New to Brewing

[Juiceyfruit152]

Hello All,

I've been brewing for nearly a year. I started with a Mr. Beer kit and quickly out grew it. I thought about jumping directly to all-grain kits but realized I didn't have the space for the additional parts. Rather than letting that deter me started to brew partial mash recipes which have stolen my heart. I've found that partial mash is ideal for me because its quick and involves less ingredients. I look forward to learning from everyone and becoming a better brewer.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

If you have a brew pot then you can do all grain. Just do brew-in-a-bag.
You put your grains in the bag, suspend it into your brew pot with hot water already in then wait 60mins. Then just pull the bag out and the fresh wort is already in the kettle.

Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

 

[violinguy]

Yep, BIAB is a great way to brew AG without a lot of extra equipment. You need a good bag. Wilserbrewer is pretty much the gold standard in BIAB bags. You should use brewing software like Brewer's Friend or Brewsmith to make recipes. They are both very helpful and have decent functionality for free (both are also reasonable in cost). NortherBrewer has small batch BIAB kits is you don't want to try your own recipe at first.

If forget how big the Mr Beer fermenter is, but you might also want a larger fermenter. You can make do with what you have though and still make great beer. You can use Brewsmith or Brewer's Friend to scale recipes to whatever size you have.

I switched from 1g extract batches to 3g BIAB this year, and I'm never going back!! :fro:

 

[Juiceyfruit152]

I've been using the Mr. beer fermenter as a secondary for small batch brews. I have moved to 5-gallon carboys. I guess I learned something new today with a biab bag. I can say I've never heard of them, but it's worth investigating.

 

[violinguy]

I've been using the Mr. beer fermenter as a secondary for small batch brews. I have moved to 5-gallon carboys. I guess I learned something new today with a biab bag. I can say I've never heard of them, but it's worth investigating.

There is a whole forum dedicated to BIAB. It used to be considered a lesser manner of brewing AG, but these days with additives and new techniques, it's an A- while traditional AG is A. Experienced BIAB brewers can get up to 80+% efficiency for just about any beer. Big beers like an Imperial Stout can be a little tricky with BIAB, but not impossible - big beers used to be thought of as impossible with BIAB due to efficiency issues.

With some additional equipment, you can brew huge batches (10g+). Or, you can brew smaller batches like I do - 3 or 4g. Recipe design is fun, as is the brewing day. The stigma of BIAB as a lesser art form is almost completely gone.

 

[Juiceyfruit152]

I haven't crossed the line to brewing an imperial, but with the help from this forum I'll probably have one done by the years end.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Welcome to the forum, it's a great place to share and learn. BIAB is a fine way to go all grain, without spending a small fortune.