kettle question

I am planning on brewing a snpa clone soon and I wasnt sure if i could would have any problems fitting around 11 lbs. of grain in a 30 qt. italian kettle.



I was also wondering when the recipe say to bring up to 122 degrees for 30 minutes then bring it up to 150 degrees for 60 minutes. Do I need to keep direct heat at those temps or do I just bring it to that temp and turn the flame off? I've only only mashed in coolers so far. Im just looking try some differnt techniques to spice up my brew day.

To figure out if your vessel is large enough to mash a particular grain bill, here is a great little tool:
http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml (scroll down to Can I Mash It?)

It says that an 11 lb grain bill will take up 4.3 gallons or 17.2 quarts at a typical mash thickness of 1.25 qt water/lb of grain.

When doing your rests, you are correct -- just heat the mash up to the target rest temp, and let it sit at that temp for the rest time. If you are using a SS pot, particularly if it is heavy, you may want to undershoot a bit because the 'thermal inertia' of the pot may carry the temp upwards a wee bit after flameout. Also, you may need to add a little bit of heat during your rest if the temps drop more than a couple of degrees.

Also remember to stir thoroughly while heating if you are direct firing your kettle.

Best of luck!

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I want to try some different recipes and I dont want to brew 10 gallons of something and not like it.