5 gallon BIAB in a 15.5 gallon kettle?
 

I am currently doing BIAB for 2.5 gallon batches in my 22 qt kettle. I would like to upgrade to 5 gallon batches, so I need a new kettle.

Eventually, I would also like to be able to do 10 gallon batches, so I'd like to plan for the future and buy a 15.5 gallon kettle for both purposes. Will this be too big to do 5 gallon BIAB? If I clipped a bag onto the sides of one, would it be far enough down into the water to submerge the grains?

If it matters, I'm thinking of the Brewhemoth Penrose Kettle.

A 15gal kettle isn't really adequate for 10gal brews...

You could make a bigger bag or come up with a way to let it hang down further into the water. But you ca do a 5 gallon batch in a 15 gallon pot. You need to check how much water you would need to a 10 gallon batch. I think 15 gallon pot would be a bit small for a BIAB.

Wow, really? I thought some people did 10 gallon batches in 15.5 gallon keggles...

So, I'll need a 20 gallon kettle? Does it matter if my 10 gallon batches have a low OG? I'm not planning to make 10 gallons of barley wine, it's more likely to be 10 gallons of cream ale or something.

I haven't done all grain bigger than 2.5 gallons, so I'm a bit out of my league here.

Yes but I do not think they use BIAB. You can boil the wort for 10 gallons no problem in a 15 gallon pot. But the grain bill and extra water for absorbtion would be a lot for a 15 gallon pot.

Sorry, I re-read my first post and it wasn't very clear. I'm not hoping to do 10 gallon BIAB with this, just 5 gallons. By the time I'm ready to do 10 gallons, I hope to have a mash tun, and the kettle will just need to boil my wort.

I just wanted to know if this kettle would be too big for 5 gallon BIAB.

Yes you can do 5 gallons BIAB

Great. Thanks!

I full volume biab 10 gallon batches in a 15.5 gallon keggle. I just have to keep the grain bill under 20 lbs which makes a nice 5.5% beer at around 80% eff.