Ready to go All-grain?

[bbriscoe]

I'm wanting to go all-grain soon but would/will be doing it with a minimum of equipment - I don't have the budget to go out and buy any more beer equipment right now.

That said, I have about a 5-6 gal boil kettle, I just made a 5 gal cheap and easy mash tun. I have a huge boil burner on my kitchen stove for heating sparge water, boil kettle, etc. I always boil less than the full 5 gal batch anyway then top off in my fermenter when I do partial mashes. So is there anything I'm missing here?

 

[rosier9]

go for it!

 

[Mikethepoolguy]

You will need to do smaller batches or use more grain and not sparge.

 

[Beer_Maker]

Kettle isn't big enough for a full volume boil. Like Mikethepoolguy said... smaller batches or more grain to boost the gravity and then dilute after the boil.

 

[tjpfeister]

I started my AG brewing using two 3.5G kettles on top my stove and divying up ingredients between the two. This allowed me to do a full volume boil and made my beersmith calculations more accurate. The downside? Approximately twice the loss of volume do to evaporation.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[bbriscoe]

Kettle isn't big enough for a full volume boil. Like Mikethepoolguy said... smaller batches or more grain to boost the gravity and then dilute after the boil.

I'm not exactly sure how big the kettle is, but I boiled 3.3 gal + 4lbs of LME last time and had room for more - at least 4 to 4.5 gal with sufficient headspace. That was also at 85% efficiency on 6 lbs of grain.

Seems like with 12 lbs of grain, I would have 2.75 gal of first runnings, then I could sparge with another 1.5-2 gallons and still fit in my kettle - any idea what the efficiency would be on that?

Of course with high gravity brews, I'll have to do a half batch, which I'm ok with, but it seems like I might be able to squeeze a full batch of 5% beer out of this kettle.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

Most people boil 7.5g down to about 5.5g and then about 5.25g goes into fermenter after straining. My kettle is 7.5g so I can only boil about 7g max and my indoor kitchen stove doesnt boil without 80% lid covered so I dont get much boiloff evap. This are the issues I am running into, just made the switch. Mashing with 10g rubbermaid.

I would recommend bigger kettle but if you can split it into two batches to boil that is also a possability.

I have done BIAB too so you can totally make it work with boiling about 4g and topping off in fermenter.

 

[flabyboy]

I just bought a turkey fryer that came with 8.5 gallon kettle and propane burner for $70. May want to look this route if you want to save a few bucks

 

[bbriscoe]

If you do it in 2 pots, does it matter if one is first runnings and one is sparge runoff? Wouldn't the gravities be different between the two pots? And how would you split the hops up? By gravity or by liquid volume? Or could they all go in one pot to save a hops bag?

 

[TheMan]

Just do smaller batches or get a bigger kettle. I find the idea of going all grain just to dilute it afterwards pointless. You will eventually need a bigger mash tun though if you get a bigger kettle to do full boils.

My recommenation, smaller batches 3.5ish if you can. I do this when i want to experiment with a brew. I like it.

 

[dzlater]

If you don't have the budget for more equipment.
I think doing the dilution method would work fine. It's not pointless at all.
If you don't have a chiller topping off with cold water will help you chill quicker.
And a five gallon mash tun does have some limitations but it will work fine.
If you give it a bit of thought there is usually a way to make do with what you have.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

With all do respect, plenty of people do partial boil BIAB batches. If you are only adding a gallon or so you'll never notice the difference.

When you are doing BIAB, your sparge water will end up looking almost exactly like your mash water. You can boil them both, or combine as much as possible (say 4g in your 5g kettle) and boil that, then add 1g tap water. Or even breifly boil the rest of the wort you made and then add that. There are many options and they all work great.

It's just kind of a PITA with smaller kettle. Also consider using more than one mesh grain bag. Using three allows you to manage the squeezing and switching buckets, etc, much much easier. It can be messy too. But it's a great time and it convinced me to get a 7.5g kettle (go bigger if possible! like 10g) and a 10g cooler mash tun.

