Am I ready for All Grain - Equip list + q's

[fiveohmike]

Hey guys,

Just got back from more beer. I was thinking about going the BrewEasy (Blichman route) but changed my mind. I will eventually end up with a BrewSculpture stand from more beer (just to make things compact in my garage).

However i finally picked up a mash tun and sparge arm. I want to get a couple of batches of all grain under my belt before I commit a good chunk of change to the rest of the items I need. Please let me know if I am missing anything:

1x 8.5 boil kettle (with Thermo and ball valve)
1x 15 Gallon mash tun (false bottom, thermo and ball valve)
1x 6 Gallon bucket, wrapped in insulation as a hot liquor tank
1x Sparge arm and tubing
1x Propane burner

Misc stuff (worth chiller, tubes and what not) is assumed as I have a full kit for extract brewing

My plan is to heat water in the 8.5 kettle to strike temperature. Add the water to the to the mashtun, check temp. If good add grain stirring in. Once stirred in, take temp make sure its good. If not good, add some hot/cold water as necessary.

Once the mash is almost done, I will heat up my sparge water to 170 ish. I will then add the sparge water to my HLT.

From there move everything back, and start gravity draining into my boil kettle, and start fly sparging. Continue fly sparging until level in the boil kettle is correct.

Am I on the right track? I am still digging through my How to Brew book.


Also, which do you prefer batch sparging or fly sparging? Batch sparging seems easier, but with less efficiency.

P.S. Next month I am replacing the bucket HLT with another 15 gallon pot that will be direct fired, and probably adding a pump somewhere.

 

[acidrain]

You are on the right track.
What size batches? 5 gal?
15 gal is a very big mash tun, and 8.5 gal is barely big enough boil kettle.
I have 2 gal/ hr boil-off, and loose quite a bit to protein break and hops gunk, so I boil at least 7 gallons. Your 8.5 gal boil kettle would be too small for me.
I batch sparge... nevey fly sparged, and I don't get the best efficiency, but it's fast and it's what I use. I'll sacrifice 1 or 2 dollars worth of grain to save an hour.

 

[JonM]

Do you have a pump? Maybe I'm just not understanding how you plan to move the hot liquid around.

Also, I see you ahve tubing listed. Is it silicone, thermoplastic, or some other heat-resistant stuff?

 

[kh54s10]

If you can swing it get the bigger boil pot ASAP and use the 8.5 gallon one for your HLT on a separate burner. You will have to be VERY careful with the 8.5 as a boil kettle to not get boil overs. I used a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer pot a few times and it took 15 minutes or more to heat the wort from the rise of the hot break until it was boiling without going over.

I have never done a fly sparge. I have a water heater braid in my tun so it is not conducive to doing a fly sparge.
When I researched I decided the extra 45 minutes to an hour to fly sparge was not worth it for the few extra efficiency points. Batch sparge for me.

 

[atli126]

im getting into this also and getting my equipment together too, i have been using a friends and just take the hot liquid off the boil (using mits) and dump it into the mash bucket with the grains... the drain back in after an hour and boil with the hops etc.

no pump in my near future for sure. just be careful moving it so you dont get burnt

 

[fiveohmike]

Hey Guys,

I brew 5 gallon batches right now.

I use this one as a boil kettle for now:

http://morebeer.com/products/85-gallon-stainless-brew-kettle.html

I have been using it to do full extract boil's at around 6 to 6.5 gallons starting volume. I have not had an issue with boilovers, although I do have to pay more attention to it.

I do not have any pumps yet, so this will be and my friend Manuel Labor moving the hot liquid around with mits at least from the BK to the HLT.

As for my tubing its all stuff from MoreBeer (high temp PVC free brew tubes for 3/8" stuff, and for 1/2" is silicon)

My Mash tun is this:

http://morebeer.com/products/15-gallon-stainless-mash-tun.html


I got a 15 gallon as I like to brew big beers, and have some form of hope of moving to 10 gallon batches. In a month or two I will be getting 2 more 15 gallon kettles and some pumps so I do not have to move hot liquid around, but I want to see if my process is good, and start practicing.

So I will stick with batch sparging. I was worried about disturbing the grain bed when sparging with this method. Do you guys use a sparge arm at all on your batch sparges or are you pouring directly into the grain bed?

Also for vorlauf, how are you accomplishing this right now?>

Thanks guys, sorry for the noob question, just trying to get over the hump from Extract to All Grain...its quite the jump heh.

 

[alphagolf]

When batch sparging you don't worry about the grain bed. Batch sparging is a pure dilution of the grains to rinse out more sugars. When I batch sparge I use a pitcher to dump the hot water into the mash tun then I use my paddle to mix the whole thing up. I let the grain settle for 1-2 minutes then start vorlaufing. When I vorlauf I just slowly fill my pitcher 2-3 times until it comes clear then start going to the boil kettle. The vorlauf liquid is gently poured back on top of the grain bed.

When I do a single batch sparge I get ~75% efficiency. If I double batch sparge (for 10 gal batches since my tun is small) I get ~80% efficiency.

alpha


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[kh54s10]

I made this brew sculpture to avoid moving hot water.

