10 Gallon Batchs

[Samaral]

Just got a kegel and plan on doing some 10 gallon batchs. I have a few beers I brew often and those are the ones that I will stepping up. Anything I should know when stepping up batch sizes?

 

[kh54s10]

Just got a keggel and plan on doing some 10 gallon batchs. I have a few beers I brew offten and those are the ones that I will set up. Anything I should know when stepping up batch sizes?

You need to drink more beer of the same type.

Other than more and heavier there should really be little difference.

I opted for 5 gallon when I pieced together my equipment knowing I would rather brew more often and have more variety.

 

[b-boy]

Get yourself a really big mash tun. 10 gallons of a big beer requires a lot of mash tun space. A 10-gallon mash tun will not cut it.

 

[schatzke]

Takes longer to get to strike temp, longer to get to a boil, longer to chill.
Beer lasts longer though

 

[Darkness]

Check your efficiency, if your efficiency is high your gravity will go up due to the larger grain bill. Start with 12 gal so that boil off will give you a little over 10.
Play split batches and pitch different yeast, different dry hop, adjuncts. You can get 2 beers for the brew time of one. Enjoy!

I only do ten, can run 30 gal at a time. In mash and boil. Love 10 gal batches.

 

[Darkness]

Yes you will need a large mash tun, and at minimum another chiller.
Bucket of ice water with chiller 1, chiller 2 in wort. Same or faster chill!
Strike water- turn you water heater as high as it will go the night before you brew. Then hook water hose to bottom of water heater, start with hot water and cut your time down. Never understood starting with cold water.

 

[Yooper]

I brew mostly 10 gallon batches, because I have twice as much beer and spend maybe another 45 minutes (due to cooling time, and time bringing it up to a boil) longer.

It's pretty straightforward. Twice as much beer for about the same amount of work- that's a winner for me!

 

[tjmac5071]

Few things, for those who say need larger than a ten gallon mash tun, I almost exclusively do ten gallon with an igloo beverage cooler with no problems at all. I typically brew around 5.5%ers so that is probably the reason.

Also the jumo from a preboil 7 gal to around 13 gal is very significant in weight. I have no issue moving a 5 gallon batch around at any point but if I need to lift my full kettle for a 10 gal batch it's a bit of an awkward struggle.

Chilling kind of sucks, the extra time is annoying at the end of a brew day.

Other than above I love ten gallon batches, I don't get to brew very frequently with a little one, being in grad school, working full time and a house I am doing a ton of work on myself so the more I can squeeze out of that rare brew day the better.

 

[Samaral]

I've been thinking that I will start with 8 gallons. I will keg 5 and bottle 3. Probably do some experiments with yeast and dry hops. My system is 3 vessel gravity system so I will not have to move anything but carboys.

 

[Dixon9717]

"Also the jumo from a preboil 7 gal to around 13 gal is very significant in weight. I have no issue moving gallon batch around at any point but if I need to lift my full kettle for a 10 gal batches it's a bit of an awkward struggle"

This is why I bought a hydraulic lift table for when I do 10 gallons. No lifting required

 

[AkTom]

The only down side is if you brew a beer you don't like... If I brew a new to me style, 5 gallons. If it's something I like, 10 gallons. I do t get to brew near as often as I like. I brewed Centinial Blonde. 5 gallons straight up recipe. 5 gallons 1 oz dry hop. The only 1 oz made a huge difference. What a great way to try different things with the same base recipe.

 

[mattdee1]

I started by doing 5gal batches, then eventually jumped to doing mostly 10gal batches without much trouble. I did a 10 gal batch of a ~5.5% beer just yesterday and I was at the absolute limit of my 10gal Igloo MT for a single batch sparge process. I should mention that I have done a 10gal batch of a 6.7% stout, but I had to do 2 batch sparges to hit my pre-boil volume.

As mentioned, when moving from 5 to 10gal, the additional the weight of all that liquid can present problems if you don't plan your process flow properly or at least have a helper. The first time I tried a 10gal batch on my own, I had to hoist the kettle up onto a small table so I could drain it into the fermentors. It worked out, but it put enough strain on my back to convince me not to attempt it again. The next time, I just left the cooled kettle on the burner and drained it pitcher-by-pitcher (through the ball valve, not by scooping) into the fermentors until the kettle was light enough to easily lift. All of the wort splashing resulting from this transfer process provided pretty decent aeration as a side benefit.

It's kind of a drag if you find yourself "stuck" with 100+ bottles of a beer that sucks, so when choosing the 10gal route you want to be reasonably sure that the beer will turn out. If it's a lighter beer and/or one that is meant to be enjoyed several at a time (which is usually the type favored by thirsty guests) then I think 5gal batches just evaporate way too quickly to even be worthwhile. I mean, I enjoy brewing and all, but I don't see the cost/benefit in spending 6-7 hours making a beer to have it vanish completely after a single get together with friends and family.

 

[HLSheppard]

Just did my first 10 gallon batch of a Belgian Strong that I have brewed previously and loved. The only unexpected issue that came up was a stuck sparge. I have never had that happen using my 10 gal. Igloo cooler with an Adventures in Homebrewing false bottom.

