HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Mid 2007 after my new house is completed and I have more room I am planning on moving to Partial then AG brewing. I was wondering if anybody could recommend some good reading for a K&K brewer who is looking to advance himself.

Someone will surely post howtobrew.com, but I'd go for Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing 3rd edition, coupled with The Homebrewer's Companion.

Chris wrote:Someone will surely post howtobrew.com, but I'd go for Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing 3rd edition, coupled with The Homebrewer's Companion.

Go for both, as well as Ray Daniels' Designing Great Beers. I've one other book that is good for the budding AGer called Brew Chem 101 but cannot recall the author.

Cheers,
Greg

I'm in the process of making the switch at the moment

There isn't that much info on this site

Try

http://brewiki.org - it explains quite a bit and gives you pictures

http://aussiehomebrewer.com is also good - they have several how to's and FAQ

http://howtobrew.com is the bible but it is in US measurements

http://oz.craftbrewer.org is also good

Cheers

Cortez The Killer wrote:I'm in the process of making the switch at the moment

There isn't that much info on this site

Try

http://brewiki.org - it explains quite a bit and gives you pictures

http://aussiehomebrewer.com is also good - they have several how to's and FAQ

http://howtobrew.com is the bible but it is in US measurements

http://oz.craftbrewer.org is also good

Cheers

I disagree with you Cortez, i think there is a treasure trove of info on this site as well as plenty of great people willing to offer there info and support, i have just started doing AG brews and all the info or advice i have recieved has been from here and i gotta say it was all good advice

Brad74, I would bypass the partial stage all together. It's still involved without getting the benefits of full AG. If you want a middle point, try using malt extract with hops and grains that don't need mashing. This way you get the benefit of some fresh grains and fresh hop choice, with the speed of an extract brew 1.5hrs v 3+hrs for a partial, (5+hrs for an AG).

i agree with act brewer about bypassing the partial stage but if u do decide to start doing partials just to test the waters with mashing make sure your equiptment is big enough for all grain otherwise you will regret it later, i would gladly swap my 9ltr and 15ltr pots for something bigger

-Phill

Thanks,

I have put in a late order to Santa for some of those books. Before I buy or make any equipment you will surely hear from me again.


ACTBrewer
I will do some further investigation on what u suggested, I just assumed the next step was Partial, if anyone could post or link to a recipe that is using this method that would be great.

lethaldog wrote:I disagree with you Cortez, i think there is a treasure trove of info on this site as well as plenty of great people willing to offer there info and support, i have just started doing AG brews and all the info or advice i have recieved has been from here and i gotta say it was all good advice

I can't disagree with you on there being good info here - I was just providing some step by step guides so the OP could get a feel for the processes before looking at more specific topics discussed here.

Also some of the guides provide pictures showing various setup etc which I found useful in getting my head around all the equipment, steps and processes required to go AG. I must admit that some of the setups are pretty fancy but relevant all the same.

Cheers

Brad74, if you want recipies for either partials or AG, just buy one of the forementioned books!

my first partial was a bohemian pilsner, easy grain bill and only one type of hop

1kg LME
3kg Pilsner malt mashed at 65deg
Bitter to 35 IBUs with 60min addition (about 55-60G make sure to check with the ibu calculator)
25g Saaz @ 20mins
25g Saaz @ 5 mins
Saflager yeast at lager temps.

thanks to Steve for the recipe

-Phill

Brad74 wrote:... if anyone could post or link to a recipe that is using this method that would be great.

Brad this is a pdf file of converting all gain to extract. There's some very usefull info in there to explain things http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/extract/pres.pdf

I also agree with DF and ACT, you can skip the partial phase if you have experience with extracts, adding grain, and hopping. I found partial mashes to be just as much work as doing all grains, just the equipment costs are much lower for doing partials. The partial phase might not last too long and then if you want to go all grain, some of the money that went into the partial gear is wasted.

That's not to say it's a waste of time doing partials, they are certainly a good step but just realise it's not like you have to do that first.

Cheers, Ed

Ed
That PDF looks like a good read, I have had a quick look but the conversions are doing by head in. I am going to find an AG recipe I like the look of and attempt to covert it.

I think I'll use this method for the next 6 months until the house is complete and I have room to start AG's. I still have 2 K&K sitting around so it gives me some time to create an Excel spreadsheet to do all the maths for me.

Brad all you have to do when converting all grains to partial is leave out about 2.25 kg's of the base malt and substitute a 1.7kg tin of light malt extract. Use the rest of the specified base malt and special malt in the mash. You can even leave out all the base malt, substituting with 2 tins, and just mash the rest in a large grain bag.

There are things like hop utilisation that will come into play depending on your boil volume, but that's easy to sort out. Ask some questions before buying anything.

Cheers, Ed

Brew Chem 101 but cannot recall the author.

George Fix is the author I think.

Another very complete in depth book is New Brewing Lager Beer by Gregory Noonan. It has info on water, yeast culturing, mashing, kettling, equipment etc etc and the back section has a dumbed down procedure for extract brewing.

I highly recommend it for anyone taking the next step.

I read it but with two kids under 2 haven't got the time at the moment to get into it.