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Moving to All Grain
I want to go all grain with my next batch but I've decided that I'd like to do more small batches( 2.5-3 gallons). My reasoning behind this is that I have a nearly unlimited supply of 4-5gallon buckets (girlfriend works at the campus bakery) and I'd rather have a variety of beers than a large supply of a couple. Now I know that it takes the same amount of work to do a 5 gallon batch, but I enjoy the proccess and with all the extra batches I'll be doing I ought to get better at it quicker eh? Anywho my question is if a 5 gallon cylinder cooler with steel braid will be too big for 2-3 gallon brews. Also if my logic is totally off anywhere I'm always looking for advice. Thanks
Too big? Dude! You can brew 2 gallons in a 50 gallon mash tun if you want.
I have a 12 gallon bucket I use when I mash. I only brew 10 gallons now. The beer is the same, but I always split the yeast. I make two starters with different yeast. Next I label the fermenters and the kegs, so I know which yeast I am trying. Ok so it's the same beer, but I have had 2 recipes that taste radically different just because of the yeast.
One recommendation is to go ahead and use as big of a mash tun as you can. More than likely you are going to want to upgrade your batches. I brewed around 50 batches at 5 gallons before I got pissed off going through a keg in a few days. Now I'm 10 gallons or nothing.
If you are fly sparging you will need to pay attention to the grainbed depth, as this will affect your efficiencies.
If you batch sparge, then the size and shape of your tun aren't as important. Your problem with this now might be that it is too small, depending on the gravities of the beers your are planning to brew.
Ok, so if I ever wanted to move to higher gravity 5 gallon brews I would need a cooler larger than 5 gallons? How much larger?
I use a 48 qt cooler, and I have filled it up abour half on a 5 gal batch, but normally I am about 1/4 full.
Check out http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml for a calculator that will give you the approximate size cooler you need for a particular batch.
I agree with cubx. If you want to get better quicker, brew the whole 5 gallons, and then split it into 2 different beers by pouring it into 2 different fermenters and using 2 different yeasts. You wil learn so much from brewing the same recipe and tweaking just one little thing. You might also try brewing one batch with dry malt extract and the 2nd with liquid malt extract. And so on...
Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going to get a bigger cooler. I guess I didn't realize that grain depth doesn't matter much for batch sparging. I think I'll go out and get my stuff this weekend.
When I designed my first mash tun, I didn't know how to plumb it, so I bought a 8# wine fermenting bucket, some copper tubing and faucet at Lowe's (or was it Home Depot?), and a bulk head fitting. Now I know how to set up a cooler, but I got what I need. I was only brewing 5 gallons then.
I upgraded to 10 gallons, and my first batch was fine with that bucket, but my next was a higher gravity and it was literally at the top. I immediately bought a 12 gallon bucket. I already had the tubing and such, so no sense in getting a cooler.
Now don't get me wrong, coolers are great! I just didn't have the know how back then.
You will need a 48 qt cooler for 5 gallons. You can do a low gravity (under 1.055 I think) beer in a 48 qt, but not high gravity. I HIGHLY recommend shelling out a few extra bucks and getting a 60 qt or so. You will be glad you did when you go larger than 5 gallons.
Measure out how much copper tubing you will need for the bottom to act as a false bottom. You can also put tubing along the top for sparging, but I personally just use a simple strainer that I slower pour water over to get a slow sparge. There are so many ways to do this.
Think it out ahead of time. Draw it out. Decide what you want and go a little higher. Chances are you will want to upgrade your system down the road, but if you "pre-upgrade" it, then you will already have it when you want to brew more.
Brewing 10 gallons over 5 only takes 1-2 hours longer, and you get double the beer.
And like I mentioned, you can split 5 or 10 gallons and use 2 types of yeast. It is amazing how much different an amber ale can taste if you use 1275 in one and 1318 in the other.
I've heard of people using stainless steel braid instead of copper tubing. For someone without a drill or saw handy this is very appealing. What are the advantages/disadvantages of going this road?
You certainly can use stainless steel braided hose. You need something to "clamp" it to the bottom so it doesn't go free floating. My only other concern is the grain might crush it a little slow down your runoff, but I have seen several mash tun setups using this, so it must work.
I would think it would be pricey, but I don't know. I wanted peace of mind knowing it wouldn't collapse or move around, so I used copper tubing.
But steel braid should work just fine.
Price, ease of access to either part, and how workable it is for you are the pros and cons. If you don't know how to saw up copper tube and plumb it, you might consider the other. Remember though, either way you go, you have to do SOME plumbing.
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