all grain queries for a beginner

[fximpact25]

hi all ive been on and off for years now making lager kits like coopers there straight forward I know .
so I fancy making from scratch just lagers and pilsners but don't have a clue at all ive been watching YouTube etc so my question is to do this as a beginner do I need loads of fancy equipment or can I get like a brewziller then use my fermenter I have, also is the ingredients pricy to make batches really don't no what too do please advise thanks ste

 

[Queenie]

You don't need any fancy equipment, honestly. You need a huge saucepan and a few other bit and pieces. I couldn't explain in better than this thread; Have a go at simple AG

 

[Queenie]

Rats, wrote without properly reading! I would still start with a simple AG and then look at moving into more complex types or anything which needs more particular conditions.

 

[robster62]

I've been brewing for three years, at least, and still use my original fermenting bucket I bought when making kits. Personally I am very happy my my brewzilla gen 3.1. I have no experience with the more recent gen 4 though.

 

[jof]

You don't need fancy equipment.
If you don't mind a little inconvenience of transferring between vessels, you can do brew in a bag with just a water boiler.
There are plenty.on here making good beer with either a big stove top stock pot or an inexpensive boiler (eg Peco).

Many start their AG journey this way and their original boiler becomes their sparge water heater as they upgrade.

 

[MashBag]

Tbh YouTube is fine, and will show you how, but a good book will explain why.

Brewing isn't hard, but you do need to understand it. It is not a single stage all done "make a sandwich", it's comes together over a few days. Understanding it saves it going downhill when you take your eye off it

I say that as someone you had brought on a few new brewers and they really have surprised me and taught me a lot.

Also consider the guy on YouTube isn't using your water, your kit, or buying the same grain. No doubt they brewed indoors and many of us don't?

 

[gavp1979]

I was similar to you and made kits on and off for years before moving to all grain, I bought the following kit which comes with a peco boiler, chiller and ingredients for your first brew. I intended to use this to see if I enjoyed the process and then upgrade but I ended up using it for years before eventually getting a Brewzilla gen 4. The Brewzilla makes things easier but I would not say it makes better beer

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.u...iler-chiller-mashing-bag-mash-kit-p-3859.html

 

[MashBag]

. The Brewzilla makes things easier but I would not say it makes better beer

Spot on.
It's about the time it takes. Ask yourself if you have enough time.

Brew in a bag will probably take all day.
An all in one (AIO) machine will take 6 or so hours.
With the right machine and good process, you can get it down to 90 mins the day you boil.

I started off biab and v quickly bought a machine.

 

[Omega]

I also have a newbie question - is it much cheaper brewing from all grain vs kits? At the moment I start realising that I brewed 3 kits in about 4 weeks and will do 2 more by the end of this month. And, even more shocking, I did not drink even a tenth of what I made. So, about 100-105 litres of ale and beer made, I spent about £125
My water seems to be fine for IPA, and I can get water from Tesco for lagers, but may jump into water profiling if I start making good malt

 

[Tanglefoot]

I also have a newbie question - is it much cheaper brewing from all grain vs kits?

It depends on what you're brewing, a simple SMASH will be cheaper than a hop heavy NEIPA, an Imperial stout will cost more than a session ale.

When I did kits the decent ones cost around £25 - £30.
My average AG brew of 18L will use
5kg grain ( say £10, cheaper if you get a sack )
100gm hops ( average £ 7 )
Yeast ( average £ 5 )

So basically not much difference if you want to keep it simple.
Although making your own recipes you usually end up with extra grain/hops left over to go into future brews.

 

[Omega]

Yeah, doesn’t look like it is much cost effective. And, so far, I don’t find it interesting making my recipes. Cool, I will stick to kits for now

 

[MrJay83]

Just get your kit over time. I got into AG pretty quick after starting with extracts but I took about a year and a half getting my current set up together. Obviously the BZ was a big outlay but I didn't buy anything for a few months after that. Plenty of other options to an all in one but convenience steered my decision.

 

[gavp1979]

Grain prices have gone up recently, I ordered enough grain and hops for a Kolsh last night from CML and it came to just short of £25

 

[MashBag]

It's not just cost. The quality is also much improved.
That said I have an house IPA, that is under a tenner.

I would say though, if your hearts not in it, stick with kits.

 

[Omega]

It's not just cost. The quality is also much improved.
That said I have an house IPA, that is under a tenner.

I would say though, if your hearts not in it, stick with kits.

I wonder how quality improves. Maybe I’m lucky for not feeling the difference, I definitely cannot say what aromas in my ales, except bitterness - it is usually tasty and carbonated, the rest I cannot tell much

 

[Dark Arts]

I've just started doing 5ltr all grain kits biab, 3 so far 2x stout/porter and 1 black ipa(tasted like a porter to me)

I've mashed 2 different ways 1st was in a pot wrapped in blankets and left for an 1hr or so the other2 I did as best I could on a stove top trying to keep the temp around 65° or so.

Question is, I've ended up with nice brews but they all have a treacle taste to them is this a result of mashing at wrong temp, mashing too long or something else I might be doing?

Ive been squeezing the bag was wondering if it was possibly the tannins I was tasting?

 

[old dog new tricks]

Well can;t say with any authority as very new to this and still learning, but I have used a Coopers Irish Stout kit, but with a few additions ie use mix of light and extra dark DME, and steeped some chocolate grains. This was simple enough and hopefully raises the kit a bit. So i think for beer there is lots of potential to make additions to kits as per your taste ie add hops or use LME or DME or steep some grains etc.

I tried a stove top kit for All Grain used brew in a bag method only had an 8 ltr pot so limited to 4.5/5 ltr batch.
Kit cost £10ish so not good value at that size but a good way to see if AG is the way ahead, I would suggest you brew something similar from kit and AG and see if you can taste a difference.

5 ltr batch is not that bad biggest issue i had was keeping the mash temp constant.

 

[starseeker]

Have you possibly over boiled them ?

 

[Dark Arts]

Have you possibly over boiled them ?

The black ipa asked for 90min boil the other2 60mins but I only boiled 30mins on 1 of those, so id have to say over boiling probably not the reason for the treacle flavour unless I never put enough water in on the boil ie ive ended up with overly intense wort, but that never happened on the black ipa as I watered this down some what from 5ltrs to 7ltrs, maybe ive managed to brew 3 kits with a particular malt that gives the flavour???...ive got q gamma clone to do which aint got any dark malts so will see what happens with this

 

[Jim Brewster]

Mashing dark malts could potentially give a treacly taste. Which malts were in the recipe? Some people add the roasted malts just at the final 10 minutes of the mash for this reason.

Start simple I say until you get a feel for the processes. Single malt, single hops, something like a pale or golden ale. Once you get the hang of that (which won't be long), you can tweak things to your hearts content