On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:58:44 -0500, <wvenables@charter.net> wrote:[color=blue]
> I am looking at getting into all grain but I am confused about setup. What
> is the difference between the 3-pot/3-burner system and the systems using
> one pot and 2-coolers. Other then expense, what are the differences and is
> either one better than the other? Also if going with the 3 pot system what
> size pots are required for 5 gal. recipes. Are recirculation pumps necessary
> and from where to where?[/color]

You can make all grain beer with very cheap ($100) equipment or you can go
out and spend several thousand on a fancy SS automated tiered system. In
the end you get the same beer. There's nothing about the expensive
systems that will make your beer any better than what somebody can make
with cheap coolers/buckets.

What it really comes down to, is how much do you have to spend and what
type of system do you want. If you like playing around with gadgets and
high tech stuff, then maybe a fancy system would be more "fun". But the
beer will end up being just as good no matter which type of system you
get.

Regarding pot size, I like to recommend a boil pot (kettle) that is 1.5X your
batch size. So for a 5 gallon batch you'd want a 7.5 gallon kettle. This
gives you plenty of room to do a full boil, plus the amount you will boil
off, plus some extra space so that you don't need to worry about boil overs.
For the mash tun, it depends on how strong you want your beers to be. You
can use a 5 gallon mash tun for 5 gallon beers, but you'll be limited on
the amount of grain you can get into it and won't be able to make really
high OG beers. If barleywines or other "big beer" styles appeal to you, then
a larger mash tun would be a good idea. If you usually only make regular
strength beers, then a 5 gallon mash tun would probably be fine.


John.