Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • Anybody advise on all grain brewing?
  • andy3809
    Free Member

    Interested in getting started brewing all grain as love craft beer and had decent results from kits.

    Can anybody help spec a beginner set-up that won’t break the bank? Also give an idea on how it all works?

    How long till I’m dishing out bottles of quality ale ?

    Thanks all

    teef
    Free Member

    Don’t know where you live but I once went on a excellent all day course run by this shop in Cheam, South West London:

    http://www.cheerswinemakingandbrewing.co.uk/practical-mashing-event-ticket-london

    You essentially participate in the whole process of making the beer – everybody taking it turns to have a go at one of the stages. Only £35 including lunch and as much beer as you can drink.

    trout
    Free Member

    big brewery thread here

    another brewing thread

    also
    How to brew John Palmer

    And depending on your location there will be a homebrewer somewhere nearby who will help you out

    andy3809
    Free Member

    Thanks gents, will have a read up

    singletrackmind
    Full Member

    come spend a week with me at work.
    As much beer as you can drink if you clean the copper and discharge the mash tun . Its only 1T so you’ll be fine.

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    Easiest method, and cheapest to set up, IMO, is “brew in a bag”

    To do a typical homebrewer’s batch of 23l, you can get started with the following if your hob is gas or old fashioned electric:
    32l stainless steel brewpan with tap and hop strainer – £75ish
    Ritchie’s “New mashing & sparging bag” – £10ish
    Siphon tubing, bottling stick – £10ish
    Fermenter – £10-15
    Bottles – free if you buy bottled beers. Fullers, Theakstons & Black Sheep are really easy to clean & remove the labels
    Crown caps – £2 for 50
    Big plastic spoon £3
    Thermometer £3-4
    Hydrometer & trial jar about £10

    Grains – typically 4-5kg pale malt – about £8 ; crystal malt, 1-200g about £2 for 500g
    Hops – a single hop recipe can be as little as £4 for more than you need for 1 brew
    Yeast – £2-4
    Patience – priceless 😉

    My LHBS does complete recipe kits from about £15, contains all the grains, hops, yeast etc to make a whole batch; pale malt can also be bought in 25kg sacks for about £35 or less. Works out cheaper that way

    How long? Typically 2 weeks to ferment, 2 weeks for carbonation in the bottle and another 2 weeks for bottle conditioning

    dufresneorama
    Free Member

    Good BIAB starter kit:
    homebrewcompany.ie

    grum
    Free Member

    Ritchie’s “New mashing & sparging bag”

    Where’s that from – LHBS?

    Clobber
    Free Member
    Danny79
    Free Member

    Love them or hate them but Brewdog recently released recipes for all their beers (215 of them) and a how to guide that’s worth a look.
    http://www.brewdog.com/diydog

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    Yep. Or amazon. Or https://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/mashing-sparging-bag-ritchies.html

    That’s the “old” version which is actually better for the stainless pan I had in mind; their ‘new’ bag is wider & shallower, and is ideal for the Electrim digital electric boiler, although that comes in at about £120

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Love them or hate them but Brewdog recently released recipes for all their beers (215 of them) and a how to guide that’s worth a look.
    http://www.brewdog.com/diydog

    If you’re going down the DIYdog route, get a copy of beersmith on your PC. The book is riddled with errors, things like a beer with an OG of 1.035 and ~400IBU’s which you won’t spot, stick with some more tried and tested recipes.

    Look on instructables for the £100 brewery, all you need is 5 big fermentation buckets (polypropylene not polyethylene though), 2 to make the mash tub, 1 for the kettle, 1 for the HLT, 1 for fermenting, some plumbing fittings, copper pipe and some insulation (foil backed bubble wrap is common). £100 is optimistic though, my similar setup is nearing £300 and I’m thinking that a grainfather would have been a better idea! The advantage is though that the fittings are transferable, so if I want a bigger setup I just need a bigger mash tun and boiler (£70 for a 70l stainless pot).

    singletrackmind – Member
    come spend a week with me at work.
    As much beer as you can drink if you clean the copper and discharge the mash tun . Its only 1T so you’ll be fine.

    Which brewery are you at?

    gobuchul
    Free Member

    This is an excellent book. Home Brew Beer.

    Very clear step by step for kits, BIAB and All Grain. Great recipes as well.

    This is a also a great forum http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

    singletrackmind
    Full Member

    Upham Brewery now after 16 years at Itchen Valley.
    Bit of a struggle making the beer I know the kit can produce, getting there slowly.
    Its is abit of fix one problem and discover 2 more , plus the 3 week delay between tweaking things then drinking it once its aged properly.

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