I’m thinking about selling my electric BIAB setup, and changing to a larger, simpler system.
Background: I brew in my garage, which is on the opposite end of the condo from the kitchen. This inevitably makes for numerous trips for little odds and ends throughout the brewday. All water collection and cleaning happens in the kitchen as well, as there is no running water in the garage. Plus, I do my own vehicle maintenance, so right now there’s a constant battle between brewery needs and shop needs in the garage.
I’ve been brewing extract lately, and to me it’s just not as fun as all grain. Mashing is probably my favorite part of homebrewing, relying on extract has made me brew less often.
By not being tied to a 240V circuit, I hope to move my brewing to our front patio, which is much closer to the kitchen. This also places me in an area of the building where I may be able to wash some of my gear outside. The downside of brewing there is there is no electricity, to even run a pump I’d have to run an extension cord from the garage.
The requirements for any upgrade would be:
Ability to do 10-gallon batches
No moving pots of near-boiling liquids. While I can lift heavy pots, in my mind moving heavy pots that are close to boiling is one of the greatest risks in homebrewing. 150oish mash water doesn’t trouble me as much, near boiling liquids do.
Affordable-In hindsight, I spent way more than I needed to on my first system. It works, and I know some folks want that type of precision. Honestly, at some point down the road I may go back to an electric system, but that will be many years from now. Also, affordable systems are also more flexible, so I’d be better able to change things out as I find ways to improve the system.
Simple setup: I want to minimize any assembly required each brew day.
So here’s where I need help. I’m pretty much set on Denny’s cooler batch sparge setup for my mash tun. Relying on gravity to move liquid as much as possible is going to mean some sort of brewing sculpture. I’m not sure I can fit something like the Blichmann Top Tier in my garage without taking it apart each time. Any other simple sculptures out there? The patio is two steps up from the garage level, so any sculptures would need to be fairly easy to move up them.
Between work and school I’m not able to brew as often as I’d like, so doing ten gallon batches would help me have homebrew available more of the time.
Also, does anyone else have tips for AG brewing in a home where space is at a premium? Am I nuts to consider selling my current system, should I just stop griping and use what I have?
Nope, completely open air. Nor could I build one, as out outdoor spaces fall under the condo association when it comes to repairs/permanent modifications.
Plus I’m kinda just over BIAB. It’s a whole lot of fuss that I’m not convinced is of any benefit, especially when compared to something like Denny’s cooler mash tun.
Well, your cheapest option would be to buy a 240 volt extension cord and use your current setup on the patio. But that doesn’t get you to 10 gallons and a mash tun. Hmmm…let me think about it.
One of the downsides of any extension cord, even for a 120v pump, is that it would run in front of our neighbor’s garage and front walkway. So as not to inconvenience them, it’d need to be rugged enough to drive over. My biggest fear in that scenario is somebody turning the wheels while on top of the cable, grinding it over the pavement. I’ve had that happen, thankfully the cable was not energized at the time it was run over.
The other issue is length of the run. Estimating off the top of my head, I’d say that at least 75’ would be required, probably closer to 100’. I looked at cords, and a 50’ length of suitable cord is around $150, and I don’t think you can just string two together at that power level.
Take another look at www.dennybrew.com. Besides the mash tun, the entire method os geared to what you need. I use a 1/2 gal. plastic pitcher to move water so there’s no heavy lifting involved. I do use a pump, but it’s mainly for chilling. I still xfer mash/sparge water by hand, and use gravity to run off into the kettle. Avoids having to use a tiered system.
D’oh! I’d looked at the pictures, but the idea of scooping sparge water out didn’t occur to me. (I’m a visual learner, and somehow watching Don Osborn’s vids made me only think of dumping the water)
I’ve already been using gravity to feed my therminator, so no issues there provided my burner/boil kettle sits high enough.
For 120v, yes, though that still requires propping a door or window open. Doable, but not preferable in the Maryland summer.
True, but don’t underestimate the time you will spend hand transferring strike water, sparge water and 1st and 2nd runnings into the boil kettle. I like a pump…but I’ll have to admit that I’m lazy.
Doing it by hand, it takes ma total of 15 min. to get 7.5-8 gal. preboil volume from the time I start my mash runoff, through stirring in sparge water and running off the sparge. Not too bad.
Phil_M (us Phils gotta help each other out),
I would recommend that you transition to Denny’s system. It’s beautifully simple, very inexpensive and it works!
Here’s a possible upgrade if you should (heaven forbid) have to have back surgery like me.
I’m currently going BIAB due to lack of storage space for a large mash tun. But someday I’ll put Denny’s big rectangular tun on a table next to this setup and a 5 gal. round cooler on a short stool on the table. Then I will be able to heat strike water and pump it into the tun. Then heat sparge water and pump it into the cooler above the tun. Then drain both mash and sparged mash into the kettle, boil, cool and pump the wort into the fermenter.
NO LIFTING! And all done with one burner and one kettle.
Edit: This is a 10 gal. kettle. I’m guessing you’re going with 15 or 20 gallon.
The pump with hoses unhooks quickly from the kettle and stores in the kettle.
Denny, I take it a 48 qt. cooler would work fine for 10 gallon batches? It’s implied on your website, since the recipe you used was ten gallons.
Phil, I’ll definitely be getting another pump again at some point in the future. My current electric system works well, but there’s enough that I’d like to change that if I go electric again, I’ll end up building a new control unit from scratch. Figuring that’ll be a good project once I’ve finished my degree in a few years. (Electrical Engineering.)
The recipe was for 8 gal. I’d say a 48 qt. cooler is OK for 10 gal. up to about 1.045-50. But at that gravity it will be so full that stirring will be a problem. I’d recommend a 70 qt. if you plan on doing 10 gal.
