New To Ag

[Burchman82]

Hey guys, i know this has been done to death and ive searched around and i think im just confusing myself more and more with each passing hour.

i want to get into ag and not sure what equipment ill need. I have myself a nice 50L keg that some generous person left on the side of the road, and ive been told i need one of those round picnic coolers with a false bottom for something else.. then i read that i dont need that..... im confuuuuused.

do i use the 50l as a boiler? ive been reading howtobrew.com and thats been great but also somewhat confusing in the equipment side of things.

any help would rock

cheers
Burch

 

[MHD]

In short: Big metal container = Kettle for boiling the wort
Big cooler + some way of getting wort out without grain = mash tun
This is where sugars are extracted from the grain

Other handy things:
Big gas burner (I use A three ring burner from a camping store, ~$60)
Some way of chilling the wort
A good thermometer (ESSENTIAL)

Most importantly.... Have a good read of the AG section of this:
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Highly recomended: Joining a club/ making a brewfreind and watching them brew

 

[dreamboat]

50 litre vessel good for boiler.
You will also need a mash tun (possibly an esky)
Ideally you would also have a Hot Liquor Tank able to hald around 25 litres of water only.



dreamboat

 

[Trough Lolly]

Burch,
Check out this website for a good demo of a simple all grain brew session - with plenty of colour pictures. In essence you need a hot water tank, a mashtun / esky / cooler that doubles as a sparging tank, a boiler/kettle and a fermenter. A chiller to cool the boiled wort between the kettle and fermenter is handy too!

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/

Cheers,
TL

 

[Burchman82]

cheers for the replys guys..

what the hell is a hot liquor tank??

also, i forgot to mention, someone at the HBS said that i would need a bucket in bucket thing, where the holes are drilled at the bottom of the bucket like a strainer... is this instead of the picnic cooler idea?

 

[Jye]

also, i forgot to mention, someone at the HBS said that i would need a bucket in bucket thing, where the holes are drilled at the bottom of the bucket like a strainer... is this instead of the picnic cooler idea?

Yep, the round coolers are expensive :angry: a quick search on the bucket in bucket MLT will bring up a few results. A cheaper alternative to the round cooler is a 50L square esky with a stainless steal braid. With this you could use the no sparge method until you get your hands on a HLT (its just another kettle to heat water in) you will need another kilo of grain because you will have a lower efficiency but it will get you started.

Good luck
Jye :beer:

 

[Trough Lolly]

Yep, the round coolers are expensive :angry: a quick search on the bucket in bucket MLT will bring up a few results.

[post="119683"][/post]​

//shameless plug follows//
I read on our club forum that a local Canberra supplier has become a Rubbermaid distributor and will be doing 38L coolers for $150 plus GST. Give Craig at Trojan Hospitality a call on 02 6239 1360 - no affiliation yada yada...

Apparently he's going to be a Crankenstein distributor too!

Cheers,
TL

 

[Airgead]

Yep, the round coolers are expensive :angry: a quick search on the bucket in bucket MLT will bring up a few results.

[post="119683"][/post]​

//shameless plug follows//
I read on our club forum that a local Canberra supplier has become a Rubbermaid distributor and will be doing 38L coolers for $150 plus GST.
Cheers,
TL

[post="119690"][/post]​

Yeouch. I'd go the regular esky. My 36L cost me about $30 on sale at Big W. Another $10 for parts for the manifold and away it went.

Apparently the regular eskies are less prone to stuck sparges as they have more surface area and thus less liquid/unit area sitting on top of the grain bed compacting it.

As with all things brewing YMMV.

Cheers
Dave

 

[sintax69]

*To cut down on the gear why not read up on the no chill method great way to try your first AG you wont need all the chiller gear

*Also batch sparge cuts down on sparge arms hoses etc and makes the day a lot less stressful

*You dont need a round esky you could get a plastic drum wrap it in blankets or camping mats any thing to hold in the heat.Then just get a 32mm bung drill a 25mm hole down low in a bucket connect SS braid with a hose clamp to a copper pipe put pipe thru the bung then insert the bung in the hole and on the outside connect some plastic hose with another hose clamp to the copper pipe when youwant to stop the flow hole the hose above the liquid line of the bucket and it will stop no need for fancy valve etc this is the tightarse method



I have done AG done with the following
Emerssion heater $100
Thermometer $15
3 plastic buckets $45
6' SS braid $20
6' Cooper pipe ,Bung,Clamps,Hose $20
Sipon hose $15

Total $215

 

[Bobby]

you can get the rubbermade coolers for under $100 if you look around. also have alook on ebay every now and then witht eh keyword 'gatorade', there are some coolers available every now and then. have seen a couple go very cheap.

 

[Burchman82]

well i just did a short trip down to my local BCF (boating camping fishing) and they have 36L round ones for 80 bucks and 57L ones for 145.... is that a good price?? what size do i need?????

 

[warrenlw63]

Burchman

Always think in expansion mode... Get a 57 litre job and you'll never need another.

I used a 38 litre Igloo for several years. This was "just" comforable enough for 40 litre batches. It could hold 10kg of grain max with a lower liquor grist ratio. :beerbang:

Warren -

 

[Bobby]

thats quite good. especially compared to $150 plus gst.

 

[Burchman82]

now with these eskys i see with the stainless braid in them.... ive seen them in kegs too, are these for the same purpose?? does the boiler need it as well as the mash tun?

 

[PistolPatch]

I reckon reading about AG without pictures is going to just get you more confused. The link that Trough Lolly gave you above is very good and will simplify things tremendously.

I also think that a hard copy of a book that ahs pictures is quite a big help.

AG is one thing where a picture truly tells a thousand words.

The best thing of all though is to see of you can find someone who already does it and see if you can go along and watch. By doing this you will see just how simple AG is.

Oh, if you're in Townsville, you probably won't even need a boiler! (Just joking here!)

Cheers
PP

Just remembered... Here's another link with photos that is quite simple. Sam's Budgo Brewery

 

[johnno]

You can also have a look at sosman's site.

http://brewiki.org/moin/wiki/moin.cgi/FrontPage

cheers
johnno

 

[Burchman82]

yeah ive seen sosmans site, very informative. Like i said though im mainly getting confused with all the different setups available and exactly what piece of equipment is doing what... but i think im getting my head around it finally..

1 vessel to heat water (fermenter or something with submersed element)
1 vessel to boil water (50L Keg with gas cooker)
1 vessel to steep the grain in. (esky)

is that about it (in laymens terms anyway)???????

 

[smashed jaffa]

Yep,

I bought my 38L Gatorade Cooler from ebay $62 Delivered to my door. B)

Cheers,

Smashed Jaffa

 

[Burchman82]

cool
one more question

when heating the sparge water, is there a specific amount you need? or you just need enough to rinse all the grain??
if this is the case, would i be able to just use one of the missus's big pots on the gas burner i will use for the kettle??? is there any disadvantage to doing this rather than use the submersible element?

 

[Screwtop]

Burch, have a look at www.basicbrewing.com they have a DVD available for about 20 odd bucks AUD inc post if you can wait, takes about 10 days to arrive. Just two home brewers demonstrating the simplest AG brewing techniques and equipment and a hassle free brew day. They cover single and step mashing and sparging. The equipment is simple but above rudimentary. Have a look at their esky mash tun and especially the manifold made from PVC (food grade, available from Bunnings) simple and inexpensive.

Cheers.