All Grain equipment on a budget

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 1:51 pm

If you want to fly sparge you could use the turkey fryer as HLT, cooler for a mashtun, and drain in to a bucket during the sparge. Then dump the bucket in to the empty HLT and now it is a boil kettle. My HLT was unavailable for my last brew session so I used my boil kettle as a HLT, normal converted keg as a mashtun and drained to a bucket. Worked fine.

I have a fancier brew system with a pump now but each piece was acquired over a 10 year time period. I started with a S/S turkey fryer from Sam's Club for extract batches. Then a lady at work gave me a keg that she could not get anyone to take as a return. Then while building my house I was taking a load of crap to the dump and a keg in great condition was just sitting there amoung the garbage. I took it home with me and had two new kettles. I bought a 14 gallon kettle on clearance for $90 and boom, I was doing 10 gallon all grain batches with minimal investment. I have found www.bargainfittings.com to have good prices on weldless kits for kegs.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:10 pm

You could do the same thing with batch sparging, which is what I do. The advantage of having an HLT for fly sparging is that you can start to heat your wort as you sparge. Since fly sparging takes longer this can be nice especially on bigger batches. With batch sparging it depends on how many rounds you do as to whether and HLT is worth it or not.

I use a turkey fryer for my BK and a cooler for the mash. I heat mash and sparge water in the BK and drain it into the tun as needed. I take my runnings off to a bucket to make it easier to juggle, and I can start heating wort as soon as I've dumped my sparge water into the MLT.

But in either of these examples, it really depends on how you are going to get water/wort between the vessels. My batches are small so I can easily move the BK and MTL as needed for gravity feed. If you're lifting a 5 or 10 gallon batch consider whether you'd want to move your BK with hot water in it higher than the MLT. Of course you can get a pump which gives you a ton of flexibility but then you're spending more $$.

Keep in mind that if you go with an HLT it's going to need it's own burner to be useful if you're going gas. I have seen people use electric element "sticks" that they can move between the vessels so I guess it's not impossible.

On 03/27/2013 02:51 PM, Matt F wrote:

If you want to fly sparge you could use the turkey fryer as HLT, cooler for a mashtun, and drain in to a bucket during the sparge. Then dump the bucket in to the empty HLT and now it is a boile kettle. My HLT was unavailable for my last brew session so I used my boil kettle as a HLT, normal converted keg as a mashtun and drained to a bucket. Worked fine.

I have a fancier brew system with a pump now but each piece was acquired over a 10 year time period. I started with a S/S turkey fryer from Sam's Club for extract batches. Then a lady at work gave me a keg that she could not get anyone to take as a return. Then while building my house I was taking a load of crap to the dump and a keg in great condition was just sitting there amoung the garbage. I took it home with me and had two new kettles. I bought a 14 gallon kettle on clearance for $90 and boom, I was doing 10 gallon all grain batches with minimal investment. I have found www.bargainfittings.com to have good prices on weldless kits for kegs.

Matt Franklin
Slappy Brewing North

On Tap:
Hefeweizen
Funk You Very Much Belgian Sour
Club RIS w/Coffee
Bourbon Barrel Aged Up in Smoke Imperial Porter

Ferementing/Aging:
Paddler's Pale Ale
Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
Concecration Clone

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Bones · Post by **Bones** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:55 pm

Thanks for all the info so far folks. I really appreciate it and like there are several ways to get to a same end result.

I haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet and doubt I do anytime soon.

Keep the ideas coming.

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 7:03 pm

When doing 5 gallon batches, I heated my sparge water on the stove. I do batch sparging, and split my sparge in two, so I was never heating more than 2.5 gallons of water.

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 7:09 pm

I need to read on on batch and fly sparging.

See...no rush I have a lot to learn

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:01 am

This article is the reason I went to all grain, and never looked back. I still have the magazine, with all the pictures. But there are lots of mash tun designs online, that are better, in my opinion.

http://byo.com/stout/item/448-cheap-and ... h-sparging

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:16 am

Thanks brownbeard, that was a good read.

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:48 am

Denny Conn's batch sparging in web format.

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

And in Podcast version with Brad Smith.

http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/12/01/ba ... odcast-27/

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:47 pm

Pretty much sold on batch sparging and getting a cooler + fittings in the near future. Unsure if I want to get a thermapen or just use my VWR flip stick albeit a very slow reading thermometer.

I have most everything else already if I get the keg from my friend or source a larger boil kettle.

Post by **JimPotts** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:28 pm

Once you have a thermopen, you will never go back. I use mine all the time. Great for meat on the grill, brewing, etc.

-Jim

On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 1:47 PM, Bones <brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org (brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

Pretty much sold on batch sparging and getting a cooler + fittings in the near future. Unsure if I want to get a thermapen or just use my VWR flip stick albeit a very slow reading thermometer.

I have most everything else already if I get the keg from my friend or source a larger boil kettle.

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Bones · Post by **Bones** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:55 pm

Yeah, I may even spring for the dual temp model

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/han ... ntial.html

TappedOut · Post by **TappedOut** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:17 pm

PROTIP: If your wife likes to cook, Thermapens make good gifts. Then steal it when you're brewing.

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 7:25 am

Should have my mash tun this week/weekend

Anyone want to share a good beginner recipe I'd appreciate it so I can source the grains/hop/yeast.

Also would you recommend beer smith?

CMLarrison · Post by **CMLarrison** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:01 am

This is just my 2 cents but it seems with beersmith that some people like it and some people don't. I have it and don't mind it but it did taking some getting used to. If you check the beersmith website they also have a recipe section that is searchable if you have a particular style in mind that you want to brew.

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:18 am

I recommend Beersmith. You can trial the software for 21 days.

http://beersmith.com/download-beersmith/

I just got the "Home Brewing with Beersmith" book from Amazon and am working through it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145385 ... UTF8&psc=1

As for recipe suggestions, Patersbier is always a crowd pleaser and has a simple grain bill.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/pate ... n-kit.html