Brew Pot too small, can I make an AG? (cheapskate post)

Having made 5 PM brews, I think I am ready to make an All Grain batch. My problem in that my boil kettle is only 5.5 gallons. I have a 5 gal MT (drink cooler conversion) and I was thinking of making an English bitter, OG around 1.040.

Here's the plan, I will use a single infusion mash and batch sparge. I want to collect enough wort for 4.5 gal to boil and then add the necessary water (about 1.5 gal) in the ferm bucket to get me to 5.25 gal. for the finished batch. Does anyone else do this and is it successful? I need to break down and buy a bigger boil kettle but I can also buy 6 or 7 recipes for the cost of a good 10 gal kettle. My PM beers have all been pretty good, I just cannot resist the allure of AG.

Nothing wrong with scaling down a recipe to less than 5 gallons. I make 2.5-3 gallon AG recipes from time to time when I'm in an experimental mood.

I very often make ~4 gallon AG batches when I want to brew inside (as that's about the limit my stove can bring to a good boil). works great.

Buy the bigger kettle. It'll be worth it.

4 gallon batches should work fine.

Aluminum Stock Pots, Tamale Pot 32 qt (8 gallon) pot for $38. You can often find similar deals locally.

Yeah, partial boil beers really don't stand up to full boil beers. Go bigger kettle, it makes a world of difference.

I use this technique as do some of the largest breweries in the world. I have never had a watery beer from it. However, it has its limitations on amount you can do and gravity you can accomplish. It basically lends itself better to smaller lagers and ales.

I appreciate the bigger kettle comments, I want a 10 gallon SS pot with a valve attached but that runs about $150 and up. Given that I have spent about $500 on equipment and recipes since December, I don't want to push my luck with my wife.

I would like to thank Wortmonger for the link, I am going to try that route and scale a 4 gallon recipe into a 5 gallon. This hobby is great, I really enjoy the creative part and it goes to all aspects. Techniques, equipment, ingredients, all them can be "tweaked" for my purposes and they all yield a great beer. My worst beer to date was pretty good, it just didn't carbonate as much as I would have liked. It still tasted good and it was gone in two weeks.

I've used 2 pots to do full boils on a 5 gallon batch.
I have a 5 gallon and a 4 gallon pot.
Once I collect the wort, I put half in each pot and start them boiling. I split the hop additions and throw half in each pot. After I cool the wort, I put the contents from both pots into a single fermentor and pitch the yeast.
Might work for you.

Rubberband, just make sure you don't go over 1.060 on your OG of the pre-blended wort/beer. Also, make sure you don't cut it too much with water at the end or you will end up with watery beer. This technique has a sweet spot, otherwise the other's comments are 100% correct. So... don't over do it.

I haven't tried scaling down but can't see why it would not be viable.
Keep your eye on craigslist (check daily, the good deals disappear fast!) I've picked up some great equipment at good prices.

I have the same problem, though I don't see it as such. When I want 5 gallons of all-grain beer, I brew twice. 3 gallons one day, 3 gallons the next, same recipe.

One of the beautiful things about this process is yeast management. XL smack-packs and vials never have enough yeast to properly inoculate 5+ gallons of 'normal' strength wort. But 2.5 - 3 gallons? Good to go! So I brew half the batch Saturday, pitch, and by the time I'm ready to knock out on Sunday I'm already at high krausen. Nice, vigorous ferments, every single time.



You don't need to wait for Day 2 if you don't mind a longer day and building a starter (or use dry yeast) - you can be mashing the second half of the batch while the first is boiling. Takes some juggling, but it can be done, I assure you. If I can do it with 5-10bbl batches, you can do it on your stovetop!

Bob

I don't have another kettle over 2 gal, so using two boil kettles probably isn't the best thing for me right now. I have to use 2-3, 6 quart pots to get my sparge water right now. A new kettle is really what I need.

I am liking this idea of two 3 to 4 gallon batches back to back. Since my AG skills are less than zero, if I had to dump the batch, it would only be 3 gallons. Thank you once again for the help, I was too focused on 5 gallon batches that it limited what I thought I could do.

DeathBrewer uses the dilution technique with great success. I don't remember the thread anymore but he had pics of fermenting 2.5 gallons in 3 gallon carboys and then diluting to 4-5 gallons in the keg. Aeration with an O2 stone is key, and yeast nutrients would help since you are pushing into higher alcohol.

I'm planning to do some BIAB 2.5 gallon session beers back to back on the stove top over two days. Talk about simple... mash in, put the pot in the warm oven, set timer, pull out the bag, top off, boil, chill in water bath, aerate, pitch a smack pack, repeat the next day and now pitch into the actively fermenting wort. I figure I can knock out a batch this way during the day while I'm going about doing other stuff around the house... all the ease of extract while still brewing all grain.

i use a dairy pot i found at a antique store for 20.00 it holds 14 gal.

Rubberband said:

Having made 5 PM brews, I think I am ready to make an All Grain batch. My problem in that my boil kettle is only 5.5 gallons. I have a 5 gal MT (drink cooler conversion) and I was thinking of making an English bitter, OG around 1.040.

Here's the plan, I will use a single infusion mash and batch sparge. I want to collect enough wort for 4.5 gal to boil and then add the necessary water (about 1.5 gal) in the ferm bucket to get me to 5.25 gal. for the finished batch. Does anyone else do this and is it successful? I need to break down and buy a bigger boil kettle but I can also buy 6 or 7 recipes for the cost of a good 10 gal kettle. My PM beers have all been pretty good, I just cannot resist the allure of AG.

Click to expand...

Go to your local asian market and just buy a second five gallon pot. I just bought a 5 gallon SS pot (on top of my 7) for $35. They are cheap. They had a 120 quart SS pot for $140 as well. There's no reason to pay ridiculous prices for a small pot at your LHBS.