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All Grain Brewing
I need someone to tell me if I'm crazy...
One of my relatives bought me a Mr. Beer for Christmas. I haven't even had a drop of beer from it (currently in bottle conditioning) and I'm finding myself completely enthralled by home brewing.
I'm about to upgrade equipment to allow for 5 gallon batches and a buddy of mine wants to join in my quest to home brew. He's pushing to go all grain right away. There is a certain attraction to controlling all steps of the process.
Is it a bad idea to skip extract brewing and go directly to all grain? I've read the All Grain Brewing article in the tutorials section, which was great. Can anyone offer me some advise, as a very newbee, as to how I should proceed?
Thanks,
Northern Ike
Here's my take.
If you guys can afford to get the equipment you need to go all grain, then I say you should go for it.
If you have found that you are good with cooking, and patient and comfortable with some basic math, then you can make the jump.
I would recommend that you go out and buy a couple extract kits to get yourself started. Just brew these up. HEck you can do both in the same day. (especially if you are purchasing big kettles and a propane burner for all grain). That way you'll have something to drink and think about as you venture into your first all grain batch.
The skills you learn in extact brewing pertain to the boil and everything after (hop rates, chilling, yeast management, sanitation, fermentation control, priming, bottling, conditioning). When you get into all-grain there is just more to know (grain selection, grain prep, water measurements, temp calculations, sparging methods). If you are OK learning the entire lion share at one time then go for it.
Many people make the jump after only a couple extract batches.
The last piece of advice for making the jump, would be to see if you can get an All-Grainer to help you out with your first batch on your own equipment.
It isn't surprising that you get that sucked in. If you really appreciate craft beer, then wanting to be able to control the whole process is the next step as a homebrewer.
GOODLUCK
BREW ON!
The bug consumed me quickly as well. The 2 things I learned after becoming sickenly obsessed that made the biggest difference in enjoyment were the switch to AG and to kegging. Don't get me wrong any level of homebrewing is great, the quality of the finished product is the key. Like brewchez said if you have the $$, which isn't a lot, (relative statement but for the beer it produces equipt. is peanuts) go for it. The steps are easy, just make a routine, write it down, every little step, follow it, and keep grreat notes. I have a buddy that is equally obsessive and we switched to 10 gal batches so we can each have a keg of product every batch. Just remember when purchasing equipt that you may want to go larger in the future so don't buy cheap stuff or stretch capacity just to say you are doing it, go overkill, so you will not be replacing it down the road.
thirsty wrote:
The bug consumed me quickly as well. The 2 things I learned after becoming sickenly obsessed that made the biggest difference in enjoyment were the switch to AG and to kegging. Don't get me wrong any level of homebrewing is great, the quality of the finished product is the key. Like brewchez said if you have the $$, which isn't a lot, (relative statement but for the beer it produces equipt. is peanuts) go for it. The steps are easy, just make a routine, write it down, every little step, follow it, and keep grreat notes. I have a buddy that is equally obsessive and we switched to 10 gal batches so we can each have a keg of product every batch. Just remember when purchasing equipt that you may want to go larger in the future so don't buy cheap stuff or stretch capacity just to say you are doing it, go overkill, so you will not be replacing it down the road.
EXCELLENT Advice there;
Great Notes
Go bigger than you expect for capacity
My third batch, and my friends second batch will be AG. I suppose you could say that's hooked to brewing as well........as mentioned, Go Big! It can't hurt to have room to make more beer....
Thanks for all of the feedback. My plan, equipment wise, was to buy a "starter kit" from a local brew shop. I believe this is a 6.5 gallon primary (Ale Pail Brand), 5 gallon carboy, bottling bucket, and various other odds and ends.
You referenced buying higher quality stuff. Do I take this to mean a conical fermentation unit? Trust me...the temptation is there! I'm just not sure exactly where to start, and if I'll outgrow the starter kit ($135) too quickly.
Plan for the mash tun would be the converted cooler per the home brew tutorial.
Again, thanks a lot for your help...it is much appreciated.
- Northern Ike
Has anybody done a partial or mini mash? I too am eager to move beyond extract brewing after only my first brew. Is a partial mash a good way to transition into AG?
bnelson wrote:
Has anybody done a partial or mini mash? I too am eager to move beyond extract brewing after only my first brew. Is a partial mash a good way to transition into AG?
I did around 20 batches doing a partial-mash before I moved on to all-grain. It was really easy going on to all-grain because my set-up was basically the same.....I used a Phil's mini-mash lauter tun and usually mashed 3-5 lbs of grain and then added my DME in the boil like an extract recipe......I don't think they are available anymore but here is an article on partial mashing and the equipment won't cost you an arm and a leg.....it also has some partial-mash recipes or you can buy minimash kits at some homebrew shops.....
http://byo.com/feature/1536.html
Northern Ike wrote:
You referenced buying higher quality stuff. Do I take this to mean a conical fermentation unit? Plan for the mash tun would be the converted cooler per the home brew tutorial.
- Northern Ike
Naw, what I meant is if you get a mash tun that only holds 5 gallons, you are going to be limited to 10# or so mash. If you want to do any heavy beers (70-90 gu's) you will not have enough room, then you will have to go out and buy another (been there). If you buy a kettle that just barely fits 6 gallons, same boat. If you look at a piece of equpt and the next larger or next better is just a couple bucks more, my opinion get it
Better bottles are a great example. I now have 6 glass carboys, but only 2 better bottles. I wish I had only got BB's in the first place.
do you have spigot's on the better bottles? Or because of the nature of the bottle, is it impossible?