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Greetings

B

Blevebeer

Bleve (pronounced Blev -e) beer is a grooup of firefighters from SE Wisconsin who have been homebrewing for about 6 months. We are looking to increase quantities and addd new recipies. Also interested in moving away from extracts and using all grains. Information in making this transition is appreciated from the community. Looking forward to working with you.
 
What do you want to know? I am new to all-grain, but have made an extensive study in preparation. I'd be glad to "share the wealth" so to speak.
 
At what point does one benefit from all grain brewing? Considering the additional equipment, time, etc. Can extracts provide the same quality?
 
Let me start by saying the excelent beers can be created utilizing the extract with grain techniques.  In fact many are award winners.  That being said, why all-grain.

1: I prefer the process.  There just is something about turning malted grain into beer.
2: You have much more control over the wort, you control the fermentability of the wort, you can choose either a highly fermentable or a low fermentable wort depending on what you wish.  You also can make a much lighter in color beer.  This gives me much more flexibility when I design a beer, especially when I brew
3: The fermentable ingredients are cheaper by almost half.

Does this answer your question?

Fred
 
bonjour beat me to it, mostly. Lemme manke an analogy;

You can buy a  a bread mix kit from the market and it will usually make a very tasty bread OR you can gather up all the ingredients mix the dough accordingly, let your yeast do its work to lighten up the dough, bake it.

Both make for very good bread but, there is just something to Homemade bread that just cant be beat, even from a bakery.

A lot of it may just be some connection that is made to the raw ingredients.

IMO, extract kits were a great starting point to get familiar with a large portion of the process and when short on time, I will brew more extract kits. But for the time being I have become bored with following the instructions and having simply a beer made to a style. All-Grain allows you to design your beer, your way.

PrOst!
 
Thanks all. Where is a good place to gain all-grain knowledge? Special equipment, etc needed for 5 gal batch sizes?
 
Charlie Papzian's Book "The Joy of Homebrewing" and "Homebrewers Companion" are the Gold Standards for anything homebrew. John Palmer's "How to Brew" is a more up-to-date reference.

As far as equipment, Well. I am re-purposing a lot of the equipment I already have on hand. Some I bough for brewing specifically, some I have for other things.

1.) A HLT or Hot Liquor Tank and separate heat source is useful for heating water for Infusions and sparging.
2.) A Mash/Lauter tun. This is used for mashing the grains and is typically a re-purposed cooler. Many use a 48 Quart rectangular cooler or a 10 Gallon Gott cooler (the kind used at construction sites). This will also have to be fitted with a False bottom or manifold for holding back spent grain whilst draining the wort.
3.) A large kettle. 8 Gallons min. One caveat is that IF you tend to enjoy high gravity beer you will need a much larger kettle. A typical kettle is a converted 1/2 barell Sanke keg (15 Gallons).

While a mill is not an absolute necessity, it is a wide purchase as for all-grain the sooner you use the grain after crush the better. However, most brew shops will crush the grain for you (some at a cost). Part of the appeal to all-grain is the cost savings for ingredient purchases in bulk.

The key is, read about all-grain and the mash. Try a mash, and then read some more to figure out how to do a better mash and gain a higher efficiency after an attempt has been made.

Another good idea is to ask your LHBS when they will have a "Teach a friend to brew day" as they generally always do an all-grain brew.

Prosit!
 
I must agree with Frugal.  The over all cost of all-grain brewing is cheaper in the long run.  For example; I recently brewed an extract brew due to time considerations and spent $33 for the ingredients.  The recipe would have cost $25 for an all-grain brew.  Difference being is tha all-grain, you need about 2-3 hours more time on brew day to  extract the sweet wort yourself, but again it has a better outcome. 

Also, I have found, if you haven't found out yet, that the use of Irish Moss will help with the taste and mouth feel also, as it will help reduce the hazyness during the fermenting and bottling process, thereby providing a clearer beer.  I haven't seen much difference in extract brewing but in all-grain, it really helps out a lot.
 
Not wanting to push our business in this forum, but there are a couple of Brew Clubs in SE Wisconsin that might help you out. Belle City Brewers and Vintners in Racine, WI has been active since 2001, the Bidal has been the club in Kenosha for many years. Belle City meets at the Hop To It LHBS store in D P Wigley twice a month, and is active in the BREWFEST and the Schooner which will be held in Racine September 15th. Several firefighters and policemen are regular customers of the Hop To It store-perhaps they would like to join your group...
 
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