Newbies To All Grain

[tangent]

(Please!!!) Use the search function of this site and Google, they're both Gold!

Some people on here have gone to a lot of trouble to document their hard work and research.


My approach to going all grain was a smooth transition because I wasn't trying to make a truck load of "Lite Ice" with some basic ingredients. All I wanted was malty and hoppy. The cornerstones of all things beery.

But just start with the basics eh? It's all just down to a few steps, like doing the steps of an extract brew but less can opener.
Forget chillers, clearing tablets and whirlpooling. (all in their time but steady as she goes)
Think back to a time before digital meters and BeerMash tm Software.

Look at your gear, how many pots and pans can you muster up and for how long. You want to put a whole day aside for your 1st AG! And you'll probably want a heap of spills and accidents cleaned up by the time your co-habitants appear home from school/work/stealing/AA meeting.


Keep the first few simple:
1. Get a damn thermometer!

2. Buy as many stubbie of Ales you can, IPA's, APA's, wanky Ales, great Ales, drink it, drink many. All the brands you can find.

3. Find a BASIC recipe. 1 base malt and a little crystal at most! Don't make a bloody Hoegaarden or something stupid 1st! Plenty of time for all the colours of the beerbow.

4. Get a brewshop to supply and crush your grain. They should be able to supply you with enough grain and hops to do a brew for around the same price as a fancy can of imported extract.

5. Do a mash in some buckets, an esky, whatever.

6. Boil it in pots, a pot, a copper, lots of microwaves, whatever.

7. Add hops and keep boiling.

8. Cool down however (some pots in a sink of ice water maybe )

9. Ferment the same as the last zillion brews you did with a can. h34r:

10. Drink a beer.

i can tell you your brew will taste 10 times better than the extract brews you've been making!

All of a sudden the battle changes from "what flavours can I keep out of this", to "wow, what other flavours can i make."

Then start to fine tune :excl:

One taste of grain and you'll go beer crazy like the poor souls here with extra tasty beer on tap rehahahahahahaha!
(seriously, it's NOT that hard!) and the rewards are :beer:

fine tuning your keg system, now THAT's an lesson in patience and extreme voilence

 

[Aaron]

(Please!!!) Use the search function of this site and Google, they're both Gold!

[post="99553"][/post]​

Yes, a top idea. Also, before you ask a question have a look at this document. It is by Eris S Raymond and a very good guide indeed.


If you are considering moving to all grain there is one thing you need to do before anything else. Get yourself a copy of "How to Brew"or read it online.

Oh, and if we are going to give advice to newbies it is probably worth some of the real experinced AG brewers coming in and offering advice.

 

[NRB]

Nice post tangent; it echos the thoughts I've had over the last couple of months.

 

[Mr Bond]

Spot on Tangent.

I'm soon to do my 5th AG.

I can only handle 2.5kg grain bill mashed in a s/s pot,sparged in a 10 litre bucket with a s/s filter i fashioned up myself.Makes 11/12 litres of yummy beer.

a digital therm from DSE was only about $30 bucks.

Also to anyone startin out get a set of digi scales,find a hop IBU calculator you like and stick to it :excl:
And here is a link to a strike temp calc that comes in handy until you get a feel for it



http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/articles_o..._StrikeTemp.htm

The drop in volume produced for me is far outweighed by the cost saving,the control over flava /mouthfeel and the sense of achievement in designing and brewing my own beer(traditionally) from scratch.

Brau(glad i made the step up)luver :beerbang:

 

[pint of lager]

When planning your first ag brew, keep in mind the basics, you have to mash, sparge, boil and cool the wort. With small batches, this can often be done with cheap equipment. A thermometer is essential kit. You need to measure down to 1 degree.

Experience. If possible, sit in on someone else's brewday, or a brewshop demo. If there are no ag brewers nearby, start doing partial mashes and build up to ag.

Recipe. Tangent's recipe is ideal. Try and aim for a middle of the road IBU's, 25 is fine. So if something is out in your brewday, you still make a nice drinkable drop. If you are struggling with working out the correct IBU's post your recipe including your hops AA rating. It is important to get this part right as depending on where your hops come from, there is a huge difference in AA rating.

Yeast. If you have never used liquid yeast, your first ag is not the place to start. Use a good dry yeast.

Strike temp. Get this right and try and hit your mash temp. Keep a kettle of boiling water and a jug of cold ready for additions. A lot of conversion takes place in the first 20 minutes, so it is vital you nail the settle temp of your mash.

