Questions tagged [all-grain]
The technique of making beer from malted grains instead of using malt extract for the base sugars.
203
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What can I do with my spent grain after mashing?
After brewing a batch of beer, I always end up with ~14 lbs of spent grain that I usually just toss in a pile in the corner of the yard.
Are there better things to do with it (i.e. cooking, baking, ...
32
votes
8
answers
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What's the point of going all-grain?
My extract beers are good, I think better than most commercial beers that I buy. Extract takes less time, less equipment and seems to produce great quality beers. Why do people do full grain?
31
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3
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How do you sparge?
One of the biggest hurdles I came across when switching to all-grain was learning how to sparge. I honestly still don't think I do it 100% correctly. There are very detailed descriptions online, but ...
23
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7
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About going all-grain
I have made 7 or 8 extract brews over the past year and am interested in moving up to all-grain. What equipment is needed, and what steps are added to the process.
17
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6
answers
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All my all-grain batches produce a bitter/astringent, dark, almost burnt off flavor that ruins every batch, from light pilsner to dark belgians
I'm scratching my head trying to figure this one out. Here's the story: I started brewing extracts, and they all came out great. I wanted to get into all-grain so a last year I ordered myself the ...
14
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6
answers
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Avoiding excessive soot on brew kettles
Are there any secret tricks to avoiding an exorbitant amount of soot on the brew kettle after the boil?
We have been making all grain batches recently using a 20 gallon stock pot and a propane burner,...
14
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5
answers
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What is the minimum amount of equipment to dabble in All-Grain?
What is the minimum amount of equipment I need to have to brew very simple all-grain recipes? Bonus points for cheap & easy-to-find equipment. I'd like to go all-grain eventually, but for the time ...
13
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4
answers
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How to best grind grain at home?
I buy most of my grain un-ground in bulk, because I don’t have a car my local HBS is way across town.
Before brewing, I’ve been grinding grain using a food processor (with blades) until each kernel ...
12
votes
7
answers
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Does suspended yeast contribute to high SG?
I've got a SMaSH beer (Baird Maris Otter and EKG) finishing in primary. It's been fermenting for just over a week. Starting Gravity was 1.046. I mashed at 154F for 60 minutes. Fermented with WY1335 ...
11
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6
answers
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Shorter Brew Day
For all grain brewers, what part of the brew session lends itself best to shortening the total brew session. Time is tight for me these days and shortening up the brew session a bit will certainly ...
11
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12
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How to brew all-grain indoors
I've been brewing with extracts and specialty grains for two years now, and I want to step up to all-grain brewing. From what I understand, it's important to get a full boil when brewing all-grain and ...
11
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2
answers
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"White wheat" vs "wheat malt" vs "flaked wheat"?
I was looking for flaked wheat at my LHBS and they were out. My recipe called for roughly equal amounts of wheat malt and flaked wheat. The LHBS guy told me to use white wheat malt as a substitute. He ...
9
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1
answer
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90-minute boil for pilsner malt?
On the "Belgian Blond Ale" episode of the Jamil Show (podcast) it was said that you should do a 90-minute boil because of the pilsner malt.
Can someone explain this further?
9
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5
answers
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Over attenuated all grain beers
I'm having a problem with all my beers regardless of style getting over attenuated. I've been raising my mash temps up to 4° above each beers style (up to 158° or so) to compensate with no luck. I've ...
9
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4
answers
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All-Grain to Extract and Steeping
I'm wondering how this can be converted to an extract recipe. Initially it was thought we could just do 14lbs (US 2 row) * .75 = 10.5lbs of extract, but then the question was asked if the rest of the ...
9
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2
answers
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Does diastatic power reduce with age? Old grain
Anyone have definitive info if diastatic power is reduced with grain age? If so, any data to estimate current DP?
Brewing with some pretty old 2-row today. It has been stored properly for 1.5 years, ...
8
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10
answers
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How low can a beer's final gravity be?
Approximately how low can the finishing gravity of a beer be? I've been brewing from kits for about 10 years, and went all-grain last year. I wouldn't expect to see anything lower than 1.006 or so, ...
