By Mike Norden mnorden@uslink.net
In this article I will be discussing the system I built using recycled stainless
barrel kegs (15 gal.).
Why all grain???
First of all, you have a lot more control. It is extremely hard, if not impossible,
to make a light colored beer like “Bud” or “Miller” using
extract.
Secondly, its cheaper. I currently brew ten gallons at a time and my cost is
about or less the cost of extract, around $13.00 for 10 gals. And thats everything
included!
Furthermore, it only takes approx. 1 to 1 hrs. more time than extract brewing
and I believe it makes a cleaner, fresher beer. ( I know some of this is arbitrary
but so what.) Moreover, there are some beer styles, such as Oktoberfest, that
seem marginal at best when made with extract. I believe this is do to the fact
that the enzymes needed to help breakdown the specialty grains are not available
without the use of malted barley. These enzymes will be there in an all grain
mash. Enough of “Brewing Philosophy 101” and back to the “system”.
Well not quite yet. There are many ways most brewers can and do modify their
extract systems to brew all grain. Most of these are similar to Papazian’s
descriptions in The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, so I am not going to discuss
this method. (Jerry uses his adaptation of this process when he brews “all
grain” and he could explain it far better than I.) If you are considering
trying a batch or two this is the best and least expensive way to experiment
with “all grain” brewing.
Are we ready yet???. Patience is a virtue. When I was given the awesome responsibility
(actually, delegated because the newsletter editor was desperately looking for
someone to take up space and he knew I did this better than most) of describing
how to build an “all grain” home brewery, I immediately began thinking
of pages and pages of intricate details that I was going to expound upon. But
then I remembered that as club librarian I had access to many articles doing
this very thing.( which, by the way, no one uses ) So I decided to do something
else,... well kind of. Mostly because I think it would be more practical and
partly to irritate the deligator (Just kidding Jerry). So lets get to it!
First of all lets describe the Equipment the all grain brewer will need:
1)
a Brew Kettle Figure 1
2) a Vessel for Heating Sparge and Strike Water (usually configured
much like the brew kettle in Figure 1)
3) a Lauter Tun for steeping the ground grains (grist) Figure 2
4) a Pump (this is not essential, but it makes process a lot easier)
Figure 3
5) a Grain Mill ( this also is not essential as you can order your grain
pre-ground)
(They say a picture is worth a thousand words so give Vivienne Morgan a thousand
thanks for scanning these photo’s for me.)
The Brewing Process
I use “Suds 97”, which is a brewing program I downloaded off the
“Net”, as my tool for determining how much strike water to use and
at what temperature it should be. “Suds” accurately estimates the
desired steeping temperature for the grist. This program does an excellent job
at calculating everything from temp. to color of beer, IBU, etc. I highly recommend
it for all brewers including extract brewers.
The configuration of the complete brewery is pictured in Figure 4.
As you can see, the top shelf of my gravity system holds the first half barrel
conversion “strike-sparge water” vessel [1]. 
This
and the brew kettle [3] on the floor are heated with 4500 watt low encology
electric water heater elements which can be controlled by the controls from
an old range, (just above where the cord is plugged in). These work very well
and will heat 13-15 gallons of cold tap water to boiling in approximately 40
minutes or 8-10 gallons in 25 minutes or less.
Once I have decided what I will brew, I add the specified gallons of strike
water to the top vessel [1] and turn it on high. Then I measure out my
grain, take it out to my grain mill, which should be located out of the brew
room. The grain mill is an old feed mill Jerry and I came across at a farm auction
for $3.00. After cleaning, painting and adding a motor I now have a mill that
will crack 20 lb. to 30 lb. of grain in about 8 min. After the grain is ground
I bring it back to the brew room. By this time the strike water is close to
the temperature needed. This is measured with a good thermometer and adjusted
until correct. At this point the water is drained down to the next level [2]
(the lauter-tun is another ½ barrel keg with the bottom cut off and insulation
wrapped around it, I use carpet, and a piece of styro-foam on top to keep the
temperature of the grist constant). Once the water is transferred I pour in
the cracked grains and let it steep for an hour to convert the starches in the
grains to sugars. During the time I am waiting for conversion, cold water is
again added to the top kettle. This sparge water is again heated to approx.
170 degrees and will be used to “wash” the mash to extract the sugars,
etc. from the mash. When conversion is almost complete I begin to recirculate
the mash liquid by attaching a pump [4] to the outlet of the “tun”
and pumping the liquid back into the top of the “tun”, making sure
not to aireate the mash. This recirculation continues for the last 20 min. of
the 1 hour mash time. This process clarifies and sets up the grain bed of the
mash.
After recirculation the sweet liqueur of the mash is drained from the tun to
the bottom level, the kettle [3]. During the draining, sparge water is
added to the top of the tun to keep the water level above the top of the grain
bed. Once the liquid being drained off the grain is above the level of the element
in the brew kettle it is turned on to start heating the kettle. When the kettle
is full and boiling, hops are added and the wort is now handled as normally
done in extract brewing. The whole process from beginning to end takes from
4-6 hours, depending on boiling times, etc.
A few other things that should be noted. I use a “wort” chiller [8
in Figure 4 and Figure 5, below] to cool the 13 gal. of wort from
boiling to yeast pitching temperature. This process takes about 20 min. and
is achieved by submerging the chiller in the boiling wort during the last 20
min. of the boil to sterilize it. Upon turning off the heating element, cold
tap water is run through the chiller to accomplish cooling. Then the cooled
wort is pumped from the bottom level back to the top level into 2 -6 ½
gal. primary fermentors [5]. Once primary fermentation is completed,
again gravity is used to siphon to the secondary fermentors [6] on the
middle level of the system. Likewise, once secondary fermentation is complete,
gravity is used to siphon into kegs [7] on the bottom level. Slick “Eh”.
Too bad this can’t be done for lagers. So for lagers you will still have
to carry the 5 gallon secondary fermenters to your lagering area. Some day I
hope to have a system for moving these without lifting but for now I grunt and
hope for no mistakes.
