Do i need extract
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Hogarthe
Well-Known Member
you need to mash the grains at a temp suitable for it. between 148-160, for an hour. this is called all grain brewing, and there is much info about it, online and in books. check out howtobrew.com for some info on it.
Unlike extract or even partial mash brewing, doing well with all-grain mashing involves enough different variables that you really need a good reference text. What books, if any, are you using? If you don't have one already which covers all-grain brewing, I would strongly recommend picking up How to Brew by John Palmer. It's an excellent book, more detailed and concise than Papazian's book while also more readable than Miller's (which was my go-to reference for years until I found Palmer's book).
The main difference you need to know about is mashing. This is the process of coaxing the starches in the malt into solution, then letting the malt enzymes break them down into fermentable sugars. At it's simplest, It involves heating water to a fixed temperature (between 155 and 165 deg F) and adding the malt to it, so that you end up with a sort of porridge that is around 148-158 deg.F. This then needs to be held at that temperature for about an hour while the enzymes work on the starches. The exact temperature you'll need will depend on the type of beer you are making, and a difference of five degrees can make the difference between a dry beer and a full-bodied one.
The other major things you need to do, once the mash is complete, is slowly strain the water off of the grain, then adding more water to rinse the grain bed with until you have most of the sugars rinsed out of it. This process of straining (called lautering) and rinsing (called sparging) gets you to roughly the point where you would start at when beginning an extract based brew, though instead of having to add water, you need to boil part of the water off to concentrate the beer to get the gravity where you want it to be.
All of this takes about an extra two to three hours, and requires some additional equipment such as a larger boiler (at least 8 gallon capacity, for a 5 gallon batch), a vessel for holding the grain and water in while the starch conversion rest is going on (called a mash tun), and a large strainer or separator (called a lauter tun - many combine the two features into a Mash-Lauter Tun or MLT simply by having a spigot at the bottom of the mash tun that leads to either a false bottom or manifold). If you have the calculations right, you should have exactly a one hour boil ahead of you, though you could arrange for a longer boil if you choose to use more water. You would add your hops at the appropriate times, just as before.
The main difference you need to know about is mashing. This is the process of coaxing the starches in the malt into solution, then letting the malt enzymes break them down into fermentable sugars. At it's simplest, It involves heating water to a fixed temperature (between 155 and 165 deg F) and adding the malt to it, so that you end up with a sort of porridge that is around 148-158 deg.F. This then needs to be held at that temperature for about an hour while the enzymes work on the starches. The exact temperature you'll need will depend on the type of beer you are making, and a difference of five degrees can make the difference between a dry beer and a full-bodied one.
The other major things you need to do, once the mash is complete, is slowly strain the water off of the grain, then adding more water to rinse the grain bed with until you have most of the sugars rinsed out of it. This process of straining (called lautering) and rinsing (called sparging) gets you to roughly the point where you would start at when beginning an extract based brew, though instead of having to add water, you need to boil part of the water off to concentrate the beer to get the gravity where you want it to be.
All of this takes about an extra two to three hours, and requires some additional equipment such as a larger boiler (at least 8 gallon capacity, for a 5 gallon batch), a vessel for holding the grain and water in while the starch conversion rest is going on (called a mash tun), and a large strainer or separator (called a lauter tun - many combine the two features into a Mash-Lauter Tun or MLT simply by having a spigot at the bottom of the mash tun that leads to either a false bottom or manifold). If you have the calculations right, you should have exactly a one hour boil ahead of you, though you could arrange for a longer boil if you choose to use more water. You would add your hops at the appropriate times, just as before.
revco
Well-Known Member
There's essentially four major methods of brewing, and more than one way to do each:
Both partial mash and all-grain typically take additional equipment and specific processes, above and beyond both extract and extract with grains. This is because you're actually extracting the sugars from the grain, which typically takes additional equipment and more precision during your brewing process. You may have the equipment all ready to do a partial mash, which will get you closer to a grain-derived beer. But, if you're looking at having to purchase equipment to do partial mash, it's well worth looking at jumping into all-grain.
The above mentioned books will give you the process, equipment and methods...but there's little that you couldn't also pull from these forums with diligent research.
- Extract Only
- Extract With Grains For Flavor/Color
- Partial Mash (More Grains, Complimented With Extract)
- All-Grain (All Grain, As You Might Imagine)
Both partial mash and all-grain typically take additional equipment and specific processes, above and beyond both extract and extract with grains. This is because you're actually extracting the sugars from the grain, which typically takes additional equipment and more precision during your brewing process. You may have the equipment all ready to do a partial mash, which will get you closer to a grain-derived beer. But, if you're looking at having to purchase equipment to do partial mash, it's well worth looking at jumping into all-grain.
The above mentioned books will give you the process, equipment and methods...but there's little that you couldn't also pull from these forums with diligent research.
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BobbyRob
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Thanks everyone for the feedback. I have been extremely impressed and appreciative of the support on this site.
I was reading the Complete Homebrew Book by George Hummel but I found it fairly basic and more centered on recipes. The first few pages were great but I wanted more detail into the brewing process. I started with a kit and then went to partial grain and extract but I think a true brew is going to be all grain and that's what I'm shooting for. I'm still only brewing 1 gallon batches until i hit a recipe that will push me to the 5 gallon.
I brewed an all-grain this weekend and I'm honestly not too confident in it. I think it'll be beer but pretty weak. I'll read up some more for my next brew. Thanks for the help everyone.
I was reading the Complete Homebrew Book by George Hummel but I found it fairly basic and more centered on recipes. The first few pages were great but I wanted more detail into the brewing process. I started with a kit and then went to partial grain and extract but I think a true brew is going to be all grain and that's what I'm shooting for. I'm still only brewing 1 gallon batches until i hit a recipe that will push me to the 5 gallon.
I brewed an all-grain this weekend and I'm honestly not too confident in it. I think it'll be beer but pretty weak. I'll read up some more for my next brew. Thanks for the help everyone.
Here is a good source of info on brewing that covers all grain pretty well. The author was gracious enough to put the first edition online in its entirety but I would encourage you to buy the second edition as there are some changes. www.howtobrew.com
