Topic: All Grain Brewing
Expanding Your All-Grain Equipment for Bigger Batches
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThe last ten years have been a period of intense rapid growth and change in the homebrewing community and industry. The average homebrewer now has more brewing knowledge, equipment, and high quality ingredients available than ever before. However we also have a dizzying array of decisions to make with respect to batch size, equipment, and
Step-by-Step All-Grain Brewing
FREELike many homebrewers, my first batch of beer was made with a basic extract kit, complete with instructions and all the ingredients necessary for my brew of choice. I enjoyed the whole
Lautering 101
FREEIf you’re an extract brewer thinking about going all-grain, one of the most important steps to understand, after mashing, is lautering. Lautering is the process by which the brewer separates the
Starches in the Mash: Mr. Wizard
Digital and Plus Members OnlyQ Do starches quickly become solubilized or do they remain trapped in the grist when the strike water is added? This question is regarding how a recirculating system behaves and whether there would be any effect if the recirculating wort were being heated above a desired mash temperature when passed through a heat exchanger. Are
Brew In A Bag Mash Efficiency
Digital and Plus Members OnlyNew and experienced all-grain brewers moving to Brew-In-A-Bag (BIAB) techniques often have concerns about how it will affect their mash. BIAB traditionally uses a full volume mash, which means the ratio of water to grain is much higher than a traditional mash. Will BIAB brewing require more grains due to a lower efficiency? Will it
Brew In A Bag Best Practices
Digital and Plus Members OnlyYou’ve heard by now that Brew-In-A-Bag (BIAB) is an easy way to start all-grain brewing — and it’s true! But that doesn’t mean, however, that it doesn’t require some attention to detail. Most importantly, when doing a BIAB you need to be careful with heat. Here we will explore the best practices for maintaining your
Steeping & Soaking Grains
FREESteeping is the soaking of specialty malts, grains, and spices in water to extract flavors and aromas that we want to incorporate into our beer. It is, in essence, the making of
Build an Electric Brewing System
Digital and Plus Members OnlyWhen I started thinking about a return to homebrewing, after a nearly-15-year hiatus, I started my research diligently to see what has changed since I got out of the hobby for a variety of reasons. During my first stint, I brewed 10-gallon (38-L), all-grain batches using traditional propane burners with a keggle and a converted
Maximize Your Mash: Understanding Impact of Equipment & Temperature
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThere is an old saying that brewers make wort but yeast make beer. It is hard to argue against that fact, but the wort we feed the yeast will determine the final qualities in the beer. For example, the sugars available in the wort and its fermentability are critical parameters in determining how the beer
Three Sparging Methods
FREEMy apologies to extract brewers, but today is solely about all-grain brewing, and how we get the extract out of the mash when conversion of starch is complete. Three techniques are practiced
Batch Sparging Basics
Digital and Plus Members OnlyFor homebrewers first getting into all-grain brewing, the terminology, technology and wide variety of methods can be confusing. Simplifying the process, especially for the first few all-grain batches, is important. All of the technical jargon hides two pretty simple steps: mashing and lautering. Most homebrewers use a single infusion mash, which means you add some
Brew in a Bag All-Grain Techniques
FREEBrew-in-a-bag (BIAB) is the easiest and most economical way for an extract brewer to step-up into all-grain brewing. What makes this method (which was made popular by Australian homebrewers) unique is that