Small scale grain brew

[DirtyCaner]

My aim is to get some sort of setup where I can start doing 'proper' brews straight from grain. I've been toying with the idea of getting one of the jam/pickling machine jobs from lidl. However, I have a couple of 9l stockpots. Would these be satisfactory to do a small scale mash for brewing batches of 20-30 litres of beer? Perhaps using malt extract and fresh grain.

Also, could someone suggest a simple recipe for a lager or and 80- style of beer that I could have a crack at?

Cheers,

DirtyC

 

[BigYin]

Stockpot would be better than the jam machine :thumb:

You will need an insulated vessel of some sort to act as a mash tun, with a filter at the bottom to stop the grain pulling through.

You need a pot to act as a boiler, with some method of filtering out the hops when you have finished the boil.

You can cool the pot in a water bath, so no need for special chiller.

The recipes on the foum are scaleable - just use that function to scale it back to whatever your brew size will be :thumb:

 

[DirtyCaner]

You will need an insulated vessel of some sort to act as a mash tun, with a filter at the bottom to stop the grain pulling through.

Cool thanks, could insulated vessel be another stock pot insulated with sleeping bag? Is bottom drain essential or could I just use a big seive?

Cheers,

DirtyC

 

[BigYin]

You need to drain through the bottom unless you use another method that I think you can use, where the grain is held in a bag - that saves you mucking about with filters and taps - but I've no experience of this method......

 

[DirtyCaner]

Aye, I think I've seen the bag method on youtube. Hmm...and I've got and old kilt sock I could use!