Advice/help needed on all grain set up please

[BrewDan]

I have been thinking of doing this for a while now, and I would like to start getting some bits and pieces together, I already have a fair amount of equiptment from doing kit brews, so with any luck I shouldnt need to buy too much more.

Having spent most of today reading various forums and looking at videos on youtube, I am still unsure on exactly what I should buy as there are too many different options. I dont mind a bit of DIY if need be, as I want to try and keep costs down, but if the difference in price between doing things myself and buying bits ready built is minimal, I would go for the ready built option.

When I do finally go all grain, I wont be doing in on a massive scale, just enough for filling a cornie. I have been looking around for coolboxes and noticed amazon do various size thermos boxes, which seem an ok price compared to some websites. I am not sure what size I would need to go for though, some people have suggested over 30litres and some have suggested under.

I then went about looking for boilers, I was going to see if I could get hold of a water/tea urn, but then I am wondering if its worth while just buying a 33litre fermenter and getting a couple of those cheap kettle heating elements.

I have read so many different things today, that I now dont know what would be best for my needs. I am trying to keep costs down, but at the same itme I have seen all this stainless stuff people have put together using oxo splatter screen for false bottoms etc, and I think to myself, is it worth spending just a little bit extra.

From anyone that does AG, could I ask what you suggest I budget for in order to fund the switch over, and also what sort of equiptment I should go for?

The other thing I was going to ask, do I really need to get a wort chiller, I dont really like the idea of wasting so much water, is it safe to seal the wort up and let it cool down naturally?

I know it is one of these things that gets asked time and time again, but I am just a little confused with it all at the moment and need some guidance

Thanks all

 

[pittsy]

Hi you have a few choices , some people go for electric heater elements and in which case you can convert a FV with some diy some people like myself like to use gas burners (around £24 plus gas) and in that case you would want a least a 33l pot , you could get them from german ebay for a good price there are many and just keep bidding and waiting you could get 1 for around £40
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Topf-Edelstahlto ... Haus_Garte (even though it says germany and austria only they will del to uk and also you could get a similar pot but a thermo 1 for a mash tun (this is better for raising the mash temp for certain brews where you may have different temps required for grain protein rests etc or a cheaper and widely used is a cool box and fit it with a hop strainer (diy) but you need a least a 25l box i would get a slighlty bigger 1 as this is is almost too small but would do , to buy theses items ready built is a lot more expensive than doing it your self. As far as wort chiller goes you could just pop your brew pot in bath etc to cool down but this does take a long time and after several brews i'm sure you'll change your mind and get a chiller , your brews will def get a lot better going all grain and even though it sounds hard work and confusing it really is easy once you've tried it only reall prob is it takes around 7 hrs from start to finish (using a wort chiller) hope this is of some help

 

[Asalpaws]

I'll follow your thread with interest Dan. Although I've only just started I find I'm drawn to AG, I really enjoy the process of brewing, with a kit it's over in 20 mins!

Think I'll get a extract brewing set up. Was raining today so I had a DIY session and made a immersion wort chiller. Whole lot with hose lock connector cost about £40. I live in N Wales so water wastage not such a big issue. I could see how this would be a no-no in the south!

Next project will be a keggle conversion. Does anyone know if lead free solder flux is safe to use, I want to use it to stick together my hop strainer?

Here's today's efforts....

 

[dennisking]

Over the years I've bought a few Burcos from boot sales.

 

[prolix]

Dan my penth worth, if you are going AG go cheap first of all get used to it, is it for you, then save up your cash for double or triple length in stainless or plastic depending on your cash flow or preference.

with regards to brew length honestly double is the same effort but twice the beer out put really worth considering

 

[BrewDan]

Thanks for the info, I will get a shopping list put together and try and do it cheap to start with.

Now to work out what to buy, looking forward to finally giving it a go:-)

 

[pittsy]

Asalpaws yes lead free is fine, flux and all , just give it a good scrub with some wire wool and a wipe with a cloth :

 

[tazuk]

i use a 33ltr fem bin with 2 tesco kettle elements in if one goes wrong all ways got a spare not like burco's boilers
mash tuns (converted cool box one 32L car boot )and one 10 gal igloo cooler
for a filter for hop filter for boiler use that steel braid take pipe out of the middle of it
and grain filter 1cm spaces then slits with juior hack saw half way through copper pipe
all this bit is verry easy to do and cheap then there is a
pid unit all from hk / china loads of guys could help ya with build if needed :thumb:

here is my spare simple pid unit :thumb:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=24125

mine sits in bath of cold water as i have not solderd my big yin twin cooler yet
also if you use wort cooler just divert first lot of hot water out of cooler use it to wash brewing items :thumb:

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Now that we were looking at a hosepipe ban. I was toying with the idea of a 210 litre mango barrel...Shove a valve in the bottom. fill it with water and then with a pump...circulate that through the chiller back to the mango barrel...Therefore never needing to use any other water.

Then once the mango barrel is warm, ..If insulated really well will hold a temp for a few days, use this to keep the fv to temp, obviously it will lose a bit over the first few days of a brew, its just a thought...

 

[BrewDan]

I will do a bit more searching around and see what sort of prices I can come up with, but at the moment I may go down the DIY route like Tazuk

Although the shiney stuff does look nice :whistle:

 

[dennisking]

Where in Essex are you. I am brewing saturday. You are welcome to come and have a look. Some of my kit is home made. Might give you some ideas.

 

[BrewDan]

Sent you a pm :thumb:

 

[Nunfa1]

I was just about to offer the same as Dennis Not brewing Saturday but am around most of next week if you're around the Southend area at all.

 

[Farmbrew]

For a mash tum you can use 2 fermentation bins one inside the other. The inner one has holes (a lot of small holes) drilled (you may get RSI doing it :? ) in it to act as the false bottom. I started with 2 old brewmaker buckets.

Ritchie and brewmaker buckets nowadays are really steep sided that's not so good as they leave a lot of dead space at the bottom that you will take liquor away from the goods (grain) in the mash. Also you want a mash tun with a wider area to get better run-off. Best to get ones that are wider at the top than the bottom - the best ones I have seen are the big Youngs(?) 30l ones.

Get some hot water cylinder insulation and the goods won't lose more than a degree during the mash.

To make things tidier you could use a brew bag.

You'll def need a boiler - try and make a hop strainer using a piece of copper pipe and some sieve mesh. The wort chiller can be a copper coil - as mentioned.

Hope that's useful :hmm: