Equipment expansion to all grain

Alright so I'm taking advantage of the Christmas season to expand my set up to begin starting all grain brewing.

I currently use a 15 gallon as pot a my boil kettle. I plan to continue doing this. My question is whether I really need two more 15 gallon pots or will 10 gallon pots suffice? I'll be deploying a gravity fed system.

Cooler, direct fire or some other flavor of mash tun? You can get away with a bottling bucket, a 10 gallon cooler and some shelving. Just depends on what you're willing to put up with. 10/10/15 5/10/15 you can get either to work.

Have you looked at BIAB? I don't do that, but it seems like a pretty nifty way to step into AG with what you've already got on hand.

No, I'm looking at going all stainless. The smallest I would be going is 10/10/15. I just don't know whether that will suffice or will I regret not going 15/15/15?

Depends on batch size and how big you go with your gravity.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-123585/

What batch size?

Southern_Junior said:

No, I'm looking at going all stainless. The smallest I would be going is 10/10/15. I just don't know whether that will suffice or will I regret not going 15/15/15?

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Sounds Kline the cash isn't much of an issue and you're going all out so is say 15-15-15 and you will have no constraints on what and how large a beer you want to brew!

duboman said:

Sounds Kline the cash isn't much of an issue and you're going all out so is say 15-15-15 and you will have no constraints on what and how large a beer you want to brew!

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well you'd have a real hard time making a 16 gallon batch on that system

Southern_Junior said:

No, I'm looking at going all stainless. The smallest I would be going is 10/10/15. I just don't know whether that will suffice or will I regret not going 15/15/15?

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A lot of people that go with a 3 kettle system get a larger boil kettle. We recommend 20-15-15.

-Ben

SpikeBrewing said:

A lot of people that go with a 3 kettle system get a larger boil kettle. We recommend 20-15-15.

-Ben

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yeah if you are doing 10-13 gallon batches that's the size I would recommend

maida7 said:

well you'd have a real hard time making a 16 gallon batch on that system

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Doh, funny, implied high gravity not meaning volume and assuming 10 gallon batches as stated the large kettle being 15 gallons....

I don't envision myself brewing larger than 5 gallon batches. I may have mixed up the number scheme for the kettles. When I said 10/10/15, I meant 10 hlt/ 10 mash tun/ 15 boil kettle.

Southern_Junior said:

I don't envision myself brewing larger than 5 gallon batches. I may have mixed up the number scheme for the kettles. When I said 10/10/15, I meant 10 hlt/ 10 mash tun/ 15 boil kettle.

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A 15 gallon boil pot is overkill for 5 gallon batches. I think you'd be good with 10/10/10

Southern_Junior said:

I don't envision myself brewing larger than 5 gallon batches. I may have mixed up the number scheme for the kettles. When I said 10/10/15, I meant 10 hlt/ 10 mash tun/ 15 boil kettle.

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I once thought I would have no interest in 5 gallon batches until I brewed an IPA that I completely destroyed in about 2 weeks. Talk about delicioustown.

Since I've got 8 cornies available, any future batches of that beer will be 10 gallons so I can keg or bottle as I see fit.

I understand brewing 5 gallons or even 1 gallon if you like to experiment a lot, that makes total sense. But once you hit a recipe that you love, you might want to drink lots of it.

maida7 said:

A 15 gallon boil pot is overkill for 5 gallon batches. I think you'd be good with 10/10/10

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A 15.5 gallon keggle is perfect for 5 gallon batches. Not overkill at all.

I'm doing the same thing (upgrading at Christmas time). I thought about going with 15's but being a bit budget constrained, and planning on only five gallon batches, I went with the 9 gallon two weld pots at Adventures in Homebrewing. I'm planning to just use my current 5 gallon pot for sparge water. I'm excited to try them out!

I already have the 15 gallon boil kettle already. I bought it so I would always have sufficient head space to prevent boil overs. I'm really just concerned about wether or not the 10 gallon kettles will be able to accommodate the grain bills and sparge water.

Southern_Junior said:

I already have the 15 gallon boil kettle already. I bought it so I would always have sufficient head space to prevent boil overs. I'm really just concerned about wether or not the 10 gallon kettles will be able to accommodate the grain bills and sparge water.

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This is the link you need to read: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-123585/