First 10 gallon batch

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Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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This week, I want to make my first 10 gallon batch. I wanted to do my DFH clone, but it requires 28 pounds of grain for 10 gallons. I guess I can do a very thick mash in my 10 gallon Igloo cooler, but I just haven't decided yet. Otherwise, I can make the APA below.

Anyway, I have a new SQ14 burner and I tried it out yesterday. Wow- it gets much hotter than my old turkey fryer. I also have a keggle that I've never used. I think most of the challenges for me are going to involve boil volume and the boil off rate! The keggle is much wider than my smaller pot and I think I'll have much greater evaporation.

I thought I'd start with 12 gallons and boil down to 10.5. Does that seem about right to you 10 galloners?

Type: All Grain
Date: 6/14/2009
Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Brewer: Yooper
Boil Size: 12.00 gal Asst Brewer:

10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 45.45 %
6 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 27.27 %
4 lbs Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 18.18 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %

1.50 oz Centennial [9.60 %] (60 min) Hops 25.0 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [9.60 %] (30 min) Hops 12.8 IBU
1.25 oz Cascade [6.30 %] (10 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade (homegrown) [6.30 %] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade (homegrown) [6.30 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

2 Pkgs Safale US-05 (Fermentis #US-05) Yeast-Ale

2.00 oz Cascade [8.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
 
Oh, by the way, I'm finally going to try to remember to take a few pictures. I love looking at everybody's pictures, but I always think of taking photos after I've put everything away.

If it doesn't rain, I'm going to do this on Thursday. There are several firsts here- the burner, the keggle, and brewing outside. I've never brewed outside before, so I have to find a new hose for my IC (to make it longer), etc. Since it's going to be heavy, I think I'll also mash outside. I think I can make a ghetto sculpture with the picnic table to minimize how much lifting I have to do.

If anybody who's done this a few times has any tips for me, that'd be great. I'm really a big wimp after all.
 
I'd say the volumes sound about right. My keggle boiled off 1.5 gallons per hour. I always try for 5.5 gallons in each fermenter so I figure my batch size as 11g plus what ever I leave in the bottom of the Keggle (usually 1/4-1/2 gallon). That leaves me at about 11.25 after the boil. Just something to think about.
 
I suspect your boiloff rate will change somewhat, so you'll have to make adjustments as you go. When I upgraded my brew kettle from a 10 gallon to a 15 gallon, I saw about 1/2 gallon more boiloff than before based soley on the geometry of the new kettle. YMMV, of course.

Truthfully, I've never done a 10 gallon batch either. I have the capacity to do so, and I'm resolved to do a 10 gallon batch of my MBM as quickly as I go through the stuff. :D

Looking forward to the pictures, Lorena!
 
That seems about right to me... I've kind of rushed ahead and started brewing 10 gallon batches right off the starter block when I built my mash tun (I did DeathBrewer's Stovetop method for about 12 5 gallon batches), I have a 15 gal SS pot that is really thin and I'd imagine I get about 1.5 gallons of boiloff in an hour. That being said I don't really have vicious boils, they're kind of just simmering along because my pot is spanned across two stove burners.

I just did a SN Pale Ale clone last Friday that used BM's clone recipe and another one I found, and I think I managed to hit my volumes dead on, but it is hard for me to say because I was helping a friend with an extract brew and I spilled some of my wort by accident, plus I'm not really sure what my grain absorption is.

All that aside, good luck with the 10 gallon brew!
 
I generally boil off about 1.5 gallons as well in my keggle... However, my boil is not very vigorous and it is very humid here in GA. So, I would say it is a good starting point for you to get things calibrated any way!

Neal
 
I start with 12.5 and boil down to 11 in 60 minutes with a 15 gallon kettle. For a 90 minute boil I just plan on adding 3 quarts of top-off water about 30 minutes into the boil, rather than flirt with boilovers for the first half hour.

I've been using the SQ14 since I started, it's a great burner, I have a Banjo also now but the SQ14 is my workhorse.

I've done only a handful of 10 gallon batches at this point, but I have noticed that my 10 gallon batches are usually of a higher quality than my 5 gallon batches. I suspect it's due to the larger boil volume, as there is less kettle caramelization, so now I brew 10 gallons once I get a recipe dialed in.
 
I brewed 10 gal of a Pilsner Sunday. 22# of grain in a 10gal cooler. Mash was not a problem. No room for mashout water, so I just sparged an extra time. Anyway, this lager is bubbling away nicely in my chest freezer.

BTW, I did 2 boils. My pot is 8 gallon. This extended the brew day by about 2 hours.
 
I think I can make a ghetto sculpture with the picnic table to minimize how much lifting I have to do.

This will work great. I'm the reigning ghetto sculpture champion. My cooler sits atop two cement blocks which sit atop a picnic table. I gravity drain into my kettle which sits atop my burner with long legs attached. I siphon from my kettle into my ale pale which sits on the ground next to the burner.

All my non-brewer friends think it's a pretty fancy setup. I tend to agree. Beer comes out the end.:D
 
Did my first 10 gallon batch on Sunday. I can already see ways to improve the process (for my setup). I've definitely have to make some kind of 'ghetto sculpture' because lugging buckets of wort around isn't fun or easy. I burned off 2 gallons an hour with my smaller pot and actually did the same again with the new one. Dead space for the trub was about a gallon so I had preboil.... 13 gallons. Came out perfect and hit all my numbers. Give it a go Yoop, your numbers sound fine. No mater how much 'planning' you put into a project.... Doing the project is the final learning curve. GL!!
 
