Options for boosting gravity

My 5 gallon Rubbermaid cooler limits my mashing to about 12-13 lbs. of grain, which limits my OG to about 60 for 5 gallons. I want to start brewing Strong Belgians and Imperials and such, but can't afford to scale up my system right now. So my options are:

1) Max out my MT and boil to a smaller volume = less beer or,
2) Max out my MT and supplement with dry or liquid extract (base malt) at the boil.

Which way do you guys go? Does adding an extra 2 - 3 lbs of extract affect the flavor much? What is a good quality extract to use for supplementing AG?

Thanks!

foxtrot said:

My 5 gallon Rubbermaid cooler limits my mashing to about 12-13 lbs. of grain, which limits my OG to about 60 for 5 gallons. I want to start brewing Strong Belgians and Imperials and such, but can't afford to scale up my system right now. So my options are:

1) Max out my MT and boil to a smaller volume = less beer or,
2) Max out my MT and supplement with dry or liquid extract (base malt) at the boil.

Which way do you guys go? Does adding an extra 2 - 3 lbs of extract affect the flavor much? What is a good quality extract to use for supplementing AG?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Oddly enough, just answered today.

high gravity in a 5 gallon MLT

Chad

Well, if you are doing a Belgian, how about Belgiab candi sugar?

Yep, go for Candi sugar. You can buy it at your LHBS or make it yourself if you like. It's what the Belgians use in Dubbels and Triples so for your strong Belgians you won't be deviating from style.

I second making your own Belgian Candi sugar for belgian beers. It's 75% cheaper and so easy to do.

Since Candi sugar is a major part of a Belgian, that's the logical thing. When I did barley wines in the past, I'd add extract. With a 48 quart mash tun, the next run will be AG.

Yup, go with Candi sugar for your trappists and DME for other brews that you want to be above your 1.060 ceiling.

foxtrot said:

I want to start brewing Strong Belgians and Imperials and such, but can't afford to scale up my system right now. So my options are:

Which way do you guys go? Does adding an extra 2 - 3 lbs of extract affect the flavor much? What is a good quality extract to use for supplementing AG?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

For Belgian Dubbels and Trippels, your 5 gal. cooler will do fine. You probably won't even have to max out your grain bill for dubbels. The difference in OG will be made up with sugar/candi sugar/brown sugar/dextrose/whatever easily fermentable sugar you want to use. The sugar bill is a key piece to what makes a belgian dubbel/trippel. Don't use DME or LME since this will add more body to the beer than you'll want.

I use DME all the time for bigger beers with my 5gal MLT. Its inexpensive, simple and effective.
However Brew Your Own just had an article on a multiple mash technique that looks like it would be a very effective if not time consuming way to make big beers. Pick up the December BYO if you are interested.
Craig

CBBaron said:

I use DME all the time for bigger beers with my 5gal MLT. Its inexpensive...

Craig

Click to expand...

I'm going to have to disagree with this statement. DME, in my experience, it really expensive (about $5/lb or $14 for 3 lbs for me).

PseudoChef said:

I'm going to have to disagree with this statement. DME, in my experience, it really expensive (about $5/lb or $14 for 3 lbs for me).

Click to expand...

Yep, but your usually only adding a couple pounds for your occasional big beer. Which means its cheaper than buying new equipment. I figure it would take me about 10 1.090 beers to pay even a 10 gal cooler. And even then I would either have to sparge less resulting in lower efficiency or boil longer using more fuel. So DME is cheap for a big beer if like me you currently have a 5gal cooler. Now if I was starting from scratch I would get the 10gal cooler.

Ofcourse as has been mentioned using some sugar in your Belgian Dubble is appropriate and doesn't require DME.

Craig

CBBaron said:

Yep, but your usually only adding a couple pounds for your occasional big beer. Which means its cheaper than buying new equipment. I figure it would take me about 10 1.090 beers to pay even a 10 gal cooler. And even then I would either have to sparge less resulting in lower efficiency or boil longer using more fuel. So DME is cheap for a big beer if like me you currently have a 5gal cooler. Now if I was starting from scratch I would get the 10gal cooler.

Ofcourse as has been mentioned using some sugar in your Belgian Dubble is appropriate and doesn't require DME.

Craig

Click to expand...

Agreed in that part, but that's where I'm going to have to keep my persuasion alive for the 48 qt Ice Cube. It costs LESS than a 5 gal round and holds MORE than a 10 gallon round. I lost half a degree over an hour on my last brew day. Why people keep wanting to buy a $40-$50 cooler when they can get one just as nice for a third of the cost is beyond me. I converted it exactly the same as FlyGuy's post describes.

PS: I now can also use this cooler after the brew day as a temperature control space by sticking the primary in there and filling up with water and supplementing with frozen water bottles as I need to. Multitasker.

PseudoChef said:

I'm going to have to disagree with this statement. DME, in my experience, it really expensive (about $5/lb or $14 for 3 lbs for me).

Click to expand...

Under $3.00/lb for me... I buy bulk (55# boxes).

homebrewer_99 said:

Under $3.00/lb for me... I buy bulk (55# boxes).

Click to expand...

Well, I don't use extract, so the equivalent in grain for me is about $1.50 (and that's expensive!)