I think the problem was simply too much grain for the equipment. I had a 24lb. grain bill (I brew mostly big beers). The grain bed was massively compacted (I just use a gravity setup vs. a pump).

Other than that - there was the unenviable task of lifting a 15 gallon Spike kettle with 13 gallons of warm liquid in it. Good thing I had my sons to help!

Bottom line: I missed by target OG by a few points but such is life. I'm reasonably certain it will turn into a great beer. It was already in active fermentation 15 hours later so time will tell.

 

[Jwin]

My first and only kettle was 15g and second fermenter and the ale pale was a 60l speidel. I've done mostly 10g batches since. I live by the "only buy it once" principal, something I learned from working in audio. I have recently been doing a lot of gyle batches where I'll brew a big beer, no sparge, and set a couple gallons to the side (so ~15g total wort). Then sparge for my second batch, combining with the first runnings previously collected.
Last time I made 10g pale off a RIS grist (KTG recipe here) by steeping the roasted grains in a bucket with a couple gallons of wort collected after 45 minutes.
I only had 2row, crystal malt and oats in the main grist.
All are done now. I hope to keg the pales this week and coldcrash the RIS.

In the end, I wish I had a 17g kettle.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Those of you who brew 10 gallons I have a question. For a brew kettle should I go with a 15 gallon or a 20 gallon? I am still using propane and will continue that in the future. What features do you recommend getting. In general I brew low hopped beers say sub 40 IBU.

 

[HLSheppard]

Those of you who brew 10 gallons I have a question. For a brew kettle should I go with a 15 gallon or a 20 gallon? I am still using propane and will continue that in the future. What features do you recommend getting. In general I brew low hopped beers say sub 40 IBU.

I had no issue at all with headspace in the 15 gal. I used a few drops of Fermcap just to make sure but it was totally fine.

My only concern with getting a 20 gal. would be some added difficulty in going back to 5 gallon (depending on where your thermometer placement is, etc.)

 

[mattdee1]

Those of you who brew 10 gallons I have a question. For a brew kettle should I go with a 15 gallon or a 20 gallon? I am still using propane and will continue that in the future. What features do you recommend getting. In general I brew low hopped beers say sub 40 IBU.

I do 10gal batches with a 15gal kettle. It's totally doable, but I will say this: that kettle is not a single mL too large for the task.

By the time I figure in losses, boil off, etc. I find myself filling the kettle up with 14 - 14.5 gal of strike/sparge water. When it comes time to boil, I have to watch that sucker like a hawk at first, with my hand on the fuel valve, because a boil over is guaranteed if I turn my back. Luckily, as soon as I see the foam start to rise, I can just turn the propane down and the foam starts to recede almost instantly. Never tried fermcap, maybe I should.

Assuming you don't ever want to go bigger than 10gal batches, then the 15gal kettle is probably a very "efficient" solution with respect to cost and required storage space.

 

[tjmac5071]

You should definitely use fermcap, I use it every brew, even 5 gallon in my 15

 

[Jwin]

+1 on fermcap
I aim for 11g finished in my 15g. I would love a 20 because I do big beers
When an extended boil is called for, sometimes I just boil off some from my first runnings before adding the sparged wort. So 30 minutes at full rolling boil, then add sparge and continue for another 60.
When doing no sparge to gyle a second brew off a large grain bill), getting the proper amount of water in the mlt can be a challenge

Just remember that if you want 10g at packaging, you need 11+ at the end of the boil. trub and yeast cake loss will suck up several pints.

 

[kh54s10]

I do 5 gallon batches as stated before. I use a Rubbermaid 10 gallon water cooler and have nearly maxed it out several times. So for 10 gallon batches a 10 gallon mash tun is going to limit you to mid range ABV beers.

I used Fermcap for a while, but now I just watch for the boil over. (I am not always successful, especially if I am on HBT at the time) And for fermentation I go a bit on the cool side and always use a blow off tube.

 

[keggert]

If you have to lift your BK to some place for transferring of wort, how much weight can you curl/lift. It will be heavier then expected.

 

[Nagorg]

If you are buying a new kettle, go ahead and buy a 20G. You wont regret it. You'll also want to consider a pump. It makes a world of difference when working with these larger volumes!

 

[HLSheppard]

If you are buying a new kettle, go ahead and buy a 20G. You wont regret it. You'll also want to consider a pump. It makes a world of difference when working with these larger volumes!

This might sound like a dumb question: How would I / could I use a pump in my setup?

I use 2 Igloo 10 gallon coolers (HLT and MT) and fly sparge via gravity to my brew kettle that sits on the garage floor as it slowly fills.

I struggle to lift that full kettle to my Blichmann with the extended legs.

How would I use a pump in that scenario? I don't see how I could...

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[tjmac5071]

I use some old 8 gallon pots to collect then dump it into my 15 gal already sitting on the burner

 

[Nagorg]

This might sound like a dumb question: How would I / could I use a pump in my setup?

I use 2 Igloo 10 gallon coolers (HLT and MT) and fly sparge via gravity to my brew kettle that sits on the garage floor as it slowly fills.

