All Grain equipment on a budget

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:20 am

Thanks Steven,

Thinking I will look into "kits" and buying the grain, hops, yeast from BIY if I find a recipe that seems simple (famous last words)

JimF · Post by **JimF** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:27 am

I like Beersmith too, but keeping with your goal of starting all grain on a budget you can brew great beer using kits and existing recipes. You don't need to rush out and buy any program.
On Apr 2, 2013 9:20 AM, "Bones" <brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org (brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

Thanks Steven,

Thinking I will look into "kits" and buying the grain, hops, yeast from BIY if I find a recipe that seems simple (famous last words)

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carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:34 am

I like Beersmith. The new version runs under Windows, Mac, and Linux (latter is important to me), and has a free mobile app you can use to view your recipes (not edit though). I've found that nice to have on brew day because you can pull ingredients together and it has a good brew timer. To get the most out of BS though you need to take the time to set up your brewing equipment so you can accurately scale recipes to your setup. I have to scale pretty much every recipe I find since my setup is non-standard. May not be as important for you. One plus is that BS is a one-time purchase, and frequently goes on sale for between $19-23. There's a free 21 day trial. Evne the full price of $28 is fair the amount of stuff it does.

Recently several members have mentioned Brewer's Friend, http://www.brewersfriend.com/, and had good things to say. I'v not had a chance to use it yet. It's all online and has an unlimmited free trial (limited to 5 recipes). It's $10/year for full version. Whether or not you are comfortable with an "all cloud" solution is a matter of preference and/or trust.

On 04/02/2013 09:01 AM, CMLarrison wrote:

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.

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Bones · Post by **Bones** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:37 am

$30 is well within the "budget"

part of the lore to this all grain is buying the grains, hops, yeast needed for whatever and steering away from "kits". I will always brew extract and use kits for both. For this go around I want to dive in head first.

whitedj · Post by **whitedj** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:58 am

I agree, stick with what your used to. I personally use brewtarget, its free and open source. I tried beersmith on the 21 day trial, and didn't think it was worth the money; although I may give it another look since they have their mobile app.

carrisr · Post by **carrisr** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 9:15 am

Well I'm sure everyone has different reasons for going all-grain. There's a ton of people who stick to the kits though because there's a ton of well tested recipes available that way. I moved away from kits soon after getting started (extract) because my batch sizes don't really work with kits. I also really enjoy playing with recipes. But if I were doing 5 gallon batches I'd probably do a lot of kits for their simplicity especially if I found recipes I really liked.

A big advantage of kits is that you don't have to store all kinds of grains and hops that you may or may not use again. I went a little crazy when I got started an now have all kinds of speciality grains that I haven't used. I never seem to have what a recipe calls for, but I have tons of stuff I thought I'd need. I did the same for hops.

I think for many people, the big draw of all-grain is cost. Whether kit or not, all-grain is generally cheaper per batch than extract, though at a trade-off of more equipment and time. Others like the control and the "more traditional" feel. there also certain styles that are hard to as extract due to the types of extract available. That's changed a little recently as now you can get extracts with wheat malt and munich too.

On 04/02/2013 09:37 AM, Bones wrote:

$30 is well within the "budget"

part of the lore to this all grain is buying the grains, hops, yeast needed for whatever and steering away from "kits". I will always brew extract and use kits for both. For this go around I want to dive in head first.

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Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:02 pm

I have used recipes from kits and just go buy the stuff I need from BIY. I usually have base malt from bulk purchases. That will save you a lot of money as most of your beer is base malt. The Northern Brewer recipes are available online. BYO and Zymurgy are good sources for recipes in print. Otherwise, a bunch are out there online. The Mad Fermentationist is a good source (http://www.themadfermentationist.com/) as well as the shows from Brewing Network.

The favorite thing I have grown to enjoy about all grain is taking the grain, crushing it, mixing it with water, stirring the mash, the smell...I just really like it.

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:05 pm

Matt F wrote:I have used recipes from kits and just go buy the stuff I need from BIY. I usually have base malt from bulk purchases. That will save you a lot of money as most of your beer is base malt. The Northern Brewer recipes are available online. BYO and Zymurgy are good sources for recipes in print. Otherwise, a bunch are out there online. The Mad Fermentationist is a good source (http://www.themadfermentationist.com/) as well as the shows from Brewing Network.

The favorite thing I have grown to enjoy about all grain is taking the grain, crushing it, mixing it with water, stirring the mash, the smell...I just really like it.

Thanks Matt, the bulk grain is another thing I want to get into and plan to go to the Thursday meetings (keep forgetting)

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:42 pm

Need a recipe for a simple pale ale so I can email the grain bill over to BIY to pick up tomorrow night.

Mash tun created and leak tested. Now I just need to splurge on a grain mill at some point.

Thanks for all the help, very excited to get started, wish I had sooner.

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:27 pm

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/3984/cascade-pale-ale

It's hard to get much simpler than this one.

On Thursday, April 4, 2013, Bones wrote:

Beersmith trail isn't DL'ing Need a recipe for a simple pale ale so I can email the grain bill over to BIY to pick up tomorrow night.

Mash tun created and leak tested. Now I just need to splurge on a grain mill at some point.

Thanks for all the help, very excited to get started, wish I had sooner.

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Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:31 pm

Well, Joe can crush grains for you so a crusher is not so immediate I'd imagine.

for 5 Gal.

5lb two row
5lb maris otter

.5 oz Magnum at 60
.5 oz Citra at 30
.5 oz Citra at 5

Mash at 152.

WLP001 or S-05.

Blam. Pale ale.

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:32 pm

Thanks, much easier than the APA I found on beersmith. My dumb question is how much water to start the mash and when I batch sparge so I get ~6-6.5 gallons in the boil kettle to get me close to 5 gallons in the fermentor?

I will send him both and do some brewing Saturday.

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:35 pm

don't forget to dry hop too. another ounce of Citra for 4 days in secondary would do the trick

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:52 am

Bones wrote:Thanks, much easier than the APA I found on beersmith. My dumb question is how much water to start the mash and when I batch sparge so I get ~6-6.5 gallons in the boil kettle to get me close to 5 gallons in the fermentor?

I will send him both and do some brewing Saturday.

This is where brewing software comes in really handy. When you enter a recipe, it tells you how much mash water and sparge water for each step. I use a 1.25qt/1lb water to grain ratio for my mash in. After the mash is complete, I add enough boiling water to raise my mash temp to 170 degrees F . Again, that amount is calculated for me, in beersmith.

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:54 am

brownbeard wrote:
Bones wrote:Thanks, much easier than the APA I found on beersmith. My dumb question is how much water to start the mash and when I batch sparge so I get ~6-6.5 gallons in the boil kettle to get me close to 5 gallons in the fermentor?

I will send him both and do some brewing Saturday.
This is where brewing software comes in really handy. When you enter a recipe, it tells you how much mash water and sparge water for each step. I use a 1.25qt/1lb water to grain ratio for my mash in. After the mash is complete, I add enough boiling water to raise my mash temp to 170 degrees F . Again, that amount is calculated for me, in beersmith.

Yeah that's why I dl'ed the trial and was searching for a recipe on there to make this pretty painless. It's a neat program.