That's my last kit bottled!!!

[JabbA]

Right, bottled what is to be hopefully my last kit last night and am planning to get the kit together to go DIY AG over crimbo I'll be doing brew lengths not more than 25 litres.

At the moment I’ve three 25 litre buckets (two with leaver taps), an old kettle with an exposed element, and… that’s about it!

I’m planning on buying a 30/33 litre bucket to heat mash liquor and sparge water (which will be transferred to one of the 25 litre buckets) and also for the boil. I’ll attach the kettle element and maybe get another cheep kettle to butcher for a 2nd element.

Now the sticking point; will a 25 litre bucket be big enough to mash and be used when batch sparging? Or will I have to get another 30/33 litre jobbie?

I’ll make a false bottom for the mash tun, cheers Chris , and insulate with camping mats and will make a hop strainer like the Brupaks copper one. Finally, I’ll knock-up an IC from 10m of 10mm copper pipe.

After cooling, the wort will be transferred into the tap-less bucket to ferment before being racked into the mash tun before bottling with a bottling stick (what a great help that little beauty is!!)

How does all that sound?

In homage to the great Jim and his oh so addictive forum, I think my fist AG brew will be Jim’s recipe here!

[alefric]

All sounds great mate........good luck with your first AG brew,you'll never look back.

Andrew

[booldawg]

Sounds like you're ready to be a rockin' and a rollin' in the wonderful world of AG

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Good Luck.

[Matt]

It sounds like you have it all covered. The only minute adjustment I'd make is to put a tap on the tap-less bucket you say you have lined up for primary fermentation.

You may have done this already but I'd also say check out Barley Bottom for ingredients etc. BB is highly respected at JBK.

Good luck and enjoy,

Matt

[sparky Paul]

I'm not quite as close as the OP, I still have a pile of kits to work through - although I am not buying any more, and everyone is under strict orders not to buy me any for Christmas.

On the other hand, I already have quite a bit of the kit ready for the 10 gallon AG venture...

[JabbA]

Good stuff- cheers guys, I’ll make one of the buckets into a 25 litre mash tun then

Matt, I have indeed been over to the Barley Bottom website and will be making an order soon!

Paul, I've thought about putting a tap on the FV but I’ve had no trouble siphoning from it into a bottling bucket so far and I noticed on Tuesday the tap on the bucket I was using to bottle from was leaking slightly, I don't fancy having one leaking for 10 days while fermenting! It is an old bucket I’ve acquired tho, I may put a WD tap on the FV. Good luck in your AG Quest!

Heres to my first AG brew