10 Gallon batch in a smaller brew kettle?

Hi all, I'm thinking about doing a 10 gallon batch but my brew kettle capacity is only 8 gallons and I don't have the money to buy a bigger kettle. So the question is can I do an 8 gallon boil (probably more like 7), put in the fermenter and then top up with fresh water? This may be a noob question, sorry if I'm in the wrong forum. Thanks!

Surf

Sure can. Do you have beersmith or some other SW to help you out with the measurements?
You can download many different apps or there are also some online ones. You'll set your volume into the fermenter and your boil volume and the SW will tell you what to do.

Many of the kits that are available have you boiling ~3 gallons and adding water to achieve a 5 gallon batch. They do this since they know most people start with a smaller stock pot. Should be the same for a 10 gallon batch.

Tx

txinga said:

Sure can. Do you have beersmith or some other SW to help you out with the measurements?
You can download many different apps or there are also some online ones. You'll set your volume into the fermenter and your boil volume and the SW will tell you what to do.

Many of the kits that are available have you boiling ~3 gallons and adding water to achieve a 5 gallon batch. They do this since they know most people start with a smaller stock pot. Should be the same for a 10 gallon batch.

Tx

Click to expand...

Thanks buddy, going to download beersmith as we speak!

I just made a 10 gallon biab in my 10 gallon pot. Mashed about 24 lbs of grain in 7 gallons of water, then dunk sparged with about 3 more gallons. Added almost all of it to the boil but held enough back so it wouldn't boil over. Once I got some boil off, I added the rest of the wort. I ended up with about 9 gallons at the end and only had to add a little more than a gallon top off between the two fermenters. My efficiency was about 65% as opposed to the low 70s that I normally get which I accounted for with a little more base malt.

If you are doing extract, I bet it would be even easier.

I have had excellent results doing this sort of thing with low and medium gravity beer!

I divide the wort evenly between multiple carboys. For the top-up water I have always boiled and chilled it just to be sure it is sanitized. It has been a great way to make the most beer with my equipment!

If your recipe assumes a full volume boil you are going to need to adjust you hops since your boil will be a higher gravity.