all grain

The original London Porter was a smoked beer which utilized exclusively British Brown malt, smoked over Hornbeam. There was until fairly recently a general consensus that it was in its original form a mixture of a ‘mild’ beer (actually a ‘fresh’ or ‘green’ beer) and a ‘stale’ (or mature beer...

No this isn’t an anti-Pilsburry Doughboy post, lord knows we could all use with a couple more of those crescent rolls in our lives. No this is about those balls of crushed grain that form in your mash tun when you’re setting up to have a perfect brew day. The ones that sit there and bob around...

When I first started reading about brewing in earnest, I noticed that the words written about malting were rarely favorable, more often veering toward discouragement. Tedious, labor-intensive, and lengthy were the consensus; it requires too much space and immaculate hygiene, said home-brewing...

When I first started brewing I used a kit to guide me through the brewing process. The instructions seemed very simple which was nice since I was still learning about the equipment and how the brewing process worked. I steeped a small sock of grains for 20 minutes, poured in the liquid malt...

Pleased with the HLT/heat exchanger project shown in a previous article, my friend Rick asked me to help him with his MLT build. We used the same techniques and many of the same components for this phase of his three vessel brewing system. This was the simplest kettle of the project, requiring...

I really, really like my Monster Mill 3+. It is a little heavy to carry around, though, and it feels unstable when sitting on a bucket with a heavy drill motor hanging off the side. I knew that I wanted to make a permanent mounting with a fixed drive for it. That meant that I had to select a...

If you’re looking for ways to maintain better consistency across your recipes every time you brew, you’ll want to look at consistency in your mash rests. Basic rests being Acid (95°F – 113°F), Protein (113°F – 138°F), and Saccharification (beta-amylase 131°F – 150°F, alpha-amylase 150°F – 160°F)...

Unless you were fortunate enough to have an experienced brewer bring you into the world of home brewing, odds are your first batch was on a very basic setup. For me it was a partial extract batch brewed in a borrowed stockpot, on the gas stove-top of my old college house. A simple yet effective...

There is a strong trend these days toward hot side temperature control, whether merely to maintain stable mash temperatures or to permit automatic temperature ramping, as for step mashes or for mashout. The majority of systems seen use modern electronics combined with electric heating elements...

Many all-grain brewers seem to be put off when anything beyond a single infusion comes up in a recipe. Terms like “triple decoction” conjure up images of steampunk laboratories, mad scientists, and hump-backed henchman. Cereal mashing seems to get the same response, which is understandable as...

Moving from extract brewing to all-grain can be like earning a badge of honor in home brewing. Many who started extract brewing have never seen the need to expand into more complicated or exacting recipes, nor have needed that jump to be fair, as many award winning brews are extract-based (or at...

Not every homebrewer is a die-hard Do-It-Yourselfer. I mean sure, most of us feel the call occasionally – it’s probably the same brain wiring that makes us want to brew beer instead of buying it at the store. But there’s a big difference between screwing a bulkhead into a cooler, and that guy in...

My setup, and how I got to that point: First off, let me preface this with a few notes about myself. I am a minimalist at heart. I grew up dirt poor, so it has been ingrained in my head. Even when I have the money to buy something I would rather pool my skills and resources to try to figure out...

The brew rig sits on a frame designed so that all my vessels are pretty much at the same level. I have camlocks on all my vessels connecting to the single pump. Using a series of 2-way and 3-way valves have created a system that does not require me to switch hoses between vessels in order to...

For safety reasons I decided to hire an electrician to install a 4 wire 220 volt 30 amp GFCI breaker and run the line to a receptacle near the location of the EBC-SV brew rig controller. The EBC-SV is the heart of the eBIAB system it runs the Chugger pump and regulates the output of the heating...

Played around with brewing off and on for 18 years and this brew rig is where I ended up. I grew up in Oregon and developed a love for good beer early in life. I was stationed in Germany and returned to the US stationed in the southern US, prompted me to brew the European beers I missed. Flash...

Brew Rig information. HLT-15 Gallon Polar Ware-5500w low density element-Temp/Level Sensor-3 piece ball valveMT-15 Gallon Polar Ware-False Bottom-Temp/Level Sensor-3 piece ball valveBK-15 Gallon Polar Ware-5500w low density element-Hop Basket-Bazooka tube-Temp/Level Sensor-3 piece ball...

This is my brew rig, It has 3 pid temperature controllers with solenoid valves. There are 1/4" stainless ball valves for extra safety to turn the gas off to the burners when not being used. There are also 3/8 needle valves for controlling the flame. It also has a pilot light system built with...

Thanks for checking out my brew rig. Please feel free to help out with any suggestions. Here is my process: I fill my BK with the total volume I calculated I will use. I have an icemaker line from my OR tanks with a quick connect and heat the water as the BK is filling. Once I have adjusted the...

Trying to brew on a budget has always been a goal of mine. But after 5 years of cutting corners I was looking to upgrade my brew rig, slightly. I built a three tiered gravity feed system on wheels, however after the build I invested in a plate chiller and pump to help with aeration, utilizing...