Due to bad weather last week, I didn't brew. This week looks better, so I've crushed my grain and will brew on the first non-rainy day this week. I'm using dry yeast, so no need to make a starter at all.

I'll have to mash thick to fit my mash into my mashtun, but I didn't want to brew a different beer. I"ve got the new burner set up on the concrete patio, and I'll use my picnic table for my "sculpture". I think this is going to be a blast!
 
Def. let us know how it goes!

are you using pumps (sorry if I missed it). I have the MLT and BK capacity to do 10-gallon batches, but lugging all that strike and sparge water around is probably gonna be too heavy - but I'll get there someday!

hope the weather clears for you this week!
 
Def. let us know how it goes!

are you using pumps (sorry if I missed it). I have the MLT and BK capacity to do 10-gallon batches, but lugging all that strike and sparge water around is probably gonna be too heavy - but I'll get there someday!

hope the weather clears for you this week!

No pumps! Just me, a hose, and my little muscles. I'm going to make my ghetto tier scupture on the picnic table. My keggle doesn't have a ballvalve, so I'll whirlpool and siphon.

I think the hardest part will be hauling this stuff out of the basement and setting it up outside. I don't have an outdoor hose connection, so the hose will come out the sliding glass door from the kitchen sink. Then, I'll have to haul all of this stuff back to the basement! I'd like to have a place to keep most of it setup, but that would mean some serious remodeling of our house. I keep telling Bob that the laundry room would be perfect! It's got an exterior door, and it's got water hook ups. We'd just have to take out the washer and dryer and add some ventilation to have the perfect brew haus!
 
Yooper - I'd really like to see a picture of your set-up.

Do you have a direct fired MLT or HLT? That seems to be my limiting factor. I just can't imagine a single burner gravity setup with no pumps capable of moving around the liquid that needs to be moved. Maybe I'm wrong (well, I'm sure I'm wrong!!)

I have a 52 qt MLT cooler, 10 gallon HLT cooler, a SQ-14 burner, and a 15 gallon brew pot with a spigot - I'm looking at gravity fed options with a single burner to turn this into a machine capable of making 10-gallon-into-the-fermenter-batches.

Keep us posted and don't strain any muscles! :tank:
 
Yooper - I'd really like to see a picture of your set-up.

Do you have a direct fired MLT or HLT? That seems to be my limiting factor. I just can't imagine a single burner gravity setup with no pumps capable of moving around the liquid that needs to be moved. Maybe I'm wrong (well, I'm sure I'm wrong!!)

I have a 52 qt MLT cooler, 10 gallon HLT cooler, a SQ-14 burner, and a 15 gallon brew pot with a spigot - I'm looking at gravity fed options with a single burner to turn this into a machine capable of making 10-gallon-into-the-fermenter-batches.

Keep us posted and don't strain any muscles! :tank:

No- I have a couple of picnic coolers and two burners on the ground. One keggle, and one turkery fryer. The kicker- I forgot my turkey fryer burner out at my cottage (we use the burner for outdoor fish fry) so today I have ONE burner. I'll get some photos in a bit. I'm still waking up and drinking coffee right now.

I have the same set up as you, except with a keggle with no spigot (and my MLT is smaller). I will have some trouble with the gravity system, since the burner is pretty tall.

My husband watched me move the picnic table and the piano bench and all of the stuff last night, and said "Why don't you go see if John's Welding can build you a sculpture?" I got excited, but realized later than it would be very expensive to build that if I couldn't do it myself. Since I most certainly can't weld, that limits me quite a bit!
 
Since I most certainly can't weld, that limits me quite a bit!

Ok, first, you most certainly CAN weld. Maybe you don't have a welder, but actually the welding part is quite easy.

Cost out some metal and see what it comes to. maybe look for a scrap yard nearby.

Maybe someone on here could help build plans?

Anywy, once you have plans, ask for a quote from that welding guy. Might be cheaper than you think.

If you lived closer I'd love to help design and build one with you!
 
Here is my setup. Simple like me.

I am a weldor, so I built the burner about 16 years ago. Its just a weed burner with a 90* pipe fitting and some scrap. 500,000 Btu. Freezes up a propane tank if turned all the way up, but I never do that. I paid the $10.00 deposit for each keg. I cut the top off with a plasma cutter and added a ball valve to the bottom. "manifold" is a piece of copper tubing shaped like a ? with a bunch of holes drilled in it. Never a stuck sparge and lately 83% eff.

The torpedo heater heats my sparge water. Just push a button on the lift and I have my gravity system.

Very little invested and its made a LOT of beer. I brew 10 gallons because it takes just as much prep time and clean up time as 5 gals.


OK, hang on, I need to pony up to post the pic.

brewing 012.JPG

Once the sparge is done, I find some one to help lift the kettle on to the burner. The HLT becomes the fermenter. I could slide the keg over to the lift and use that to get it onto the burner. With this system I don't have to life anything HOT.


David
 
Thanks!!!! I brewed today, and really want to think about what I can improve.

I brew alone, and I'll tell you- ten gallons in a keggle is heavy!

I posted my ghetto "sculpture" in the photo forum, and the day actually went very well. From turning on the water to cleanup was about 5 hours.

I don't have a ballvalve in my keggle, so I siphoned slowly and then poured the rest when it was light enough. The IM chiller worked ok- got to pitching temps in 30 minutes or so, on a 90 degree day.

Lifting 8 gallons of hot sparge water up to the HLT did suck.

Overall, I have 11 gallons of Yooper's House Pale Ale in the basement bubbling away right now.
 
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