I’ve brewed a couple of extract kits and wan to try all grain. Right now I don’t have any equipment yet but trying to weight all of the different options.
I was wondering if I should try the brew in the bag or partial mash kits before jumping into all grain.
Some of the all grain equipement is confusing right now and it seems like there are several different ways to do all grain. Different sparging methods. Is there one standard way that I should try to start doing it. I probably won’t fork out a couple hundred dollars for equipment right now since I just got my kegging stuff.
+1 on Denny’s system. You can go all grain for super cheap if you’ve got a spare cooler and a few random pieces lying around in your garage. I started with Mr. Beer a few years ago, and after a couple batches I went straight to Denny’s process. All grain is actually much easier than it looks; it’s just all the variety of systems out there that makes it seem complicated.
+1 on Denny’s system. You can go all grain for super cheap if you’ve got a spare cooler and a few random pieces lying around in your garage. I started with Mr. Beer a few years ago, and after a couple batches I went straight to Denny’s process. All grain is actually much easier than it looks; it’s just all the variety of systems out there that makes it seem complicated.[/quote]
and all the styles of mashing & sparging… :lol:
it was a lot easier than I expected though. just a longer brew day, which is fine with me. it’s just more for me to enjoy!
My feeling is that if you don’t have a nice gas stove, move outdoors and go to all grain with a cooler mash tun rather than BIAB.
I left the spigot in my cooler. I used a hose that fit the diameter of the spigot, cut a V shaped slot in it so I could push it through, then grabbed it with pliers to pull it through, cut the V notch out, and installed the braid. You could control the flow with a hose clamp but putting an inline valve is cheap and easy. You can find a cheap plastic valve here on NB. Install the valve a few inches from the spigot. Works great, and I get great efficiency even with no sparge.
When I started out, I did my homework and went all out right away - Go Big or Go Home. Had a rough couple of first brews, but all ended well.
Now I just don’t have the time for the whole thing, so I am starting to get into simple partial mash out of need. Actually looking forward to a shorter brew day.
I don’t regret going big to start, but for someone else I would probably agree with the other posts here. No reason why you can’t build yourself up a bit. Get your feet wet with a partial mash, or else Denny’s simple cooler system looks great.
My thinking was always if you are going to brew 23l, why not brew 46l? Which is fine. But now it’s more like brew 19l with some extract, or can’t brew at all.
+1 on Denny’s system. You can go all grain for super cheap if you’ve got a spare cooler and a few random pieces lying around in your garage. I started with Mr. Beer a few years ago, and after a couple batches I went straight to Denny’s process. All grain is actually much easier than it looks; it’s just all the variety of systems out there that makes it seem complicated.[/quote]
+1 from me too. I started brewing with NB extract kits. After three of those, I switched to all grain using Denny’s system, and I love it. I already had a turkey fryer burner and was doing my extract brews outside, so all I had to do was modify a cooler, and I was ready for all grain.
Partial mash is actually a full on all grain process, but at a smaller scale, where the remaining gravity is made up with extracts at the end. Therefore a much smaller / simpler setup would be needed for a mashtun.
With partial mash as well, sparging is less of an issue, because lack of efficiency can again be made up with extract. Though a sparge is still an option.
If time is not a major factor for you, there is no real reason you can’t just jump into all grain from the start.
Don’t think that anyone has mentioned Charlie P’s double bucket lautering system, but it is cheep / quick / easy , and has the capacitly for a full 5 gal batch
I am in the process as well. I only have a32qt cooler vs the 48 it seems most people use. I only do 5 gal batches so hopeing it will be ok. if my math holds true, I should be ok.
