I'm still bottling. Once I start kegging and force carbonating I can fill growlers.

Don't forget you have control over your color with all grain. It is pretty hard to get a light colored beer with a good flavor profile using extract.

Growlers are not made to hold pressure. So, if you carbonate in a growler you run the risk of an exploding growler.

It will be a lot better/safer to use a soda bottle and a carbonation cap. Soda bottles are made to hold very high pressure, far more than you will ever need with beer even if you force carbonate.

It will be a lot better/safer to use a soda bottle and a carbonation cap. Soda bottles are made to hold very high pressure, far more than you will ever need with beer even if you force carbonate.[/quote

By force carbonating I just meant hooking a CO2 tank up to the corny to carbonate.

NY's turn on Austin Homebrew Supply's 50 State sale is next Friday. 10 percent off anything for one day only. I'm definitely ordering some shit.

I haven’t really had an issue yet, so maybe that is why I’m hesitant to take the plunge. I generally always use light colored extracts, and find that I can come real close to whatever color I want by using some crystal or something that falls where I want it to on the color scale.

I’ll take the plunge eventually, but I’m getting great tasting beers without taking up 8 hours of my time and without having to upgrade my equipment significantly. Basically it came down to spending money on a keg setup vs. spending money going all-grain. I think I made the right choice for now.


Kegging rules.

Do a brew in the bag, the only "special" equipment you need is the bag. I made one for like $15. You will see and taste a difference. Best yet, it takes NO additional time (okay, okay, okay, most of the time I let them steep for 90 minutes instead of 60 to get better efficiency). You already steep grains from what you mention above..... So, all you need is a larger bag to put 2-row in there to steep instead of using extract.

There are epiphanys during the growth of brewing.
The first time I did a full boil instead of a partial boil, I was like . The first time I did an all grain (BIAB), I was like .

I ordered a Blichmann Top Tier Burner and extension legs on Wednesday! My hope is that:

1. It is as quiet as people say - mine sounds like a rocket and I like to brew with a buddy when I can, makes it a pain to talk.

2. There is in fact a fuel savings

3. There is less yellow flame for less burn marks on the kettle and pots.

4. The extension legs provide enough clearance for most vessels I use.

It sure pains me to spend that kind of $ for just a burner, but the reviews are pretty starteling.

Oh, and I also have a Monster Mill 2 - 2.0 on the way. (2) 2" Diameter and 6" wide of hardened steel to crush that pesky 2-row. (Insert Tim The Tool Man Taylor voice here) har har har

Describe your process, if you would.

Right now, I’m using 2 gallons, or so, with maybe 4-6 lbs of grain (6 gallon stock pot). I have a BIG grain bag. I heat to 168 degrees (roughly, but not over 170), and mash my grains, in the bag, for 60-90 minutes. Then, in my boiling kettle (10 gallon capacity), I get 4 gallons up to around 160. Remove bag from mash, let drain. Rinse my grains in the 4 gallon pot by working the bag in and out of the water—let soak for another 20 minutes. Drain bag, discard grains. Add extract (generally only 3 lbs), and then proceed as I would with an extract batch—boil, add hops, etc…

I guess the only thing I’m unsure of scaling up to all grain would be my mash/sparge step. Right now, I’m just dipping the bag to sparge…would that be OK to continue doing with an all-grain batch?

Easy peasy.

1. Figure out how much 2- row to substitute the extract.
2. Buy the grains crushed (assuming you do not have a mill) make sure it is a nice crush, very important.
3. Heat your water (atleast 1.5 QTS per pound of grain) to striking temp.
4. Put all grains in the bag and steep at desired temp for 60~80 minutes. MAINTAIN THE HEAT by insulating the kettle very well, refiring to heat up if necessary or do your steeping in a cooler.
5. Pull bag out and strain
6. Place bag in another pot of heated water (The rest of the water you need to make a full boil, keep in mind grain absorbtion and boil off rate)
7. Steep grains for 10~15 minutes
8. Pull bag out and strain and throw away grains
9. Bring wort to boil and brew as normal

If your grain WT requires full boil volume upfront, that is fine. Just put all the water but 1/2 gallon in the pot, steep the grains, and rinse the grains with the 1/2 gallon and then make sure you squeeze and get everything that you can out of the grain.

I generally try to keep a little bit of DME on hand "just in case" you do not get a good efficieny. A lot of people double mill their grains for BIAB for better efficiency, I have not had the need. i am usually atleast 70% to 75% using the LHBS mill. I hope the one I have on order will boost it to 75% to 85%.

See, this is pretty much exactly what I am doing right now, except I’m using extract for a portion of the grain. Truth-be-told I’m fairly new to partial-mash, and it seemed like a nice moderate step up towards all grain. But the more I think about it, and after reading what you wrote, I could definitely do an all grain brew. I guess what intimidated me was seeing all these elaborate setups that people build—gravity fed devices where they run tons of water through their grains using a fancy custom-built cooler, using “sparge arms” and stuff like that. I don’t really have aspirations of doing a brew over 6 gallons (finished), so maybe it is time to man up.

