PaddyBrew2 Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 My journey into AG proper is a bit off yet. We simply don’t have the space as we rent a small strata in Perth. I do have a 19 l Big W pot. Is it possible to do AG brewing with this. In conjunction with Beersmith , so I can scale recipes etc. Don’t get me wrong , I love the sense of accomplishment from brewing my own but that extract twang grates on me at times is it easy to scale recipes on beersmith ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 (edited) 100% possible to do AG with the 19L pot, you can do it multiple ways which ever suits you: Small Batches 11L + Maxi BIAB ( brew it stronger then water down as you top it up to 20-23 litres ) Brew two small batches no chill into a cube ( time consuming ) Our just throw some partials together In saying that one of the systems like Robobrew or Grainfather take up about as much room as a 19L pot so if you have a balcony you can brew out there etc. But I did the above a few times before biting the bullet and getting a Robo. BTW Bunnings has paint strainer bags that fit the pot well 3 for $7 roughly. Never used Beersmith but imagine you should be able to our just simply halve the recipe etc Edited May 5, 2019 by Smashed Crabs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 (edited) Cheers mate. The maxi biab, what’s that method? I have those paint strainer bags already as I used it for my gash slugg neipa mini mash recipe Edited May 5, 2019 by PaddyBrew2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 Pretty much brew with the full grain bill in less water then top up in FV, not ideal if you want to hit your efficiency all the time as I found this method a bit up and down hitting my targets but I always had some LDM handy if needed. I think if you search Maxi Biab on here Otto explained it to me when I first started it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 I reckon just doing small batches is the go with what I have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 Yes you can scale recipes easily in Beersmith. Simply enter a recipe, hit the scale button and a pop up box appears. Enter the new batch size and it will scale all ingredients. I've done it with my own recipes a few times when switching them between 21 and 25 litre batch volumes. They usually end up being stupid amounts e.g. 157g medium crystal, so I just round them to the nearest ten or whatever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 7 hours ago, PaddyBrew2 said: I reckon just doing small batches is the go with what I have Give it a crack Niall, then when you’ve done your second or third you’ll really want the urn or robo or whatever and make some room cause doing small batches will grate on you too. Ha ha ha Thought you were moving south??? Cant wait to see the post on the new system ha ha ha. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 9 hours ago, PaddyBrew2 said: My journey into AG proper is a bit off yet. We simply don’t have the space as we rent a small strata in Perth. I do have a 19 l Big W pot. Is it possible to do AG brewing with this. In conjunction with Beersmith , so I can scale recipes etc. Don’t get me wrong , I love the sense of accomplishment from brewing my own but that extract twang grates on me at times is it easy to scale recipes on beersmith ? My very first AG beer was done in a 19 litre Big W pot. But I used a 19 litre Willow drink cooler as a mash tun and used a bag in it. If you have a stove that can boil a decent amount of wort then you will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naughty Corner Brewing Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 I have the Big W pot and it does All Grain ok. I did two brews on the stove top but it was painful as I just couldn’t seem to get enough heat into it to get to a strong boil. I just shoved a 2200w element in there and a ball valve and did a London Brown Ale last weekend and it went off like a frog in a sock! I just need to adjust my equipment profile in Beersmith to cater for the higher boil off rate as it a bit high. So yes, it can definitely be done! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDT2 Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 11 hours ago, PaddyBrew2 said: I reckon just doing small batches is the go with what I have I started with the 19litre big w pot as well mashing in the oven and stove top made one of my best beers doing that. Then I got the AG bug and had to get a bigger pot, a bigger burner, chiller and and and .... 🤣 . I reckon I nearly enjoy making it as much as I like drinking it. Do it and learn as you go. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 5 hours ago, The Captain!! said: Give it a crack Niall, then when you’ve done your second or third you’ll really want the urn or robo or whatever and make some room cause doing small batches will grate on you too. Ha ha ha Thought you were moving south??? Cant wait to see the post on the new system ha ha ha. I’m deffo keen for AG. Yeah we are in the process of it all. Have met with a broker etc but still saving hard to get that 10% deposit. I have beersmith so I will tinker around with it and scale down. What confuses me is the water volumes. How much to mash with. How much to sparge with etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Depends whether you do full BIAB or not. With BIAB you don't have to sparge because usually the entire volume of water needed is added at the beginning, even though obviously you could mash in less water and then sparge. Good luck with the property buying too. It's pretty hard to save a lot when renting, if I hadn't done what I did while I was still living at home we'd likely still be years off buying. Originally, once I got my current job, saved enough and bought my AG setup, I started putting money away just for the hell of it, but as it grew I started thinking it could go towards a house one day so I started hammering it until I moved out, when obviously the weekly saving had to be reduced quite a bit. The plan worked and we're really happy with the decision we made. I think the deposit ended up being 11% with a bit left over for whatever we needed it for, mainly alterations/improvements to the place. