20 year gap between Extract & All grain

cacsmret

cacsmret

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Hello all!
Jumping back in to brewing after a 20 year hiatus. After doing extract brewing in the past, I've always wanted to go with a conical fermenter and finally decided on black Friday to take the plunge. Going to try all grain electric brewing with Brewzilla and a SS Brewtech 7 gal conical fermenter. Been collecting parts & pieces since Christmas and I'm about ready to get my first batch cooking. Was able to pick up a Kegerator off of Craigslist, with a full c02 tank and many parts! Got some old soda corny kegs and about ready to try my first attempt at my favorite, a German Weissbier! Just got central Idaho well water lab report from Wards & was surprised how alkaline the water is. pH is 8.2! I'm sure I'm going to be asking many questions and I'm excited to pull the tap with home brew!
 

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cacsmret said:
Hello all!
Jumping back in to brewing after a 20 year hiatus. After doing extract brewing in the past, I've always wanted to go with a conical fermenter and finally decided on black Friday to take the plunge. Going to try all grain electric brewing with Brewzilla and a SS Brewtech 7 gal conical fermenter. Been collecting parts & pieces since Christmas and I'm about ready to get my first batch cooking. Was able to pick up a Kegerator off of Craigslist, with a full c02 tank and many parts! Got some old soda corny kegs and about ready to try my first attempt at my favorite, a German Weissbier! Just got central Idaho well water lab report from Wards & was surprised how alkaline the water is. pH is 8.2! I'm sure I'm going to be asking many questions and I'm excited to pull the tap with home brew!
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Wow look at all that nice brand new equipment!
You must be champing at the bit to get that brewzilla mashing!
Mate were Here to help where needed.
Welcome back to the hobby I think your gonna love the improvements 20 years has made :)
 
Sweet! I would add some phosphoric acid to the list. You will need it to get that ph down
 
Good luck! Looks like you have all the bases covered. Even have a blender for post brew-day margaritas! :)
 
Megary said:
Good luck! Looks like you have all the bases covered. Even have a blender for post brew-day margaritas! :)
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No blender, that's the grain scale I added on the back of the HF $39 cart. Today I received the $30 gear reduction electric motor I'm going to fab to run the grain mill. Following another smart trick using a torquey kiddie electric car motor to keep the RPMs down I saw on YouTube
.
 

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cacsmret said:
I think my first batch will be distilled water or RO water from the local grocery store until I figure out my well water chemistry
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Depending on your grist let's say a pilsner you will probably need to adjust mash PH with Acid.
Will it matter first brew back I'm not sure but maybe something to consider.
 
cacsmret said:
No blender, that's the grain scale I added on the back of the HF $39 cart. Today I received the $30 gear reduction electric motor I'm going to fab to run the grain mill. Following another smart trick using a torquey kiddie electric car motor to keep the RPMs down I saw on YouTube
.
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Love it that's a great idea
 
Trialben said:
Depending on your grist let's say a pilsner you will probably need to adjust mash PH with Acid.
Will it matter first brew back I'm not sure but maybe something to consider.
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Appreciate your input. I've been collecting some water adjuncts, so far gypsum and lactic acid; also been reading about brewing salts and how to use
 
So raw water pH is not that significant. Grain will drive mash pH.

My first brewzilla brew was a hefeweitzen! It took a couple brews on 'manual' to get the temperature calibration down, and now I can run a step mash on Auto and not pay attention to the mash for hours as it runs perfectly.
 
Welcome!
Jealous of all that nice gear ;)
 
Getting excited and hope to brew my first batch Sunday! Just ordered the Blichmann QuickCarb today to try to pressurize Conical to keg transfer. When I did extract brewing and racking bottles, it was tough to wait so long for carbonation!
After reading forums on nice to have items, I picked up a large whisk for the brewzilla, a HF gambrel & pulley setup. Last weekend I splurged on the SS Brewtech heating and cooling set up for the 7 gal fermenter. Even hit up habit for humanity looking for an old computer to pull the power supply to build a yeast stir plate. No luck.
 
Favorite brew software?? BrewFather or BeerSmith 3?
 
cacsmret said:
Getting excited and hope to brew my first batch Sunday! Just ordered the Blichmann QuickCarb today to try to pressurize Conical to keg transfer. When I did extract brewing and racking bottles, it was tough to wait so long for carbonation!
After reading forums on nice to have items, I picked up a large whisk for the brewzilla, a HF gambrel & pulley setup. Last weekend I splurged on the SS Brewtech heating and cooling set up for the 7 gal fermenter. Even hit up habit for humanity looking for an old computer to pull the power supply to build a yeast stir plate. No luck.
Click to expand...
I donated my old power supply to an electronics recycling center in my town. They resell donations and the proceeds go to charity. Got one of those around?
 
cacsmret said:
Favorite brew software?? BrewFather or BeerSmith 3?
Click to expand...

Welcome to Brewers Friend!

I use Brewfather for brewing software.
Many here, if not most, use the Brewers Friend software here.
If you are brewing a lager you should not need to add much to RO/distilled water.
This is all I added to a dark czech lager (Shady Bohemian), less was definitely more in this case.
upload_2022-2-5_5-43-58.png
 
cacsmret said:
Favorite brew software?? BrewFather or BeerSmith 3?
Click to expand...

I use brewfather as well. it works really well, the sync between app and browser is flawless. they have really good integration with devices as well. I use the plato keg and Tilt, never an issue.
 
cacsmret said:
Getting excited and hope to brew my first batch Sunday! Just ordered the Blichmann QuickCarb today to try to pressurize Conical to keg transfer. When I did extract brewing and racking bottles, it was tough to wait so long for carbonation!
After reading forums on nice to have items, I picked up a large whisk for the brewzilla, a HF gambrel & pulley setup. Last weekend I splurged on the SS Brewtech heating and cooling set up for the 7 gal fermenter. Even hit up habit for humanity looking for an old computer to pull the power supply to build a yeast stir plate. No luck.
Click to expand...
I just go to amazon. $20 or less you can get a 12v 10A switcher .
 
cacsmret said:
Favorite brew software?? BrewFather or BeerSmith 3?
Click to expand...
I use Brewer's Friend. Never had an issue with it. Though, to be fair, I've never tried any other software so I can't really compare.
 
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