Do not oversparge. This is one area that it is better to err on caution. Stop at 1.015. Crash cool a sample in a plastic bag in an ice bag to 20 deg. Missing a few litres at 1.015-1.010 won't affect your og much. Just top up your boil volume with boiling water.

Boil. A nice rolling boil.

Boiling volumes. After you have collected your sparge, top up to 30 litres (assuming you are making 23 litres brew). You will loose 5 litres due to evaporation and 2 litres to hops and trub leaving 23 litres.

Do not rush the brewday, allow yourself plenty of time so that you do not miss any steps and have plenty of time to clean up.

Efficiency. Do not bother to work this out for the first few brews. It tends to confuse people, and dishearten the new brewer when they work it out. A good starting point is 5kg of base grain with 200 gms crystal, topped up to 23 litres in the fermenter.

Brewing software. Promash and Beersmith are excellent brewing tools, but add an extra layer of complexity. You are better off not using them for your first few brews. A simple IBU calculator is best. Or a calculator and a formula.

Cooling. The boiler in a tub of water is fine. Keep a few sanitised iceblocks in the freezer to get the final temp closer to pitching temp.

Do not worry about pH, water chemistry, chloramines, water salts, whirlfoc and many other facets till you have the basics of mashing, boiling and cooling under control. Then start refining your process and look to these facets.

Safety. Handling boiling water and wort is dangerous. After doing 95 ag brews, I scored my first major scald a few weeks ago with second degree burns that are still healing, and would hate any other brewer to be crisped. Burns are very painful and take a long time to heal, which may stop you from undertaking normal activities such as working and going swimming.

 

[redbeard]

I'd second PoL's tip on safety with boiling water & wort. the 1st few ag brews i did would have scared any oh&s person. im a lot more careful now, thou with my last brew, i managed a small scald on my leg due to my new sight glass, which wasnt properly secured at the top. fortunately due to the nearby tap hose ive only got a small scar to brag about.

if you've got kids about be extra careful.
after a few ag brews, understanding more of the process, you'll relax & enjoy the day

cheers

 

[Kai]

Well written as always, lager. I would second all of that, especially the avoiding the use of complicated brewing software for the first run. And for your first few all grains, keep some extract on hand in case you under achieve on gravity and do want to buffer it.

 

[ruserious]

seems a little less daunting after this read.

:beer:
ruserious

 

[Mr Bond]

seems a little less daunting after this read.

:beer:
ruserious

[post="100605"][/post]​

Yeah i was abit reluctant but after seeing 2 smallscale demos I took the plunge.
For me starting with small batches was a cheap set up option and gives me a chance to experiment and familiarise myself b4 investing in more gear.Things like strike temps and lautering make it a little more tricky,but are easily mastered after only a few brews.I did my 5th on new years day and was surprised how much more relaxed and comfortable I've become after just a few,and how the confidence grows as you settle into a new routine.

 

[WillM]

Nice to see some simple instructions, it wasn't that long ago I was brewing in few converted plastic fermenters, one with a heater attached to mash/boil and another with holes drilled in it to sparge. I even used to let it cool in the fermenter (well sanitised) overnight to let it cool before pitching the yeast.

The beer still tasted great.

Use what you have and then enjoy adding new bits as you become comfortable with the process (and decide you are ready to improve a certain part of it). The equipment additions just make the hobby more fun and there will always be that next gaget you have to have.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Boiling volumes. After you have collected your sparge, top up to 30 litres (assuming you are making 23 litres brew). You will loose 5 litres due to evaporation and 2 litres to hops and trub leaving 23 litres.

If you are topping up to 30 litres pre-boil, how much water should have been used originally with the 5kg of grain to steep/sparge?

Is there merit in starting off with say, 15 litres of water after sparging, and then only boiling this amount. Topping up to 23 litres at the end? It would seem to down-scale the size of equipment required - boiler, BTU rating of the burner etc......


M

 

[Uncle Fester]

a digital therm from DSE was only about $30 bucks.

Brauluver,
Can you post the model number? I have searched their web site and cannot find anything that I reckon would be suitable.

Cheers,

M

 

[Lukes]

a digital therm from DSE was only about $30 bucks.

I found one on ebay for $10.00 but it has to come from china and takes a couple of weeks !

