20l Stovetop All Grain Aussie Lager

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Man...You make me feel like a bit of a pussy for not wanting to try 5kg of grain in my 30L urn....

Anyway, how big a grain bill would you tackle with your setup?? And is that just a 20L stock pot you're doing your boil in?
At least once a week I push through 4.5kg with a similar method for about 23-25L of 1.050, up to 5.5 kg if I'm feeling adventurous, but the smaller amount is a piece of cake.

No, not 20L but a 19L pot usually. :eek:

Sorry if I've led anyone up the garden path with my slightly different method description from Nick's OP and humblest apologies for me not quite remembering exactly how this thread started :unsure: - for the record I'm using a slightly different method with more grain, filling the stockpot to the brim at mashing, use the sparge liquor and post- boil dilution as described above and it yields more beer out of the fermenter. (Works just great though..!! :icon_cheers: )
 
Ah kk thanks mate. Also, maybe the coffee grinder i was looking at was not so good? All it was was a blade that spun inside the cylinder.
That is typically what a coffee grinder looks like
 
So how come it differes from a Food Processor?
 
At least once a week I push through 4.5kg with a similar method for about 23-25L of 1.050, up to 5.5 kg if I'm feeling adventurous, but the smaller amount is a piece of cake.

No, not 20L but a 19L pot usually. :eek:

Sorry if I've led anyone up the garden path with my slightly different method description from Nick's OP and humblest apologies for me not quite remembering exactly how this thread started :unsure: - for the record I'm using a slightly different method with more grain, filling the stockpot to the brim at mashing, use the sparge liquor and post- boil dilution as described above and it yields more beer out of the fermenter. (Works just great though..!! :icon_cheers: )

I found that my efficiencies were pretty average doing a 22L brew in a 19L pot. I now own 2 pots and split brews up between the two (plus I can do two "experimental" batches concurrently if not doing a full sized brew).

With efficiency - I obtained SWMBO's 9L stockpot with pasta strainer insert and used it to 1. Squeezey, without hanging bags on hooks above buckets and 2. Sparge using 76 degree water over the grain bag, squeezing each sparge. It's so simple and with minimal effort, you get the most use out of your grains.

And (at the cost of a possible flamewar) I'll probably never get a mash tun or 3V system. I can't justify the extra expense or time:

If I amortise the cost of the hardware over the cost of the brews it makes, I'd rather pay an extra 3 or 4 bucks for the extra 1/2 to 1kg of grain per brew, or sacrifice a litre or two of brew.

The time taken to clean, prepare and the like a tun or full system - I've got three anklebiters - I'd rather use the extra time to spend with them.

So RdeVjun - I'm with you. I won't front the expense of a massive system. I'm making beer for one person (plus associated beggars), not operating a brewery. If I'm desperate - I'll head down to Ross' and use his stuff.
 
Hey Nick. I'm gonna put down a similar brew next week. What do you reckon 90% Ale, 10% Wheat? What about a bit of rice, and what do you do with it when you use it? I'll go with similar hop schedule.
 
This is my BIAB method.

I use a 20L pot and 2 x 25 L fermentors. plus I use as many other big pots as i can find to boil up sparge water.

I generally use about 4 - 4.5kg grain.

Im only fairly new at all grain so im not to worried about what im making atm just aslong as im getting good results and so far with about 12L - 15L for a mash and my grain i get around 1060ish give or take. It works so im quite happy.

So with all my pots i boil up as much water as i can even in my 20L pot. I scoop out the water of the 20L pot till about 12-15L. the rest i leave on the stove with lids on. about 15mins before mash ends i check the temp of the boiled water in the spare pots to see what sorta temp they are. Most the time they are still pretty hot.

So then i grab my pot and put it on a upside down milk create, with my sparge water i fill the 1st fermentor up and attach a cheap plastic shower head and tube to the tap. I grab some racking hose and shove it down under the grain bag to the bottom and the other end in the 2nd fermentor and i syphon away while i turn the tap on the 1st fermentor. I stirr all the grain aswell.

once im down there i get a strainer big enough to sorta go just inside the 20L pot and sit the grain bag in there for a few mins let it drain, i also get the lid of the 20L pot and squash the reminder stuff out.

Add the stuff from my 2nd fermentor and procced with boil.

If you dont have a 2nd fermentor or all your spares are full just syphone from the pot. I just do it as its got a tap and i can turn it off as sometime the grain bag gets sucked into the syphon tube and it takes awhile and the water may over flow.


It sounds cheap but it works and its not that hard to do.

beerstuff.png
 
Not to argue or anything, just would like some good information;
If the food processor is the same, but bigger, wouldn't that mean it could do the same thing, with more grain?
 
Not to argue or anything, just would like some good information;
If the food processor is the same, but bigger, wouldn't that mean it could do the same thing, with more grain?

Check out the way the blades on a coffee grinder have a weird end, and that the bowl is curved - I think this directs the circular motion in such a way that the largest particles are forced closest to the blades - and a constitent sized milling happens.
 
Mkay, well Nick, if you say so ill go get me a coffee grinder! There $20 from aldi at the moment.
 
Hey nick jsut wandering where did you sorce the grain from as I can find it on craft brewer or grain and grape
cheers in advance
 
Hey nick jsut wandering where did you sorce the grain from as I can find it on craft brewer or grain and grape
cheers in advance

Can, or can't? If you can find it then that's good, isn't it?

I confused. :icon_cheers:
 
Can, or can't? If you can find it then that's good, isn't it?

I confused. :icon_cheers:

sorry been trying the beer out that I put in keg yesterday I was ment to say I cant find it or I am probly jsut blind (in the eye sense)
 
cheers bud your a legend jsut priceing stuff asa i got some yeast here already
 
yeah i use dave too! good shop there. Its pretty close to to me aswell.
 
does anyone know if those portable electric hotplates would have the balls to boil a 20 ltr brew like the this one?

They seem to range from about 1600 watt to 2000 watt.
 
If it's the hotplates I'm thinking of then no way (last time I used one I struggled to boil water for coffee). You may have a much bigger one in mind.
 

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