 

[bbriscoe]

It's just kind of a PITA with smaller kettle. Also consider using more than one mesh grain bag. Using three allows you to manage the squeezing and switching buckets, etc, much much easier. It can be messy too. But it's a great time and it convinced me to get a 7.5g kettle (go bigger if possible! like 10g) and a 10g cooler mash tun.

You mean more than one hop bag? I don't use grain bags anymore with my mash tun.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

Sorry I dont know where I got that. If you would like I can edit or delete my post.

 

[tjpfeister]

If you do it in 2 pots, does it matter if one is first runnings and one is sparge runoff? Wouldn't the gravities be different between the two pots? And how would you split the hops up? By gravity or by liquid volume? Or could they all go in one pot to save a hops bag?

I ran both into my fermenting bucket, which is also conveniently marked. This mixed them and allowed me to take an accurate reading of the results before splitting the mix into my 2 boil kettles and not worrying about differences in hops utilization.

 

[Northcalais40]

I can relate to not wanting to spend for beer equipment, right there with you. But, check craigslist for a turkey fryer. Many people use them once for frying turkeys and are happy to unload them. I got a 7.5g pot and the burner for $40, perfect condition. That's a sweet deal, and will make your brewing much easier. Otherwise brew any way.

 

[bbriscoe]

But aren't the turkey frying pots made of Aluminum? I've always read that stainless pots are better- and that's what I have - except its only 5 gal.

 

[tjpfeister]

But aren't the turkey frying pots made of Aluminum? I've always read that stainless pots are better- and that's what I have - except its only 5 gal.

My .02:
Most of them are aluminum, yes. Would *most* brewers prefer stainless steel? Probably. Does a 7.5G pot trump a 5G pot regardless of material? Absolutely

 

[flabyboy]

But aren't the turkey frying pots made of Aluminum? I've always read that stainless pots are better- and that's what I have - except its only 5 gal.

aluminum works just fine. just make sure to boil water in it for 30-60 mins before using it for the first time. Will put a black oxide layer inside that will keep any aluminum getting into the beer. One benefit is they are better conductors of hot and cold. They heat and cool more quickly than SS. One downside is they dent really easy and are not as durable as SS

 

[Mysticmead]

I use a 10 gallon aluminum turkey fryer. works great. It's not as easy to clean as SS but it's not that hard either. Check craigs list, you can find turkey fryers cheap or even people unloading old beer kegs (15.5 gallon stainless keggle)

 

[Golddiggie]

aluminum works just fine. just make sure to boil water in it for 30-60 mins before using it for the first time. Will put a black oxide layer inside that will keep any aluminum getting intot he beer. One benefit is they are better conductors of hot and cold. They heat and cool more quickly than SS. One downside is they dent really easy and are not as durable as SS

Used my 32 quart aluminum stock pot this past weekend for the first time... I had conditioned it to about 7-1/2 gallons (about 30 quarts) and it worked really well. No hot spots on the bottom, which was clean as all hell... Much better than the SS pots I used the previous time.

I would say to get at least a 30 quart pot. Either professional grade aluminum (4mm thick all around, as a good standard/minimum) or a stainless steel pot with at least 2mm of aluminum clad to the outside of the bottom. Just be aware that the handles on the aluminum pot will get HOT... Hotter than on a SS pot (since aluminum is a better heat conductor).

This coming weekend brew-day I plan to mash, and then boil, in the aluminum pot. I'll be using one of the 5 gallon SS pots I picked up from the LHBS (discounted due to minor dings) to sparge with. Planning on going close to 2 quarts per pound for the mash, the balance in sparge (for total pre-boil wort volume).

If you want to brew easy/cheaper, use the BIAB method. No need to get a false bottom brew kettle that way. The more I use this method the more I like it...