BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde 25 gallon batch.

I hope I did you proud. :rockin:

Today was the first brew in my 55 gallon stainless kettle that I got earlier this summer but have not got around to using. This weekend I finished making the pickup tube and wrapping insulation around it. At 8 am today I started bringing everything from the back garage up to the front where I brew.
The guy that lives behind me was looking at me funny when he seen me pulling the brew rig out with that big azz kettle on it. lol

Here it is all set up and ready to go.




I preheated the MLT with 10 gallons of water at 180* then ran that into the kettle where I boiled it for 30 minutes. This did two things. It gave me a better idea what my boil off rate was going to be and I ran the boiling water thru my CFC to clean and sanitize it. Boil off ended up being about 3 gallons in 30 minutes.
I then mashed in with 39 pounds of grain and 43 qt's of water. I missed the mash temp due to my 15 gallon kettle is now being used as my HLT (normally is a 7.5 gallon kettle) and this thing flowed the water a lot faster then the smaller one so less heat was lost. I ended up at 155 when I wanted 150. So I added 2 gallons of water and it did not move it. So I then added 1 gallon of cold tap water and that dropped it to 147, I said that it was just going to have to be good enough. After 15 minutes it all settled out at 145-146*, a lot lower then I wanted but I was not going to add more water. I'll make some adjustments for next time.
Here it is with the full mash at rest.

After I ran out the first runnings (7 gallons I got) I then did 3 batch sparges at 37.5 qt's each. I collected 9 gallons from each of the 3 runnings.
Here is the last of the 3 batch sparges.



With 34 gallons in the kettle I was now ready to boil this puppy. While I was running out my last sparge I fired up the burners to get her moving. After the last runnings were added it took less then 5 minutes for it to be to a boil. So it took around 15 minutes to get it boiling.
I was then able to turn the burners down and held a strong boil for 60 minutes without the burners being very high at all.
Here it is right after the last runnings were added but before the boil started.



The boil ran the course and one great thing is, it's damn hard to boil over a 35 gallon batch in a 55 gallon kettle. Oh sure it can be done but you would have to be asleep to do it.

When all was said and done I was at 8 hours of time and I had 25 gallons of beer in the fermenters.




My efficiency was a little better then I wanted, the OG was 1.048 where as I was shooting for 1.039. I'm sure that had something to do with the low mash temp and I also mashed for an hour and 20 minutes, also I'm sure that 27 gallons of sparge water helped too.

Here is the finished wort ready do be moved to the fermenting room.



Just incase you are thinking "what the hell are you going to do with that much beer" I'm keeping 10 gallons, one friend is taking 10 and one is taking 5.

DUDE! That is one hell of a batch! You need to settle down with that kettle. That thing is a beast! Awesome!!! :rockin:

WOW...Simply WOW!!!!

Yeah, I thought I was thirsty!!!

Holy Shat Batman!!!

That's a ton of CB you've got there. I'm honored.

I can smell the centennial goodness from here.

Congrats on a huge brew day.

Darn! I brewed up a 10gal batch of this for my first try at it and I thought that was alot but you sir wow just wow:rockin:


SD

HOly hell, that's a lot of beer! And dude, you need to put an engine on that brew stand and drive it around the neighborhood! Nice work! :rockin:

Here is a better shot of the kettle.


this thing worked better then I thought it would.
My brewing buddy (he drinks while I brew and then he takes some of it) wants to now build a 55 gallon MLT and HLT so that we can do 1BBL batches all the time. I told him that I would think about it..

What kind of burner are you using?

Anthony_Lopez said:

What kind of burner are you using?

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It's two SQ-14's mounted into one stand.

damn, i wish i'd known you were brewing today! i would've come seen that monster working down on the blonde.


i did it today to

eriktlupus said:

damn, i wish i'd known you were brewing today! i would've come seen that monster working down on the blonde.


i did it today to

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Yeah I should have posted in the Michigan Mashers.

All I can say is wow! That, my friend is one helluva rig, congrats on an awesome brew day.:rockin:

I knew it had to be more than one SQ14... thats my burner stand as well, but I knew you weren't rolling a boil for a 25 gallon finished volume...

Anthony_Lopez said:

I knew it had to be more than one SQ14... thats my burner stand as well, but I knew you weren't rolling a boil for a 25 gallon finished volume...

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Oh one would do it but it will work at it. Once it's to a boil I only need one turned up a little more then half way to keep the boil. But to make the heat more even I use both and just keep them turned down.
The insulation really makes a big difference.

Awesome Job! That'll keep you in beer for a while. Just think, you only have to brew 1.3 times a month to hit your legal limit of 200 gallons for a family.

EdWort said:

Awesome Job! That'll keep you in beer for a while. Just think, you only have to brew 1.3 times a month to hit your legal limit of 200 gallons for a family.

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I still have 10 gallons from my last brew day a month ago that needs to get kegged up. Hoping to empty a few kegs tonight.

FSR402 said:

Yeah I should have posted in the Michigan Mashers.

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That would have been sweet. :rockin:

You live in Jenison? Heh, I am in Grandville off 28th between Wilson and Ivanrest. Howdy neighbor!

RedIrocZ-28 said:

You live in Jenison? Heh, I am in Grandville off 28th between Wilson and Ivanrest. Howdy neighbor!

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There are a few of us around here. You should look into the Primetime Brewing homebrew club.