10 Gallon All-Grain Brew System

UPDATE 2024:  All-in-One brew systems have become a lot more popular over the last few years, so you may want to check out my Brewzilla System & Mods page if you want to jump into All-Grain brewing using that type of setup.  I loved building my five and 10 gallon all-grain setups and brewing out on my porch, but brewing on the Brewzilla inside is so much easier for me these days.  I like to provide options for all types of brewers, so I'm keeping this page here for reference for other brewers to make their own decision on what works for them.  Cherrs!

6/6/2015 - SOLD to a fellow brewer since I no longer needed the capacity.  Kept the mash tun and extra burner for when I do partigyle batches though.  Hopefully he will brew a lot more beer though this system.

Extra shelf added for storage	Recirculation	Pump & Chiller	Boil Kettle	Bazooka-T in Boil Kettle
Pickup Tube in HLT	Ball Valve w/ Disconnect	Quick-Disconnect	HLT	Hop Strainer Bag
Burner	Mash-Tun Braid	Cooler Mash Tun Ball-Valve	Filling the Mash Tun	Draining into the Kettle
Almost had a boilover!	Boiling with hop strainer	Adding Hops

 

Parts List

Keggles & Burners Pre-Configured 16 gallon kettle with temp probe & spigot Amazon - LINK   Build Your Own 2 x Stainless Steel Kegs w/ holes cut in top Friend's Garage 2 x Weldless spiggots for Keggles Amazon - LINK Bazooka Tube Amazon - LINK 2 x 1/2" Threaded copper connector Hardware Store 1/2" Copper tubing (varies) Hardware Store 2 x 1/2 Inch Male Quick Disconnects (MPT) Amazon - LINK 2 x Heavy-Duty Burners Amazon - LINK *switched this out for a pickup tube against the side of the kettle   Stand, Pump, and Chiller Chugger Pump Amazon - LINK Counterflow Wort Chiller Amazon - LINK 4 x 1/2 Inch Male Quick Disconnects (MPT) Amazon - LINK 6 x 1/2 Inch Female Quick Disconnects (barb) Amazon - LINK 1/2" Silicone Tubing Amazon - LINK 2 x 1/2" Brass Ball Valves Hardware Store 1 x 1/2" Brass T Hardware Store 1 x 1/2" Brass 90 degree elbow Hardware Store 2"x6" Boards for Stand Hardware Store 1"x4" Pine for shelves Hardware Store 4 x Castors for cart Hardware Store Screws, Nails, ect. Hardware Store   Cooler Mash Tun Coleman 70 qt Cooler Amazon - LINK Bazooka Tube* Bazooka Tube    or    Toilet Supply Braid *Switched this out for a stainless toilet-supply braid after getting my Monster Mill. I was crushing much finer and the Bazooka Tube was getting clogged and causing drainage issues.

 

10 Gallon Brewing Process

I start with hot water from the sink, add � a campden tablet to the mash water to remove chlorine and chloramines, and then turn on my burner. While the mash water is heating up, I weigh and crush my grains. Once my grain is crushed, I pump the mash water from the hot liquor tank (HLT) up to my cooler mash tun. When all the water is pumped from the HLT, I get a small step stool/ladder out and get up on that to pour the grain into the water while stirring the mash. Let the mash sit for 30-60 minutes When the mash has about 20 minutes left, I�ll measure out my sparge water, add the other � of the campden tablet, and then start heating that in the HLT. Once my sparge water is around 185 degrees, I add enough of it to the mash to give me roughly half my pre-boil volume I usually don�t pump it at this point.  I just use a pitcher to add a gallon or so to the mash and stir it in. After stirring my mash, I open the valve on my mash tun about ½ way and pull off a couple quarts until there are no chunks of grain coming through. I then start draining into my boil kettle and pour the couple quarts of runoff back into the mash tun Once there is about a gallon or so of wort in the boil kettle, I�ll turn on the burner to start heating it up Once all the wort is drained from the first runnings, I pump the remainder of the sparge water into the mash tun and stir I then follow the same process as Step 8 While I�m waiting for the wort to come to a boil, I dump my mash tun and clean it out When the wort comes to a boil, I put the hop strainer bag contraption into the kettle and add my hops I use this because I don�t want my pellet hops to clog the Bazooka T in the bottom of my boil kettle.  I�ve never had a problem pumping from my kettle using this method.  I can�t even imagine how pissed off I would be if I had 11 gallons of boiled wort that I couldn�t pump through my chiller. When there�s about 15 minutes left in the boil, I start pumping the boiling wort from the boil kettle through the counterflow chiller (without the water running) to sanitize it and then back into the boil kettle.  I also add Irish moss at this point.  I find it necessary to turn up the burner to maintain a boil after you start recirculating through the chiller. Once I�m finished with my 60 minute boil, I turn on the water to the chiller and keep recirculating into the kettle for a few minutes while I sanitize my fermenters. When the fermenters are sanitized, I move the hose that�s recirculating back into the boil kettle to the fermenters and start filling. I control the out flow on the pump to allow for enough contact time with the counterflow chiller to get me to the right temperature.  I find I need to slow this down more in the summer when the ground water is a bit warmer. After I�ve filled both fermenters and pitched my yeast, I clean the boil kettle, and then run hot water through the pump and chiller to clean them up a bit.