My Simple Ag Setup

[Fents]

So heres my simple AG setup :

Messy

The Mash

Sparge + Boil

Sparge + Boil 2

Boil

Glass Table to Deck Floor to Ground Floor

Now all this works ok...but i feel im making it to hard on myself and not enjoying it as much as i used to (when i used to do kits or partials) because im making it to hard and its taking me 4-5 hours. Im space limited on my back deck. As far as i can think i have three options...

1. Make a tier system with shelves on my decking, get a proper mas tun (esky), proper HLT, instead of using 50lt keg i want a 70-80lt pot to boil.

2. Make a proper mash tun (esky again), buy a 70-80lt pot, do the mash and sparge on the kitchen bench inside the house (air conditioned in summer) and do the boil on the stove..(downside - stove flame is not as strong as 4 ring burner therefore taking longer to start boil)

3. Buy a 70-80lt pot and Brew in a bag...boil either on stove or 3 ring burner...

Comments and suggestions are WELCOME! :beer:

 

[Fents]

Or i could just convince the missu's to sell up with me and buy a new house with a massive shed ...haha yea right.

 

[Steve]

Mate - theres nothing wrong with that for a first up simple ag system. Ive done my past 6-7 AGs with almost the same set up. (see thread: First AG - Vienna lager). My mashtun is the same, my HLT is a pot I heat up on the kitchen stove with an immersion element. My burner is only 3 ring compared to your 4 ring and I have a keg to boil.....and with this simple equipment its turning out some GREAT beers and I love it. Yes, admittedly I am currently getting a bigger 38 litre mashtun/esky. You will eventually tweak it and replace bits. But to begin with and to get experience I dont see anything wrong with your set up...One thing - definately dont replace the burner with the kitchen stove. Plus you are lucky enough to have a tier system already in place in the table, deck and then ground. I have only got the BBQ that I have to lug my mashtun on top of as well as the keg when its cooled. You're lucky the only lifting you have to do is the HLT from the kitchen to the mashtun.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Pumpy]

Fents it looks a great set up

Sometimes brewers make things unecessarily complicated

I thinks one of the great things about starting this way is it encourages others that you dont have to have every bit of fancy gearto start Ag mashing

If you do decide to make a single tier brewery you will know exactly what you want as you understand the process.

Pumpy

 

[Fents]

Thanks Steve - Oh and i never said it downt make great beer ...its a TEN FOLD improvement on what i was making hahahaha, but i guess u knew that too.

Pumpy - I know what you mean about simplicity, it works so why re invent the wheel eh...I just want to make brewing easier on myself...I guess with experince (last weekend was my second ful AG) comes knowledge..Just like advice from experinced brewers like yourself

 

[Steve]

Thanks Steve - Oh and i never said it downt make great beer ...its a TEN FOLD improvement on what i was making hahahaha, but i guess u knew that too.

Pumpy - I know what you mean about simplicity, it works so why re invent the wheel eh...I just want to make brewing easier on myself...I guess with experince (last weekend was my second ful AG) comes knowledge..Just like advice from experinced brewers like yourself

One thing you could do to your mash tun is cut strips of polystyrene from those big white lettuce boxes from a grocer and tape them all round the side and base with gaffer tape. The bubble wrap and a bit of sticky tape looks a bit dodgy. Just a suggestion. Does it hold temp ok?
Cheers
Steve

 

[Ross]

Fents,

I've introduced many people to AG brewing on my simple setup - It is a tower, but no fancy gizmo's, pumps etc. I think pretty well all of them now have their own setups which leave mine for dead in technical terms - But I still keep turning out good beers & have no real desire to upgrade, as they say - if it ain't broke......

Your system looks good - as others have said, learn the process & then when/if you want to upgrade, you'll really understand what you want from it...

cheers Ross

 

[Justin]

If you're finding the Ag brew day a bit of a drag Fents, I think the best thing you can do for yourself at this stage is plan and organise ahead of time-so you can minimise the setting up etc on brew day and just brew.

Obviously I don't know what your exact procedure is but what I mean is do everything you can to cut down on the time and effort needed on brew day. Weigh and crush your malts a day or two ahead. Set up the gear the night before (throw a sheet of plastic over it if you don't want it to get wet or if that bothers you). Fill the HLT with water the night before.

Then just heat in your strike water the morning when you get up (and or rig a timer if you have an element)and get into it. Only heat the water you need to dough in to minimise this time, use the kitchen kettle to get you up to temp quickly by adding 2L amounts of boiling water you your heating pot.