Now, what about a broken bag? That’s been on my mind as I hoist these heavy grains bags up out of the water to drain. I’m thinking I should rig up some sort of rack to set them on while they drip back into the pot.

Start out with a lower gravity beer 1.055 or so. Add 10% extra 2-row for your first batch to account for a possible bad efficiency until you get your process and efficiencies dialed in.

I do not hoist the bag b/c I do not brew in the garage and I don't have a crane (They get VERY heavy!).

Go to a restaraunt store and buy one of these type strainers, you will notice northern brewer and all the other online places have them on stock for this reason but they charge 2 to 3 times more than a restaraunt store:



I drain it, and then squeeze it. There is virtually no risk of ripping the bag if you have a decent bag.

Also, I use a mesh pizza pan on the bottom of the keggle to keep the bottom of the bag off the surface that is heated. You will run the risk of melting your bag if you have to reheat the kettle with the bag in it otherwise. This is not really what I use, cant find a photo, but it gives you an idea. I know others use cookie cooling racks.

So how are you getting the grain bag into the colander?

I've never had a problem with my mash temp dropping much, so I'm not too worried about burning the bottom of a bag. I just take it off the heat, drop in my grain bag, and then wrap the pot up nice and tight with some blankets, and I've been just fine. Then again, I haven't done this in the winter yet...

I think having some dry extract on hand to adjust gravity would allow me to dial things in just fine. I've been reading up on managing gravity during the boil, and it doesn't look too hard to do as long as you adjust your reading for temps.

I think you misunderstood. You put the grains in/on the strainer while it is still in the bag. The purpose of the strainer is merely to hold all the grain over the pot to drain so you do not need a hoist or beam over head to hang it. I think my strainer was like 8$, just be sure you get a heavy duty one.

No, I understood. When I said “hoist”, I didn’t mean it in the literal sense—I was talking about lifting it out of the water (and yes, it gets super heavy, even with a partial mash batch). I thought you were saying that you had somehow figured out a way to support the bottom while you lifted the bag out and that is what gave me pause.

Anyways, I've been needing a new (larger) post, so I'm thinking about getting a 15 gallon lobster pot w/basket. I could just drop my grain bag in there which would make it super easy to lift out.

You can build a mash/lauter tun from an Igloo cooler, valve and some parts from Home Depot for about 50 bucks. Just go for it man. You'll be amazed what a full boil and all grain do for your beer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftY_HZAFJFc

This is a great tutorial. I prefer the Igloo 10 gallon yellow picnic cooler anidn't use anything galvanized. Only brass and stainless steel.

Yeah, I'm thinking about taking the plunge. I'll watch that video , but I've seen cylindrical cooler designs that use a braided hose on the bottom to filter the grains. Is that what this video shows (can't watch it at work)? So, after I do my initial mash and run the wort into my brew kettle, I would assume that I should run more water through the cooler to rinse the grains, right? Describe how you do that if you don't mind...

The video shows a rubbermaid rectangular cooler but I recommend using an Igloo cylindrical. You'll get a better fit with most of the valve kits available.

I could write volumes about mashing. The most basic process is called batch sparging and it's what most homebrewers do.

You mash your grains at the desired temp for the alotted time (145-160 degrees and the average time is 60 minutes). Higher mash temp = more unfermentable sugars and therefore more body (good for stouts etc.) Lower mash temps = more fermentable wort and less body and also requires longer mash. Use approx. 1.5 qts./lb of grain for the mash.

After your conversion is complete, drain some wort slowly until it clears a bit (approx a half gallon) and put this wort gently back on top of your mash. This is called recirculating your first runnings.
During this time you should have been heating half your sparge water to about 200 degrees and the other half up to 170.

I recommend splitting your sparge into two batches for better efficiency. Some people don't. Put half your water into your mash (the hotter water is the first batch), stir up well and let it sit for 5-10 min. This should bring your mash up to about 170. After 10 minutes, recirculate your first runnings again and drain.

Repeat the process with the second batch.

Collect just enough wort for your boil volume. I collect 7 gallons.

Start your boil.


I highly recommend reading John Palmers How to Brew and also using brewing software like Brewsmith or Promash.

The 2 different water temps sounds like a bit of a pain in the ass, but I could probably manage that somehow—maybe run the 200 degree water through, and then add a bit of cold water to drop my temp down to 170…something like that. What is your target volume with a 7 gallon boil? I typically shoot for 6 gallons of finished brew, but I’ve been doing smaller boils (just got a new 15 gallon pot, so I can now do a full boil) and adding water to my primary to bring it up to 6 gallons.

I have the iBrew app on my iPad, which seems to work great. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it manages things quite nicely.