Homebrew question?

Question

i have been making extract beer for a few years,thinking about going all grain? i know this makes better brew but, is this cheaper than extract? i only make 3 gallon batches as it fills two of my mini kegs ( i make 1 batch every weekend to keep up my supplies ) LOL! i use 3 lbs. d.m.e. plus steeping grains for most of my brews, how many lbs. of 2 or 6 row malt would i use for a three gallon batch ( not counting crystal,chocolate etc... ) im thinking about making my own mash tun out of a cooler, what size would be best for a 3 gallon batch? after a lot of reading i realize that mashing isnt that scary LOL! i have won a few awards for my extract brews, so now its time to take it up a notch! if anyone can answer my questions that would help push me to go all grain thanks!!!

Answer 1

If you are brewing 3 gallon batches, and intend to continue to only brew 3 gallon batches, I am not sure that I would recommend making the switch to all-grain brewing.  Why go through the additional time, to only brew 3 gallons?!

Years ago, when I was an extract brewer, I would generally pay about $30-$40 for a batch.  Figure about $24 for malt extract (I only used DME and still recommend people stick with DME) for 6#.  About $4 for specialty malts (crystal, roasted, etc.) and $3 for a couple of oz's of hops.  In addition $7 or so for a good liquid yeast.  Obviously, bigger beers like IPA's, imperial stouts, barley wine, etc, would cost more than making a lighter beer like wheat, bitter, etc.

When I moved to all grain, I bought the equipment to move to 10 gallon batches.  I found that the cost of a 10 gallon all-grain was about the same as a 5 gallon extract.  But, the beer was considerably better!  I got more beer, which tasted better, at lower cost.  A pretty good investment!

However, if you are going to stick with 3 gallons, you are only probably looking at a very small savings per batch.  It may be worth it by gaining the ability to make new beer styles (light ales like a kolsch for instance, are almost impossible to brew very well with extract.)  However it may take a longer to see a return on investment on your time and equipment costs.

If you decide that you still want to do it, I would recommend a 5 gallon cooler.  This is big enough to make high or low gravity beers and still have plenty of space for your malts.

If you have room, I would highly recommend upgrading to a tap system (with 5 gallon cornie kegs) and brewing larger beers.  This isn't cheap, but it's also not impossible.  Here is a cost breakdown of moving to a 5 gallon all-grain system with kegs:

1. Turkey frier system: $30-50 for 5 gallon batches

2. Kegging system: $120

3. Converted cooler: $40

If you batch sparge and are handy, you can probably piece-meal the rest of your system together for less than $20.  So, for less than $200 you can increase your capacity and produce better beer.

Good luck on your decision-making!