8
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7
answers
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How should bulk grain be stored?
I love brewing all-grain but I feel that I could cut down on my costs significantly by purchasing some of my grain in bulk, storing it, and using it as needed. I know a lot of people do this but I'm ...
8
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4
answers
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What are the pros and cons of adding specialty grains to the mash?
When all-grain brewing, you typically add all your grains to the mash, right? Is there ever a time when you leave some of the specialty grains out and steep them instead? What are the pros and cons ...
8
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6
answers
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High FG / Low Attenuation across 3 different beers
I have brewed 3 all-grain batches now that have a high final gravity:
Imperial IPA: Target OG - 1.079, Target FG - 1.011, Actual OG - 1.070,
Actual FG - 1.020, Yeast - US-05. Common attenuation ...
8
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4
answers
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Which is worse: a weak boil or boiling with a lid partially on?
I finished Papazian's book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing last weekend and learned that a vigorous boil is necessary to isomerize the alpha and beta acids in hops which makes these bittering acids ...
8
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1
answer
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When to harvest wild hops?
Hi there fellow brewmasters! I have recently moved to all-grain brewing after two years of brewing with hopped extracts. The results are pretty good, and the whole process is a lot of fun, but I am ...
7
votes
3
answers
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What are the effects of adding water after the boil?
During the boil a lot of water is evaporated off. I have a 30L boiler and generally end up with around 22L in the fermentation vessel. After racking off from the fermentation and leaving the trub ...
7
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2
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Any suggestions for getting a thick (almost chewy) body and mouthfeel when brewing a Milk Stout?
I am obsessed with the thick body, sweet style stouts (Milk Stouts, Russian Imperial Stouts Bourbon Barrel Stouts, etc.), think Dragon's Milk, Old Rasputin, Lakewood's Temptress. While I have ...
7
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7
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Why is my starting gravity low?
In the fall of 2011 I made the leap from extract/partial kits to all-grain kits. I'm enjoying AG, but my SG is continuously below the expected. I have brewed 5 AG kits and 4 have had a low SG.
My ...
7
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3
answers
2k
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Can I use my Country Living Grain Mill for homebrewing?
I already own a Country Living Grain Mill for making flour and want to start crushing my own grain for my homebrew. Will this style of mill work for homebrew or should I buy a mill specially for ...
7
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Remedy for a Stuck sparge
How do you fix a stuck sparge? Are there any tricks too getting a sparge running again when it slows to a trick or even stops completely?
(This is not intended to be a "how to prevent" the stuck ...
7
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3
answers
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When formulating an AG recipe, how do you determine mash thickness?
I just did my first AG brew today. It went very well!
My question comes with the mash. I know normally, you determine your mash thickness with 1.25-1.5 quarts per pound of grain. If I were to use, ...
7
votes
3
answers
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Do I need to continuously measure the temperature of my mash tun?
From what I understand, the all-grain brewer warms up water to a particular temperature (usually 10-15*F over the strike temperature), adds this warm water to the grains in a mash tun, in an attempt ...
7
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3
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Using commercial (breakfast) cereals in a mash
This question looks similar to Using flakes in a mash, but is not actually the same. I was thinking, if someone runs out of maize flakes, and definitely wants to use some for his mash, what happens if ...
7
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2
answers
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Determining the right gravity after mash in all grain brewing
Say I am brewing a beer that is supposed to have an OG of 1.050. I'm doing all-grain brewing and at the end of my mash & sparge, if I took the gravity at that point, what should I expect?
I ...
6
votes
4
answers
5k
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Should the grain or strike water be added to the mash tun first?
I've always added my grain to my MLT cooler first, then dumped the strike water on top (I don't have a sparge arm). I calculate my strike temps based on the grain temp and initial cooler temp, so I ...
6
votes
3
answers
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All grain - is full wort boil absolutely necessary?
From what I've read it seems you Have to boil the full wort amount when going all grain. I just want to make sure that is the case, as I couldn't understand why you couldn't just boil the malt etc and ...