Digital Food & BBQ Probe Thermometer with Timer EMT-3

Luke

 

[agro]

Thanks for this thread.

Since the Braidwood trip I am extremely keen on getting into all grain, although my budget is a very big limiting factor (damn divorce!) - given budgetary constraints I will be hunting for the cheap solutions with some limitations.

This is actually an opportunity...

My plan of progression is to:

1. Buy some bulk extracts (DME and Liquid) to save some money.
2. Buy a variety of hops, yeasts etc.
3. Some specialty grains.

and make *lots* of small batches (12ltrs) to experiement with different styles, tastes etc. The idea is to get to know the ingredients and to some extent some styles.

While doing the above (I have everything I need) I will convert one of my eskies into a mash tun and look at buying a larger kettle - then i can go partial mash doing a batch sparge - heck I may even make it to all grain by this stage as my kettle size is the only real limitation.

In my case the temptation is to rush straigh into all grain, I am actually forcing myself to move slowly to learn what I can and to document the lessons learnt (ie http://www.conaghan.info/Brew%20Log.htm#Brews).

In the meantime I'm on the hunt for a couple of 50 litre kegs to use for the HLT, Mash Tun, Kettle etc. I'm going to enjoy the bargain hunting, scouring junk yards etc.

The search function on this site is gold. Having said that - the search function on this site isn't the most user friendly one out there. Of course, you can always use google to search the site.

Anyway, thanks to all on this site. The information you provide is invaluable and very, very helpful. Especially to noobs like me.

Cheers
Agro.

 

[tangent]

Is there merit in starting off with say, 15 litres of water after sparging, and then only boiling this amount. Topping up to 23 litres at the end? It would seem to down-scale the size of equipment required - boiler, BTU rating of the burner etc......

sure!, make sure you top up with boiled water so you're not introducing bugs, or just brew to 15L.

 

[Weizguy]

Is there merit in starting off with say, 15 litres of water after sparging, and then only boiling this amount. Topping up to 23 litres at the end? It would seem to down-scale the size of equipment required - boiler, BTU rating of the burner etc......

sure!, make sure you top up with boiled water so you're not introducing bugs, or just brew to 15L.

[post="100677"][/post]​

I can see an issue with hop utilisation. For those unfamiliar with the term, it's the amount of bitterness U can get into your brew... Hop/bitterness extraction efficiency.

A lower volume means that, for the same amount of hops, you can get less bitterness into your beer.

Especially if you intend to dilute to a final volume, the water will already be holding a concentrated malt solution. In simple terms, there's so much malt per volume in the wort, that you can't get as much bitterness into the solution, coz there's not enough room to dissolve it.

This may not be a big issue for neophytes, but I thought that I shouldn't let it go.

Seth

 

[ruserious]

Is there merit in starting off with say, 15 litres of water after sparging, and then only boiling this amount. Topping up to 23 litres at the end? It would seem to down-scale the size of equipment required - boiler, BTU rating of the burner etc......

sure!, make sure you top up with boiled water so you're not introducing bugs, or just brew to 15L.

[post="100677"][/post]​

if i did a mini AG up to 15lt, which my current gear could handle, would the extra headspace in the primary be a problem ?

:beer:
ruserious

 

[Darren]

RUS,
The extra head space would be advantagous if you had a BIG ferment. Just make sure you don't leave it in the primary for too long. The extra head space COULD contribute to excessive oxygen exposure and POSSIBLY oxidation. Otherwise. No worries.

cheers
Darren

 

[ruserious]

thanks darren, but...
if i want to rack it, do i primary for say..3 days, rack to secndry while there is still a good cover of CO2 and then get it out before any oxidation occurs ?
(obviously at end ferment).

i like an extended secondary but it wouldn't be possible in this instance..

would it ?

:beer:
ruserious

 

[Ross]

thanks darren, but...
if i want to rack it, do i primary for say..3 days, rack to secndry while there is still a good cover of CO2 and then get it out before any oxidation occurs ?
(obviously at end ferment).

i like an extended secondary but it wouldn't be possible in this instance..

would it ?

:beer:
ruserious

[post="100846"][/post]​

Ruserious,

Most people rack after primary ferment has finished (me included) - rack carefully causing as little splashing as possible & you'll be fine. If you are concerned & want to transfer earlier as Darren suggests, transfer once your FG reaches below 1020, which will typically give you a few points to go before primays finished...

Extended secondary as is your usual practice will be fine

cheers Ross