pot size for 10 gal. batches

been looking into a 10 gallon batch system. i was thinking 15 gallon mashtun and kettle would be sufficient. blichmann suggests a 20 gallon kettle for boiling and 15 gallon for mashing. anyone have experience with these sizes? say i use 24 lbs of grain how much strike water am i able to add to a 15 gallon mashtun? would a 15 gallon boil kettle want to boil over with 12 or 13 gallons of wort?

My pre-boil is 14.5 gallons, I do 11 gallon double batches, a 20 gallon pot is a must.

You can comfortably do 35lbs of grain at 1.25qt/# in a 15 gallon mlt.

I do 12 gallon pre boil in a 15.5 keggle. Works great. There have been time I wished my mash tun was a little bigger.

Here's the deal you can do it in a 15 gal keggle or pot but you have to watch it like a hawk to not have boilovers. With a 20 - 25 gal boilovers are one less thing to worry about and clean up after. So the call is your's. To me it better to go big rather the buy a second pot after you get tired of having to deal with boilovers.

I just adjust the flame so that it doesn't boil over. Only had one boil over and that was on a barleywine.

I do 13 gal pre-boil in a 15 gal keggle for 11 gal batches. It works well and I think this is a very popular setup amongst many home brewers. My MLT is a 62 qt cooler and it's big enough for 11 gal batches as long as you fly sparge and do not brew really high gravity beers. For higher gravity beers I need to add some LME to make up for the lack of room in my MLT.

Don't leave your boil without it!

I boil 13 gal in a 15 gal pot with NEVER a boilover!

I add about 20 drops of fermcap, and BINGO! NO boilover, EVER!

I use fermcap as well, yet 20 drops for a 10 gal batch seems a little much. I usually get away with 6 drops in kettle and 2 in the fermenter and never have boil overs or crap blowing through my airlocks anymore.

15.5 gallon keggles have worked fine for my 10 gallon batches, but I haven't brewed anything over 1.07 SG on the 10 gallon system, it doesn't leave enough room for boiloff on say a barley wine or imperial style beer. It never bothers me as I can make 5 gallons of a high gravity brew and that's good enough for me.

If you're buying pots, go with the 20 gallon kettle, then you are not limited in any way. I've never heard anyone complain about their kettle being too big.

I boil 12-13 gallons in a 15 gallon pot without problem. Have to watch it as it comes to boil and the first hop addition but just turn the flame down and continue to boil. I try not to add stuff to my beer if I don't have to.