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All Grain Brewing
bruguru wrote:
do you have spigot's on the better bottles? Or because of the nature of the bottle, is it impossible?
I have Better Bottles also........2 six gallon I use for primary fermentation, 2 five gallon ported with spigots and racking arm for secondary fermentation and bottling, and 1 five gallon for beers that need to be aged or lagered for extended periods of time........I also have a big shiny conical 
dartgod wrote:
I also have a big shiny conical
yeah, g'head and rub it in......
That's the way to roll man. Carboys seem like a big pain in the ass,. the better bottles seem like the way to go. As far as the conical fermenter, I didn't know James bond was a home brewer?
Personally started over 20 years ago as an avid DME brewer...Lost interest fast as the "brew by yu" opened allowing you too brew from dme and add grain......well that was sweet...
I played there game for several years, till they started to thin out ....and the copper kettle's dissapeared...
Than it was only a few U- brew's left......they did not offer any "Intervention" but you were still able to recieve a non-preservitive" beer @ 1/2 the cost ???
1 year ago I personally bit the bullet and repurchased all the top of the line equipment...Dropped the DME scene... And went full grain....Haven't looked back since.......
My beer....My way...
Still do the later..."U-brew's......every few week's....
I don't get too play with there offering's......But will bring in a cple of mine on bottle day...Only too watch there eye's light-up...and launch a smile......)))))
There favorite... My Summer Special....Nice dark Ale, with a Roast /chocolate Flav...
Just found this post.
I gotta say that all-grain is a great way to start. I did a few extract batches before I switched over, but the truth is that steeping specialty grains takes only a little less time than mashing grains. And not messing around with DME or, worse yet, LME, is well worth it.
I never did partial mash, and personally don't understand it, unless you somehow "don't have the space for a full mashing system". As long as you have an outdoor space to brew with propane, you can go all grain. Even if you don't you can make it work, but it might be a bit more technical (using electrical heating elements to avoid deadly propane fumes).
I'm also going to go against the grain here, and say forget carboys and better bottles. All you need is buckets. Those narrow-necked fermenters are all a pain to clean. Better bottles are nice because they won't smash into a million pieces, but they can also hold bugs unlike glass. Glass is nice because you can theoretically clean it perfectly, but it will smash if you drop it - and if you like to relax and have a homebrew or two on brew day, you might be at risk of dropping a fermenter eventually. Buckets might have air permeability, but just don't leave the beer in there too long, and that shouldn't matter.
Now I will echo the sentiment of others, and say get more than you need. Big mash tun. Big brew kettle. I have a five gallon rubbermaid cooler mash tun, and I can only really do 12 pounds of grain in it. I have a 7.5 gallon kettle that came with my cajun cooker burner, and I can't vigorously boil enough wort to get two cases in bottles. I'm eyeing a 40-quart cooler and a ten gallon kettle for my five gallon batches.
Thanks everyone for the advise on this. I moved forward with the all-grain brewing session as my first attempt at brewing. It was a lot of fun...and quite a learning experience.
I built my mash/lauter ton out of a 50 quart Igloo Ice Cube. The manifold is made from 1/2" copper tubing, with a bunch of holes drilled. Drains really fast...seems to work like a champ especially once my technique gets a little better.
I had some issues getting the gravity I was looking for from my mash. However, I got some great advice from some members on performing a mash out, and also using some 5.2 pH stabilizer. So...looking forward to my next attempt!
I bottled the batch today, so now I have some numbers!
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV: 3.3%
Nothing spectacular on the numbers. However, in a few weeks if I have delicious beer...all will be right in the world.
I think I have a very good idea about why the FG was so high. While I used a yeast starter, I didn't shake/agitate the fermenter after pitching. I don't think I got very good yeast/wort contact, thus not very good conversion rate.
I ended up bottling about 4.5 gallons. I had some issue with siphoning, which is a pretty difficult operation. Left maybe .5 gallons of wort in the primary along with the yeast cake. I was able grab a bunch of yeast out of the fermenter, and I'm very much looking forward to pitching some of this next time.
Thanks to everyone, I think my next attempt will be a great success. I kept a ton of notes on an Excel spreadsheet, so I am able to target a bunch of different areas for improvement.
Northern Ike wrote:
I think I have a very good idea about why the FG was so high. While I used a yeast starter, I didn't shake/agitate the fermenter after pitching. I don't think I got very good yeast/wort contact, thus not very good conversion rate.
You really do not need to shake the yeast up that much once it is pitched. you want to shake your fermenter before pitching or aerate w/ some device (aquarium pump or pure o2) The yeast will find the sugar. 1.015 is not that bad of a finish pretty normal. The great thing about AG is if you like the beer but want more alcohol, just add a few more #s of base malt next time.
You may want to check the extract potential of your recipe to see what kind of efficiency you got, so you can plan your future recipes around it once you get a consistant process.
I asked about the extraction rate on another post. Brewchez told me I hit about 50%. I think with the mashout and pH stabilizer I should be much better next time!
Good information, Thirsty, regarding the FG. I always see people hitting like 1.009...so I thought that was normal. I'll work on upping my OG, assuming I'll hit about 1.010 - 1.015 on the FG.
Thanks!
At the proper pitching rates of yeast they will perform to within a certain parameter of their attenuation, but can never eat everything on their plate. Kind of like if you can eat six slices of pizza, and a medium pizza comes w/ 8 slices. You will always leave 2 slices behind. But what if that medium pizza now is much larger but still only 8 slices. Well if you are really good and hungry you still may be able to power down your usual six slices but the remaining 2 are going to be larger.
The higher the OG the more yeast that needs to be pitched and with standard attenuation you may wind up w/ a higher FG. Some profiles can benefit from this- I have a revised DFH Indian brown that starts at 1.085 and finishes 1.025. and gives me a nice 8% beer with a ton of mouthfeel and body. Sane token I have a DIPA that starts at 1.085 and finishes at 1.014, the yeast is a true performer, and I pitch a buttload of it.