Move To All Grain For Thirty Bucks

[Nick JD]

Bugger, the keg's empty - don't last long when they're nice

Sweet! Next step ... yeasts!

The real secret to great beer.

 

[whitegoose]

Just used this technique to make up a pilsner:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=571423

Everything went really well and I got pretty good efficiency out of the mash. STOKED!

 

[RdeVjun]

Just used this technique to make up a pilsner:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=571423

Everything went really well and I got pretty good efficiency out of the mash. STOKED!

Great stuff whitegoose, congratulations for this success!

I'm still using a variation on this method, it can be modded and tricked up if need be but works great straight out of the box and is cheap as chips- I thoroughly recommend it for anyone wanting to give AG a trial.

:beerbang:

 

[Bribie G]

Scruffy uses the bar-across-the-corner-units method for his AG BIABs, it can be scaled up to full batches.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Scruffy uses the bar-across-the-corner-units method for his AG BIABs, it can be scaled up to full batches.

Give me a big enough bar and I can brew any sized batch you dream of...

 

[adam]

Thanks muchly Nick. Finally got off my asre and made an AG acording to your instructions.
It is seriously delicious! Who'da thought 2kg of Pilsner grain and 12 grams POR could taste so good. And it does.
Cheers, Adam

 

[Pete2501]

Thanks muchly Nick. Finally got off my asre and made an AG acording to your instructions.
It is seriously delicious! Who'da thought 2kg of Pilsner grain and 12 grams POR could taste so good. And it does.
Cheers, Adam

How much beer did this make? I've been looking at recipes that require like 10kg of grain.

 

[adam]

It made 10 litres (or just over a carton). The point of this was to make it as simple as possible with standard equipment found around the home.
Then again, just double everything if you want 20l.

 

[Pete2501]

Yeah, nah that sounds great. I've focused on being able to store enough beer so I can afford to make mistakes along the way. This is perfect for my needs. I won't need to buy any additional pots pans heaters etc.

 

[MitchDudarko]

So going by this, I should be able to do a Dr. Smurto's GA to the full 23L by having all the grain in the 15L pot, and topping with water?

 

[PistolPatch]

Mitch, the method shown in this thread is a quick way to experiment and explore all-grain without going to much expense. It is a way of doing a mini-BIAB. It gives you the joys of all-grain, the simplicity of BIAB but the downside is that it is limited in volume.

You cannot do large grain bills in little kettles without running into problems. The maximum you should think about diluting your sweet liquor (the liquid you have in your kettle at the start of the boil) is accepted as being a maximum of 30%. Don't go over this.

If you want to brew standard size batches then jump to the main BIAB thread here and read the first post thoroughly and then download the instructions. There are also several very knowledgeable guys such as ThirstyBoy in that thread that have been doing exactly what is written here for a few years now so it is worth soliciting their advice.

This thread here would be better titled, "How to do a small batch of all-grain simply and easily with stuff in your kitchen." Well, something like that! It's a great idea to have a crack at this and explore all-grain.

Once you have done this, then you need to think, "Should I use this method to make partial full-size batches or move onto full-size all-grain?"

If you decide on the former, then there are many things you can fine-tune at this level, one being controlling and understanding mash temperatures. If you decide on the latter, then the link above should give you a very good place to start.


Pat

 

[PistolPatch]

So going by this, I should be able to do a Dr. Smurto's GA to the full 23L by having all the grain in the 15L pot, and topping with water?

If my answer above was too long (as they usually are ) then try this answer..

No you can't.

It is like putting sugar in a cup of coffee. If you throw 5 teaspoons in it might dissolve if you stir it. Throw 20 teaspoons in and it wont even with stirring.

There is a minimum amount of water that needs to "touch," your grain for it to all dissolve or suck the sugars from it. So, ultimately you are limited by your kettle, or in this case, coffee cup!

 

[RdeVjun]

Yeah, nah that sounds great. I've focused on being able to store enough beer so I can afford to make mistakes along the way. This is perfect for my needs. I won't need to buy any additional pots pans heaters etc.

Yep, this was the attraction for me- trying out AG with no significant expense or shiny equipment. I still use a very similar method almost a year into my AG career. I'm usually quite pleased with the results but for the occasional dud (still drinkable), but doesn't everyone get a disappointment from time to time though?

So going by this, I should be able to do a Dr. Smurto's GA to the full 23L by having all the grain in the 15L pot, and topping with water?

Without having tried this, it would probably be a mammoth- scale struggle Mitch. I'd be very surprised if an enthusiastic brewer didn't have a go, fail and then decide a bigger pot or smaller batches are probably easier in the long run. I do know that a 19L pot can do it, but only when all the planets are aligned.

PP is correct, long or short version- accept both or take your pick!

 

[Synthetase]

I recently used this method to do a 21 L batch of coopers pale. Although the starting gravity is not quite as high as a golden, you should still be able to get almost a full size batch using this method. It's a little tricky because your efficiency isn't very good and sparging needs to be done multiple times (hampered by the small size of the pot to store sufficient runnings), but it is do-able. Harness the power of mathematics in order to work out the additional bittering hops you're going to need to add to a ~1.080 boil prior to dilution, etc. and things should work. It's not ideal, but it does function.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

the thing is to not get too hung up on the 23L thing.... why is that how much you need to brew??