I have since turned it around so that the BK is near the sink for using my immersion chiller. I have also run a water line across the ceiling that feeds directly into the HLT.
All gravity, no pumps. 10 gallon pot on a turkey fryer burner up top, 10 gallon mash tun in the middle and BK on the bottom on a SP10 burner.

 

[fiveohmike]

I made this brew sculpture to avoid moving hot water.

I have since turned it around so that the BK is near the sink for using my immersion chiller. I have also run a water line across the ceiling that feeds directly into the HLT.
All gravity, no pumps. 10 gallon pot on a turkey fryer burner up top, 10 gallon mash tun in the middle and BK on the bottom on a SP10 burner.

Nice!

Do you batch sparge with that setup? If so are you just opening the ball valve to drain onto the top of the grain bed while stirring? Cut it, vorlauf, then drain and repeat?

I was thinking about building something similar in a month or two.

 

[Dutchbier]

Yes you are ready for all grain. Take notes on what happens and keep improving.

 

[masskrug]

Mashing and Boiling equipment: Check

Have you tested your water? Do you have a fermentation chamber?

 

[fiveohmike]

Mashing and Boiling equipment: Check

Have you tested your water? Do you have a fermentation chamber?

I have requested the water test report from the city (its not updated on their website).

As for fermentation tanks, I use Spiedel 30L's.

On a side note, my 11th batch of Extract kit, that i just went with my own recipe. I just popped the first one. Best beer I have made by lightyears. Its almost magical to me. Big double IPA, OG was 1.086, FG 1.010. I made it so it was malt forward and not bitter, with about 2lbs total hops (lots of dry hops, lots of late boil additions, 8SRM, 56.7IBU.

I have never made a beer that was "wow" in my own mind, and I finally got my fermentation temps right (using a coolbag). And damn its spot on. Almost brought a tear to my eye.

Now to go through the learning process again

 

[fmr_army]

I batch sparge: I add sparge water and then, in the immortal words of Yooper, stir it like it owes me money. Let it settle for a few minutes, vorlauf and drain. Lather, rinse, repeat as appropriate.

To your original question - I think you're on the right track. I'm like you - I went from extract to all grain. It's pretty simple - you're only adding the grain conversion and rinsing steps.

 

[kh54s10]

Nice!

Do you batch sparge with that setup? If so are you just opening the ball valve to drain onto the top of the grain bed while stirring? Cut it, vorlauf, then drain and repeat?

I was thinking about building something similar in a month or two.

I batch sparge.
Heat the sparge water and pre-heat the tun.
Add all the mash water, then add all the grain and stir well.
After the mash stir really well and vorlauf with the valve slightly open.
When clear open wide to drain the tun.
I measure how much wort is in the kettle and determine how much sparge water is needed and add a little over half, stir, vorlauf and drain. measure again and add the rest of the sparge water, stir, vorlauf and drain again.

I do a double sparge only because it allows me to collect an accurate amount of wort without leaving much in the grains.

 

[masskrug]

As for fermentation tanks, I use Spiedel 30L's.

Sorry. I meant a temperature controlled (freezer) environment.

 

[fiveohmike]

Sorry. I meant a temperature controlled (freezer) environment.

Ah for right now I am using the CoolerBags. I can maintain 68F wort temp (well any temp really) very easily with it.

I am still looking around for a used fridge though as I want to move to that so its more set it and forget and I do not have to fiddle around with frozen bottles of water.

Plus then I can lager.

 

[cease]

I just moved to a freezer with a Johnson controller from a Cool Brewing bag. The bag was great but being able to set the carboy in and not have to worry about switching ice packs is awesome! Not to mention the GF likes having the freezer back haha

I found a used 5.5 CU freezer off of CL for $50. Deals are out there just keep looking. Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[LJvermonster]

I'd get minimum 10 gal brew pot and a 10 gallon mash tun. I personally this fly sparging isn't worth it. Batch sparging is easy and You can average 80% efficiency and it cuts time considerably.

 

[fiveohmike]

Ya, I am gonna be upgrading my boil pot. I am actually holding off brewing my first all grain batch, I figured if I am gonna do it, do it right. So I am going to buy a 15 gallon boil kettle, and a 15 gallon HLT with another burner. I am in the process of configuring something for a 3 tier gravity feed system.

I am going to do batch sparging as well.

Question about whirlpooling. How are you guys doing this? I was planning on whirlpooling at flameout (adding hops if needed) and let sit 20 minutes or so. Then add a sanitized IC and cool to pitching temps. Then do another whirlpool and let sit 30 minutes, then open the ball valve and send to my fermentor

That sound about right? I am really nervous about all of this lol

 

[GoodDogShelby]

I agree with what everyone says about your boil kettle size. I bought a MoreBeer 8 gallon when I got started. I used it three times and had to set it aside. When I started kegging, I wanted to make sure I had full kegs so my batches crept up to 7 gallon. I am now using a 20 gallon boil kettle. GO BIG.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

Your kettle is too small, and fifteen gallons is way too big for 5-gallon continuous sparged (a.k.a. fly sparged) batches. Continuous sparging is sensitive to mash filter design, tun geometry, and mash bed thickness, which is why most beginning brewers achieve better extraction rates with batch sparging than they do continuous sparging. I can continuous sparge up to 1.070 0.G. 6-gallon batches with a 5-gallon tun. However, I have a system that is optimized for continuous sparging.