Brew Equipment Sizing

[bcbrew]

I am new to brewing and wondering what size equipment I should purchase. I plan to start out with 5-gallon batches (10-gallon kettle/cooler / etc). However, if I decide to start brewing 10-gallon batches I don't necessarily want to purchase new equipment. Can I brew a 5-gallon batch with a 20-gallon kettle/cooler/etc?

Thanks.

 

[Beer Viking]

You would be able to, but in order to do a 20 G batch you would only need a 16 G boil kettle. If you got a 16 G one it would be easier to move around and work with too. I hope that helps!

 

[rburrelli]

You would be able to, but in order to do a 20 G batch you would only need a 16 G boil kettle. If you got a 16 G one it would be easier to move around and work with too. I hope that helps!

??????? Huh?

 

[Beer Viking]

??????? Huh?

Don't you need a 8 G kettle for a 5 G batch? So 16 G would cover a 10?

 

[rburrelli]

Right. But your post says 20G not 10.

 

[IslandLizard]

You would be able to, but in order to do a 20 G batch you would only need a 16 G boil kettle. If you got a 16 G one it would be easier to move around and work with too. I hope that helps!

I think you meant to type 10 G.

Can I brew a 5-gallon batch with a 20-gallon kettle/cooler/etc?

Yes you can, but it may become more unwieldy, handling much oversized kettles. Bigger kettles (of similar construction) are heavier, wider, taller than smaller ones.

There are a few other reasons not to go overboard too far on using very oversized kettles:

• Higher evaporation rate - Easy to correct using a somewhat larger sparge volume.
• Wort depth is reduced - This may make most immersion chiller coils inefficient as half or more of the coil is above the wort.
• Make sure your fittings (e.g., exit port, thermometer port, whirlpool port) are located in the right places to accommodate both lower AND higher volumes
• The trub layer is spread out over a larger surface - higher brewhouse losses unless you use provisions to minimize that.

If you're anticipating BIAB you'll need a larger kettle, to accommodate your larger mash volume especially if you're doing 10 gallon BIAB batches of higher gravity. More so when mashing at full volume, with no or a relatively small sparge.

 

[Beer Viking]

Sorry guys I'm just getting up and I misread that! Merry Xmas everyone!

 

[IslandLizard]

Here's an example:
I have an 8 gallon kettle for 5.5-6 gallon batches. Although very doable, it's a little bit on the smallish side, as the preboil volume for such a batch is close to 8 gallons. To prevent boil overs and splashes I like to have at least 1 inch of headspace in the kettle, 1.5 inches is preferred. For my kettle dimensions, each 1.5" of height represents a gallon.
Besides, hot wort has a larger volume than cool wort, not helping the situation. But it's a really nice heavy and heavy-duty kettle, with a super flat tri-ply bottom. Another 8 gallon PolarWare kettle I have is a bit thin. It's mostly used for heating or keeping sparge water, and making soup stocks, and such.

Thus, I either need to top up (with 2nd 3rd runnings) during the boil which is not a big issue. Or boil the last gallon or so of 2nd 3rd runnings separately, which can be an issue if you don't have a 2nd heat source.

A 10 gallon kettle is better suited as it eliminates that too tight a volume issue.

Now for 5.5-6 gallon (full mash volume) BIAB batches, a 15 gallon kettle is definitely no luxury.

Conclusion:
So if you want a kettle that can also handle 10 gallon batches, a 16 gallon kettle is the minimum, 20 gallons more spacious (no top-ups needed during the boil).
If you want to do 10 gallon full volume BIAB, 20 gallons can be tight, especially with larger grain bills, and you'll need to sparge in a separate vessel.

 

[Transamguy77]

I totally agree with not wanting to buy and store more gear, I have a keggle which I use for 10 gallon batches and I have a 7.5 gallon pot that came with my turkey fryer that I use for smaller batches.

When I started in AG I did a BIAB with a sparge and I never thought I’d make 10 gallons at a time but after a few batches I realized that for just a little bit more time 10 gallons just made sense.

That pot has come in handy for other uses so I don’t feel that it was a wasted expense. Honestly my bottling stuff is the stuff that takes up the space, pretty much everything else I started with I have used again at some point and I’m glad I had it.

And I agree with @IslandLizard about using a 20 gallon kettle for 5 gallon batches.

 

[bcbrew]

Thanks for all your comments, this has helped out a lot.

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks for all your comments, this has helped out a lot.

How did it help, what are you leaning toward?

As a post scriptum...
Especially as a beginner brewer, your beer may taste alright, and due to creator bias. But chances are it may not be all that great until you get more brewing experience and process control. If you're the only beer drinker, 5 gallons of so-so beer may even outlast your desire to drink it all.

IMO, key to learn and master the various processes and perfect them is: brew more often, not larger. Brew different styles if you want to get variety and widen your horizons, By exploring you may discover you like homebrewed Belgian style beers. Or real Lagers.

Once you become a more accomplished brewer and perhaps sharing your beer with others that think so too, 5 gallons may not last long. When taking a keg to an event it could kick by end of day. That's where upscaling to 10 or 15 gallons comes in.

Once you know what you're doing, being able to brew 10-11 gallons for the extra hour (or 2) it takes, becomes a very viable alternative. Maybe buy that larger kettle then, or keep looking on the used market for it. By that time you may also know better what kind of kettle you want, depending on your process and system you built.

You can also do 5 gallon batches back to back, mash the 2nd (in a converted cooler mash tun) while boiling the first. The same, or different beers.

 

[McKnuckle]

^This is great advice from @IslandLizard. Think about a "regular" and a "small" batch size and have gear for both options. Start with the smaller option, learn the process, improve, then you'll have a much better idea what type of gear to acquire when you scale up.

My regular batch size is only 2.5 gallons. My small size is 1 gallon. Yours might be double that, or quadruple, whatever. But having two or several cases worth of mediocre beer gets old, especially when your only remedy is to try brewing again and you produce another mediocre batch.

What are you going to do with all of that basically crappy beer? And it will happen, it's part of the journey. Occasionally it still happens to me, and I have no shame in dumping a nearly full keg when it does, to make way for something better.

 

[bcbrew]

I'm going to go with the 5-gallon batch equipment. Easier to clean, not as much waste (especially if I make a bad beer ), and easier to work with. It may be years before I see the need to go bigger.

Thanks again.

 

[IslandLizard]

I'm going to go with the 5-gallon batch equipment. Easier to clean, not as much waste (especially if I make a bad beer ), and easier to work with. It may be years before I see the need to go bigger.

Thanks again.

Where will you be brewing, indoors, outdoors, under garage door?
Access to water to chill?
Are you going to convert a cooler to mash tun?
What kind of heat source will you be using?
Any kettle lined up?
Have you checked local offerings such as CraigsList, Homebrew clubs in your area? People are always upgrading and selling.

Most importantly, have you read Palmer's How to Brew, 4th ed.?
...