You could, given the willpower and a bunch of stuffing about ... perhaps get a 23 batch of a Dr Smurto's out of a 15L pot, but you could almost certainly get an 18L version of same with a lot less trouble and a 15L version pretty easily.

Sure, I know you want 23L, but at the end of the day, why isn't it that you want 46, or 127, or 586?? 23L is just a number - you haven't got the gear to do 127L and wouldn't try... same for 23L really. Just downsize till it becomes more easily doable in the gear you have.

Make 15L, do it easily and simply, have fun and enjoy the 45 stubbies you still get.... its not like it isn't still a fair bit of beer!

TB

 

[Pete2501]

Sure, I know you want 23L, but at the end of the day, why isn't it that you want 46, or 127, or 586?? 23L is just a number - you haven't got the gear to do 127L and wouldn't try... same for 23L really. Just downsize till it becomes more easily doable in the gear you have.

Make 15L, do it easily and simply, have fun and enjoy the 45 stubbies you still get.... its not like it isn't still a fair bit of beer!

TB

But I do want larger batch sizes. h34r: My shed (to be) should have one of these. I wouldn't mind doing a smaller batch but I'd perfer not to bottle for various reasons. I have my corny kegs and filling it up half way seems a waste. I got the following from the OP(s).

Add cracked grain and hops to a pot with a bag, make sure your water is at X tempreture for X time then cool and pitch the yeast. Bottle or keg as per normal.

:icon_offtopic:
The confusing part for me, who is making the transition from kits and bits to AG is the different mashing techniques. There are infusion mashes, step mashes, and decoction mashes. Then there's different setups (HERM, RIM, BIAB, other). Also there's various sparging styles like continuous sparge, fly sparge, batch sparge, parti-gyle (olden days but still) and BIAB or "the tea bag" method as I think of it.

Actually just writing that made me google several things and I ended upon John Palmers "how to brew". This is one of three beer books on my Christmas list. I think I'll need to read that book to get a lot of my questions answered. Also I need to shut up and and just do it. I find this stuff ridiculously interesting. For the last 6 months I've been reading about beer. I spend almost more time looking at beer in a pub than drinking it.

Also I've just realised I've gone on a major tangent and will add the little man off topic man.

Thanks again for the awesome posts. I'm looking forward to learning more.

 

[MitchDudarko]

Thanks for the replies guys, as usual they've been easy to read, and have pointed me in the right direction.
Firstly, 23L was just what the batch size said on the recipe, and thats why I had originally used that number. If I could do a batch to reach 18L, that would be perfect, as i'm getting 4 kegs from the missus for Christmas.
Secondly (and lastly), I'm just so eager to get into AG brewing. After tasting MintSauce's AG efforts, I'm extremely reluctant to go back to kits, ore even do partials. I realise this is usually the natural progression for most brewers, but participating in an AG brew at Gordon's has me confident I can do it myself.
Cheers again guys, I really appreciate it
Mitch

Oh, and BTW... Harnessing the power of mathematics isn't really an option for me... I barely have 2 brain cells to rub together! lol

 

[Thirsty Boy]

But I do want larger batch sizes. h34r: My shed (to be) should have one of these. I wouldn't mind doing a smaller batch but I'd perfer not to bottle for various reasons. I have my corny kegs and filling it up half way seems a waste. I got the following from the OP(s).

Then of course you can - you just need to buy a big enough pot. Go to the All Grain area, read the Guide to brewing in a Bag thread... or at least the first few pages. And thats how to do it full size or bigger, people are brewing 60L batches this way.

But you don't get to do it for $30 and you don't get to do it in your kitchen on the stove.

Bigger involves... well... bigger and more expensive stuff. But its no harder and no more complex! The same process, just more of it.

 

[Rodolphe01]

Slightly off topic, but I was wondering how much grain people manage to BIAB in a 20l pot? I've managed 3.5kg, this involved mashing it in about 5 litres of water and the rest of the volume (to a total of about 15l) was made up dunk sparging the bag. Not sure what my effiiency was like because I am slack and don't use my hydo

 

[RdeVjun]

Slightly off topic, but I was wondering how much grain people manage to BIAB in a 20l pot? I've managed 3.5kg, this involved mashing it in about 5 litres of water and the rest of the volume (to a total of about 15l) was made up dunk sparging the bag. Not sure what my effiiency was like because I am slack and don't use my hydo

Hi Rudi, if that 5 is not a typo and should be 15, I feel perhaps you could use a good deal more at mashing? The more used there the better IMO, I've always aimed for my pot to be full to the brim at mashing.

I put 4kg through last time, I used about 2/3 pot of water to mash and sparged twice to about 22L water used in total. Yes, I know 22L > 19L (my pot volume), but there's grain absorption losses, plus I usually take 3L of 1st runnings for caramelising which reduces to <0.5L. So there's never a point where I have >19L of liquor on hand.

Actually last time was interesting because I overnight mashed it- yielded 14L of 1.086 post boil which is about double the SG of what I was aiming for in the fermenter so about 28L once diluted. Hops utilisation suffers at these high boil SGs, but I've adjusted for it. I can't recommend high gravity boil/ dilution for everyone though.