Kettle sizing question

[Strecker25]

I asked this over on Kal's site as but ill also post here..

I'm building a Kal clone and am ready to order the kettles. I do primarily 5G batches because honestly they last long enough in my house (1.5-2months) but currently have the ability to do 10G batches on the off chance I need to. Id like to keep that option for my electric brewery so I was looking at 3 20G blichmanns. Kal states the element is just below the 5G line in a 20G.

Im torn between a 15/15/20 setup or a 20/20/20 setup. Can anyone speak to having an element in either of these kettles? Do you have any issues doing 5G batches? Cost isnt an issue, especially since the price difference is relatively low, this is strictly a functionality question

Thanks all

 

[shaunbader]

I do 10 gallon batches with all 3 pots as 15 gallon. I do want to swap out the Hlt for a 20 gal though so I can heat all of the water at once and not have to add to it after mash in. So, if I were you I would make the Hlt large enough to hold all of your water so if you do 5 gal batches do 15/10/10 or 15/15/10 if you do very high gravity brews

 

[Strecker25]

yeah that was my hangup, to make sure I had enough room for all the sparge water. so I think ill do a 15G BK, 15G MLT, 20G HLT. Thanks

 

[wilserbrewer]

I do primarily 5G batches because honestly they last long enough in my house (1.5-2months) but currently have the ability to do 10G batches on the off chance I need to.

I would find 20 gallon kettles inconveniently large for brewing primarily 5 gallon batches. 20 gallon kettles are LARGE, and again, IMHO are kind of silly large and inconvenient for 5 gallon batches. The 15 gallon kettle will still allow you to stretch and brew a 10 gallon batch occasionally. JMO

 

[Strecker25]

I would find 20 gallon kettles inconveniently large for brewing primarily 5 gallon batches. 20 gallon kettles are LARGE, and again, IMHO are kind of silly large and inconvenient for 5 gallon batches. The 15 gallon kettle will still allow you to stretch and brew a 10 gallon batch occasionally. JMO

They are ridiculously large, and i think the 15's are a good hybrid for 5G batches and the occasional 10's

thanks for the input

 

[brewguyver]

I do 10-12 gallon batches in my 15 gallon Keggle all the time - you just need to keep an eye on it. If the blichmann dimensions are similar ten 15's shouldn't be much of a stretch for 10g

 

[MadGus]

I use 3 25g kettles (each are 20"x20"). +1 to sizing the HLT so you don't have to top off with sparge water... btw, I've found that it's not the recipe which determines the amount of top off water, it's the height of the HERMS coil.

In a similar manner, think through the element wattage for ramp times as well... it's cheaper to solve that now than later (I'm currently thinking about adding an additional 4kw element in my HLT to improve ramp times... have 240V/50A service and left space in my panel for this future upgrade, but should have done this with the initial build as well).

One other thing I've been thinking about lately is whether you could use a single gang outlet box, rather than a double. This would let you mount the element lower, and reduce the batch size further.

Enjoy your build project! It truly is a blast.

 

[Strecker25]

Yeah I'm actually going with Bobby_m's element mounts, they look considerably smaller than the 2 gang boxes, so I should be able to get them pretty low.