10 gal pot just isn't enough

I went with the Beersmith calculation of 4.5 gal sparge water for 15# grain. At 65% efficiency I was supposed to get 1.076 after 90 min boil from 7 to 5 gal. OG was a disappointing 1.060 but I boosted it with DME and it'll be fine.

I think it was Rich Brewer who recently announced to beginning AG'ers that you must sparge a whopping 2 quarts/per lb grain. At first I thought he was crazy but now I know he must be spot on about this.

With big brews this more than a 10 gal pot can handle.

One option is to just stuff more grain in the MLT to counteract the inefficiency(how much I wouldn't have a clue) I have a smaller (5 gal) pot. Is it feasible to collect more wort, set it aside while I make room in the big pot as it boils down?

Feasible yes. Advisible no. It's not a great idea to have some wort that may have been boiling only 15-30 mins. Plus as you add cool wort to your boiling wort the boil will slow or stop.

Since you have both 5 and 10 gallon pots I'd use both at the same time then after the volume has dropped in both pots combine them in the larger pot .

2 other options get a bigger pot if you want big beer or make smaller batches of big beer.

photogscott said:

One option is to just stuff more grain in the MLT to counteract the inefficiency(how much I wouldn't have a clue)

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Here's how I do it: At 1.25 qt/lb in the mash, 0.1 gal/lb absorbed by grain, and a target of 7 gal in the brewpot, 10# is where my system is "balanced" (meaning the 0.5 gal/lb sparge water gives me the brewpot vol I'm looking for).

My efficiency on a 10# mash is typically 75%

For every pound I add over 10 and up to 15, I figure I'm going to lose 1% efficiency.
For every pound I add over 15, I figure I'll lose 2% efficiency.

I've only had one big beer to test this on so far; on a 20# mash I got ~62%. So my estimate seems to be pretty close. I'll just keep tweaking it as I do more bigger beers. (Or until I get a bigger brewpot and can always use 0.5 gal/lb to sparge)

2 quarts per pound???? I never use that much. I don't have any trouble making a big beer with my ten gallon cooler........

I use very close to 2 qts per lb for mash out and fly sparging. I've managed to get 1.075 out of 13.25 lbs grain using a 5g cooler and a 10g kettle, but I mash with only 1 qt per lb.

-a.

Bernie Brewer said:

I don't have any trouble making a big beer with my ten gallon cooler........

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10 gal cooler is fine for mashing. It's the pot that that's limiting when sparging 1/2 gal per pound. We're talking about 11 gal of wort for 15# of grain!

Oh, I misunderstood- I thought you were talking about the mash.