Setting Up the Homebrewery Part 1

Like most home brewers you start out with an extract brew (barley sugars converted to a syrup comprising the majority of the fermentables) but eventually want to go to an all grain brew. Milled malted barley soaked and strained through various temperatures of water releases fremementable sugar into solution, or what is called wort. Boil the wort, add some hops, cool and add yeast to the wort in a controlled temperature environment, wait some time and you have beer. Pretty simple huh?
After my first extract brew I decided to try an all grain brew. I read if you can make oatmeal you can make beer from grain-I make damn good oatmeal!

Equipment
There is some additional equipment needed to get started with all grain homebrewing. First thing needed to outfit your brewery is a large enough brew kettle for the batches planned. The typical 2-3 gal stockpot found in many kitchens isnt going to cut it for a full boil of wort. It can get downright dangerous not to mention messy boiling large amounts of sugar water on the kitchen stove. However, many go this route, but id rather take the operation out of the kitchen...
A large enough brew kettle is a wise first investment. I also think a stainless vs aluminum pot is the way to go. Aluminum oxidizes in strange ways, possibly imparts off flavor, and that Alzheimer's link...I just shelled out the extra money.  I chose the plain option, no fancy thermometers or spigots.
Next to consider is size. Since my kit came with a 6 gal carboy and two 6 gal buckets, I plan on typical 5 gal finished batches to bottle. A 7 plus gal pot would do the trick. Of course you can always boil smaller batches with the larger pot but not vice versa. I chose the 10 gal Megapot purchased from Northern Brewer:


http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/brew-kettles/megapot-stockpot.html

Last to consider before purchasing a kettle is how you will mash and lauter the grain. Alot of homebrewing is mashed and lautered in a converted beverage cooler. Mash grains in the cooler, lauter (rinse and drain) with some sort of manifold or false bottom (shown here).



I chose a different method popularized in Australia called Brew In A Bag or BIAB for short. Taking a simple nylon bag, again available at most online or local home brew suppliers, you may mash the grain in one single pot such as your 10 gal brew kettle, drain the grain like a large teabag leaving behind the sweet wort.



If you plan on leaving the kitchen stove behind then you will also need a source of heat to boil wort in your new kettle. I chose the typical outdoor propane type burner from Bayou Classic:




Also needed is an accurate way to measure temperature of the mash. A simple but long enough thermometer to poke into the pot is the way to go. I bought a digital candy/oil thermometer from Home Depot- make sure whatever you purchase reads in the typical brewing temperatures of ~70F to 200+F:



Lastly, I would recommend investing in a wort chiller. Although not necessary to brew an all grain batch like the above equipment, it minimizes the chance of an infection finding its way into your wort before the yeast is pitched. Cooling wort quickly also helps minimize oxidation and other off flavors in the finished beer. If you are handy you might be able to make one of these below, however I purchased one and was done with it:



There are countless other gadgets and supplies you can purchase to get started, but I found the above with the typical contents of a homewbrew kit (bucket fermenter and or glass carboy, hydrometer, tubing to transfer liquid, sanitizing solution like Star-San,) is enough to get started.

Here is a pic of some of my equipment in the "brewery" aka the basement:

10 Gal Megapot, Ale Pail, 6 Gal Glass Carboy, scale, hydrometer, thermometer, misc...missing from here is the burner, another unspigotted Ale Pail (wort chiller in the 5 gal pot in the background). Dont forget the Utica Club boxes to store bottles:)

That leaves a question then regarding location of the homebrewery. As they say in real estate, Location, Location, Location. For next time...