What equipment do I need??

[beesley121]

Hi guys,

finally decided to take the leap and go into all grain brewing!!

what I need to do now is write up a list of equipment that I will need so I can put together a 'micro brewery'. Just a little stuck for sizes as I will want to be able to make 10 galon brews with this kit in time so here's my list so far

pre Boiler - I have a s/s stockpot that holds approx 12 gallons to the brim
Mash tun - I will get a coolbox but not sure what siae I wil need to do a 10 galon batch??
wort boiler - agin, I have a stockpot that holds 12 gallons to the brim, is this enough
fermenter - not sure what i can use to ferment 10 gallons in but it needs to fit in a standard fridge
LPG BURNER - not sure what kW I will need
3 X 15mm S/S ball valves -

All the other bits and bobs I have from my kit brewing days. If anyone knows where I can Obtain any of the above cheap, then please let me know. Also if you can think of anything else I will need to make this, please post it up here

thanx

[Parva]

I personally bought the 10g AG kit from Hop & Grape (2 element boiler, MT and fermenter) and this has served me well. I did however buy a 27l Cygnet boiler to act as a HLT to make life a little easier. If you are planning on going the propane route then I can't really help. I will however point out that you can do 10 gallon brews in a 30l Thermos type mash tun but you are going to really struggle if you intend batch sparging. The mash tun is the weakest link in this kit and I'm actually going to scale up to 10g brews myself but for my first one I'm going to mash the wort in two seperate batches as it's just too close for comfort for me to try it all in one and still batch sparge.

However, if you were to fly sparge then it should suit you perfectly well to use one of these or fabricate something similar. 12 gallons is a little close if you intend your final run-off to be 10 gallons. I believe the plastic boiler I got from H&G is 13 or 14 gallons although it's advertised as a 10 gallon brewery. I've not yet tried a 10 gallon brew in it but I'd imagine it's still going to be fairly full but manageably so, I suspect 12 gallons will be a little very close to the top given a 10% boil-off on a 60 minute boil. There are ways round of course by adding wort as the boil-off continues or adding more water to the final result so it's not impossible.

[beesley121]

bump

[beesley121]

oh come on guys, 54 people have viewed this and only 1 has replyed.

please help a newb

[Jim]

OK, you need:

- A Hot Liquor Tun (i.e. Something to heat up mash/sparge water - at a pinch that can also double as your boiler).

- A mash tun (either insulated or heated)

- Something to sparge in (can be the mash tun)

- A boiler

- A chiller of some kind (immersion or counterflow)

- A fermenter and serving vessels.

Everything else you might get will be there to make things easier rather than being essential.

EDIT: I mash in a 5 gallon vessel to make 5 gallons of beer, and if you have a large grain bill it can get pretty full, so I would say at least the size of the brew length.

[Northern Brewer]

You need, a boiler, a mash tun, and a fermenter. I get by with a 32 litre coolbox mash tun, a 20 litre Burco and a couple of fermenters with 4" screw lids and airlocks. To support these I call into use various household stock pots and buckets. Lots of folks on here get very excited by cooling apparatus, and sparging stuff, but believe me, you can live without it all. For serving you need nothing other than a few empty PET lemonade/coke bottles to get you started. Once you've knocked a couple of brews out, you will know for yourself what else you're looking for. Bit like women really And eventually you will start to think about a glittery whore called Cornie, who has lots of friends, and you will want them all to come and live with you so one of them is guaranteed to be ready whenever you're in the mood

[Subsonic]

Do consider using Stainless and you can use common bulkhead fittings and copper pipes. Downside is you need propane (although you can use electric fittings). Upside its cheap, you can do BIG brews, heat the mash for stepped mashes and it keeps the garage warm as you brew, lets face it - we all end up in the garage by SWMBO! Or in summer you can brew outside. I used to use plastic, electric elements, sustronic controllers etc. etc. and binned the lot after seeing the guys stateside brew using kegs. I would never ever ever ever go back, plastic served me well but I needed to do better beers.
Hope that helps, if you have any questions feel free to ask me offline if need be. Just do the sums and see how it all prices out. I think I have paid about £100 all in for boilers, pipework, burners, gas. Being holed up in the garage away from the 'kitchen' is good as well! Subsonic