Gentlemen,

Upon retirement, I decided to pick up a new hobby.  I bought a Brewer's Best kit and have been brewing a few extract kits.  Great success, and I've had a ton of fun...but I want to step up to all-grain.

I vacillate back and forth between buying a turn-key operation, or piecing together a system from quality parts.  Like with my firearms, I don't mind spending money if the quality is there.  Right now, I'm leaning towards the Blichmann EasyBrew complete system, but I realize I don't know, what I don't know!  While the Spike Brewing turnkey system is sexy, that's a bit more than I'd like to spend...and I suspect too much for a hobby guy...maybe more geared towards a Mom and Pop brewhouse.

For those of you that have been down this road:  How would you advise I proceed...buy once/cry once, or piece it out?  Also, I've been told that money spent on the cold side gives MUCH better results than money spent on the hot side.  Would you master brewers agree?

If it makes any difference...I have a stand-alone workshop with water and electric that I can turn into a Brew Cave.  One boil over, and my lovely bride is eager to get me out of the kitchen!

Thanks much in advance.

you can't go wrong with Blichman, but they are pricey... it all boils down to how much time you have to spend on the hobby itself and you in it for the long haul. If all that is true then I would say buy what ever makes brew day easier and produces the quality of beer you expect. I built a Brutus 10 because I was tired of lugging around grain, ect.... made my job much easier.

That Blichmann EasyBrew set up looks pretty nice. Might need to look into that.  I like the small form factor.

Man, I don't know if I would go with an All-in-One system because it limits your flexibility.

It's maybe just a bit over priced but I really like the looks of this system:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/fermenters-favorites-essential-all-grain-brewing-starter-kit-10-gallon

If would be good to do high gravity 5 gallon batches or even 10 gallon batches of normal strength. They are oversized so they hold 11.7 gallons.

This is also spendy (wait until sale/coupon) but my friend has it and it's awesome:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/catalyst-fermentor

Finally: You'll want to mill your own grain. Buy once, cry once?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/monster-mill-packages
get the 3-roller upgrade.

For less expensive kettles, I went with these guys and I haven't been disappointed.
Concord Website
I started out with 3 60qt (15gal) kettles, and have now added a 100qt (25gal) for larger batches.    You can buy kettles without holes and drill your own, but I don't think you will save any money.

If you are starting out without a pump, the 10gal Rubbermaid cooler with a false bottom makes the best mash tun for the money.    Gravity is your friend!

If your serious about brewing, it won't take long for you to move to a pump and plate chiller.    Best brewing tool I ever bought!
I have found that you never have everything you need.

Homebrewtalk would probably have a lot more answers to your specific questions about the all-in-one systems.

Gentlemen, thank you for the responses.  So much to learn.

Hopefully, I'll come back in a few months and post pics of my all-grain setup.

I would brew with someone if I could, there are always local brew clubs you could go see.

Seeing what others do will save you money, because you can see what you would like. Everyone will go thorugh some changes.

1. bigger is better up front
2. don't have to spend a lot to get a lot. Blichman is great but you can buy a lot of grain with other stuff
3. the easier it is, the more you will enjoy it.

saying all that, the biggest pita is the mashing temp control IMO and having a insulated tun is the most important thing you can have as a home brewer dealing with smaller quantities of liquid . Dicking with temperatures, recirculating/re-heating a tun is just a huge pain in the dick. I went down the road of recirculation but it just was too much work. gotta heat extra water, recirculate, watch temp change, etc. Also cleaning and sparging needs to be simple.

moving hot liquid=get a pump. I did the gravity thing once. There is not way I'm going to work around hot liquid above me. Also tall brew stands are a pita to move.

1 piece system will cost more in the long run, vs piecing together what will complement your brew style.

so get a big(cheap) hot liquor tank-see the concord vessels above, get a bigger (cheap) brew pot- I would get two of the concord 20-25 gallon pots. you could probably get buy with a smaller HLT and you wont use 20 gallons of water at a time, where a boil kettle could use that much.

pump/silicon hose, get the camlocks from ebay- they are worth it.

mash tun spend money here, I would build one with 2" closed cell styrofoam and a thick insulated top out of a stainless pot. I prefer a false bottom vs the DIY piping.

plate chiller- I wont brew without it.

big hop spider-utah biodiesel

get a stainless steel paint stirrer, you will never have dry mash

https://www.amazon.com/Jiffy-Mixer-Paint-Gallon-ES/dp/B00ILYJ9CW/ref=pd_sim_201_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0WX40EC28BADC8A6NX9K&tag=vglnk-c102-20



here is what I have after toyed around with other stuff.

two burner set up for size, 1 pump for cost, insulated tun.

