.

xtian116 said:

I say that a 60 is worth it if you can get it now. Once I started AG, I said "only 5 gallons" too. In less than two years, went from 5-30 in 5 gallon intervals, skipping 25. I wasted a ton of money on pots. I'm getting ready to step op for a 1bbl system.

IMO, leave yourself room. You can still do 5g in a 60qt, but if you want to do bigger, even once, you'll need something bigger.

I still busy out the turkey fryer for test batches of new recipes.

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Great, that sounds like the plan then. I mean, the difference in price is negligible anyway. Besides, I've been thinking 10 gallon split batches might not be a bad idea to try out different yeasts and ferm temps

I plan on keeping the turkey fryer as-is, it should have plenty of heat to give, and I like brewing outside.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. I'm trying to synthesize all of the information, as well as supplement it with my own information/research. Once I've purchased all of my equipment, I'll post the exact products/costs in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation.

I jumped straight into all grain a few months ago. After four batches I whole heatedly have to say buy a bit bigger first. Get a 10gallon cooler tun and 10gallon pot or bigger. I had two 5gal igloos after my first batch and now one 5 and a 10. Also buy a bigger brew kettle, after my 5 gal i now have a second pot, 7.5 gal, that is still too small.

Go to williamsbrewing.com and get a false bottom, it is only like $15 more, as opposed to all the other parts, than the manifolds and stainless screens. You'll still need the valves and other parts but the false bottom worked so much easier and efficiently, in my experience.

If you are planing on outdoor cooking look at Craigslist, there are always people selling keggles they make, and many are nice, at least here in CA.