How much can I brew with a pot?

[mitten]

Hey guys. I've recently taken the step from kit brewing to all grain brewing buy doing a few experimental 1gallon brews. At the moment I have been mashing/boiling in a 1.5gal stock pot then chilling in an ice bath. I want to bump up the size of my brews so I'm investing in a 19lt stock pot.

I've assumed that I will be able to brew 2-2.5 gallon batches at a time (maybe even 3 gallons?). Would this be possible by just mashing/boiling in my 19lt stock pot? That's like 2.5 - 3 kilograms of grain, right? (sorry I'm still quite new to this brewing business!) Also, could I potentially add some DME or LME to the boil and and make a 2-2.5 gallon brew into a 5 gallon brew? I'd rather keep it entirely all grain but it'd be handy to have some nice beer in larger quantities, and use the smaller batches for experimenting.

(I have a 23lt fermenting vessel that's not getting used). I've been using 1gal demi jars to ferment my all grain batches in. I'm probably going to invest in some larger ones.

Thanks!

EDIT: been brewing in bags up until now

EDIT: Also just measured to gravity of my beers. First one was 0.995. I know I made a few mistakes with this brew so kind of ruled it out as a failure. My more recent brew (a brown ale) measured at 1.110. Is this normal for a brown ale? I'm going to measure the gravity again tomorrow.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Now that I converted to Merican I can answer =] I use a 20qt (5 gal, same as 19lt) pot and brew 5.5 gal batches all grain with a converted 10 gal round water cooler. My boils start at about 4.7 gal...very full pot, watch VERY carefully for boil overs during hot break and at hop additions. A squirt bottle of water is handy for knocking down the foam. I usually end up w/ about 4 gal of wort and I adjust my recipes in Beersmith to nail my starting gravity after topping off to 5.5 gal. I use sterile ice (boiled, cooled, frozen) to cool and bring volume up simultaneously. I ferment in food grade 6.5 gal buckets and rack to a 5 gal better bottle carboy secondary. I have done 6 batches this way, all different styles and recipes, and the beer is always great!

 

[mitten]

Now that I converted to Merican I can answer =] I use a 20qt (5 gal, same as 19lt) pot and brew 5.5 gal batches all grain with a converted 10 gal round water cooler. My boils start at about 4.7 gal...very full pot, watch VERY carefully for boil overs during hot break and at hop additions. A squirt bottle of water is handy for knocking down the foam. I usually end up w/ about 4 gal of wort and I adjust my recipes in Beersmith to nail my starting gravity after topping off to 5.5 gal. I use sterile ice (boiled, cooled, frozen) to cool and bring volume up simultaneously. I ferment in food grade 6.5 gal buckets and rack to a 5 gal better bottle carboy secondary. I have done 6 batches this way, all different styles and recipes, and the beer is always great!

Cool man that's pretty encouraging. I have beersmith and have been fiddling about with it but it's gonna take me a while to get the hang of. I suppose it'll be easier when I have all my equipment and batch sizes finalized.

I have to say though you've lost me here; "converted 10 gal round water cooler." Is this what you're mashing in?

Also how do you use the steralized ice to chill the wort?

 

[TANSTAAFB]

10 gallon round igloo/ gott/ rubbermaid ice chest typically used for water or gatorade...think water coolers on sideline of American football (probably any football, can't say I watch much soccer!) I removed the little spigot and installed a ball valve and stainless braid to strain the grains from my wort. Here is a great link-

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

Sterile ice-I boil several gallons of water to sterilize and to precipitate out minerals from hard water. Then cool in an ice bath in sink. Then siphon into sanitized plastic containers (mine have rubber seals and little latches to hold lids on) and freeze. Sanitize hands and outside of container before handling. Place these in hot wort...rapidly cools resulting in great cold break and tops up my batches at same time.