15 gallon kettle overkill for 5 gallons?

I had returned a 8 gallon megapot to NB in favour of a 10 gallon in order to have capacity for 5gallon ag batches. But now i wonder, given that the 15 gallon isn't much more pricewise than a 10 gallon and that It would be nice to have the bigger size should i wish to move to 10gallon batches: is a 15 gallon too big for a 5 gallon batch? I'd like to stay in the 5 gallon range for the time being

I wouldn't think you would have any brewing related issues with it.

Possibly storage wise, or cleaning but I think your okay.

Get the 15 so that when you do want to do a 10gal boil you have it. I just did the exact same thing.

a 15 gallon brew kettle is not overkill. It simply provides some scalability to your operation.

wedge421 said:

Get the 15 so that when you do want to do a 10gal boil you have it. I just did the exact same thing.

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my thoughts as well...

thanks for the input

You know the 20 gallon isnt much more then the 15 and the 25 isnt much more then the 20, and the''' Hehehe!

I loves me keggle!

I've actually had a 5 gallon batch in my keggle boil over. Go for the 15, and if you can swing it go for the 20... and if you can swing it go for the 25... and if you can swing it........... ok, seriously, a 55 gallon SS drum might be just a slight touch over kill for a 5 gallon AG batch..... but anything smaller would be workable!

I use a 15 gallon keggle for my batches, and have also had boilovers with it too.

The only issue I had with my kettle upgrade is that its about as wide as it is tall. When I'm steeping the grains, my grain bag sits almost out of the water with 4 gallons in the pot... I'd try for something tall...

NoClueBrewMaster said:

The only issue I had with my kettle upgrade is that its about as wide as it is tall. When I'm steeping the grains, my grain bag sits almost out of the water with 4 gallons in the pot... I'd try for something tall...

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Just bought three keggles for AG and wanted to clarify something-

When you say steep, your talking about extract w/ steeping grains right?

Or you can just steep on the stove in a smaller pot with less water and then add that water to your kettle. Most people don't recommend steeping in 4 gallons.

This is the thread I've been searching for.... as I also have some questions in this regard.
I'm working towards trying all-grain at some point and am working on buying/building the things I need. I'll be doing mainly 5 gallon batches, but I'd like to be able to do the occasional 10 gallon batch of some lower gravity beers. My main concern is how well a 15 gallon kettle and IC sized to support 10 gallon batches (50' 1/2"?) will perform when only doing 5 gallon batches. With a lot of the 15 gallon kettles, 5 gallons would only be about 5" deep! Would an IC work ok like this? I suppose a Blichmann kettle would help a bit with their higher height/diameter ratio getting more of the IC immerged in the wort. I would also want to use this setup to allow me to do full boils for extract batches as well.
I'm just looking for some re-assurance that 5 gallon batches in a 10 gallon setup will work fine...

tom777 said:

With a lot of the 15 gallon kettles, 5 gallons would only be about 5" deep!

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How are you figuring this out? I do not have a keggle or 15 gal pot but seeing as how 5 Gal should come up 1/3 of the way I doubt the pot is only 15 inches tall.

Bigger is not necessarily the ultimate answer. Certainly in regards to your original question, a 15 gal pot is great for 5 gal batches. However, from experience I can tell you that a 5 gal batch in a 25 gal pot is a hassle - enough so that I bought a smaller kettle for 5 gal batches (12.5 gal).

Jester369 said:

Bigger is not necessarily the ultimate answer. Certainly in regards to your original question, a 15 gal pot is great for 5 gal batches. However, from experience I can tell you that a 5 gal batch in a 25 gal pot is a hassle - enough so that I bought a smaller kettle for 5 gal batches (12.5 gal).

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I agree - right sizing the kettle is important.

You may find that a keggle of 13 gallons is not quite big enough to do a 10 gallon batch depending on your brewing style. For example: when I brew I tend to get a lot of boil off, plus I like to make 1 more gallon than my intended batch size... so I need to use 13+ gallons for the boil... obviously this won't work in a keggle.

Using my brewing style a pot of 15 gallons is perfect for doing 5-8 gallon batches but it will barely fit a 10 gallon batch, which is really a 13.75 gallon boil (10 wort + 2.75 gallons for boil off + 1 gallon extra).

I also use a keggle and 5g batches are no problem. Go with the 15 so that you can do 10g batches down the road.

dataz722 said:

How are you figuring this out? I do not have a keggle or 15 gal pot but seeing as how 5 Gal should come up 1/3 of the way I doubt the pot is only 15 inches tall.

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I'm just going by some of the dimension listed in my Northern Brewer catalog.

• Megapot 15G: 15" tall x 19" dia.
• Polarware 15G: 13 3/4" tall x 18 3/4" dia.

Would you need to recalculate your evaporation rate with the bigger kettle, since there is more surface area ?

The Blichmann 15G kettle is listed as 18.9" tall x 15.7" dia. Seems one would get better small-batch IC efficiency in a kettle with dimensions like this. They also recommend a kettle for 2x finished batch size which is in line with what many of you are saying with 10 gallon batches being pretty tight in a 15G kettle.

twst1up said:

is a 15 gallon too big for a 5 gallon batch? I'd like to stay in the 5 gallon range for the time being

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Do you ever brew inside? My 10 gallon pot (14" dia, 15"+ high) is about as big as can be fit on a typical kitchen stove (I use a canning element, it's an electric stove).

I have a keggle and regularly sparge up to 14.5 gallons pre-boil.

You have to really watch the boil but it can be done. I keep a tank sprayer filled with water on hand to knock down the boil ups until after the hot break. Then I dial in a hefty boil and go about my work.

I also brew 12 gallon batches in a Morebeer 14 gallon pot and so I have to watch the boil like a hawk. Near the end of the boil I add the chiller which takes up room and the last of the water needed to bring it up to 12 gallons and I wish I had a 20 gallon pot because of the near boilover problem.

kappclark said:

Would you need to recalculate your evaporation rate with the bigger kettle, since there is more surface area ?

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I don't think it's just the surface area (I don't know for sure) but elevation and ambient temperature and whatnot as well. My boil-off rate changes when the wind blows - literally. I really do think that you need a 20 gallon pot and that it is NOT too large for a 5 gallon batch. Just make sure you turn off the heat when you add extract, if that is what you are doing.

Thanks for the advice everyone - I think I will have to consider a 20 gallon kettle to be sure to have enough room for 10 gallon batches. There really isn't a ton of difference in physical dimensions for a 5 gallon increase in size -- an inch or 2 in height and diameter and that's it. Price isn't significantly worse either.

Also, sorry for the confusion on resurrecting/hijacking this thread -- but it pretty much summed up what I was wondering.

I just tried Defoamer-105 this past weekend. It was effectively a huge kettle (not to mention starter boil vessel) upgrade. Four drops in 6.5 gallons and no threat of boiling over my 7.5 gallon kettle.

5 gallon
7.5 gallon
15 gallon
25 gallon
55 gallon
That was my progression in boil kettles. My advice: buy the biggest kettle you can afford. You will always want a bigger kettle...