New brewer - limited space

[sam1981]

I've been brewing kits for the past couple of years for my private beer festival with friends and family and I'm looking to upgrade to AG brewing this year to create a better brew. I've not got a great deal of space (live in a flat) and as much as I read on this site, I can't quite work out exactly what equipment I'll need and what it'll cost.

This is the equipment I've got for kit brewing:

Fermenting bucket
Hydrometer
Paddle

As I'm relatively limited on space, I'm hoping to limit the amount of buckets/bins/tuns I need to buy, so I'd appreciate a idiot's guide to the equipment I'll need and how much it'll cost.

I keep seeing pictures of people's 3-story setups and it seems pretty daunting!

[delboy]

It does seem daunting at first (esp the three tier setups) but its one of those things once you do it the penny drops and you think this is all realtively straightforward.
The three tier setups whilst looking complicated actually make life easier (i haven't got round to configuring mine as a three tier).

I'll let some of the more experienced AGers tell what you the bare minimum required is. Im not best placed as im a newbie and i stumped up the cash for Hop and grapes 10 gallon brewery which has everything you need, but you can certainly do it cheaper esp if you are diy minded.

[prolix]

In a flat a full 5 gal AG will make a lot of steam some boil inside, SWMBO does not allow me she lived in Northampton so just remember carlsberg smell poor girl.

I have a boiler, two fermenting vessels one as a mash tun / fermentor the other the hot liquor tun, a thermometer and a few pressure barrels to store it. so your not far off. Cost wise depends if you buy new, second hand or make them but about £60 from where you are now if you buy well

There is always mini mash no idea on the link but someone will help me here ... please?!

three teir is easy just looks scary and worry about moving boiling water always worries me

AG is great I am just finishing a brew great way to spend a day brewing and a month drinking


Forgot the false bottom plate and the hop filter but they are in the equipment section and fun to make... oh yeah and the cooler

[Jim]

To summarise, you need:

Something to heat water in for mashing/sparging
Something to mash in (e.g. picnic cooler mashtun)
Something to sparge in (can be the mash vessel)
A boiler (can be the same one you heat the water in)
A chiller (though you can just put the fermenter in a bath of cold water if you're pushed)

I think that's about it, but have a look at Daabs site and the All-Grain pages on here to get a better idea of the process.

[notassuch]

Hi Sam,

It sounds like you're in a similar situation to me. I'm also in a flat with very little room to maneuver.

For my first set up I went for Leyland Home Brew's 33L plastic boiler which is nice and inexpensive. It's
actually the same vessel as their plastic fermenting bucket with a 2400W element and a tap fitted.
It certainly does the job although I found it very slow to bring a full batch to the boil so I'm going to
fit a 2nd element to it before my next brew.

I converted a Thermos cool box into a mash tun following the fabulous instructions on
DaaB's website and I'm not kidding, it works like a dream.
DO NOT be daunted by this. I'm an office monkey with no handyman skills whatsoever and it took
around an hour-and-a-half to complete.
(You will work up a sweat sawing slots in the manifold though )

A wort chiller will come in very handy too. Again, these are easily made but I decided to be lazy and
buy mine.
(There are other methods for chilling wort all detailed in this forum)

If you want to batch sparge then you'll need no further equipment, but if you're fly sparging then you
could just start off with a watering can rose. That's what I did and it seemed to do the business.

Can't give a great deal of advice on dispensing at this point. (although you may already have this
covered)
My first brew is conditioning in a pressure barrel as we speak.

Enjoy,

Dave.

[louthepoo]

I have hardly any room too but i dont have any problems with my brewing - i'll rephrase that - not spacial problems!! I'm almost ready for the 3 tier system myself and after my processess so far, it looks a damn sight easier than what i've been doing!

[sam1981]

Thanks for all the replies so far - I really appreciate each one.

I'm still trying to digest the information you've all given. I printed off a few of the guides from this site and read them on my way home so I'm starting to get better idea.

I've got to say notassuch, I am extremely daunted by DaaB's mash tun guide. I am pretty shocking at stuff like that.

Quick question... is manifold in the mash tun totally necessary? Is it basically just an advanced sieve?

[Wez]

I am extremely daunted by DaaB's mash tun guide. I am pretty shocking at stuff like that.

I thought the same but i went for it and glad i did it seems to work like a dream, just get the bits you need take your time and i'm sure you'll be fine. Make sure you've got the right size hole saw bits.

[notassuch]

Absolutely,

Like I said, I'm so cack-handed with build projects and I waltzed it without any scars.

As DaaB says, running the wort off through the grain bed filters off a great deal of bits and grit from the grain.
Plus, the sparge water is draining through and rinsing the whole of the grain bed. Without it, there would be a bias
of flow near the tap area, reducing the amount of maltose you rinse from the grain, not to mention that it would
block the tap giving you a stuck mash.

As a complete beginner myself, I can't exaggerate how easy my first brew was thanks to this bit of kit.
Just remember to keep it a pipe's width away from the walls of the cool box when you measure it up.
The sparge water will also find a bias down the walls of the tun when you run off and sparge, and you want all of
that lovely maltose in your collection vessel.

Dave.

[bitter_dave]

Hi Sam, an alternative to mashing in a converted cool box is to mash in a fermenting bin insulated with a sleeping bag. You need to drill a 25 ml hole close to the bottom of a fermenting bin and fit a tap. You then take an identical fermenting bin and drill 2 mm holes about 1 cm apart on the bottom. When the drilled bin is placed in the bin with the tap you have a mash tun; the drilled bin acts as a sieve for straining the wort from the grain.

This is the mash tun I use, and I've never experienced any problems with it. If it is airtight and well insulated it loses no more than 1 C in heat over a 90 minute mash, which is comparable to a coolbox mash tun. I've never had a stuck mash, or any problems straining the wort from the grain. The advantage of a coolbox mash tun is that you may get a slighty better efficiency (you can get a bit more of the sugar out of the grains basically), but I get around 75% efficiency or a fraction below from my mash tun which I think is reasonable. Fermenting bins are also stackable.

On balance the coolbox mashtun is probably a bit better (I've never used one), but the fermenter mash tun is a good alternative in my opinion.

[sam1981]

Thanks again for all the info. I've been reading some of your threads about your brew days and it's definitely inspiring me to do my own soon.

I can't seem to find a standard cool box for less than the £49 you can buy an insulated mash tun - Maybe I'm just looking in expensive places so I can justify buying a mash tun rather than making my own

So, supposing I'm lazy and I buy...

A mash tun: http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/item584.htm
And a boiler : http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/item586.htm

...I can then use my existing fermenter, chill the brew in cold water and ice in the bath / sink and, apart from ingredients, what else do I need?

All this work better help me win the beer festival this year!