Done it....now what do I do now?!

[JayM72]

I've been doing kits for a few months now but have always wanted to do it from scratch so I thought I'd do an extract brew first, to aid with doing the this I though I'd invest in a Brupaks boiler to save messing around with a saucepan on an underpowered. Was going to pick that up at the weekend but today I decided to throw caution to the wind and, despite not really knowing what I'm doing, go AG (as it wasn't too much more for a mash tun and copper wort chiller).

Now I've taken the plunge (there's no turning back now), I was hoping that someone could advise me on what else I'm likely to need in order to complete my first brew (I guess I'll need some sort of sparging set up?). I've already got a couple of recipes in mind so I know what I'm planning to do first.

I must admit it's a bit scary as everything seems really technical but at the same time I'm looking forward to getting stuck in

Apologies for more newbie question

Jason

[davidmpye]

I went through this a couple of weeks back

A coolbox for a mash tun
A sparging arm - I bought one from Hop and Grape.
A manifold for the mash tun coolbox - I made one with copper piping and a hacksaw.
The boiler and a hop strainer

That's pretty much it to be honest

[adm]

You don't even need a sparging arm as you can batch sparge, which is simpler and easier and gets just as good results.

All you really need is a boiler - plus a hop strainer of some kind, a mash tun with a grain manifold, a few bits of tubing, a jug, a thermometer, hydrometer and a fermenting vessel. The wort chiller is a great thing to have, but not strictly necessary.

Plus grain, hops, yeast and water.

Some camden tablets would be a good investment and some gypsum......but that's about it!

Well done on taking the plunge.

[JayM72]

Thanks guys....now to get my hands dirty (and get reading up)

[quiff]

Good luck Jay. You'll think it looks daunting but keep it simple and you'll be amazed how easy it is when you get going.
(I danced around the kitchen after my first AG singing "I can brew beer, I can brew beer!!" )
Post us some piccies won't you?

[davidmpye]

Just one tip - do a dry run (well, kinda!)

Check that you can do 'everything' - so for me, I checked -

does my sparge arm work?
Do I have the plumbing to connect it to the HLT?
Is my manifold connected to the mash tun tap?
Have I got enough buckets to use as my HLT etc
Does my wort cooler have the right sized hoses and not leak?

I don't like surprises half way through the brew!

David

[Horden Hillbilly]

Just one tip - do a dry run (well, kinda!)

Check that you can do 'everything' - so for me, I checked -

does my sparge arm work?
Do I have the plumbing to connect it to the HLT?
Is my manifold connected to the mash tun tap?
Have I got enough buckets to use as my HLT etc
Does my wort cooler have the right sized hoses and not leak?

I don't like surprises half way through the brew!

David

Sound advice, guess who did not do the step above which I underlined on his 1st ag brew?

Jason, to see a simple guide to ag brewing showing both batch & fly sparging, click on the uk-homebrew link in my signature.

[davidmpye]

My first rookie move was to forget to attach the hopstrainer to the boiler tap before boiling the **** out of the wort.

I won't make that mistake again - I leave it connected from the start of using the boiler to heat the HLT water - it doesn't get in the way or do any harm

David

[JayM72]

Thanks again guys. Only problem now is that my wort cooler isn't going to arrive until after the weekend ( I ordered last Thursday and it was, supposedly, in stock). Now I'm being told that they are expecting a delivery at the end of this week. I was planning on doing a brew this weekend Next time I'll use a supplier who I know is reliable!