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 She’s a struggle alright but we’re getting there now. My job is within the residential lending space within the bank I work for so I’m all over the requirements etc but 10% is still about $50k and upfront costs. We’re halfway there so fingers crossed one more year and we’re set which is also a good reason to encourage me to make my own quality beer. Kits and bits is fine. It’s decent enough beer but I’m so keen to take it up a notch. I’ve had a look at beersmith and I’ve selected the All Grain Mini 3 Gal profile which I assume is the one that would best suit the derro big w soup pot I’ll be using ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 I'd say that would suit the batch size you'll get from that pot. Alternatively you can create your own equipment profile, or edit an existing one to suit your own equipment. I've made a couple of my own for my 21 and 25 litre batches and always hit my desired numbers or very close to them. I think I just edited the existing 40L urn equipment profile for each batch size and saved them as new profiles so it kept the original as well as the edits. However, in order to do that you need a few real life measurements such as boil off, trub loss etc. Use the existing one at first, but record these things each batch. You should have pretty consistent figures over a few batches that can then be entered into the equipment profile and saved for use with subsequent batches. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 how would i chill the hot wort. i assume i couldnt no chill it as there would be too much head space in the cube for smaller batches (unless theres smaller cubes knocking about)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 2 minutes ago, PaddyBrew2 said: how would i chill the hot wort. i assume i couldnt no chill it as there would be too much head space in the cube for smaller batches (unless theres smaller cubes knocking about)? You can get 10l and 15l ones at Bunnings 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 (edited) excellent,good to know. If i were to transfer from the 19 l pot though to one of these cubes, would i use silicon hosing or a funnel ? Edited May 6, 2019 by PaddyBrew2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 17 minutes ago, PaddyBrew2 said: excellent,good to know. If i were to transfer from the 19 l pot though to one of these cubes, would i use silicon hosing or a funnel ? I’d be very weary about pouring boiling wort into a funnel. I’m not sure how others do it but I’d be one of the people that fell over and spilt all that wort all over me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Hosing would be better. Better still, install a ball valve on the pot and drain it through that with some silicon hosing running into the cube. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 24 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said: Hosing would be better. Better still, install a ball valve on the pot and drain it through that with some silicon hosing running into the cube. That sounds like a job for someone who knows their way around a toolbox, alas thats not me 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 (edited) I use a 20 litre pot for 50/50 partials and the occasional (though not very often) 12litre-ish AG batch. Because I can't actually taste any notable difference between the two I tend therefore to do full-batch partials - typically using 2 - 2.5kg of grain + a can of extract. Also, the time taken is the same - but the partial mash of course results in twice the volume of beer so that's one very obvious benefit! Edited May 6, 2019 by BlackSands 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worthog Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 19 hours ago, PaddyBrew2 said: My journey into AG proper is a bit off yet. We simply don’t have the space as we rent a small strata in Perth. I do have a 19 l Big W pot. Is it possible to do AG brewing with this. In conjunction with Beersmith , so I can scale recipes etc. Don’t get me wrong , I love the sense of accomplishment from brewing my own but that extract twang grates on me at times is it easy to scale recipes on beersmith ? The guys above have given you very pertinent advice. I started AG brewing in a BigW 19L pot. I would ferment in my FV between 19L and 22L depending on my mash efficiency, finally measured by the OG. A heavy weight of grain in your limited water will create a high OG, though efficiency may be poor, so in effect you have a greater than usual amount and cost of grain for your OG outcome. This is a process outcome which doesn't need to affect your final FV volume too much. I have a rule of thumb of 1kg of grain for 1% ABV. For a small mash in limited water this may be 1.25kg of grain per 1%ABV. I worked out how much water I could add to hit my brewing OG. Later I went to a 30L pot and now a 38L pot. My grain bills and hop schedules have been tailored to my taste through experience. I biab, First Wort Hop, and late and dry hop to taste. When I used extracts and extras, I used the "Ianh" spreadsheet. Now I should use "Beersmith3", but I don't. I am drinking great Pales, and my visitors are loving them. You can go All Grain and biab with your limited equipment and produce your best and freshest tasting beers. It gives you time to learn and improve your equipment and processes. Cheets 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worthog Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 2 hours ago, PaddyBrew2 said: excellent,good to know. If i were to transfer from the 19 l pot though to one of these cubes, would i use silicon hosing or a funnel ? I still use a cheap syphon and hose I purchased from my LHBS. I fill a 15L cube and 1/3 fill another from my 38L pot. I trough/sink cool them to 40c to settle the hops down, then ambient them o/night to brew next day. Cheers 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smitdog88 Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 make 8 L frozen water ahead of time. could use empty icecream containers etc.. do your mash in your 19lt pot brim full, dunk sparge your bag in a bucket of say 4-5lt of water, boil your brew, you end up with something like 14-15lt in the pot after boil. whirlpool for about 10 mins or so. add this straight to your fermenter with your 8lt of ice in it. = approx 22-23lt of wort at about 20 deg C. Thats how I started into Allgrain. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 some great advice on here indeed. Im after finding a popular recipe on Beersmith that i have scaled down to my Equipment profile ''Povvo All Grain'' Amt Name Type # %/IBU Volume 2.68 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 78.7 % 1.75 L 0.45 kg Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 13.1 % 0.29 L 0.17 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.9 % 0.11 L 0.11 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.3 % 0.07 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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