6
votes
3
answers
529
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Is there a noticable difference between adding extract to all grain and "pure all grain" on high gravity beers?
This may be similar to some of the questions extract brewers ask, but what I want to do is brew my normal 10 gallons, but I want to do an imperial. I use a 10 gallon mash tun, limiting me to 26 ...
6
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2
answers
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What does a good crush look like, and does it matter if grains are overcrushed if batch sparging?
I am looking for some advice on what a good crush looks like, and whether it matters on my system. The opinions and pics online are all over the place on this.
Background: I am buying small-batch all-...
6
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4
answers
3k
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How do you calculate how much extract to add if you don't hit your target gravity pre-boil?
Planning to do my first all-grain BIAB. If miss my target gravity after mashing, how do I figure out how much extract to add before I start the boil in order to reach that OG?
I would imagine pre-...
6
votes
1
answer
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Curiously high OG after first all-grain batch
I conquered my first all-grain batch this weekend, and after some early problems constructing my cooler mash tun, it went off without a hitch.
It's a Northern Brewer all grain kit, and the recipe ...
6
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2
answers
3k
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Should I & how do I use a mash tun brew kettle with a false bottom?
I'd like to make the move to all-grain, but it's fairly equipment-intensive. I see combination mash tuns and brew kettles. Are these a solution? Can I use the kettle for mashing, then transfer to ...
6
votes
1
answer
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What's the ideal size for a mash tun?
This question has been bothering me for a while and I looked it up using google. The only related search result was this thread http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-123585/ ...
6
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3
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Are Sparge Arms Necessary
Do you really need a sprinkler of some sort to sparge?
Does it really improve the lautering process?
How fancy does a sparge arm need to be, does it really have to rotate or can it just sprinkle all ...
5
votes
3
answers
4k
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Why do all-grain when you can do BIAB?
I'm an extract brewer that is going to try a BIAB 5 gallon batch. Reading about BIAB has me wondering why brewers would still do all-grain? Does sparging make that much of a difference?
Also, why do ...
5
votes
2
answers
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How many pounds of frozen strawberries in a Strawberry blonde?
I'm brewing a 5 gallon all-grain strawberry blonde ale. I'd like to leave it for two weeks in primary, then rack on top of frozen strawberries in secondary. Would anyone have an estimate of how many ...
5
votes
2
answers
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Could someone provide info. about brewing salts?
I have been reading a lot about home brewing. I'm planning actually to build an electronic 5 gallon brewery. Could anyone provide a short explanation when (mashing, boiling ?!), why and how much to ...
5
votes
2
answers
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Benefits and drawbacks to different tubing types?
We're making some big upgrades to our homebrew system and one of them involves moving everything to 1/2" fittings and barbs. This means we need 1/2" tubing that will easily and reliably fit on the ...
5
votes
1
answer
348
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Interpreting single-infusion mash instructions with two temperatures listed
I've been brewing all-grain for a while now, but I can't figure out why the recipes I read have the following. Take this example:
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 10.25 ...
5
votes
2
answers
9k
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What are the effects of a watery mash?
What are the effects of having too much water in your mash? If it's too "soupy" or watery or whatnot.
5
votes
3
answers
2k
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How do you insulate a cooler based mash tun?
I have a Coleman 70 Quart Xtreme cooler that I've modified for my mash tun. I seem to be losing a lot of heat out the top. Are there any good ways to insulate it to help prevent heat loss?
5
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5
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The move from kit brewing to all grain brewing
I have brewed a few batches of beer using pre-measured kits.
They have turned out great, and have I have enjoyed them. However, I would like to make the move towards all grain brewing.
Is this a ...
5
votes
1
answer
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Can wet crushing impede mashing?
Last weekend I tried it. I get considerably less broken hulls, practically whole. Kernel was broken all right. So far so good.
I added 0.5 liter of cold water to six kg of malt by pouring it slowly ...
5
votes
2
answers
2k
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Does a protein rest even do anything?
I have been looking at brewing several recipes that call for a multi-step mash that includes a protein rest. I saw a Mr Wizard article in BYO that sort of defends protein rests.
Just like the ...