Kettle size needed for 2.5 gallon batches, mostly IPA's

[El Nino]

Well I'm a newbie at this still, have only done one extract kit, but enjoyed it enough to already want to go all-grain. I don't have the room for a huge setup, and I'm mostly making the beer for myself and occasionally sharing with a few friends, and the GF doesn't drink beer. So I was thinking anything over 2.5 gallon batches would be overkill.

So my first attempt at a BiAB recipe, I figured why not start with my favorite beer (Deschutes Fresh Squeezed - https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/360082/deschutes-fresh-squeezed-ipa-clone). Looks to be for a 2.5 gallon batch, the grain bill would be 6.75 lbs. My current kettle is about 11" wide (if that helps for calculating boilover) and has a capacity of 5 gallons.

Would the 5 gallon kettle be big enough for the batch size + grain bill? I would prefer to not have to add water later (the purpose of BiAB is less steps, right?). If I'm mostly interested in brewing beers at this OG (around 1.070), do I have up upgrade to a 6 or 7 gal? There's also a kettle I may consider buying if the extra half gallon would make a difference (5.5 kettle from SS brewtech).

I'm trying to keep my equipment as small as possible, I live in a 2 bedroom apartment so I'm adamant on sticking to a smaller scale non-propane setup.

 

[Pkrd]

Yes that’s big enough. You might need to sparge or top up to add volume depending on your exact volumes.

 

[El Nino]

Yes that’s big enough. You might need to sparge or top up to add volume depending on your exact volumes.

Ok thanks! I even found something here that shows how to permanently mark the kettle for gallon measurements. I could save myself $120 by not buying the SS brewtech

 

[Leezer]

I do 2.5g in a 4G kettle, no sparging or topping off. Little tight sometimes depending on grain bill, so 5g kettle should be just right.

 

[flars]

This calculator from Priceless Brew will give you the information you need.
https://pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc/#Advanced

 

[AZBeer]

Rackers.org has a "can I mash it" calculator that someone here turned me on to that helps.
https://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

I have the 5.5g SS Brewtech kettle. It works great for 2.5, or even 3 gal batches around that gravity. I did just do a 3g batch of a RIS that had 11.2 lbs of grains. That was too much. I had to sparge and even then it was a little tight.

Also, on that Fresh Squeezed Clone recipe, that looks like the AHA clone recipe. I did that exact beer, and am a big Deschutes fan. It was good, but it needs a bigger dry hop and/or flameout addition IMHO. The flavor was close, but it lacked. I did a side by side from that batch that I did a few months ago.

 

[okiedog]

Rule of thumb is 2 times your bottle or batch size. 5 or 5.5 gal should work well, but if you like to brew big beers, ie.: high gravity beers, more room in the mash tun is advisable. There are a lot of great deals on 5 gallon kettles. Have fun!

 

[CascadesBrewer]

While I use BeerSmith to calculate water volumes for brew day, I find http://www.biabcalculator.com/ to be a very simple and accurate calculator for calculating mash water values for a full volume mash BIAB. The "Total Mash Volume" will tell you how big of a pot you need.

5 gal is plenty. I was going to do a 2.5 gal stove top batch of a ~10% ABV Stout in my 5 gal pot (over 10 lbs of grain, 1.110 calc OG), but the calculators put it as just over 5 gal of volume needed. Instead of switching to a sparge, I decided to move it to my 10 gal pot system.

 

[MakeDankBeer]

If your trying to bottle/keg 2.5 gallons you need to put at least 3 into the fermenter. I usually try and start my boil with 4 gallons (Boil off .5 gallon and loose .5 gallon to hops). In a 5 gallon kettle its really tight. I usually will dunk sparge in a stock pot that has 1 gallon or so and mash with 3 gallons. If you want to do full volume mash with no sparge you will be stuck with like 5lbs or less of grain. Ive been thinking of upgrading to 7-10 gallon kettle so I can no sparge with a larger grain bill.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I do biab. Doing it this way I'd swing for a 7 gallon kettle if you can, for more flexibility. Full boil, no sparge, and large enough for big 10% brews.