Clean up as you go. Do other things while your mashing and boil etc.

That's about all I can help with but I understand it can get a bit of a drag pulling all the gear out and putting it away etc. If you can spread the work load over a day or two it might just make brewday a little cruisier.

Cheers, Justin

 

[Steve]

Clean up as you go is a good thing ive learnt too. By the end of the day I only have my keg to clean.
Cheers
Steve

P.S. Get that bloody dart board set up too! Whats it doing on the floor in the background. Get your mates round, BBQ, game of darts, a few beers. Make a day of it.!

 

[Fents]

Steve - Bubble wrap works fine, may chnage it for that blue camping mat stuff tho...does look a bit dodge eh..

Pumpy, yea think i'll keep this setup now for a while, you've convinced me.

Junstin - Cheers mate, thats exactly what i need to do, minimise my effort by thinking ahead :chug:

Cheers guys comments and feed back is much apprciated.

 

[Fents]

P.S. Get that bloody dart board set up too! Whats it doing on the floor in the background. Get your mates round, BBQ, game of darts, a few beers. Make a day of it.!

HAHAHAAH your a classic....yea should do somthing bout that :beerbang:

 

[DJR]

Camping mat insulation all the way Fents. Mine works quite well! A bit of alfoil on the inside of the mat, shiny side in, helps as well.

 

[lucas]

that naturally occuring 3 tier setup you have there is awesome! I'm still trying to work out how I'm going to get even 2 tiers without a brew stand... i think I'm going to have to buy a more stable table or something

 

[warrenlw63]

Top darts Fents.

All set up and ready to brew in anger. Nothing wrong with cutting your AG teeth as quickly as you can. Makes a refreshing change from some who wait months (years even) to finish a dream rig before doing any AG brews.

Enjoy the experience. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[Fents]

Another question for everyone - CHILLING the wort...

I spent $80 on this -

And i hate it, cant get it to work...

I like to pitch yeast on brew day, whats the cheapest and easiest way to cool a wort (apart from cold water in a sink - wastes water)...

Steve - i read ur thread? whats that copper u use? How much, can u post pics and how it works?

Also can someone word me up so i can put my fermenter in the fridge in summer to ferment? It sitting at 24c today and im scared, i used safale US-56 and its only meant to brew at 18-20..

 

[warrenlw63]

I like to pitch yeast on brew day, whats the cheapest and easiest way to cool a wort (apart from cold water in a

They're preaching to the converted here;

No Chill Brewing

Warren -

 

[tangent]

Nice work Fents.
Great way to start AG brewing, well done.
Don't knock the bubble wrap until you've worked out if it's working or not.
When I was doing bucket-in-bucket brewing I just added some boiling water at 30 and 60 minutes. Only lost a degree anyway.
4-5 hours for a brew is good! Try triple decoctions and tell me how long that takes

 

[Fents]

Tried the "No Chill" and dont like it.

Cheers Tangent, yea bubble wrap works fine eh. I loose 1 dergree in an hour mash.

 

[Screwtop]

Another question for everyone - CHILLING the wort...

I spent $80 on this -

And i hate it, cant get it to work...

I like to pitch yeast on brew day, whats the cheapest and easiest way to cool a wort (apart from cold water in a sink - wastes water)...

Steve - i read ur thread? whats that copper u use? How much, can u post pics and how it works?

Also can someone word me up so i can put my fermenter in the fridge in summer to ferment? It sitting at 24c today and im scared, i used safale US-56 and its only meant to brew at 18-20..

Fents, first of all great stuff, like others have said , JUST MAKE BEER. The simplest of systems work just the same and don't cost heaps while you're trialling the hobby. If you enjoy AG and the results, equipment can be upgraded further down the track.

Regarding cooling, no idea why you can't get your CFWC to work, have never used one. Are you making sure the water and wort are travelling in different directions. I use the old simple immersion chiller dunked in the boiling wort, cools in 20 min. Brew day all finished and done, cleaned up, packed away, wort in fermentation fridge in about 6 hrs all up. Get yourself an old fridge and a MashMaster fridge temp controller.
Cheers.

 

[Steve]

Fents i just use an immersion chiller....just a coil of copper that goes in the wort - hose on the other with cold water going in. The out water goes in a bucket to water the garden. Basically its the same as yours but without the hose and outlets. Simple.
Cheers
Steve