First Timer about to buy equipment - advice needed!

[damo2576]

Hi,

I hope I'm posting in the right place - I couldnt see a beginners/newbie forum.

I'm about to go out and buy the equipment to do my first all grain brew. Indeed it will be my first brew of any type.

I have a few questions:

Firstly, if I but a electric boiler I guess I do not need to heat stuff on the stove? Its all done in the boiler and the boiler maintains the mash temp?

Secondly, does anyone have a "foolproof" recipe? I'm guessing some must be easier than others? Example beers I like are Erdinger, Duvel, Hoegarden or IPA types.

Also I'm keen to do smaller batches, say like 5 litres, so I can do more frequently and learn quicker. Most equipment seems to be 5 gallons which would take me an age to drink through...Will this be a problem? Or could I do 5 litre batches in 5 gallon equipment?

Finally, this is what I think I do, I've typed it out for my own benefit from some excellent web resources (like this site ) mostly for my own learning. If there are any glaring errors please shout!

Basically, first i do the mash. I get the water to about 163 so when i add my grain it falls to mash temp of 153 (I need to convert all this to Celcius). Stick this water in my mash tun (which is basically a coolbox), add the grain and stir gently,
dont splash. Keep temp between 150-155, add hot water or ice to do so. Let sit for an hour stirring every 15 mins or so. Temp should drop about 5 degrees.

Get some extra water warming up to about 170 (sparge water). Drain from the mash tun and recirculate until its running clear. When its clear drain to boiling pot. When the level of water in the mash tun is about 1 inch above grain start adding the spare water and continue draining.

Then I boil for an hour or so (dictated by recipe?) add (pitch) the yeast and pour into the fermenter?

Sounds easy!

Thanks in advance,

Damo

[damo2576]

Sorry, after boiling I need to cool - which I could do quickly in ice etc or leave overnight...

[Garth]

Firstly, if I but a electric boiler I guess I do not need to heat stuff on the stove? Its all done in the boiler and the boiler maintains the mash temp?

Yep, you use the boiler to heat your mash water up, when it's about 80C I would put it into your mash tun wait till it gets to strike temp, usually 72/73C then add the grains. no stove is required. A coolbox will hold it's temperature losing less than 1 degree if you preheat the tun (simply add the mash water a little hotter, this will warm the tun, wait till it drops to 72C then dump in the grains. The mixture should stabilise at between 63 and 67. The warmer you mash the more body and sweetness your beer will have. The lower you mash the more alcoholic and thinner your beer will be. Don't stir it every 15 mins, leave it alone for 60/90mins to do it's thing.

Secondly, does anyone have a "foolproof" recipe? I'm guessing some must be easier than others? Example beers I like are Erdinger, Duvel, Hoegarden or IPA types.

Have a look in the recipe or brewday section, there are loads of tried and tested ones in there. There are Duvel and Hoegaarden clones but I think you will be dissapointed if you attempt one of these straightaway as creating a exact clone is very difficult. A standard English bittter might be a good start, one malt, one hop, I have done some belters.

Also I'm keen to do smaller batches, say like 5 litres, so I can do more frequently and learn quicker. Most equipment seems to be 5 gallons which would take me an age to drink through...Will this be a problem? Or could I do 5 litre batches in 5 gallon equipment?

I personally would not waste my time (roughly 5 hours) doing an AG for 5 litres, bottle some and keep it for later, build up a nice stock. I wouldn't do any less than 20 litres.

Then I boil for an hour or so (dictated by recipe?) add (pitch) the yeast and pour into the fv

Boil then chill either with immersion coil in the boiler, a separate counterflow type or place the fv in a bath of cold water, the quicker you chill the less chance of a haze. Once it's chilled transfer to a sanitized fv then pitch the yeast when it's below 25C. Don't add yeast to a the boiler.

[mac]

[quote="damo2576"]Hi,

I hope I'm posting in the right place - I couldnt see a beginners/newbie forum.

Hello Damo,

It's good to see I'm not the only Newbie on here.

I agree with Garth, for the sake of a few extra pounds you could make 25L and there is no extra work involved. I'm in the same boat as you and don't want lots of 25L kegs full of beer hanging around, so I've bought 20 bottles of Tesco Value water. It's only 14p for a 2L bottle and you can use the contents for brewing.
My plan was to do a combination of keg and bottles but I didn't pay enough attention to the rubber seal on my keg lid and my first brew has lost all it's fizz.

If you want some recipes and are determined to do a 5L brew try this link http://www.durdenparkbeer.org.uk/Recipes.html

Have you tried the All grain recipe and instructions under the Technique tab at the top of this page. I found this dead easy to follow.

[kitwom]

hey Damo

Welcome aboard.

Don't want to put a dampner but if this is your first brew I would definately recomend a partial mash. I.e buy tins of extract and go straight to the boil stage. You can add some grains to personalise your brew.

I say this because you need to learn your equipment, boiling pouring etc etc it all has its lessons to learn, like not pouring it on your feet etc!

Once happy with the boil phase your second brew can be all grain so the mash will be new but the boil will be familiar territory!!

You also stand a much higher chance of success with a partial mash so you will not be put off by taking on too much.

Equipment wise, get your self a bruheat boiler ( or similar) you can boil and maintain mash temperature all in one.

Hope this helps, Happy brewing!!

[damo2576]

Thanks all for the advice. Really useful.

Don't want to put a dampner but if this is your first brew I would definately recomend a partial mash. I.e buy tins of extract and go straight to the boil stage. You can add some grains to personalise your brew.

I'm starting to think this too...

Equipment wise, get your self a bruheat boiler ( or similar) you can boil and maintain mash temperature all in one.

