All grain vs beer kit

[Jrm1443]

I have brewed two beers so far, an ipa and an Irish stout. One is fermenting and I'm drinking the IPA. Both were brewed from kits that included LME and DME. So I saw an ad for a light ale and ordered it. I didn't pay attention to the specs and when it arrived today I realized it was an all grain beer kit. So I can either ship it back and pay for shipping or im hoping someone can help and tell me what I need to do to make what I have into beer. The ingredients I have include 8 pounds of 2 row pale malt, milled, priming sugar and hops. Seems to me I just need some DME or LME ? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[chickypad]

You don't need any LME or DME for a light ale, you just need to mash that grain for your fermentables. You can probably fit in in a 5 gal brewpot if that's what you have and mash in a bag (BIAB). See this link from the sticky in the all grain forum about brewing all grain with extract equipment. I've mashed up to 8.5 lbs in my 5 gal pot on my 3 gal BIAB batches.

 

[dkevinb]

I did my first all grain batch today, Brew In A Bag. It's only slightly more difficult than an extract plus steeping grains brew. The only extra equipment you need are a bag and an accurate thermometer. You'll also need a kettle large enough to handle all the water plus the grain. Definitely read up on it in the BIAB section of the All Grain forum.

 

[Jrm1443]

Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for. I will have to do some reading as some parts are still confusing.

 

[unionrdr]

Also, legally being a food product, they can't take it back. I ran into this with Midwest before & that's what they told me. So you might as well brew it. If you get good efficiency in your mash & sparge, you could top off in the fermenter. I've heard of it being done with AG on here.

 

[chickypad]

If you get good efficiency in your mash & sparge, you could top off in the fermenter. I've heard of it being done with AG on here.

Yes this is what you do if your pot is only 5 gal, I've done it for beers up to about 1.046. The walkthrough I linked above describes a 2.5 gal full boil batch, you would follow that process to make 2.5-3 gal of concentrated wort with the 8 lb of grain then top off in the fermenter just like you would an extract batch. If you're confused after doing your reading I can walk you through my process including volumes if you like.

 

[DaNewf]

If you have a five gallon pot then all you need is a 5 gallon paint strainer bag and you are good to go.

Google Maxi-BIAB. This method was designed to allow the brewer to do batch sizes up to 23 litres using a 19 litre brew pot.

 

[Jrm1443]

I stopped by my LHBS and he suggested breaking the 8 pounds of grain into two batches and adding 3.3 pounds of LME to each one. Everything else is the same as the kit, although the steeping of the grains is longer, an hour I think. he provided me with a set of instructions with times and amounts so I feel pretty confident this will work. Thanks for the suggestions.