ALL GRAIN ADVICE!

[Dgrant81385]

So then guys,

I am new to this forum, I started doing kits 3 years ago and been doing extract for last 2.

I am planning on starting all grain 23rd may day after my 28th.

I am hoping for advice on equipment as i plan on DIY brewery set up.

So equipment:

HLT/BOILER: 50-60 litre food grade pp bucket with tap and 2 kettle elements.

MASH TUN: 32 litre thermos cooler box - copper manifold.

FV: 33 litre food grade pp bucket- airlock- tap

Bottling bucket: 33 litre food grade pp bucket -air lock-tap with bottling stick attaches.

WORT CHILLER: Copper coil wound dealio thingy.

I want to be able to do beers up to 6% but only in 5 gallon batches, so hopefully this will be enough.

All advice will be very much appreciated as it is new territory to me.

cheers,

DAN.

[Pinto]

Sounds like you're pretty much set up to go

Advice... well, firstly, planning provides perfect performance make sure you measure out your hops in the right quantities in seperate containers with what they are and when they're going it to prevent confusion; If you're adding 30 or 15 minute boil hops, chuck the irish moss/protofloc in with the hops or you'll forget em (priceless tip, that one)

Make sure you have the yeast bought, prepped and ready to go - another common made mistake.

Most of all - read the experience and advice of the all grain and brewday forums, and HAVE FUN !

Good luck with it !

[DeadFall]

Make sure the taps are closed before you start

[Fil]

Make sure the taps are closed before you start

Second That.

Sounds like a great plan,
the copper kettle online brewshop will sell you boiler suitable PP buckets and iirc will cut holes free, they also sell pre drilled tank connectors for pushing 15mm copper tube through for fittings inside and outside a pot..

might be worth mentioning the German stainless steel stock pots, delivered direct they are a bargain. popping holes through SS pots needs either a qmax punch for each size and can add to the build cost if you need to resort to buying them. Or skills and set up to drill with a hole saw using cooling oil over the cut. (quite a few qmax punches are laying at the bottom of kit boxes.. )

the real budget option is the 45-50l blue hdpe ex mango barrels circa £11 via ebay

over the years ive used all 3 and tbh the best beers came from the mango barrel boiler;)

[Dgrant81385]

Awsome advice guys, cheers!


The pre cut boiler bucket would be very hand.

But on the mash tun whats the easiest way to cut through it?
I think irs a doible skinned one aswell.

[Dgrant81385]

so i have decided to go with cooper kettle brewings 60 litre bucket. the fact the drill holes need is as big plus also the tank connector aswell.

but for the boiler build im not a electrician and dont fancy messing about with wireing so, as they provide 2.4Kw elements im going to go with them.
the main question is will i require 1 or 2 of the 2.4Kw elements for a 60 litre buket to be used as my HLT and boiler multi purpose to save room in the brew room ( attic )

[Fil]

2 x will be quicker to reach the boil while 1 may be sufficient to maintain a boil with insulation and not filled to the top, having 2 x fitted will also give u a bit of a backup should 1 fail,

fwiw 3 kw of elements in an uninsulated PP bucket with 55l of water wont maintain a boil outside without the lid on.

[Dgrant81385]

I suspected as much.

Quite expensive at £22.00 pound each from copper kettle,

BUT.....! I'm rather fond of not electrocuting myself through shoddy wiring.

[Dgrant81385]

Also my intentions for it is to keep beewing 25l batches.

So hopefully wont need more than 40 litres at a time with 2 of the elements in.

[Dgrant81385]

Also the 60 litre bucket I intend to use it for a HLT and also sparge water then to boil the wort in.

So 3 uses for 1 item.

Once all the waters worked out for what I need, this should work well I feel without having to buy another just to boil the wort in

[lord groan]

Definitely do a wet run.
set your brewery up, fill the hlt, heat it up, drain the mash water into the tun, sitr it to ensure all the imaginary grain is thoroughly wet, now where are you putting that spoon down?, leave it for an hour or so, run it into the boiler, refill the mt with enough sparge water, run that off, start the boil, go for the full 90 minutes.

Now you know for sure where the leaks might be, what takes longer than expected, the fact that the mt won't drain cleanly into the boiler or whatever, you can fix these issues and work your way through a full brewday tweaking things as you go without worrying about timings or infection or any other horrors so that when you use actual ingredients you're already familiar with the setup and you know you've ironed out the worst issues already
I was so glad I did this when I started AG, I 'knew' I'd got it sorted, then I tried my wet run and boy did I learn a lot, not as clever as i thought i was!
good luck

[Dgrant81385]

Thinking the process through, I would benefit from having my Boiler as a separate item as a 30 litre

and my 60litre as HLT/ Sparge water

And

[irv]

Thinking the process through, I would benefit from having my Boiler as a separate item as a 30 litre

and my 60litre as HLT/ Sparge water

And

you wont get 25l of beer out of the fermentor if using a 30l kettle

[Dgrant81385]

So correction is in order.

60 litre for mash/ sparge water.

And another 60 litre for a boiler / kettle.

[irv]

So correction is in order.

60 litre for mash/ sparge water.

And another 60 litre for a boiler / kettle.

using one vessel for both HLT and kettle is fine, you would just need another container to catch the first bit of wort or hold the sparge water. (hint - you already have a 33l container that is not being used at this point in time.)