HLT/MLT/Kettle Size Question

[Sharkness]

Hi all,

So I just got married, and one of the reasons that I'm so excited to marry this woman is that she was all about skipping the linens and silverware in crap and letting me ask for and equipment fund to go all grain. I want to keep things relatively simple (no pumps, electronics, big stands etc.) and make my money go far. We're neck-deep in some other big projects around the house and I'm willing to buy some ready-made kits rather than do the DIY thing for everything though.

Here's what I've got:

7 gallon turkey fry kettle I've used as my boil kettle for extract
propane blaster
50 foot immersion chiller

I'm imaging getting one of these (10 gallon?) cooler MLT kits from NB:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermenters-favorites-cooler-mash-lauter-tun

I'm also imagining dumping a good bit of money into a nice 10 gallon boil kettle with a valve and thermometer.

My main question is: can I put a simple brass valve into my existing 7 gallon turkey fryer and use it as a HLT? I could also put a valve + bazooka screen into it, continue to use it as my boil kettle, and get another 10 gallon cooler to use as my HLT. Having never been through the all grain process I can't really visualize what's going to end up being limiting and where my money is best spent. And I don't understand quite hot large my HLT needs to be.

Thanks a ton,
Sam

 

[tsl346]

Congrats on the marriage! Sounds like a great catch.

7 gallon HLT for 5 gallon batches will be just fine unless you do really big beers but worst case scenario you can always top off the HLT with more water halfway through the sparge. If you're going to have two kettles you will want a second burner so you can have both going at the same time.

Along with a valve I would also put in a thermometer. With your HLT tank up high enough to flow into you MLT you would need a step ladder or something to read a thermometer you have to put down into you HLT.

 

[Sharkness]

Thanks for the reply. That's really helpful. Question-- why do I need two burners? Do you run your HLT and boil kettle at the same time ever? I'm plenty strong to lift 8-10 gallons, and was planning on just having two tiers and boosting stuff up when I need to gravity feed it down.

 

[d_boosh]

Buy the cooler at home depot or lowes and add a weldless ball valve and a false bottom or (even cheaper) a stainless mesh screen. Will easily save you $50 over buying it all and its easy to convert on your own

I also bought a keg from a local shady party store for the $30 deposit and cut the top off for boil kettle. Added another weldless bal valve and made a dip tube from copper pieces at the house. Saved a lot there. I use one burner and the only drawback is I cant heat boil kettle / first runnings while I finish my sparge as i need the burner for heatig water in the hlt.... BUT the post sparge wort is in the 150 degree range so it heats to boil quickly.

I also use my old extract boil pot as the hlt.

Thats about as cheap a setup you can get aside from biab

 

[tsl346]

Thanks for the reply. That's really helpful. Question-- why do I need two burners? Do you run your HLT and boil kettle at the same time ever? I'm plenty strong to lift 8-10 gallons, and was planning on just having two tiers and boosting stuff up when I need to gravity feed it down.

That should work just fine, too, if you're wanting to do it. The two burners is more to have the burner in two different places so you dont have to lift a 170 degree pot of water. With two burners you can fire both at the same time, keeping your wort near boiling while keeping your HLT at temp, but it's not necessary.

 

[Sharkness]

You know, just buying the 10 gallon cooler from Home Depot ($45) and a false bottom, valve, hardware, and tubing from NB comes out to only $5 less, albeit that's with 10 feet of tubing. I'm sure I could save some more by deal-hunting, but friends scraped together the funds for it and wanted to get me a sweet worry-free setup for my marital brewing existence so I'm just gonna do it and pay for the convenience factor.

I was thinking of buying one of the sweet-looking Spike kettles that they said they are getting to market in the next couple months, but we'll see if I balk once it comes to swiping the card. I like bling, but probably not that much. I'll price out a Bayou kettle and some weldless fittings in these next few days and see how compelling the pros/cons are.

Thanks
Sam

 

[RM-MN]

You know, just buying the 10 gallon cooler from Home Depot ($45) and a false bottom, valve, hardware, and tubing from NB comes out to only $5 less, albeit that's with 10 feet of tubing. I'm sure I could save some more by deal-hunting, but friends scraped together the funds for it and wanted to get me a sweet worry-free setup for my marital brewing existence so I'm just gonna do it and pay for the convenience factor.

I was thinking of buying one of the sweet-looking Spike kettles that they said they are getting to market in the next couple months, but we'll see if I balk once it comes to swiping the card. I like bling, but probably not that much. I'll price out a Bayou kettle and some weldless fittings in these next few days and see how compelling the pros/cons are.

Thanks
Sam

While you are waiting on some of those things, make a couple 4 gallon batches in your turkey fryer via BIAB. It will cost you in the range of $30 to get a Corona style mill and a pair of paint strainer bags and maybe a colander to put the bag of grains in to drain.

Caution: Once you do a couple batches BIAB, you may never get the rest of the gear you intend. BIAB tends to have high efficiency right from the start and it is so easy that you will question why you wanted the conventional mash tun.

 

[Sharkness]

Too late. NB had the 20% off deal yesterday, and I got a 10 gallon tun with false bottom. I think I'm just gonna get a Bayou kettle kit ($143 on Overstock with stainless valve and thermometer) and save the difference between that and a more blinged-out kettle for ingredients. Thanks for all your advice.