Finally moving into all grain brewing.

[JoshuaGates]

Fellow men,

Hope you are all well! I'm excited to announce that I'm finally moving into all grain brewing. My setup will be:


10 Gallon Mash Tun
10 Gallon Sparge Container
10 Gallon Spike Brewing Kettle * I have questions about this
Hell Fire Propane Burner
7 Gallon FF Conical Fermenter w/ trub ball and/or yeast harvester
All my grain will come from my local home brew shop - Scotzin Brothers

I've been brewing kits for a long time, so I have all the tools needed and I only bottle my beer. I just wanted to outline my equipment above to get any feedback. (plan on moving into kegging soon)

I'll be doing mostly 5 gallon batches of Stouts and IPA's.

I would love any advice on how to get the best taste and clarity with my brews. I know y'all have learned many things in your years, and I'm still a greenhorn, so anything at all is welcome. Anything at all you think a new all grain brewer should know.

I do have a question about my kettle. In the picture, notice the little tube on the side. My question is, why would this be useful? Just to see the beer?

Looking forward to some responses!

Thanks gents!

Cheers!

 

[Minbari]

It's so you know when the coffee is done!

Just a level indicator, never had one, might be useful.

Biggest thing to watch with propane is don't scortch the wort! That taste never goes away

 

[west1m]

Gage glass, first thing I added to my Anvil Brewer when I got it. Know where you are at when filling, know where you are when boiling, know where you are at when sparging ... etc

 

[Yooper]

One of the things that is important in all-grain brewing is your water. In extract brewing, not so much. What water will you start with? Do you know your basic water starting point? Mash pH and water chemistry will come into play now.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Love my Hell Fire.
If you want to cheat with the water and don't mind buying it, down here, Publix Spring water works quite well.

 

[Yontsey]

One of the things that is important in all-grain brewing is your water. In extract brewing, not so much. What water will you start with? Do you know your basic water starting point? Mash pH and water chemistry will come into play now.

I have no clue about water chemistry and the starting points. We're blessed here (Northeast Ohio) to have great water. I haven't done anything to treat our water and, knock on wood, I've yet to have a bad batch. I've talked to some head brewer friends and they say it can really make your beer go from good to great so it's eventually something I want to look into. When I bought my kit from a friend, he gave me a water treatment kit with all the minerals and such. Just need to figure out the starting levels. Think I could contact the local water department or is that something I'd have to send out for testing?

 

[Yontsey]

Fellow men,

Hope you are all well! I'm excited to announce that I'm finally moving into all grain brewing. My setup will be:


10 Gallon Mash Tun
10 Gallon Sparge Container
10 Gallon Spike Brewing Kettle * I have questions about this
Hell Fire Propane Burner
7 Gallon FF Conical Fermenter w/ trub ball and/or yeast harvester
All my grain will come from my local home brew shop - Scotzin Brothers

I've been brewing kits for a long time, so I have all the tools needed and I only bottle my beer. I just wanted to outline my equipment above to get any feedback. (plan on moving into kegging soon)

I'll be doing mostly 5 gallon batches of Stouts and IPA's.

I would love any advice on how to get the best taste and clarity with my brews. I know y'all have learned many things in your years, and I'm still a greenhorn, so anything at all is welcome. Anything at all you think a new all grain brewer should know.

I do have a question about my kettle. In the picture, notice the little tube on the side. My question is, why would this be useful? Just to see the beer?

Looking forward to some responses!

Thanks gents!

Cheers!View attachment 30400

Good luck! I just started back in the spring but I jumped right into all-grain. Have done 5-6 batches so far. Whirloc tablets or some Irish moss seem to help with clarity. I do mainly NEIPAs and it doesn't effect the haze color.

 

[richbon]

Happy brewing! I'm coming up on a year of brewing all grain, so I'm fairly new at this also. I use a brew in a bag (BIAB) approach where I really only use a kettle to mash and then boil. Works out great and saves on cleaning and gear. I see you're going with a 3 vessel setup (mash tun, sparge, kettle) and was just curious if you'd considered BIAB.

 

[JoshuaGates]

One of the things that is important in all-grain brewing is your water. In extract brewing, not so much. What water will you start with? Do you know your basic water starting point? Mash pH and water chemistry will come into play now.

Thank you for this! I was only using filtered Brita water for kits, recommended by local home brew shop in Waco, TX, but I am aware that water is going to be a much bigger task now. Do you recommend using spring water; distilled water; RO/DI water;? I have so many questions now. LOL

 

[JoshuaGates]

Happy brewing! I'm coming up on a year of brewing all grain, so I'm fairly new at this also. I use a brew in a bag (BIAB) approach where I really only use a kettle to mash and then boil. Works out great and saves on cleaning and gear. I see you're going with a 3 vessel setup (mash tun, sparge, kettle) and was just curious if you'd considered BIAB.

I actually already have the bag to do BIAB so it's an option.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Thank you for this! I was only using filtered Brita water for kits, recommended by local home brew shop in Waco, TX, but I am aware that water is going to be a much bigger task now. Do you recommend using spring water; distilled water; RO/DI water;? I have so many questions now. LOL

Definitely Spring.
BIAB is easy, but it isn't as efficient, so you need to lower your efficiency expectations and use a little more grain.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Oh, and make sure you have full 15lb tank for the Hellfire. If you run that thing hot, it WILL suck down some gas.

 

[Minbari]

Thank you for this! I was only using filtered Brita water for kits, recommended by local home brew shop in Waco, TX, but I am aware that water is going to be a much bigger task now. Do you recommend using spring water; distilled water; RO/DI water;? I have so many questions now. LOL

If you use RO, just realize that most of the RO sources have nothing in them. So you will have to add brewing salts

 

[Donoroto]

As mentioned, RO and Distilled water require some brewing salts. Spring water is generally good. Water is important, but not so important that you have to freak out about it.

Ideally, you would find out how much minerals are in the water that you use, because you’ll want to know. The important minerals are calcium, chloride, sulfate, and to a smaller extent magnesium. We also watch sodium and carbonates, but these are less important unless they unusually high. The chloride to sulfate ratio in particular has a noticeable effect on the beer.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

I also have a 10 gallon Spike brew kettle. It's a great kettle. I did not opt for the sight glass because I felt it was just a nice to have.

If you are going to use your local municipal water, definitely add metabisulfite (sodium or potassium) to your strike and sparge water. This will neutralize the chlorine/chloramine in the water. With well water or bottled water you don't need to worry about that. Other water chemistry stuff can wait. As @Donoroto said...

Water is important, but not so important that you have to freak out about it.