New Member

[JDT]

Hi, new member here and just wanted to say hello to everyone! I've done a lot of kits over the years and helped out at a few brew days at some local breweries on my shift days off from work for 'work experience', to see the brewing process and equipment in small craft / microbreweries first hand. I've wanted to make the jump to all-grain for a while and really try to replicate the brewing process and level of precision and control as close to industry levels as possible but on a home scale. I can't emphasise enough however, that I am still basically an absolute beginner in all this, I just want to start out with a comprehensive set up because I know this is something I want to keep up.

I'm actually a fermentation scientist in the biotechnology industry so I'm drawn like a magpie to the 'shiny' factor of stainless steel. I can't wait to get started with my first all-grain brews then eventually progress to coming up with my own recipes - that's the part that really excites me!

Anyway, you'll soon see a thread appearing in the equipment forum asking for advice and guidance on how best to achieve this! Look forward to many posts on the forum in the future.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum thumb

 

[cushyno]

If you've done a few kits and already know fermentation like the back of your hand, you're more than halfway there. In my limited experience, all grain brewing is less about kit and more about consistency of process. It's fermentation and water treatment that is the tricky bit.

Welcome!

 

[Gerryjo]

Hi and welcome to the forum...

 

[Ghillie]

Hello! Interesting background you have, looking forward to hearing some more about it at a later date...

Regarding your new brewing setup, my mantra is the same with that as anything else, buy the very best you can afford. Now that doesn't mean you need top of the line gear that costs a month's salary - but aim to get tried and tested quality equipment that comes backed by other brewers. Popular in any hobby tends to lend itself to being quality, on home brew online shops for sure - but maybe not so much with Amazon and eBay. Definitely good stuff available on Amazon and eBay, but shop with caution as both sites are currently plagued with Chinese *****. Buy cheap, buy twice...

A couple of other things to factor, is space and type of setups available. Many of us use "all in one vessels" - not only because they're very good and involve virtually zero DIY, but also because they take up little space (and often less energy) vs a traditional 3V system. If the latter is something you'd prefer (it would indeed mirror your run of the mill micro-brewery) then have a think about whether you'd want to do RIMS or HERMS and that you have enough power available to run the system. Virtually all 3V systems would need an independent circuit run from the fuse board to run safely. That can be expensive to have installed, something else to consider in the budget. Brewing volume is another thing to consider, most of us make up 20-23L batches as that's just how it seems to be. Not sure why, might have something to do with archaic gallons, I'm sure a dinosaur will keep you right on that one

Investing in an old fridge/freezer for fermentation is a must as well IMO, I'd put that near the top of your list as it's pretty cheap and really makes the difference wrt the end product.

Have a good think about what you would like/what you need. Then in all honestly, go bigger... Don't rush it like I did because you then end up selling the new gear at a loss and buying what you actually wanted/needed in the first place. Youtube is a good resource to see how other guys brew and what with. A lot of notable brewers out there who are turning out fantastic beer using equipment that is far from high end and actually very affordable.

Good luck!

 

[JDT]

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

cushyno - totally agree on the consistency of process for results so that's one of the factors I'll be focusing on. Once I've found a recipe I like I want to make it 5 or 10 times in a row to see how consistent it is.

Ghillie - that's exactly my plan really, I don't mind investing a good amount of money into something that I know will have me set for years with minimal money spent on short-term upgrades that will later be cycled out. Fear not, I'll always be dodging amazon and ebay for speciality hobby stuff such as this. I'm one of these people who's a stickler for quality! Funny you mention that about kit, I've actually posted a thread in the equipment section asking advice - originally I had my heart set on a 3/4V system because, as we know, it would be closest to mirroring the process in industry. However, now, after considering that set-up still required gas / burner heating and would probably be a lot more energy intensive and require me to route extra services and do infrastructure work in my garage, I'm feeling far more inclined towards an all-in-one system. That's definitely the volume I want to work at as well, funnily enough, I think it's just a nice batch size for the home brewer so they can try more recipes without worrying where to store or how to shift such volume that larger batches would generate! To that end I'm now strongly considering the BrewTools B40.

Frankly, the transfer / conditioning aspect is the part that I'm most worried about because that's where I'm the least knowledgeable. I'll definitely look into some DIY 'keezers' and cost it into the system. A question I did have is, when people are using counter-flow coolers (as in the diagram on this page Brewtools B40pro Brewing System - High quality 304 stainless steel electric brewing system from Norway) do they literally just submerge the coil in an ice bath and keep it well topped with ice or something whilst circulating?

I'm certainly thinking long and hard about this before I dive in because I want to get the right kit for the job first time round and don't want to spend 100's here and there after-the-fact on little things I should have initially considered.

Thanks again all for the warm welcome.