I'm curious to know why some of the folks here make 10G or larger batches when they brew. I try to have a few different beers on tap but it is usually me who is drinking the beer. Not many family/friends around to enjoy it with me. Unless its a recipe I really enjoy, it would seem 10G would be a lot for me to make each time and keep in stock.
Basically I'm trying to figure out what would make me consider jumping from 5G to 10G batches in the future. Do you do it to minimize the number of times you have to brew in a year, or is it because you entertain and need the stock?
I split 10G batches into two or three or four different beers. The base is the same but additions are different. It could be:
1. different yeast (for example, recent IPAs I split into regular clean yeast, like WLP-90 or WLP-001, and another batch with belgian yeast - like belgian strong ale, or saison yeast).
2. Different dry-hops
3. Different addition - one oaked+wine, another standard. Or one stout with coco-nibs, another with pasilla peppers, third one with bourbon.
4. Different fruit. I made 10G of base wheat beer and used 4 different fruits additions - passion fruit (the best), guava, watermelon, peach+cherry.
I did the same for 10G of berliner weisser recently
since I have 70qt cooler and 20G pot, I can easily do 10G, or even 15G (unless beer is too strong), and it takes only incrementally a bit more time, maybe 10-20% more, time-wise (a little longer to boil and a little longer to cool). Total maybe 20-30min more, an hour tops over 5G batch (and I really doubt that, probably closer to 30min). But with prepping and cleaning, and mashing and doing everything else, this means 5.5 hours (or worst case scenario 6 hours) instead of 5 hours.
I gradually upgraded from 5G to 10G batches (sometimes 15), and my strategy is as follows: mash in, boil, aiming to end up with 12G or so. Split it either into two 6G fermenters. Or 6G, + 3G + 3G fermenters. Or 4 x 3G fermenters.
Use different additions. They go into either 2.6G torpedo kegs or regular 5G corny. Sometimes I serve one in a keg and keep another one to "age" at ~65F to see the difference - especially with strong stouts.