Can a 15 Gal batch be done in 20 Gal BK?

I want to move up to 15 gal batches, but the biggest BK that will fit on my Brutus 10 is a tall 19.8 gallon kettle. My friend said he didn't think there was enough head room for expansion, evaporation volume and boiling. I must suck at searching cause I can't find any threads referencing BK sizes, just MTs.

I don't see a problem. You're still only boiling off a gallon or so regardless of batch size. I use fermcap though, so your boil up may be pretty severe. If it is, I would grab a 2 buck bottle of fermcap and have at it.

dale1038 said:

I don't see a problem. You're still only boiling off a gallon or so regardless of batch size. I use fermcap though, so your boil up may be pretty severe. If it is, I would grab a 2 buck bottle of fermcap and have at it.

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Thanks, it's what I was thinking too. I can be careful with boil over issues, I like my silicon in boobs. I was hoping someone would jump on here and say they were doing it with or without a problem.

Same question was asked about a year ago. I do it, but I use fermcap. I start with around 18.5 gallons and usually end up with 15.5 to 16 gallons in a 20 gallon Blichmann. It is close and I have never tried it without fermcap.

Ajgeo said:

Same question was asked about a year ago. I do it, but I use fermcap. I start with around 18.5 gallons and usually end up with 15.5 to 16 gallons in a 20 gallon Blichmann. It is close and I have never tried it without fermcap.

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Thank you sir, like I said I must suck at searching.

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No problem. I don't think it is you, the search on this site is terrible. I usually google my questions and find HBT in the results.

I just did a 20 gallon batch in a 26 gallon pot so I don't see a problem here. i had to watch the boil pretty closely at first but I didn't have a boil over. there was about 2-3" of space left at the top of the kettle.

two things:

1) Watch your hops additions. May want to turn down the heat when first adding them
2) spoon off the protein foam as you ramp up to a boil

I do 25 gallons in a 30 gallon pot, I just keep a close eye on it and I rarely have boil overs.

I do '15' gal batches in a 25gal megapot. I like to get 16.5gal into the hemoth fermenter. About a gallon in thermal contraction, and 3 for boiloff. Puts me at 20.5gal. I wouldn't want anything smaller than the 25gal pot I use. Certainly could make it work with a smaller pot, but 20gal would definitely be too small in my book.