jdopchibrew

Recipes 

Hello everyone!
I've been using this thread as my main brewing guide and guru for some time, but this is my first real thread, so bear with me here...

I've been brewing for 9 months or so, and have quickly become completely obsessed. I've been brewing 5 gal stovetop batches, but at the rate my friends and I go through bottles... well, the time to upgrade is at hand! I went out and bought two 15.5 gal kegs off craigslist yesterday, and am now trying to plan out how I want my setup to work.

My main question is what final volume of beer does one shoot for on this type of setup? I figured I'd modify one for a hlt and the other for a brew kettle, as I have a 12 gal cooler for a mash tun, but will that be a large enough vessel if I'm doing 10-12 gallon batches? I've read about ways to brew a higher og wort and add water right before pitching to increase volume? I'm sure this is an easy one, I'm just having trouble visualizing it cause I'm so damn excited

Cheers!

tally350z

Recipes 

Normally when one uses a keggle, they are trying to shoot for a 10 gallon batch. Obviously you could probably max it out with a 11-12 gallon batch, but thats a big preboil volume. Also with the 12 gallon MT you are going to be limited on the gravity you can brew in a 10 gallon batch. There is sticky at the top of the equipment forum that shows you the size and the gravity you will be limited too.

__________________
Drunken Tortoise Brewery
Primary - Indian Brittish Ale, Belgian Pale, American BarleyWine, Partigyle from BarleyWine.

Secondary - Hibiscus Mead.

Kegged- Slightly Smoked APA,
Dry Irish stout.
Bottled - Rum Oaked Porter.

jdopchibrew

Recipes 

I saw that right after I posted... Thanks!

Nohup

Recipes 

My setup is somewhat like what you're considering. Boil in a 15 gallon kettle, Ferment in a keg, serve from a keg. The main difference is I mash in an insulated keg.
You'll see in that sticky what the limitations of your mash tun will be. See if that works for you, and go from there.

For me, the limiting factor was the boil kettle. It was very hard to make a 13 gallon batch in a 15 gallon pot. I had to fill my kettle to the MAX, use fermcap, and then add back about a gallon of distilled water to get the volume where I wanted.

I recently upgraded to a 20 gallon pot, and the enjoy the whole process much more. No worries about boil-overs, and I've got darn near a full keg from every batch.

Good luck with however you decide to get it done.