G'day Everyone

[Stewie78]

G'day, been reading this site for a while and decided to join. First of all, good to see so many like minded people. At the moment I am kit brewing and running 5 corny kegs (I could do with more as I tend to do a keg a week myself in footy season). I am fermenting 60 litres every 10-14 days. I don't bottle any brews so I always make the tins to 20 litres which I find gives a better flavour and it also use to bring a tear to my eye pouring 2 litres of beer on the back lawn.

I find myself adding, light or dark malt, corn syrup, various hops (Goldings, fuggles and Saaz), lactose etc to almost every kit I do. After reading through some of the "All Grain" recipes I think I have fallen in love and because I like to play around with my brews, find that it may be suitable and more cost effective for me.

A couple of questions I have in regard to all grain recipes: Are you blokes just using a regular saucepan to boil up the brew? If, so what size and where on earth do you get one? Are all the malts, grains and hops readily available in Australia? Cheers

 

[cdbrown]

Welcome Stewie78,

I began just brewing kits and kilo, then kits and extract, then extract and hops and spec malt and just tonight have just dipped my toe into the world of partials - replacing 700g of extract for 1kg of pale ale malt grain. 1kg of the stuff needed 3L of water for the mash and another 3 for the sparge. I asked the question the other day what size pot would be good for a 23L batch and the answer was about 50L and it makes sense now that I've seen that adding 1kg of grain to 3L of water basically takes up the 5L pot.

Your questions on AG brewing would be better on the AG section of the forum. This area is more suited to kits, extract, hops and spec grains. If you want to go for a partial then a 5L pot will do for 1kg of grain for the initial mash, but you'd need a 20L pot for the boil of the extract and hops.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Hey Stewie,

Mate, a bit more research on the AG brewing method will do you a world of good. There is a bit involved. Its not hard, but its a bit more to take on than kit brewing.

For instance - to fill a corny keg, will take a brewpot that is at least 30L and will cost you about 5-7 hrs more work than a kit beer.

BUT - if you are brewing 60L every 10-14 days ... you wont want to be brewing in 19L batches. Not at 6-8hrs work per batch. You will want to do 40 or even 60L batches. Which dont take a hell of a lot longer than a 19L batch - they just need bigger gear. To brew a 40L batch you need a minimum of a 50L pot (plus a bunch of extras) and to brew 60L you are looking at an 70-80+ pot.

AG is great fun, actually cheaper per batch by a long way (excluding gear) and will really and truly blow your mind when you see the quality of the beer its possible to make. BUT - its a quantum leap in effort required. Worth it in my opinion - but a lot more effort per litre.

Just to get you started - heres a link to an online book that covers the whole spectrum of brewing from extract through to All Grain. More detail than you need, but if you have a read, it will answer a great many questions you might have.

http://www.howtobrew.com/

Cheers

Thirsty

 

[Mitchell]

Welcome Stewie78,

ThirstyBoy is spot on. But I'd like to add a couple of additional tips.

Get thee to a brew club where there are some all grain brewers (or find one in your area here on AHB). The "how to brew" reference is great and it is definitely worth your while to read it. But follow that with some hands on to demystify it.

AG is easy once someone shows you how. There is something about writing down any processes in detail that makes them look complicated, even if they are not. I skipped the whole kits and partial mashes business and went straight to AG...simply because someone showed me how....and it was easy. Requires a bit more effort, but mainly quite a bit more time than K&K. But most of that extra time is waiting around for processes to finish... perfect opportunity to neck some pints if you ask me.

Something you will not find in the "How to Brew" reference is the Brew in a Bag (BIAB) approach to AG. This requires less gear than other approaches and is worth a look. This forum is one of the best sources of info on BIAB. Check out this post BIAB info.

Bigger is better when getting your boil pot. You can get them at catering places, Asian markets, that sort of place. I found the best price for mine online at the time. Shop around as prices vary wildly. I use a 70l ss boil pot to do 47l batches. You could use that size to do 60l batches in a pinch but if you really want to do 60l batches regularly you may want one slightly larger.

Good luck and happy brewing.

Mitch

 

[ozshots]

I could do with more as I tend to do a keg a week myself in footy season

jeez, I have a lot to improve in my drinking technique...

 

[argon]

A keg a week in footy season... what club are you with and do they need anyone!!!