smaller AG batches?

[mb]

gents,

a bit of advice please.

after a couple of kits and a turbo cider, i've got the bug and want to have a go at all grain. however, i haven't got the space or the thirst for the big 20-25L batches, i'd like to do something between a mini-mash and a full brew, say 10L. how does this sound?

get a 15L stockpot from the asian supermarket, about £10-20

use this for heating strike water and mash in a mid-size 17L cool box

sparge in a lauter tun made from 2 fermentation bins (mini-mash style), but maybe 10L bins?
sparge water held in another bin, spinning sparge arms no longer seem to be available, but beertech have a fixed sparge arm that looks ok. run off into the stockpot.

is standard siphon tubing ok for running the sparge water through? i don't need anything heat resistant?

boil on the hob, cool with ice packs in the kitchen sink. transfer to fermentation bin via colander/sieve.

am i missing anything? any schoolboy errors? does anybody else do smaller batches?

thanks.

[prodigal2]

Re the sparging if I was you I would batch sparge, and use DaaBs batch sparge calc, for the volume you want. I currently do 16-17L brews and for the sake of half a kilo of malt a brew and a slightly lower efficiency its worth it

I would not tip your brew through a sieve though,(I did it once on AG1 and it was haze central). If you do not wish to fit a tap to your stock pot, I would syphon of the wort, with a sieve over the FV and some mesh over the syphon end in the cooled wort.
If you make a flying starter of 1L off the first batch of clear boiled wort, you will get enough break material to keep things happy.
A flying starter is 1L of boiled wort cooled to 25C or lower, pour into a sterilised PET bottle(2L) shake to aerate add yeast,sqeeze all the air out seal and vent CO2 as required and then pitch into your cooled wort.

If there are any gaps in this info I personaly blame some fine TC I'm supping

The flying starter is a real safeguard to getting the brew going and it has not let me down yet

[mb]

i'd read the mini-mash pages, but as i'll struggle to fit a stockpot in my oven i thought i'd have a go with the coolbox instead.

for batch sparging, don't you need some means of running off the first batch leaving the grains behind for the second - doesn't that mean a tap on the cool box?

maybe i'll have a bash at the mini-mash method (but using a coolbox mash) to get a feel for the process, then fiddle with it on subsequent efforts. if i get a coolbox and make a lauter tun that should get me going with minimum outlay on kit and if i end up batch sparging the only thing that's going to be redundant is the drilled FB.

i'll give that flying starter a try.

i've got a week off end of the month and nothing better to do than muck about learning to make beer, so i can have a few trial attempts.

thanks

[fraserjaxx]

sounds like your being sucked in just as I was mb.I am on a week off work and have just finished my second AG brew... the first was tuesday!
Once you have done one you will realise that you can do it with the minimum of gear to start with and go from there,it sounds like you have done your homework,taking the first step is the hard part...just let it happen