Tuesday, March 8, 2011

All Grain Set Up


I have completed my all-grain set up today and it was much cheaper than if I would have paid retail. I got two 10 gallon igloo coolers both with new fitted turn valves and a decent sparging arm. The sparging arm is comprised of PVC and cooper tubing. The water flows through the tubing and rotates around the grain bed while the PVC acts as the frame that rests on the lid of the cooler. This is perfect because you want a homogenous spraying of sparge water on your grain bed or else you are not going to get the best extract possible.


The only thing I need to get is a false bottom because there is a small 1/2 inch by 5 inch extract drainer which I do not think will cut it. The perfect false bottom would be circular and take up the entirety of the bottom of the mash tun in order to get quick and stuck free extraction of the wort.
What it came with is pictured below.



Here is the price list for what I've gotten so far:
15.5 gallon keggle with awesome hop strainer, thermometer, and SS ball valve.......$175
58000 BTU propane burner with stand that can be fitted to use natural gas............$65
10 Gallon Hot Liqour Tank with new plastic ball valve.................................................$50
10 Gallon Mash Tun with "liquid extractor", sparging arm, and new ball valve........$50

WHAT I NEED
New circular false bottom to fit the cooler........$50

So far I have spent less than half of what I was expecting spend and I got it all on craigslist. I think the first beer I want to make using this system is a Hobgoblin clone since I can not find it in this town and I love that beer.

Also today was a big day for job progress since I went and talked to the brewers at Three Creeks in Sisters. They are hiring for a part time keg washer starting this summer and I know that it would be a perfect position for me to get my foot in the door somewhere and to get some real world experience. Wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. Nice setup dude. Are you going to use a pump or are you going to do an elevated boil to fill your fermenter(s)?
    Think about snagging a used Sanke keg and getting one of these
    http://www.brewershardware.com/Sanke-Fermenter-Kits
    to convert it into a fermenter. Does a good job, it's just not conical, but most of us homebrewers don't use conicals anyway.

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