Hey guys, Im pretty new into the whole brewing thing, still making extract brews, so Im pretty basic as far as equipment goes, but I keep seeing discussions about everyones brewing stations/systems, tiers, etc., and I guess Im too green to understand why theyre needed and how they work? Is this more for an all-grain brewer? I think some of them are pretty bad ass though, and Id like to have a better understanding of what each component of a system is for.

Im still brewing on the kitchen stove, but Id like to get an outdoor setup going with a propane burner so I can get outside during the warmer months.

Tim

Tiered systems and systems with transfer pumps are largely so that you can contain all your brewing stuff on one structure (rather than propped up on ciderblocks and boards, etc), as well as allowing you to easily move liquids using a combination of gravity and pumps (decreases amount of heavy lifting). That and they are just plain cool.

There's no real advantage to having a tiered system when doing extract since everything is done in one kettle. But with all-grain, where they can be 2-3 kettles, it's nice to have everything in place instead of having to move things around to heat strike or sparge water.

The more and more I think of it, I think a Blichmann Top Tier will be in my future someday. I use a Coleman cooler as a mash tun so I don't need 3 burners right away, but I like the option to add one later if I decide to switch to a kettle mash tun. A burner for the HLT, a shelf for the mash tun, and a second burner for the boil kettle. Throw a pump in there and my back won't hurt after brewday is over. Well, it won't hurt as much.

There's various types of all-grain brewing - the 3V (3-vessel), the BIAB (brew in a bag) and hybrid models.

When you see 3 pots/kettles/vessels, you're typically talking about a vessel taking the sugars off of the grains (mashing), using one for a hot liquor tank (sparging your mash with appropriate temperature water) and then finally using the last vessel for your boil.

Right now, you avoid the need for the mash tun and the HLT because you use extract - somebody did all the work for you, and concentrated it.

I BIAB which allows me to all grain (more control over my beer but without the cost of pumps, stands, etc).

There's plenty of stuff out there on the internet discussing this in more detail

If you are brewing with extract or BIAB you don't need to worry about tiers or systems, all you need is 1 kettle. If you want to do all grain with a 3-vessel system (Hot Liquor Tank, Mashtun and Boil Kettle) you need to move hot liquids around. If you don't want to use a pump you can use gravity to move the liquid downhill from vessel to vessel in a 2 or 3 tier system.

When you shift to AG, the coolers with false bottoms do a great job mashing and for a HLT, but I would recommend keeping to a batch size of 7 gallons pre-boil volume, too. You can still heat some water in the kitchen. The larger batch 14 gal pre-boil volume requires a lot more hot water, It has been a real tap dance for me to get enough hot water without a metal HLT w/burner. It makes for a real long brew day!
I am upgrading to the Blichmann Top Tier w/3 burners nat. gas, 20/20/30 gal boilermaker setup. My wife is getting an RO water filter for Mother's Day (for her bottled water ).
There are many ways to brew! They all can produce great beer!

There is another very practical and concerning aspect. Lets look at the whole process for a moment. In "all grain" brewing, the brewer needs to heat the brewing liquor to the proper temperature for enzyme conversion. In a 5 gallon batch that is around 4 gallons at 162 degrees F for a single infusion mash using a 5 gallon cooler with a false bottom. Now to reach "mash out" and have an effective sparge, with either batch or continuous sparging, you need about 5 more gallons at around 169 degrees F to go into this same mash tun. All the while this needs to drain into a kettle that can hold at least 8 gallons, with head room, so it can come to a boil. At 5 pounds a gallon, figuring the weight of the kettle itself, you need to lift at least 50 pounds of sloshing wort hot enough to cause serious scald burns onto a burner that you have already heated to bring the first 2 batches of water up to temperature. For me, as a professional chef, I'm used to carrying and dumping large heavy volumes of very hot liquid without hurting myself (been there, done that). So, the point to a tiered stand, for me, is to be able to do these things in a way that I won't hurt myself too badly on the way to the brew kettle.

Anyway, don't feel badly about this, since I do this by stacking buckets on top of buckets to tier everything so it all flows downhill. Like I said, I'm used to heavy lifting.

My two cents,

Definitely is starting to make more sense. I think I just need to keep doing what Im doing until I can get a few of the general brewing details a bit more polished, and start researching AG brewing in the meantime. By no means do I plan on heading out and spending a few grand on a top notch system out there...pretty badass if I could, but not going to happen!

Thanks for the inputs guys!