Kettle size for 3-gallon all-grain batches?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

homebrewhaha

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2008
Messages
218
Reaction score
13
Location
Boston, MA
I want to try some scaled-down all grain batches with my current equipment that I've been using for extract +steeping grains.

Thinking BIAB, start with something very simple, like a SMaSH, or maybe Edwort's Haus Pale Ale just so I can get the feel for the process.

My question is what's the largest size AG batch I can accommodate in my current 4-gallon brew kettle? I'd like to shoot for 3-gallon batches but I think I may have to go down to 2.5 ...
 
I think that's going to be difficult if you don't want to top off (what's your boil off rate on that kettle?). I do 3 gal stovetop batches in my old 5 gallon kettle and I start the boil with 3.75 gal.
 
chickypad said:
I think that's going to be difficult if you don't want to top off (what's your boil off rate on that kettle?). I do 3 gal stovetop batches in my old 5 gallon kettle and I start the boil with 3.75 gal.

BIAB right? How much water volume do you have in the kettle for the mash? Also, what size fermenter do you use?

I've been wanting to try 3 gallon AG BIAB with my 5 gallon brew kettle.
 
An average OG (1.05ish) 3.0 gallon batch of full volume BIAB will take up 4.68 gallons of space at 6.0 lbs of grain.

An average OG 2.5 gallon batch of full volume BIAB will take up 3.9 gallons of space at 5.0 lbs of grain. I don't think that's reasonably feasible either.

For full volume BIAB, you would need to be closer to a 2-2.25 gallon batch.

Do you have a second pot? You could easily do 3.0 gallon BIAB batches in a 4.0 gallon pot if you did partial volume and did a dunk sparge in a second pot. 3.0 gallons of water in your mash tun with 6.0 lbs of grain would take up 3.48 gallons of space. You'd then have about 1.7 gallons of 170F water in a second pot and dunk sparge your bag into that water after the mash for 10 min, squeeze the bag, then combine the wort for the boil.

You could also do a 3.0 gallon partial volume in the 4.0 gallon pot and just use top off water post-cool down.
 
I do 2.5 gallon batches BIAB in a 4 gallon kettle. The 4 gallon kettle takes long enough to warm up on the stove top so I wouldn't go any larger. You could do a three gallon batch if you don't mind topping off. I've done as much as 10lbs of grain with this setup, but that is pretty tight, and efficiency takes a plunge because of it.

Heres a picture of my setup:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/09/biab.html

This weekend I'm doing a 3 gallon batch with just over 5 pounds of grain in my 4 gallon kettle. I'll let you know how it goes!
 
Do you have a second pot? You could easily do 3.0 gallon BIAB batches in a 4.0 gallon pot if you did partial volume and did a dunk sparge in a second pot. 3.0 gallons of water in your mash tun with 6.0 lbs of grain would take up 3.48 gallons of space. You'd then have about 1.7 gallons of 170F water in a second pot and dunk sparge your bag into that water after the mash for 10 min, squeeze the bag, then combine the wort for the boil.

Thanks for your help. Sounds like I will be investing, at the very least, in a larger kettle if I want to go down this road.

You could also do a 3.0 gallon partial volume in the 4.0 gallon pot and just use top off water post-cool down.

So I assume in this scenario I have to somehow calculate how much extra grain to use, right?
 
Seems like it would be just easier to do a 2.5 gallon batch since it's just a matter of splitting most of the 5 gallon recipes here in half. Then if anything else, you'd only have to step up to a 5 gallon kettle if the 4 gal won't do for BIAB.
 
So I assume in this scenario I have to somehow calculate how much extra grain to use, right?

3.0 gallons of water in your mash tun with 6.0 lbs of grain would take up 3.48 gallons of space.m 6.0 lbs of grain in a 3.0 gallon batch is equivilant to 10.0 lbs of grain in a 5.0 gallon batch. Unless you are trying to make a bigger beer than that, no extra grain needed.

You just mash 6.0 lbs of grain in 3.0 gallons of water, pull and squeeze the bag. Do the boil, then after cooldown top off water to get to your recipe OG, stirring well to make sure the gravity is consistent, the same way ou would with extract. It should be around 1.7 gallons of water, but could be a little more or less, depending on your efficiency.
 
Back
Top