After 14.5 years of pretty much continuous homebrewing, I took a break starting in the summer of 2019. Ironically, we bought a house a few months later, and I now have the brew space I always dreamed of.
Anyway, I recently purchased ingredients for the first time in 18 months and have a Saison planned as soon as my hand feels ready (I broke it last month).
I’m not sure if I’m going to enjoy brewing again or not, but I’m looking forward to giving it a shot. I sold my fancy RIMS system (I never really liked brewing on it), so I’m back to simple hochkurz mashing in an insulated, stainless tun. Fortunately, I kept the kegerator and fermentation freezer.
Looks like Wyeast changed their packaging from a manufactured date to a best by date. That confused me for a bit…
Welcome back. All in one systems have grown in popularity, which you probably know, but the old style methods still work as good as ever. New malts are coming in regularly, so there are plenty of avenues to explore on your restart! Cheers!
welcome back! Two things that got me back into homebrewing was the All-in one system like ynotbrewsum mentioned and brewing 1 gallon batches on my kitchen stove and keeping it really simple.
The all in one systems are nice because you aren’t dragging out a ton of equipment, they are easy to clean and fast to brew on. I went with the BrewZilla 35L because it is 110V and simply plugs into any home outlet.
The one gallon batches I use my sous vide for strike water temps and bottle everything with priming tabs in bottles directly off the spigot on the bottom of the Primary fermenter. Super fast and simple.
Back when I was in my homebrew heyday it was always quite a production (and a mess) with multiple chest freezers, fermenters, 12 gallon batches, etc. I’ve simplified that and I’m having a lot more fun now.
I just got back into brewing steadily last year after a few years of only brewing once or twice a year. I got a Foundry, and the added simplification has made a big difference. I’ve also tried to keep my goals more manageable than back when I was going full bore. I generally have 3 kegs on tap and only one batch fermenting at a given time. When it’s time to keg a batch I dump the rest of whatever keg I am least interested in, and refill it with the new brew. No matter how many brews I have on my want list, taking it in manageable chunks is keeping me from getting burnt out again, and I’m enjoying my beer more because of it.
I very recently brewed two 10-gallon batches after taking a full year off from brewing. A big reason for the hiatus was because my kegerator chest freezer died in February 2020, and with the pandemic it has been very hard to source small chest freezers. I recently got one with similar dimensions to the old one, and just finished refitting it as a kegerator, and was able to use the previous wood collar. I just had to replace the wood splash plate/drip tray mount on the front, and a wood drip tray mount on the side.
But honestly, I’m not drinking as much beer as I used to, so the idea of a self-contained 5-gallon electric system is very appealing, or maybe even a 3-gallon system. But I haven’t pulled the trigger yet because honestly I enjoy the big enterprise, hand-crafted feel of batch sparging 10-gallon batches outside. But I doubt I’ll enjoy having 10 gallons of one beer very often going forward.
My last brew house was a 3-gallon brew house, but that was because I needed to maintain a yeast bank of more than dozen cultures on slant. Brewing smaller batches more often allowed me to piggyback sub-culturing on top a starter propagation event. Right now, 5-gallons kegged is the right size batch.
I’ve been slowly adding to my setup over the years. converted to indoor electric last winter, now 3 vessels. too late now but i would have gotten an AIO electric system just for simplicity and less cleaning. I have a pretty convenient setup for a 3v though. can’t complain
For me, keeping things versatile is the key. I have two systems, one for brewing in the kitchen during winter, and one for brewing in the garage during the warmer months. The big rig is a 3 vessel 1/2 bbl propane fired system with 2 pumps that can turn out 12 gallons post boil of all but the highest gravity worts efficiently with good repeatability. The inside rig is a basic single infusion system that can turn out 3 gallons post boil of average strength worts quickly and easily. During the warmer months I’m very busy and can’t brew very often, so being able to produce 10 gallons of kegged beer is essential. Once winter rolls around I have more time to brew more often so smaller batches are plenty. The big rig takes more time to set up and is more complex and I enjoy that, but I love going back to the basic mini system in the winter. It keeps things fresh, interesting, and versatile. I think that if I were locked into brewing just one way on one system I wouldn’t brew as much and lose interest.
Well, that was about the smoothest, most enjoyable brewday in recent memory. I hit everything (mash step temperatures, pH, volumes, gravity) on the nose.
Keeping it simple with a two vessel setup (although I did break out the pump today as it’s only been 12 weeks since I fractured my hand)…
Kenmore - got a good deal on it when Sears was in trouble. It can boil 7 gallons no problem; you don’t even need the burner on max heat once it gets going.
Mine the same model but not a Kenmore. You know, they put different brands on the same models nowdays. Also, I thought it was a 15 gallon brew pot. I can easily see mine boiling 7 gallons.
How do you brew with only two vessels? Where do you hold your sparge water? If you hold it in your kettle, how do you collect your wort?
I can see the advantage of all-in-one systems for people who have to setup and break down their gear every time they brew. I used to have to drag my gear up from my basement to my kitchen (mashing and lautering) and my garage (boiling). Having to setup everything and then put it away was drag. Now, everything is in my garage, including my utility sink. I will say that a 10-gallon Igloo cooler with a false bottom and valve setup is definitely more of a chore than a 5-gallon Igloo cooler with with a false and valve setup. I understand that the SS Brewtech mash tun is over 30lbs empty. I would hate to have to hump that out to my compost pile with 12lbs of grain and 12lbs of water. The 10-gallon Igloo MLT is bad enough. The 5-gallon Igloo MLT with 12lbs of grain and 12lbs of water is significantly easier to move because it is not as bulky or as heavy as the 10-gallon, but that is the limit of the tun.
For my low tech no frills setup I mash in my boil kettle with a BIAB bag and heat sparge water in a second pot. I batch sparge. I runoff into a bucket. I have to wait until I have first and second runnings before I can pour the wort into the boil kettle to start heating. I suppose it’s awkward but it works fine for me and my 3rd vessel (bucket) cost about $5.
I do a Hockkurz mash and don’t sparge. So I heat the water for the infusions in the kettle and then gravity drain to the mash tun. When the mash is done, I either put the kettle on the floor and use gravity to do a manual vorlauf and transfer (which then requires lifting the kettle back up to the burner) or I hook up a pump and use that to vorlauf and transfer.
I have two additional kettles from previous incarnations of my setup, so I can add an extra vessel and sparge if I want to, but I don’t really see the point anymore.
That’s the situation I’m in now. I could install a utility sink in the garage and get a Grainfather or something similar, but I’m fine with things as they are for the time being.
Since it’s sitting right here, I just weighed it and it’s 32.2 lbs. empty (including the lid). I use a filter bag in the mash, so I scoop about half of the spent grains into a trash bag lined bucket and then upend the bag into it. I do feel bad about throwing spent grains into the trash though. Now that we’ve got a decent sized property, I should look into composting.
I am sure there are advantages, but there are also downsides to all-in-ones. There pros and cons for all of the different brewing configurations. The main pros I hear from people who have switched to all-in-ones is that reduce the amount of lugging and cleaning. The lugging pro I get whereas I do not get the cleaning pro. A mash tun is no more difficult to clean than a malt pipe, at least not a mash tun with a removable false bottom. I am certain that the digital control on the Grainfather is nice, so is being able to perform a step mash without having to resort to boiling water infusions.
