Help going from 5gal to 10gal batches

[Onkel_Udo]

I use a 20 gallon concord pot with the basket (ebay) Great pot.1/2 auto siphon fills a 5 gallon bucket in one minute.So I don't use a valve.Do yourself a favor and buy the basket.I forgot to use the basket once and it sucked squeezing a sticky bag.And it makes for an easier sparge with an open bag in a basket..I made this hoist and it works awesome,I brew in my kitchen and a mounting a pulley on the ceiling would have led to a divorce.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=508766

Two thing...don't mount a pulley to the ceiling...mount a plant hook.

Squeezing also is not necessary. If you forget your basket or just choose not to use it, let the bag hang until it is time to chill. In my 9 gallon (net, 10.5 preboil) system I loose two measly cups of wort by not squeezing or about 1.2%.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Two thing...don't mount a pulley to the ceiling...mount a plant hook.

Squeezing also is not necessary. If you forget your basket or just choose not to use it, let the bag hang until it is time to chill. In my 9 gallon (net, 10.5 preboil) system I loose two measly cups of wort by not squeezing or about 1.2%.

My method is to come in a little under volume post mash.I use a basket with the bag clipped to the basket rim.I squish the grain with a pot lid to get out as much sugar as possible and then dump some water over the grain to get my volume to the correct level. I like knowing Ive gotten the goodness out of the grain.Then I lower the basket out of the way in a tub.I like having an open area over the kettle for the boil.The bag over the steam for an hour boil isn't going to help dry anything out either. No real right or wrong,or debate.Just a matter of preference I suppose.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

No real right or wrong,or debate.Just a matter of preference I suppose.

Agreed and was not offering it as such. Was mentioning it as an alternative method should you forget again.

The fact that you sparge does change the equation as that is more difficult and the bag must be resting and open. On my small scale test rig I saw about 79-81% efficiency using a dunk sparge where I only get about 75% with no sparge. So again, that 5% was not worth the hassle (though not a big hassle at all) of sparging. It is like a $1.20-2.00 in savings but burn more "active brewing" time verses passively letting stuff do its thing to make sweet delicious wort. Part of the reason I went from a gravity 3-tier was the simplicity.

 

[Stillraining]

Yes, I will be buying a new kettle. The biggest eye opener so far is the weight it will add and not being able to lift it unless I change my process to BIAB or get some type of pully system.

These insights made me want to save a little longer and move to all electric brewing won't have to worry about moving pots or any of these hassles.

From your above comments I guess you haven't been reading/understanding any of my posts...You do not have to lift anything heavy the way I do it. And you don't need to dunk or lift a bag full of grain which takes up volume in your pot better used to collect wort only.
You can lift 1,2,3,4,5 or 6 gallons of wort max at a time and transfer to your main boil pot its up to you. The only time I lift the grains is when I'm ready to dump them and clean the cooler...and then Im lifting down not up and maybe 25 lbs total weight including the weight of the cooler for a 10 gal batch.
The pot I linked includes the SS valve needed for what I'm explaining and will boil 99% of any 10gl batch you will ever care to do. A 20gal might be better for BIAB but isn't needed for 10 gal batches with a cooler.

Feel free to PM me if it still isn't clear to you and I will walk you through it..