This was setup to do recirc if I needed it, but I built a insulated top for the tun, and have since never needed it. made it simpler

I went with a single pot system called Brew Boss and it is an Electric Brew In a Bag/Basket.  It has fit my needs well and I can brew with 25 or 26 lbs of grain which is enough for 10 gallons of beer for me.  It is computer controlled which isn't necessary but I would definitely say that if you can build a system with an electronic heating element in it then I would do that as it makes temp control very easy with a controller.  Also, a pump is a big suggestion.

does that even work w/o a pump?

how do you keep the temp even?

is it 220v or 110v

what the corny for?

Well I've never tried any of the all in one systems. I went with a fairly typical 3 vessel system and gravity feed it.


I've been brewing with this rig for a couple years now and i get good results with it.
+a billion on the insulated mash tun thing, i wouldn't want to try and mash in a un-insulated kettle, it seems like it would be a PITA

Yes it will work without a pump but the pump keeps the temp even by circulating the mash. It runs on 220vac for the heating element and 110vac for the pump and to power the controller. I was sanitizing the corny for the batch that was coming out of the fermenter and then transferring that solution to the fermentor for the batch that was cooking.

That Spikes Brewing system is beautiful. I would like just the 10 gallon system. I would love to have it in a room with a tile floor, drain in the floor, and subway tile half way up the walls.

This was my experience moving to all-grain. I tried mashing in a kettle for a long time and each time the batches didn't turn out right. Now I use a Bag-in-cooler setup and the first time I used it I had 82% efficiency! And I finally got the attenuation I was looking for as well.
That's why I recommended the semi expensive northern-brewer coolers. You can build your own cooler mash tun for a little less if you want as well.

Insulated cooler mash tun- may drop 1 degree in 1 hour after the temperature stabilizes. A kettle could drop 10 - 12 degrees in that same time period.

Once you figure out the ideal strike temperature for your system, it'll be like clockwork getting the mash temp where you want it and keeping it there. This leads to better efficiency and better conversion - which leads to better attenuation.

Efficiency: % of sugars extracted from your grains. 75% is a good target to shoot for. Better efficiency = less grain for each brew
Conversion: Breaking down the complex starches into simple sugars in the mash
Attenuation: The degree to which the yeast are able to metabolize the sugars in your mash and turn them into alcohol. 68-77% attenuation is desired depending on style and "size" of your brew.

If you have poor conversion, you have poor attenuation. Then you have beer that is overly thick, sweet, and not alcoholic.

Excellent information, gents.  Much appreciated.  I'm still gathering and interpreting data, as they say.  Anyone else, feel free to chime in...

I go the simple route. A round cooler tun, 15 gal pot, burner and a couple pots for the batch sparges.

You don't need fancy equipment to make good beer.

When I went from extract to all grain, I decided to go with Brew in a Bag. I'm doing 5 gallon batches and kegging. I recently got a LARGE colander to help with bag squeeze, and I also just found a pulley for lifting. I made a session IPA recently and my friend who got me into brewing was pretty impressed.

I do have future plans to build an e-keggle with a pump and an reverse flow chiller, but sticking with large BIAB. So many other projects though.

I've been brewing for a few years now.  So take that for whatever.

If I had to replace my current 15 gallon pot, I'd get the one from 20 gallon brew pot from ssbrewtech.

I'd still stick with brew in a bag.  I can get one nice burner instead of having to deal with two or three burners.  I can make everything from barleywines to pilsners.

I could do 10-12 gallon batches in the 20 gallon pot if I wanted to, or scale it back to the 5 gallon batch.

I have made 4 all-grain batches and only 1 of them really turned out. It was the first one that I mashed in an insulated cooler.

I currently have a BrewBoss.  The only thing I wish I had done differently is to get a 20 gallon pot.  With a 15 Gallon pot I have to pour off ~150 water into an igloo before I put the grains in because there isn't enough volume.  The BrewBoss is nice but all of it can be done with

cheap temp controllers and Solid State Relay.  Without a doubt I would go no other direction than electric as it is very efficient and very precise.  I did not buy the stainless basket from BrewBoss at first and just tried to do it with a bag and I must say it was a mistake.  I

ended up buying a stainless basket from Arborfab and it has made all the difference in the world in the outcome of my beer.

I use a couple wool blankets laid over the top of the pot and I lose maybe 1-2 degrees over an hour mash.

If the sun is out, I can actually gain heat in the pot.

Also, it is beer, not rocket surgery.  RDWHA(H)B.

I've made hundreds of AG batches over the years using nothing more than Gott 15gal coolers converted into mash tun and a HL tank. Takes some practice but it's pretty easy and foolproof, you just have to get your strike water hotter than your target mash by about 13 degrees. Cheap, easy a little clean-up compared to 'automated' systems. Granted those systems are great, allow for easily repeated results but are costly, require dedicated space, setup/take-down time and elaborate cleaning.