I'm interested in making the switch from all extract to partial mash. I've read Deathbrewer's sticky several times. My questions are:
1) The pic below shows my two brew pots. One is a 40-qt. SS kettle, and the other is an 8-qt. SS pot. Can I do this with the equipment I have? If I wanted to mash 5-6 lbs. of grain, that would require about 2 gallons of strike water, right? So, it seems to me I would have to mash in the big kettle and use the little one to heat the sparge water? Since two gallons of water would fill my smaller pot completely, I would not be able to steep or tea bag the grains in the sparge water, I would have to rely on sparging only, which I assume would decrease my efficiency somewhat?
2) 2 gallons of water in my 10-gallon kettle only fills it up a few inches. If I added 5-6 lbs. of grain to it, would that even be enough to cover the grains and keep them wet?
3) I'm concerned about maintaining mash temp. the pot is probably too big to stick in my oven, and over the course of 45-60 minutes, I would think I'd experience significant heat loss due to the surface area/headspace.
Do I just bite the bullet and buy another (bigger, cheaper) pot? Like a 4-gallon one?
1) The pic below shows my two brew pots. One is a 40-qt. SS kettle, and the other is an 8-qt. SS pot. Can I do this with the equipment I have? If I wanted to mash 5-6 lbs. of grain, that would require about 2 gallons of strike water, right? So, it seems to me I would have to mash in the big kettle and use the little one to heat the sparge water? Since two gallons of water would fill my smaller pot completely, I would not be able to steep or tea bag the grains in the sparge water, I would have to rely on sparging only, which I assume would decrease my efficiency somewhat?
2) 2 gallons of water in my 10-gallon kettle only fills it up a few inches. If I added 5-6 lbs. of grain to it, would that even be enough to cover the grains and keep them wet?
3) I'm concerned about maintaining mash temp. the pot is probably too big to stick in my oven, and over the course of 45-60 minutes, I would think I'd experience significant heat loss due to the surface area/headspace.
Do I just bite the bullet and buy another (bigger, cheaper) pot? Like a 4-gallon one?