This was another question I had - what do you actually do with the boiler? Just use it to boil the water? Or mash as well? And then boil after?

Thanks in advance

Damo

[DarloDave]

I personally wouldnt bother with the extract and would go straight to AG. Mashing is without a doubt the easiest thing about brewing, no sanitising worries, no hard work, and a better end product.

[arturobandini]

I'd advise jumping straight into all grain and skipping extract brewing entirely if you have the time to commit to All Grain. Finding help building your own equipment or taking on the much used Hop and Grape 10 gallon brewery is likewise heavily documented.

All Grain brewing can be as simple and as complex as you want to make it and if you're worried about the process then keep searching and you'll definitely find all the help you need.

Below is a link to a video on All Grain posted today by nofe4r for example...

All Grain Youtube Thread

There are reasons people prefer extract over all grain but it's more down to time than all grain being some mysterious operation.

[loffler]

I am quite new to AG brewing too and like you wanted to try out many smaller batches to get the technique sorted before commiting to 5G batches as they take me a while to get through. You can do it much cheaper then a full AG setup if all you want to do try out recipes and practice technique.
I went for a 2G or 10L setup which I get 15 pints from each time I brew (you would only get about 7 pints from a 5L brew)
I basically went for the mini mash method but used teh 2G buckets instead of 1G as in the tutorial - they were only £5 each.
I then got 2 cheap stock pots which I found in my local £ store for £8 each and are 3G each. You simply mash in the stock pot and heat sparge water int he second. I use a coolbag wrapped in a duvet to maintain temp but you could do it on the hob.
So for less than £30 I have a 2G AG brewery!

I ferment this in 2 demijohsn which I was given and this works well for me. It is easy to convert recipes to 10L but buying ingredients can be a pain and often get left with old grain that goes stale as the recipes often only call for 50g and you have to buy minimum 250 or 500g - sometime 1KG!

Now I am more experienced and trying tougher recipes, I am thinking about going to 5G but have been putting it off as I dont have the storage space.

To sum up, you can do smaller batches very economically and is just as much fun as doing a full brew. I get a kick out of the process as much as the drinking so 5 hours is worth it to me for 15 pints every couple of weeks.
Try a new recipe every 2/3 weeks so you learn more and dont get bored!

Oh and dont bother with extract, its not really worth it as AG is easy enough. I would say though that I have dont 5G brews using extract recipes as this doesnt require the same volumes that a 5G AG brew would so you can almost get the best of both worlds.

[damo2576]

I am quite new to AG brewing too and like you wanted to try out many smaller batches to get the technique sorted before commiting to 5G batches as they take me a while to get through. You can do it much cheaper then a full AG setup if all you want to do try out recipes and practice technique.
I went for a 2G or 10L setup which I get 15 pints from each time I brew (you would only get about 7 pints from a 5L brew)
I basically went for the mini mash method but used teh 2G buckets instead of 1G as in the tutorial - they were only £5 each.
I then got 2 cheap stock pots which I found in my local £ store for £8 each and are 3G each. You simply mash in the stock pot and heat sparge water int he second. I use a coolbag wrapped in a duvet to maintain temp but you could do it on the hob.
So for less than £30 I have a 2G AG brewery!

I ferment this in 2 demijohsn which I was given and this works well for me. It is easy to convert recipes to 10L but buying ingredients can be a pain and often get left with old grain that goes stale as the recipes often only call for 50g and you have to buy minimum 250 or 500g - sometime 1KG!

Now I am more experienced and trying tougher recipes, I am thinking about going to 5G but have been putting it off as I dont have the storage space.

To sum up, you can do smaller batches very economically and is just as much fun as doing a full brew. I get a kick out of the process as much as the drinking so 5 hours is worth it to me for 15 pints every couple of weeks.
Try a new recipe every 2/3 weeks so you learn more and dont get bored!

Oh and dont bother with extract, its not really worth it as AG is easy enough. I would say though that I have dont 5G brews using extract recipes as this doesnt require the same volumes that a 5G AG brew would so you can almost get the best of both worlds.

Really useful advice - what is "mini mash" method?

Did you buy your equipment online?

Thanks in advance

damo

[kitwom]

Ha that's me out voted then!

That'll teach me for mentioning partial mash on the all grain forum!

[Garth]

Hey Kitwom,

don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with partial mash, extract or kits, just I have always advised folk to go straight to AG, if you want to stop off on the way that's fine, many folk don't have the time/space for a full blown AG.

This forum is for all types of brewing, not just Grain, as long as beer is the end result (or death inducing Cider in some cases )

[loffler]

The mini mash method I use is on this very site - http://www.18000feet.com/minimash/page1.htm
I bought the buckets in my local brew shop and do it exactly the way as above, only 2 gallons instead of 1 and using a coolbag instead of an oven as I couldnt get my oven to be stable.
Works well though and is a good place to start.

[damo2576]

The mini mash method I use is on this very site - http://www.18000feet.com/minimash/page1.htm
I bought the buckets in my local brew shop and do it exactly the way as above, only 2 gallons instead of 1 and using a coolbag instead of an oven as I couldnt get my oven to be stable.
Works well though and is a good place to start.

Funny, I came to the same conclusion myself earlier. Seems a great way to start! I actaully just posted about it in another post I found where someone had also followed the method from that site.

Any tips when following that mini mash?

[EportJake]

I wouldn't do a high gravity beer like a Duvel for your first brew mate. The thing is you need to leave them to mature for a good couple of months to get the best out of them. Go for a 4% bitter or pale ale so you can drink it in a couple of weeks.