Help With Small Scale All Grain

[chaos666chris]

Hello i need help with a small scale all grain brewing setup im looking at the stock pots from kmart that are 15L i have one that i use already

Im thinking ill get a new one and i only make 20L batches i have heard in some places if you use the same amount of grains for the liters you could top off with water that is needed please correct me if im wrong

for the mash tun im looking at getting a small esky and doing the normal setup for sorry for all this need to do things on the cheap SWMBO will kill me if i spend much as we paying the house off lol i guess kind of what has got me into brewing but its fun as well

planing on using my auto siphon and from the mash tun i plan on just puting the pot lower than the mash tun and letting gravity do the work until i can save more pennys and pay for 2 50L pots and all the plumbing and a good pump for the job

 

[manticle]

Look up high gravity BIAB and stovetop brewing.

 

[seamad]

Get the bigw 19 L pot,$20. Extra 4 L is handy.

 

[bruce86]

like manticle said do biab for now you wont need a mash tun so that will save you money. im in the same boat so a lot of the stuff im getting to build my ag setup have been freebies or dirt cheap and slowly collected.

 

[Diggs]

Funny I spent a lot of time researching this yesterday.

I have a 20Lt pot that I am going to BIAB in (got it off Gumtree for $20 Brand New). Apart from a BIAB Bag I dont need anything else (apart from ingredients of course). Very low cost entry into AG brewing. I'll be doing approx 10Lt batches.

There's also a thread on here of how to do a full boil batch using 2 pots (BIAB as well) that's worth having a look through.

I have an app on my iPad (iBrewMaster) that scales down recipes (including boil volumes etc), I am sure the PC based versions would do this too as they seem to be better.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

<snip>

There's also a thread on here of how to do a full boil batch using 2 pots (BIAB as well) that's worth having a look through.

Look in my sig. It can be done without an esky mash tun. Two bits of swiss voile in the two pots, instead of lautering. However, mashing in a tun and lautering is (labour wise) a helluva lot easier.



Goomba

 

[Steve@PMF82]

As others have mentioned BIAB is your cheapest and quickest option.
Go to spotlight at Morwell and grab yourself a sheet of swiss voile big enough for your 15L pot and you can get cracking straight away with smaller batches or you can mash at regular water to grain ratios of around 3L / KG of grain in you 15L pot, then give the grains a small rinse in plastic bucket and boil the resulting liquor, which will be high gravity.

Actually i have a sheet of swiss voile you can have that is matched to BigW 19L pot as i have officially no want to use it again. See here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=910394
Could cram it in a post bag would be cheaper than travel just for it.
Happy to organise to offer help on brew day if needed.

 

[Nick JD]

Have a look at this thread.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=44264

 

[stux]

Google "Maxi-BIAB"

 

[user 384]

I've been brewing small batches for years. Even now I aim for about 26L, which I split into two small fermenters, pitch 2 different yeast, then keg in 10L kegs.

If you want to go the route of a separate mash tun, it will add about $55 to the total cost.

Mash Tun - 19L (5 gallon) round esky from Amazon $40 delivered (I bought a Coleman brand about 3 months ago).

Filter for Mash Tun - $5 sieve or strainer, take off the stainless steel mesh, roll into a sausage/cigar for a homemade Bazooka screen.

Tap - if you want to make the brew day easier, replace the tap on the esky with some form of a ball valve. You can buy 1/2" stainless steel ball valves for under $7 on ebay. For another $8.50 you can buy a stainless steel hex nipple, locknut, washer and hose barb. Re-use the o-ring from the original tap and you have all the parts for a weldless bulkhead with tap for under $20.

Total cost should be about $65 -$75 for a very good quality mash-tun. You could choose to add a false bottom at a latter stage, but your ghetto Bazooka screen will work just as well.

This is basically what I used for several years (however my bulkhead was even more ghetto).

Cheers
MAH

 

[merlin032]

Aldi had a good special on for esky's a while back and that's what I used, along with 2 x 40 litre aluminium pots from a catering supply place (http://www.cedarhospitality.com/) for $90 each after I negotiated a discount. copper piping for the manifold & immersion chiller.

Maybe you can justify the cost to the missus by saying AG is much cheaper than extract in terms of ingredients - if you bulk buy your grain (contact http://kegking.com.au/ or AHB bulk buy), reculture your yeast & buy hops from the US (http://nikobrew.com/), a 23 litre batch will only set you back $10 or so

I think small batch BIAB methods on the kitchen stove + no-chill would probably be cheapest equipment wise

I did see someone post a ghetto 3v setup using what looked like bunnings handi-pail's but I can't find the link

 

[chaos666chris]

Aldi had a good special on for esky's a while back and that's what I used, along with 2 x 40 litre aluminium pots from a catering supply place (http://www.cedarhospitality.com/) for $90 each after I negotiated a discount. copper piping for the manifold & immersion chiller.

Maybe you can justify the cost to the missus by saying AG is much cheaper than extract in terms of ingredients - if you bulk buy your grain (contact http://kegking.com.au/ or AHB bulk buy), reculture your yeast & buy hops from the US (http://nikobrew.com/), a 23 litre batch will only set you back $10 or so

I think small batch BIAB methods on the kitchen stove + no-chill would probably be cheapest equipment wise

I did see someone post a ghetto 3v setup using what looked like bunnings handi-pail's but I can't find the link

cant go small i like my beer might start charging my friends like .50c per large glass or something like that to help me get the brewing stuff needed im going to do the biab and a small immersion chiller i do want to keep it basic now looking for grain lol need some good lager recipes i love my lagers and drought but that is lager aswell

 

[super_simian]

Nope, don't sell your beer. It's illegal.

 

[Verbyla]

Nope, don't sell your beer. It's illegal.

Not illegal if they flip you a $5 at the end of the night for friendship tax though :lol:

 

[homebrewkid]

also not illegal for mates to chuck in a few dollars for supplies

 

[manticle]

Do you guys expect a tip when you invite someone round for dinner as well?

 

[Paul H]

Do you guys expect a tip when you invite someone round for dinner as well?

Depends if they know much about horses <_< +

:icon_cheers:

Paul

 

[winkle]

Do you guys expect a tip when you invite someone round for dinner as well?

"Be good to your mother"
"Never expect to win on the pokies"
"Back the grey horse"

 

[manticle]

And for ****'s sake, never wear those shoes and those pants together in public again.