All-grain Size Question

[GilesTH]

I'm hoping to move to all-grain brewing, soon. I like the flavor I've been getting from my extract brews, but after my third extract beer, I'm ready to try something that allows me more creativity. I have a few problems, though. First is budget. To get around that, I'm thinking of making smaller batches of all-grain than I've been making of extract. I only have a 6-gallon kettle, and that set me back a few bucks. I don't want to get rid of it, but from what I've read, if I'm going to brew a 5-gallon batch of of all-grain, I need an 8-gallon kettle at the minimum.

So if I drop my brew-size down to a 3 or 4 gallon batch, can I keep using my 6-gallon kettle? The other issue I have is that I live in a condo, so I don't really have room to use a propane burner out on my patio (I could probably get away with it, but I'm also running out of storage space for the equipment when I'm not using it), so I need to keep using the glass-top stove in my kitchen. I could go electric, except that I don't have the ventilation in my condo to keep evaporated wort from collecting on my ceiling.

Sorry about the long post, but I really want to move to all-grain, and I figured it would be easier to get feedback if you knew my situation.

[spiderwrangler]

Within the constrains you have, I'd recommend 2 options

1) go all grain as you described, doing smaller batches. With my current setup I'm usually double batching to fill a 5 gallon fermentor (5gal pot on stove), but I also have a propane setup if I'm going somewhere else to brew. You will need some form of mashtun eventually, but BIAB (brew in a bag) would work fairly well for a half sized batch.

2) Do some mini-mash beers, BIAB is great for this, and it gives you more control, more room for creativity, and helps teach you some of the things you will want to know about controlling temp, etc for when you move to all grain.

[GilesTH]

Within the constrains you have, I'd recommend 2 options

1) go all grain as you described, doing smaller batches. With my current setup I'm usually double batching to fill a 5 gallon fermentor (5gal pot on stove), but I also have a propane setup if I'm going somewhere else to brew. You will need some form of mashtun eventually, but BIAB (brew in a bag) would work fairly well for a half sized batch.

2) Do some mini-mash beers, BIAB is great for this, and it gives you more control, more room for creativity, and helps teach you some of the things you will want to know about controlling temp, etc for when you move to all grain.

I've never looked into BIAB stuff, I'll have to do that. And, yeah, I did plan on getting a mash tun . Well, I was going to build one according to the instructions in How to Brew because that fits well within my budget. It's the kettle and burners that would give me problems.

Can I keep using my 6.5 gallon fermentation bucket? I hear those are only good for a dozen brews, so I plan on going with a carboy eventually, but is that size okay for a 3 or 4 gallon batch, or do I need a smaller fermentation vessel? Also, for the 6-gallon kettle, should I stick with 3 gallons or 4? I've heard several people say that a proper boil is important, and the size of the kettle can limit the boil if I'm not careful. Is that correct, or should I just make a recipe and see what happens?

[spiderwrangler]

You'll have plenty of room in your kettle to boil batches in the size you're planning. I would probably be less comfortable using a 6.5 bucket for a 3 gal batch, but 4 would probably be ok... the more headspace, the greater chance of O2 showing up when you don't want it to. I do like doing 1/2 batches as it takes less fiddling with a recipe based on 5 gal, and then don't have to worry about a half full carboy.

[GilesTH]

You'll have plenty of room in your kettle to boil batches in the size you're planning. I would probably be less comfortable using a 6.5 bucket for a 3 gal batch, but 4 would probably be ok... the more headspace, the greater chance of O2 showing up when you don't want it to. I do like doing 1/2 batches as it takes less fiddling with a recipe based on 5 gal, and then don't have to worry about a half full carboy.

Sounds good, thanks . Now I just have to figure out the rest of my finances to get the equipment for an all grain brew day!

[Beer_Baron]

You'll have plenty of room in your kettle to boil batches in the size you're planning. I would probably be less comfortable using a 6.5 bucket for a 3 gal batch, but 4 would probably be ok... the more headspace, the greater chance of O2 showing up when you don't want it to. I do like doing 1/2 batches as it takes less fiddling with a recipe based on 5 gal, and then don't have to worry about a half full carboy.

Sounds good, thanks . Now I just have to figure out the rest of my finances to get the equipment for an all grain brew day!

Here's how I did all - grain for cheap when I was a broke grad student...

http://www.amazon.com/Granite-6139-1-34 ... e+32+quart

8 1/2 gallon non-reactive pot - less than $40...

http://www.amazon.com/Reflectix-BP24010 ... =reflectix

Foil/Bubble insulation to turn your bottling bucket into a mash tun - less than $10

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90111980/

Polyester curtain material for making a bucket liner -less than $5

http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Large-Stai ... +stainless

You will also need some sort of steamer basket - type thing to use as a false bottom - less than $10.

Use your existing 6 gallon kettle as a hot liquor tank on the stove - heat your mash and strike water with that. Put the lined and insulated bottling bucket on a chair, use a big glass measuring cup or pitcher to scoop hot water into it, and run the wort off into the 8.5 gallon kettle on the floor.

You will also probably need an immersion chiller to cool off the larger boil volume - an ice bath isn't gonna do it...

I probably spent 100 bucks for my rig and used it for 2 years when in grad school. - The kettle and chiller were the only expensive parts.

[GilesTH]

Love these ideas! I'm still looking at my overall budget to see where the best place to spend would be. I'm afraid I'll have to do split-batch boils because my stove doesn't get very hot very quickly, but that's not a big deal. I may just have to "suffer" through tasty extract beer for another year, but we'll see what happens with christmas cash and tax returns.

[Beer_Baron]

Love these ideas! I'm still looking at my overall budget to see where the best place to spend would be. I'm afraid I'll have to do split-batch boils because my stove doesn't get very hot very quickly, but that's not a big deal. I may just have to "suffer" through tasty extract beer for another year, but we'll see what happens with christmas cash and tax returns.

This worked for me because I had more time than money... It took almost an hour to bring 6+ gallons of wort to a full boil on the stove - and this is with a professional style 6 burner stove with the two burners under the pot blazing.

Eventually I found a turkey fryer marked down to half off after the holidays - it was about $40 with burner, aluminum pot and insert (Don't be afraid to use an aluminum pot for hot liquor tank) and a nice long stem thermometer. It also fries a nice turkey.

Also if you have more time than money, check out the homebrewfinds blog - things go on sale all the time and you can pick up stuff for cheap if you shop around.