I) Select a Recipe Pick a simple recipe for your first batch of beer from scratch . Keep the malt bill down to no more than three grains. Same for the hops; choose only one or two varieties. By beginning to think about making beer from grain, you are also beginning to think about building your recipes according to style. No matter what style of beer you wish to brew, most can be made with the same basic brew technique - therefore, as you refine your brew procedure and technique you are simultaneously advancing the quality of all future batches you brew! A simple style of beer is a good choice for your first batch, try this American Pale Ale for starters.      5 gallon batch, 60 minute boil 1.050 O.G. 1.012 F.G. 10.35 lbs American 2-Row Pale* 1 lb 40 L Crystal 1 oz Centennial pellet hops 60 minutes 1 oz Cascade pellet hops 15 minutes         American style ale yeast *The base malt of this recipe was increased by 15% for the Batch sparge method II) Gather Your Materials Here's a short list of the things you need to All-Grain brew "Siciliano's Style". 1) Mash/Lauter Tun. A cooler or large pot will work for this. 2) Turkey Fryer with Hot Water Pot. The pot that comes with the fryer works great. 3) Propane Tank 4) Scoop for the grains and scoop for water. 5) Boil kettle - converted stainless steel keg. (Grand Rapids Steel on Alpine should plasma cut the top off for a few bucks and/or homebrew, ask for "Chubs"). 6) The proper location - access to water, fresh air, home brew, and away from people who may try to complain about the aroma. 7) Test equipment - Thermometer, Hydrometer (or Thermohydrometer), Test Jar, PH Strips. 8) Spoon and/or mash paddle. 9) Ingredients and fermenters. 10) Wort chiller. III) Get the Mash Going To mash: mix grains and heated water together and hold at a conversion temperature for a short period of time. 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain, 152F and 60 minutes are good variables. Brewers adjust these variables in order to obtain the characteristics they desire for their beer style. 1) Determine the amount of water to be mashed in along with the grains. Our recipe has 11.35 total lbs, so 11.35 lbs grain X 1.25 quarts of water per lb of grain = 14.2 quarts or 3.55 gallons of water. 2) Determine a proper strike water temperature. Heat up the sparge water in hot water tank. We will not be applying heat directly to the mash tun, so in order to hit and maintain the desired temperature, the water must be heated past the desired rest temperature. Being the beginning of November, and figuring in that we’re brewing outside, to hit 152F, I will be mashing in 12-16 F above rest temperature. This is my strike temperature for today, 6-8 F works for most normal circumstances but this varies from system to system, person to person. Keep a good record book.       3) Mash In. The goal is to make an oatmeal-like consistency bed of grains, so add a scoop of grains, a scoop of water, grains, water, and so on, until the grains are all in. If 5 2 pH stabilizer or Gypsum are to be used, add now. This process should only take a couple of minutes, and the small heat loss should result with 152 F mash! As the grains are added, stir to gain an equal consistency. Stick in a thermometer, close the lid and let rest for 60 minutes. The enzymes naturally occurring on the broken husks of the grain kernel act as “nature’s scissors” during the induced mash environment, breaking down the endosperm’s starch into simple and complex sugar chains. During the mash rest, don’t forget to refill your hot water tank with sparge water and begin to heat it up to save time during your brew day.      4) Collect Sweet Wort. So now that 60 minutes have passed and the is mash completed, its time to extract the sweet wort from the mash tun and remove it into the brew pot. This can be done in many different ways. Today I will be employing the Batch Sparge method. After the mash is complete, recirculate the wort until it runs clear and then run off the sweet wort into the brew pot. Now stir heated water back into the mash, recirculate, and again run off and quickly collect the sweet wort into the brew pot. I like this method because, even though not all of the sugars are actually collected into the brew kettle, it takes significantly less time to do than a continuous sparge. However, more base malt must be added to make up for the inefficiency of this method. Batch Sparging Design A) Just as your mash was derived from a ratio of water to lb of grain, a successful batch sparge requires a few simple calculations. First, determine how much sweet wort will be collected from the first runnings of the mash into the boil kettle. As a general rule, 1 lb dry milled grains absorb about .11 gallons, or 14 oz of liquid. For this process we will be adding 15% more base malt to this recipe to make up for the lowered efficiency of the batch sparge method, bringing the total malt bill up to 11.35 lbs Therefore, for our recipe, .4 total gallons of liquid will be withheld from the boil kettle in the mash. Therefore, 3.55 gallons of mash water - .4 gallons absorbed liquid = 3.15 total gallons collected in the boil kettle after the first running. B) The next step is easy: add enough sparge water back into the tun in order to recirculate, run off and collect the target pre-boil volume. To do this, first heat the sparge water to about 180 F. (This temperature which will cease enzymatic activity) C) Also, be sure to collect enough wort pre-boil in order to compensate for boil off. Boil off varies, take the time to calculate yours during your next batch. I loose about 1 gallon every 30 minutes, however, I employ a very vigorous boil; yours may not be that high. Remember, you can always top up your wort volume later on during the boil or even in the fermenter as the actual sugars in collected in the wort do not boil off, only water. Therefore, if 3.15 gallons of wort are already collected into your brew kettle, and 2 gallons boil off, 3.85 gallons of water should be used for the sparge for a total of 7 gallons pre-boil volume.              IV) Boil the Wort Now that the sweet wort has been extracted from the grains and the brew pot filled, remove the turkey fryer pot and load up the brew pot! Crank up the heat and prepare the boil. It could take about 30 minutes before the boil begins, but watch it when it does! Boil-over are messy. I use a 60 minute boil to keep the day quick. When the boil starts, add the bittering hops and start the timer. Look for a nice rolling boil and follow the directions for your recipe. V) Post Boil Operations During the boil you have probably dumped the grains (fertilizer), cleaned the mash tun, sanitized the fermenting buckets and chiller, and drank a few brews. Cool! Now its time for the wort to get cooled to a level that won't kill the yeast when it's added. Immerse your immersion chiller into the brew pot, run cold water through and reduce the wort temperature below 80 F. This could take approximately 30 minutes depending on how cool your chiller is. Sanitize EVERYTHING that comes into contact with your wort at this stage. We keep a spray bottle and bucket full of sanitizer handy. Rinse everything. Now scoop, pour or siphon the chilled wort into the fermenter or through a funnel/strainer into the fermenter. Aerate (stir in O2) the wort with the paddle/spoon as you pitch (pour) the yeast in! Cover and let ferment at optimal temp for the yeast strain. After active fermentation, siphon into a glass secondary container and reduce temp (if possible). When cleared out and fermented, keg and/or bottle!