New to brewing and need advice...

[somethingspecial]

Evening all,

I'm new to this board and even newer to this home brewing malarky; thus I have some questions.

I've done a fair bit of reading and video watching and as although some might say this is going in at the deep end I've decided I don't want to simply buy a DIY kit from a brewery. Instead I want to do it from scratch, soaking malted barley in a mash tun and then boiling it up in an urn with my own choice of hops etc. I want to make it my own signature brew essentially. I presume this is what is meant by the 'all grain' approach as opposed to using extracts?

The equipment I've go so far is:

A tea urn for the boil
A fermenting bucket
Bungs and syphoning equipment
Air lock valves
Miscellaneous cleaning and stirring items

My first questions are how hard is it to make a mash tun? Is it worth me just stumping up the cash and buying one? And what do people use for cooling equipment?

Secondly, and more pressingly, in my reading what I'm struggling to see is what measurements to use and I can't seem to find them anywhere online. For example, when it comes to soaking the malted barley in the mash tun how much barley do I use in how much water? What's a good amount of hops to start with etc?

Does anyone have any advice? Any and all sorts welcome.

Thanks.

[Jim]

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

There are plenty of mash tun designs on t'internet - here's the JBK version, though it only really shows how to make a particular type of false bottom mash tun. A one-time JBKer also produced this article, but that's for a super-duper Rolls Royce mash tun which is probably a bit over the top for what you want.

You'll also need some kind of hop strainer in your boiler. Probably just as simple to buy one, though if you search the forum you should find loads of ideas.

Recipe wise, again they're all over the place - just use an existing one rather than chucking in random amounts of malt and hops.

Good luck!

[Wonkydonkey]

Hi somethingspecial

I can answer the first q, there's many ways to make a mush tun, but the easiest is a cool box with good insulation and a pipe with small holes in it so as to filter out the grain.

Your next q, requires a bit more typing,and a bit more thought,and as its Saturday eve....I've had a glass or 5. But I'm sure someone will pop along and help you a bit more

Ar well someone beat me to it

[Raize]

Brew in a bag?

[leon103]

I am also looking at a mash tun. They seem easy enough but not as cheap as you think to make, hence why I am looking for a second hand one

For recipes best place to start is Greg Hughes book on amazon, think it is still £3. I think it is around 3l of water per 1kg for a mash

[Jocky]

Brew in a bag?

I second this idea. Diving in on full grain becomes that bit simpler with BIAB.

The simplest mash tun is to buy a mashing bag (£8) and then use a single pot for heating the water, mash and boil. It'll get you into the brewing process with minimal investment/setup.

[Bazz]

I have to agree with those saying "biab", 10 months ago i was in the same position as you, i wanted to start brewing real beer and didn't want to use extract or kits. For me the restriction was both financial and space, when i priced up a 3 vessel set up i realised that i couldn't afford it and also wouldn't have the space to store it, then i found out about biab. i'm now five all grain brews in and have refined my methods and can honestly say that the idea of going to 3 vessel set up is no longer a consideration of mine. In my opinion you would be better off using the urn you have for biab and using the money that you would have spent on a mash tun to get a brew fridge instead, that really has made a difference to my beer.

[Fil]

+1 to starting with a biab brew, use bags or 'socks' to contain the hops in the boil as to negate the need for any filtering So bags and an off the shelf urn that can boil is all you need above the kit you have for fermenting (did i see thermometer in the list ??)

a modern urn may not maintain a rolling boil, a water test followed by a salt water test will indicate if you need to bypass or upgrade any thermal switches.. (salt water like wort boils at a slightly higher temp depending on gravity..)

also be mindful of the urn volume, and adjust the recipe accordingly to allow yourself a good 5-6cm headroom in the pot above the liquid level to allow for any splashes of the rolling boil and to help contain the initial foam up.. wort can foam up just as it starts to boil so a good hard stir can be needed to knock it back, some folk use a trigger spray bottle to dampen/collapse the foam too..

aslo consider maintaining the mash temp with an insulation wrap around the urn rather than applying heat and risking cooking the lowermost grain.

have fun and have a go, and enjoy the results.. one sup will tell u if ag is worth the extra work

[jaroporter]

i'd also recommend BIAB to start with as it's just easier, though if you're set on a mash tun then have a look at john palmer's how to brew website. as well as being a good start guide to the whole process (will definitely answer your questions about how much water, etc.) there is detailed information about the best ways to build a mash tun and manifold/false bottom. i started with the cheapo bucket in a bucket tun, then moved onto a picnic cooler when i needed something bigger, both times referring to his pages for mechanical advice. http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD.html

again, searching around the forum/internet will show you loads of chiller designs and theory, though for ease and economy there's a fair few doing "no chill" brewing

the recommendation about a fermentation fridge or similar is a good one. most people will agree that controlling the temperature is one of the most important things for tasty beer.

good luck whatever route you go down!

[JamesF]

I've never tried "brew in a bag" though I'd agree that it looks a simple way in.

I don't think you need to go mad to start with for a more "traditional" all-grain brew though. I made a small number of kits before trying all-grain by "mashing in a bag" and within a couple of attempts decided to go the whole hog. I used my existing boiler as a combined HLT and boiler and made a mash tun by putting a tap in a fermentation bucket and drilling a lot of 3mm holes in a plastic disc that was supported above the height of the tap and fitted snugly to the sides of the bucket. You could even use one fermentation bucket with loads of holes drilled in the base slipped inside another with a tap in. To keep the mash warm I wrapped the bucket in old towels (and later moved to using an old duvet). It was cheap, did the job and made better beer than I'd ever managed before. It's even cheaper if you don't buy the fermentation buckets as fermentation buckets. Exactly the same things are sold as "25l bird food containers" for example, considerably more cheaply.

Forced cooling is desirable in the long run, but initially all you need is a container that will take the full brew volume that can be sealed and therefore will stay sterile. The boiling wort can go into that after the boil, make sure all the surfaces are covered by the wort for a few minutes to sterilise them and leave it to cool naturally. In the winter I used to leave mine outside overnight.

That saw me through perhaps fifteen years worth of brewing. It's only now, when I have a dedicated brew shed and more space that I'm moving on from that to a full three-vessel setup and in fact even that is being done progressively. I now have a dedicated HLT, so I'm using that with my old mash tun and boiler. I'm building a new boiler at the moment and once that's done it will replace my old one. After that I'll start work on a new mash tun. Then I'll look at forced cooling and recirculating mashing and so on. But the important thing is that whilst I've been upgrading stuff I've not had to stop brewing.

James

[Flaneur]

Hi SoSpesh.
I bought the kit and got on and did it. A mate of mine is building a brewery and is yet to get going. I would (again) follow the guys above and get BIAB. You will get a lot from it, and from there you're off!
Best of luck either way, you will not regret this.

[orlando]

For recipe formulation and general control of the process brewing software is the way to go. A copy of BeerSmith is the best out there, around £15-20. Bargain.

[alexlark]

Have a look at my thread here on my first BIAB, it shows just how easy it is: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=67731

[Jim]

It seems the OP hasn't visited JBK since posting his question!

[timbo41]

Had thought that Jim....however, all of the advice given is worth while for any newbies so perhaps include it in the stickie