I struggle to lift that full kettle to my Blichmann with the extended legs.

How would I use a pump in that scenario? I don't see how I could...

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

In *your* scenario it sounds like you've already set things up for gravity and you may not need a pump. It also sounds like your HLT must be pretty high? In that case I might use the pump for transferring the heated water into the MLT up on its perch.

I personally don't like the idea of hot heavy liquids (and a lot of it with 10G+ batch sizes) being so high above me. So *my" setup is much more horizontal and closer to the ground. I use my pump for everything except for draining from MLT to the kettle; that's gravity for me too.

Aside from that, my pump is used for everything else including filling the fermentor(s). Which could be a good use-case for you too if you took those legs off of your Blichmann burner and set in on the floor. My pump is an MVP in my setup.

 

[scaesare]

Just got a kegel and plan on doing some 10 gallon batchs. I have a few beers I brew often and those are the ones that I will stepping up. Anything I should know when stepping up batch sizes?

Perhaps an obvious one, but it can be overlooked: you can't just double recipe size. You need to know boil off, trub loss, etc... on your new equipment and scale accordingly (software helps with this).

Playing off several other good comments here:

- I built my mash tun from a 15 gal cooler, and I'm glad I did. I've had nearly 14 gallons in it for a 11 gal batch.. a 10gal tun would never have made it

- A pump is helpful at these sizes. My inexpensive pump has easily paid for itself after only a couple of batches by my not having to lift 100+ lbs of vessel & liquid around

- Get an appropriate burner. I went with the Bayou Classic. While the BTU output is not as high as some more expensive burners, it heats sufficiently quickly for 10 gallon batches, has a large sturdy grate area that will hold my 15gal keggle, and was reasonably inexpensive.

-sc

 

[HLSheppard]

In *your* scenario it sounds like you've already set things up for gravity and you may not need a pump. It also sounds like your HLT must be pretty high? In that case I might use the pump for transferring the heated water into the MLT up on its perch.

I personally don't like the idea of hot heavy liquids (and a lot of it with 10G+ batch sizes) being so high above me. So *my" setup is much more horizontal and closer to the ground. I use my pump for everything except for draining from MLT to the kettle; that's gravity for me too.

Aside from that, my pump is used for everything else including filling the fermentor(s). Which could be a good use-case for you too if you took those legs off of your Blichmann burner and set in on the floor. My pump is an MVP in my setup.

Nailed it. The HLT is quite high up. Thanks. This gives me food for thought.

 

[kombat]

This might sound like a dumb question: How would I / could I use a pump in my setup?

I use 2 Igloo 10 gallon coolers (HLT and MT) and fly sparge via gravity to my brew kettle that sits on the garage floor as it slowly fills.

I struggle to lift that full kettle to my Blichmann with the extended legs.

How would I use a pump in that scenario? I don't see how I could.

Instead of draining from your mash tun directly into the kettle (which I'm assuming has to be on the floor instead of the burner, because if it were on the burner it would be too high to drain into from your mash tun), I would drain it into a grant instead, then pump from the grant into your kettle.

In fact, this is exactly what I do when I brew 10 gallon batches, because while I can drain from the grant into the kettle initially, as the kettle fills up, it reaches the same level as my grant, and wort will actually flow backwards from the kettle back into the grant unless I pump it.

In case you're not familiar with the concept, a "grant" is simply a small bucket in which you collect the runnings from the mash tun, and then either pump back into the mash tun (recirculating or vorlaufing), or draining/pumping into the boil kettle.

Here's a couple of photos of mine in action:

Using a grant has some nice benefits. It provides a convenient place to check the wort's temperature, gravity, pH, and colour, as well as evaluating its clarity (during recirculation) in deciding at what point it's clear enough to begin transferring to the boil kettle. It also allows you to pump wort from the mash tun to the boil kettle in setups like yours and mine (i.e., all on the same level, or not a 3-tier gravity system) without pulling a suction on the grain bed and risking disturbing/compacting it.

 

[HLSheppard]

Instead of draining from your mash tun directly into the kettle (which I'm assuming has to be on the floor instead of the burner, because if it were on the burner it would be too high to drain into from your mash tun), I would drain it into a grant instead, then pump from the grant into your kettle.

In fact, this is exactly what I do when I brew 10 gallon batches, because while I can drain from the grant into the kettle initially, as the kettle fills up, it reaches the same level as my grant, and wort will actually flow backwards from the kettle back into the grant unless I pump it.

In case you're not familiar with the concept, a "grant" is simply a small bucket in which you collect the runnings from the mash tun, and then either pump back into the mash tun (recirculating or vorlaufing), or draining/pumping into the boil kettle.


Using a grant has some nice benefits. It provides a convenient place to check the wort's temperature, gravity, pH, and colour, as well as evaluating its clarity (during recirculation) in deciding at what point it's clear enough to begin transferring to the boil kettle. It also allows you to pump wort from the mash tun to the boil kettle in setups like yours and mine (i.e., all on the same level, or not a 3-tier gravity system) without pulling a suction on the grain bed and risking disturbing/compacting it.

Another great idea! I have an unused 10 gal. kettle that I started with. That would make a great grant!