Brewing with Bobby_M All Grain 2009, Part 1 of 2

[MrCOLTSR2]

Great vid thanks..am thinking of going all grain...at the mo its all a bit rocket science to me with enzymes & critical temps lol....how easy is it to achieve the mash temp for the grains?...& what happens if its too hot or cold?...do you loose the whole batch?...also what's the price difference between all grain and LME per batch of say 40 pints?...i know all grain is better quality & easy for fine tuning recipes but how does it compare to using LME wth dry malt & hops to give variety to a kit?

[saltintheeye]

Is this guy a douche bag or what don't contradict yourself on camera it looks bad and makes you look dishonest.

[BobbyFromNJ]

@saltintheeye

Exactly what the hell are you talking about?

[jfmaniac]

@BobbyFromNJ man I want to move from my bucket and carboy to your setup :) thanks for a great set of videos!

[shmurbs]

i LOVE your crushing system...

[darryll6285]

How did you get your keg so shinny?

[brewme03]

hey man great video!

What kind of stand are you using?

[JoePolvino]

Bobby, great video! I also like your sight glasses.

[BobbyFromNJ]

You can pump into the bottom drain no problem. I actually started throwing the hose over the top of the kettle during sparging because I've been playing with fly sparging and wanted to be able to see how fast the flow is. That would be impossible filling from the bottom.

[MrStrangebrewer]

when you pump your wort to your brew kettle i noticed you pump it through the bottom valve. Does the pump struggle at all when doing large batches or regular batches even? i was thinking of putting a top valve on mine as well but after looking at yours i might just go with one one on the bottom and save some money for other cool stuff!

[MrStrangebrewer]

cool thanks im just going to be using as hlt so ill probably just leave it open. thanks!

[MrStrangebrewer]

helpful videos thanks for creating them! when you cut lid off for keggle. what do you do about the hole on top of the lid where the keg tap would normally go? do u leave it open?

[BobbyFromNJ]

@MrStrangebrewer Yes, I just left the hole in the top except for the mash tun which got a #12 solid stopper. I THINK it's a #12.

[peligro28]

Is that the same as just the straight 809

[peligro28]

Hey Bobby, which type pump is that??

[BobbyFromNJ]

@peligro28

It's the highly popular March PL-809-HS

[highperactive1]

"There are many like it, but this one's mine." Part of the homebrewers creed?

[Pactolus240]

Great Video..... Question: What Chiller are you using ?

[BobbyFromNJ]

@Pactolus240

In the video I had a plate chiller but since then I've been using an immersion chiller. I think my favorite has been the tube in tube counterflow since it's almost as efficient and fast as a plate chiller without the worry about filtering out hop pellets.

[worldzfree]

nice video. i am a little confused at the end of this video you said there was some heat drop and you decided to recirculate through the pump and heat. where are you applying the heat? directly to the mash tun via burner or via some other means?

[BobbyFromNJ]

@worldzfree

For now, it's direct fire under the mash tun.

[stormreaper421]

Hello Bobby,

I'm about to go to an all grain system now thanks to you, but I now have 2 kegs that I want to turn into keggles. I already have 1 blichmann 20 gallon brew and the blichmann burner. The question I have for you is where do I go to convert my kegs into keggles? please respond back to me at stormreaper421@gmail.com. I live in cleveland ohio if you know anyone out here.

[BobbyFromNJ]

@stormreaper421

Look up fabrication, welding, metalworking, in the yellowpages or via googlemaps. I got mine welded at a custom motorcycle shop. You can also go with weldless fittings or even use silver solder.

[ohlancali]

Bobby,

Love the videos. A quick question, when you are recirculating the wort to your mash tun is it returning through a sparge arm in the kettle? If so, is there any worry of oxidizing the wort?

[BobbyFromNJ]

@ohlancali

The wort return on the mash tun is just a piece of silicone hose that lays on top of the grain, just under the liquid level. Not a lot of splashing at all.

[mctavishthethird]

Hi

,Is there any way that I can upload a workable plan of your set up.

[BobbyFromNJ]

@mctavishthethird

The model is actually up on Google Sketchup database. I think a search for the word "sanke" would get you there.

[Engineer245]

Bobby - Looks like you have no problem when you put a flame under your mash tung while you are mashing. I guess scorching has not been a problem with your setup. Do you know if scorching is the reason why the HERMS uses an external electrode type inline canister heater for sparging? I am going to use my wort chiller coils to keep the temp on my sparge water by setting thm down into my hlt while circulating. I think I can find a hlt temp that keeps up with the heat loss.

