I want to upgrade to all grain

What volume do you want to brew?
How often can you brew?
How will you package (bottles, keg) what you brew?
Will your equipment be new or used?

IMO...these questions should be answered first.

 

Also, what is your budget?

 

Just missed it but there were some great father's day deals recently. Homebrewing can get pricey but that's not always the case. You can have a very basic kit and make great beer. You'll need a mash tun and HLT, at least 2 kettles (I use up to 3) and at least 1 carboy (I rarely do secondary fermentation unless I'm adding fruit or making a big beer). I assume you already have a fermenting vessel, siphoning equipment, bottling bucket, bottle capper, etc. So pretty much the only upgrades you'd need would be the mash tun, HLT and an additional brew kettle.

Feel free to hit me up with other questions, cheers!

 

From Mr. Conn.
http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

 

I went AG this winter all I can say is do it! I choose the 10 gallon Home Depot water cooler as a HLT and the Coleman Extreme cooler as my mash tun. I found both coolers to be affordable and the extreme series coolers you will see very little temp drop while mashing about 2 degrees per hour. Hope this helps!

 

I agree totally - I love my 52 quart Coleman mash tun - it has so little dead space and holds temps really well, and making the manifold can be fun if you like tinkering a bit. Those spent grains make for some fantastic compost.

If you have a big enough pot, you could use brew in a bag (BIAB) to dip your toe in the water to see what you think of all grain before committing to a proper mash tun - some homebrewers don't even own one and make fantastic beer with the BIAB method.

The Homebrewtalk forums were the most helpful to me when first getting into all grain, followed by Palmer's "How to Brew."

 

Going all grain was easy for me. I use my old 7 gallon pot as a hlt. I made a cpvc manifold for a 50 qt cooler I already owned. The only real cost for things I didn't already have weren't an absolute requirement. Made my own stir plate for starters. Bought an oxygenation setup for $50. Basically you can brew great beer keeping it basic. Homebrewtalk will show you how to build a lot of equipment yourself for cheap. And brewing all might take longer but for me it's a lot more enjoyable.

 

For me a good chunk of the fun as I get further into the hobby is making your own stuff (computer fan stirplate, cobbling together a temp controlled germentation chamber, etc.) None of it is required but can only help to give you more control over your beer and it's darn fun to tinker with the equipment.

 

Honestly, you can put together 1- 10ga igloo cooler that will get you up to a 1.120 OG beer roughly for a 5 gallon batch.. Grab another 10g igloo cooler and do the same deal, but don't bother with a braid or anything. I use mine with a SS ball valve and nipple on it for a HLT.

Get a big kettle, atleast 11 gallons if you want to do a 5 gallon batch, minimum.

Roughly $100 in coolers, $40-50 in parts to do it yourself, and you have mash and HTL easily. If you have a pot, your golden.

Best thing to add is an oxygen set up, which is around $50-60, and a fermentation chamber to control temps, which is whatever you want to spend.

Figure if you need a pot and coolers, that it's around.. $300 without much work... O2 set up is $55, and a used fridge or freezer is free to $100, and a temp controller is $60.

Call is $500 and you are SET, unless you want some bells and whistles.. pumps and stuff like that.

Get a stir plate too if you can as well.. Yeast control and temp control are pretty much one of the biggest things about making good vs. great beer.

 

This + 1. My next project is to make a whirlpool chiller that I can use in a keggle or 10 gallon pot. Do I need it? No I dont even have a pump yet, but I like making things and need a larger chiller than I have now. Chilling 6 gallons in May should not take an hour in Cleveland Ohio.

 

With some hunting and searching you may be able to find a could of old kegs that are out of commission that can be converted to keggles quite easily. I built an igloo mast tun for prob less than $75. http://www.brewmorebeer.com/building-a-cooler-mash-tun/

 

I upgraded to all grain by buying a mesh bag, cutting ties with all my friends and family, and hording the small 2.5 gallon all grain batches I can make on my stove

 

I recently went from extract to BIAB. Cost upgrade included a bigger kettle, a burner, a few inexpensive add-on gadgets and most importantly a fermentation chamber (a Vissani wine fridge off Craigslist - which holds a fermenting bucket w/out any mods necessary) that I use a temp controller on.

I added a ball valve, thermometer and a sight glass to my kettle, too.

 

Who's that? I know a Jared. My first name is Jeff.

 

In the end, I would recommend buying equipment that makes you happy to work with it. Even if you have to save up for a while, when you start all-grain you will save money on the malts for the rest of your brewing career. In addition, you will have more choices for coming up with distinctive malt flavors on your recipes.

I'm not saying go crazy and buy a professional-grade automated brewing system, but while some folks make it a point of pride to build an effective system themselves, that may or may not be your thing. Some specialized equipment is unavoidable, like a wort chiller, but even then there are tiers of options/prices.

I do suggest buying a larger brew kettle than you think you need. You never know.