Grain brewing with minimal equipment.

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cockerhoop

cockerhoop

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Thinking of having a go at grain brewing, but not wanting to have to get too much equipment. I have a spare heavy duty fermenting bin with a tap on. If I fit a kettle element then there is my boiler. I have a large cool box. I thought if I used a straining sheet or bag in the cooling box then there is by mash tun and I wouldn't need fit a tap . I could lift the mash tun onto a worktop and syphon back into my boiler. I would buy a wort chiller. I could then lift the cooled wort onto the work top and syphon into my fermenter.
Would this process work?
 
I don't see why not.
There's quite a bit of lifting involved but give it a try and then you can change the process and/or gradually add any equipment if you really need to.
 
You have/will have all the gear for Brew in a Bag (BIAB):
Fit the heating element, heat the required mash water to about 72C, bag in, grains in, mash, lift out bag, boil wort with the hops, drain into your FV. I am assuming your boiler capacity is 50 litres. That's my setup (50L stockpot with ball valve). Also have the wort chiller, works a treat.
 
I bought a large bag from someone in Ireland (can't think of the name just now). However, a large piece of "voile" fabric can be used as a bag, or sewn up if you are handy with that kind of thing (or your wife). There are plenty of posts about BIAB on this forum.

Sparging is not absolutely necessary, though I squeeze out as much liquid as is possible using my gloved hands (it's hot!!). So far I have stuck with recipes (my 5th brew is fermenting) and my results have been more or less spot on. I am sure there is some sugar left in the spent grain but I don't have the space in our small kitchen to do all this.

Refer to my post on the Brewdays board "AG #5 - Belgian Blond".
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49103
 
Last edited:
upto you.. +1 for maintaining heat with insulaton rather than applying heat as its not easy to penetrate a mass of grain with an even temp without cooking some..

the cold box if used could allow you to batch sparge effectivly, but a basic wrap up of the boil pot with buuble wrap and £shop camping mats, an old sleeping bag even should enable you to maintain a descent mash temp for 90 mins..

there are lots of ways to brew, and imho brewing with minimal kit is a great idea as it will inform you what extra kit if any will have the best impact on the day, and suit you.
 
For mashing I heat the water to 72C, after doughing in temp will drop to about 67C, after 90 minutes it was down to 65C - perfectly ok for the mash. For insulation I use my thick winter jacket and a big bath towel. Not very elegant but it gives me the desired result. If I had a garage or a really big shed I would probably do everything by the book.
 
I too do BIAB (50L stock pot) and I've starting sparging with 4-5 L on my last few brews. Efficiency has gone up to approx. 75% from 65-70%.
Would agree with not adding heat unless absolutely necessary and with a combination of a couple of the kids old coats, blankets and large towels, the temp doesn't drop more than a degree or two during a 90min mash.
 

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