[BobbyFromNJ]

@Engineer245

Direct fire RIMS can lead to scorching if you don't keep the wort moving or if your false bottom is a smaller diameter than the flame pattern. HERMS cannot scorch ever so it's a little more fool proof.

[mhoustoninteg]

You mentioned you use Beer Tools Pro but after doing some research of my own I hear a lot of people recommending Beersmith. Is there any reason you chose BTP over BSM And if so what are they. Great videos! Thanks, Matt

[BobbyFromNJ]

@mhoustoninteg

I really don't remember exactly why I chose it but I always felt like beersmith had a super cluttered GUI. If you're looking for the most popular, beersmith is it.

[tomroeder]

Three questions...what procedure do you use for priming your pump before you use it, and is priming a problem? Also, how do you clean/evacuate the water from your pump and lines when you are done?

Thanks again

[BobbyFromNJ]

I actually had the priming procedure in this vid but cut it out for time. I attach the hose to the vessel first, hold it up high, open the valve, lower it down, close valve and connect hose to the pump. Open the valve on the vessel and the pump output until water comes out the pump output, close pump valve. Attach output hose and you're good to go. It sounds like a lot of work but it's not bad.. Now, to keep the prime... I made up a garden hose QD system so I can just blast water to clean.

[tomroeder]

Hi Bobby, another question...instead of digging through the 1,000,000,000,000 posts on homebrewtalk, which are great by the way, I figured I would just ask you directly, where did you get those quick disconnects, and are you using silicone hose? Where did you get the hose? Thanks again, you guys are a HUGE help to someone getting started!!!!

[darthmalz1]

Could I get away with heating up my srike water in the mash tun and have a smaller hot liquor tank. I'm in the process of making a three tier system and have a 7 gal pot laying around. Great video!

[BobbyFromNJ]

The process I used to use had only one pot/burner and it doubled as a liquor tank and boil kettle. Liquid movement always went to buckets as intermediate holding tanks. There are many ways to skin this cat without a big structure.

[darthmalz1]

thanks for the tip

[Tsalts]

Great vid!! Happy to find your channel! I grew up in West Orange NJ, but work and live in Manhattan now. I have been wanting to home brew for a while, but recently got into craft beer reviewing. Check out my channel and let me know what you think. Cheers!

[gruversm]

What program are you using to edit your video? Do you use a Bazooka tube in your boil kettle?

[BobbyFromNJ]

I'm using Ulead Video Studio 10 right now but it's not all that great. I'm hoping to learn Premier soon.

I don't use any kind of screen in the kettle but sometimes I'll bag up bittering and flavor hop additions in a nylon bag and hang it from the side of the kettle.

[tomroeder]

Thanks for getting back with me about the burners. One more question that I have, it appears that in your earlier videos you used to use thermocouples instead of those large round thermometers. Why did you decide to switch? I am considering using thermocouples in my setup, I will only have two pots, not three, and a large LED readout.

[BobbyFromNJ]

I ended up melting the wires going to the probes and found a great price on a few analog thermos. No real preference.

[Dakota1Rules]

great vids man. i need to get a digital camera and film also!

Ive got a vanilla coffee porter in the carboy now, an ESB brewing this weekend!

In the kegs is an IPA (American), oktoberfest, chocolate porter, ESB, and nut brown ale!

Keep up the good work!

[Nospherith]

Awesome! Another BobbyM vid!

[pjcruisers95]

Great video keep up the wonderful work Bobby

[tomroeder]

Hey there, great videos by the way. I am in the process of building a brew stand like the one that you have there. I also have the 23-tip natural gas burners, too. I am only going to use two, but the question that I have is how far below the keggle do you have the burner mounted? Do you still have about 10 of the tips removed from each burner for less flame? If you were going to build another stand like that, would you do anything different?

Thanks!

[BobbyFromNJ]

I'd certainly try to get the 10-tip burners or use the Hurricane burners with the natural gas orifice kit. If you do use the ring burners, put it at least 5" below the pot.

[murf1916]

how did you get that boil kettle to shine like that

[ShrinkingSusan]

Whole lot of polishing.

[murf1916]

duh!!!!!! with what/

[BobbyFromNJ]

I posted a link in the description that will describe the keg polishing in detail.

[murf1916]

thank you, enjoy your vids. keep up the good work.

[BobbyFromNJ]

The shirt was a Morebeer giveaway at the National Homebrewers Conference in Oakland this year.

[diskodirty]

Wow! You have moved on quite a bit in your process. I have been enjoying your vids for about a year now & I'm doing AG now as well. Your setup is pretty throwed. You always give tubers good ideas. Where did you get the shirt? Thx...