Keggle question

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Pretty sure 12 gal is about the limit, the place you are going to run into limitations will be the boil kettle (unless you ferment in a keg as well). Even at 12 gallons you are probably only yielding 11 finished.
 
I was asked this and didnt have a definite answer but I thought for a 15 gallon batch you would need at least 17.5 gallon of water which that alone would make the 15.5 keggle useless for a batch of 15 gallons ..
 
I was asked this and didnt have a definite answer but I thought for a 15 gallon batch you would need at least 17.5 gallon of water which that alone would make the 15.5 keggle useless for a batch of 15 gallons ..

Well, you can start with 12 gallons for the boil, and end up with 10.5 finished gallons. Some people would then add some water (and/or DME) to get up to 15 gallons. I have never done that, but I'm sure it's possible.
 
Well, you can start with 12 gallons for the boil, and end up with 10.5 finished gallons. Some people would then add some water (and/or DME) to get up to 15 gallons. I have never done that, but I'm sure it's possible.

It works for that big brewer in St Louis.
 
It works for that big brewer in St Louis.

Sure. But at a homebrewing level, you'd have to keep in mind that the hops utilization would be different than boiling all of the wort together. Of course, in low hopped beers that wouldn't be an issue but it might be very hard to do a great IIPA with dilution.
 
I giggled when I initially read this, because I knew it would create controversy over how vigorously you boil and such. But then I got to thinking "Is there a cut and dry answer?" Yes, there is.

Ignoring all else, the expansion rate of water when heated to boiling is approximately 4%
15.0 * 1.04 = 15.6 gallons

So the only possible way to pull this feat off would be to top off with water after the fact ;-)
 
I giggled when I initially read this, because I knew it would create controversy over how vigorously you boil and such. But then I got to thinking "Is there a cut and dry answer?" Yes, there is.

Ignoring all else, the expansion rate of water when heated to boiling is approximately 4%
15.0 * 1.04 = 15.6 gallons

So the only possible way to pull this feat off would be to top off with water after the fact ;-)

I prefer to divide by 0.96 instead of multiply by 1.04. How's that for controversy!:D
 
I do 90 min boils, loosing 2 gallons from my batches (regardless of batch size obviously). So to do a 15 gallon batch, and leave room for boiling, the most wort you could have in the kettle "safely" would be 14ish gallons. In my case I would still end up with 12 gallons and have to add 3 gallons at the end.

In order to plan for this in regards to the adjustment to the IBUs (which would be lower since you are adding more water) you would run the entire recipe in your calculator as a 15 gallon recipe, then calculate your mash schedule for a 12 gallon batch. The final step then is to top off with 3 gallons of santized water.

It isn't perfect, and your gravities will be off some, but it will get you 15 gallons.
 
You could always add a little water throughout the boil to keep it at 14-14.5 gallons (a pint here a pint there). Then just add the last little bit to hit 15 gallons at the end.
 
You could always add a little water throughout the boil to keep it at 14-14.5 gallons (a pint here a pint there). Then just add the last little bit to hit 15 gallons at the end.

This would get you or keep you at 15 gallons but would absolutely destroy your calculated IBUs. Everytime you add water your boil is going to stop. So you would never really know what your IBUs were unless you stopped your timer and restarted it at the boiling point you were previously boiling at. This would also make replicating the beer (if it happened to turn out magical) nearly impossible since the actual amount of time you were boiling would never be the same.
 
Sooooooo it is possible ......but you'll be making a 12 gallon batch with 15 gallon grain bill making your wort concentrated and then add three gallons of chilled water helping you cool your wort to pitch?
 
Sooooooo it is possible ......but you'll be making a 12 gallon batch with 15 gallon grain bill making your wort concentrated and then add three gallons of chilled water helping you cool your wort to pitch?

I don't see a reason that wouldn't work unless there is a chemical reaction I am missing.
 
The funny part is, I have been wanting to do it too but never really thought it through since I sort of assumed by keggle limited me (I never considered adding the water). My next question is, since I use RO water, and build it based on style, would I just be adding RO water with no salts added for the final 3 gallons? ? This would also allow me to chill my wort much faster if I had the water just above freezing, or even just freeze it. MMMMMmmmmm.....thanks Big Cat. I may have to give this a shot.
 
I don't see a reason that wouldn't work unless there is a chemical reaction I am missing.

There are only two considerations I can think of. One is maillard reactions- so if you were doing, say a Scottish 80 +/-, or another beer where you wanted to really have toasty maillard reactions it could be an issue. I think that's a very minor concern, though, and really nothing to worry about.

The other is hops utilization. If you were making a 75 IBU beer, I don't think it would be possible to do that with the addition of three gallons of water (1/5 of the volume).

Otherwise, I can't see an issue.
 
There are only two considerations I can think of. One is maillard reactions- so if you were doing, say a Scottish 80 +/-, or another beer where you wanted to really have toasty maillard reactions it could be an issue. I think that's a very minor concern, though, and really nothing to worry about.

The other is hops utilization. If you were making a 75 IBU beer, I don't think it would be possible to do that with the addition of three gallons of water (1/5 of the volume).

Otherwise, I can't see an issue.

I would think that it would be best to mash 15 gallons worth, and split it into a 5 gallon batch and a 10 gallon batch, adjusting your hops schedule for the boil volumes then combining the two. But I dont think this is the direction the OP was headed with the question.
 
I have done it, I have a 3 keggle system and I made 15 gallons twice. What I did was have a grain bill for 15 gallons and sparge for 15 gallons and took a second pot and drained 5ish gallons of run off and put it aside. The first time I added it back at 15 and brought back to a boil, the second time I added it back through out the boil. So it can be done just have to get creative.
 
...The other is hops utilization. If you were making a 75 IBU beer, I don't think it would be possible to do that with the addition of three gallons of water (1/5 of the volume).

Otherwise, I can't see an issue.

LEARNING ALERT...LEARNING ALERT!!!!

Yooper,

I was under the assumption that as long as you were pulling the adequate amount of alpha acids from the hops to hit your desired IBUs for your 15 gallon batch, but actually only had 12 gallons (from not yet adding the full amount of water) you would have a wort with a higher OG and higher IBUs. Then, if you added the remaining water to get you up to 15 gallons, and assuming everything went as planned in your brewing, your IBUs and OG would be back down to where you had planned for the recipe.

Obviously I am not understanding hop utilization correctly. Can you help me understand this? Thank you!!!
 
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