10 gallon vs 20 gallon capacity?

[tooblue02]

So after brewing for a few years and getting much more into the hobby lately after a brief hiatus, I am trying to figure out what size kettle, HLT, and mash tun to get for an electric HERMS system...

I was hoping you guys could provide arguments for or against 10 gallon and 20 gallon pots. I typically brew 5-6 gallon batches, do not have anyone interested in joining me in brewing, although my friends do enjoy the (free) beer. No desire to brew 10 gallon batches as I would end up with a lot of the same beer to drink, but I still have a feeling that if I don’t go bigger I will regret it.

Have any of you gone with 10 gallon set ups for small batches and really regretted it? Wishing you had just gone to the 20 gallon to start?

I am looking at the electric SS Brew Tech system, modifying one of the kettles with a HERMS coil and using my Home Depot cooler mash tun for the time being, or going with the electric brewery set up. Price isn’t too bad on either and I would really like to be electric since I have a vent set up in my basement and a perfect place for brewing.

My thought on this being that I can probably swing a nice conical fermenter as well instead of going to 20 gallon pots.

Opinions, thoughts, comments are all welcome. I’m just lost on the decision at the moment and can’t find the reason for the larger system thinking my hard earned money would be spent on more equipment instead of larger equipment.

Sorry if this has been beat into the ground but the search function is kicking my arse at the moment and I can’t find any good threads on the subject. Thanks and cheers!

 

[Brewfreedom]

With the right setup a 20 should be able to scale from 5-15. Did just that for my spike+ kettles. They adjusted the brew kettle so I could wirpool down to 5. Can stuff up to 14 under pressure in my cf10 so I will probably not be doing too many full 15 gallon batches.

 

[day_trippr]

"No desire to brew 10 gallon batches"

Then it would make no sense to get 20 gallon kettles.
Go with 10 gallon kettles and use the savings for whatever....

Cheers!

 

[tooblue02]

Then it would make no sense to get 20 gallon kettles.
Go with 10 gallon kettles and use the savings for whatever....

Cheers!

More curiosity... what benefit is there to brewing 10g over 5g? Just wondering if any of you that do brew 10gallon batches do so knowing you will have a lot of the same beer or do you brew with others who take half of it off your hands?

Different yeast? Temp control? Do you sell or trade a lot of beer?

Lots of questions! Sorry, I’ve been reading tons and just want to make sure I’m making the right choice!

 

[day_trippr]

In my case it was a demand-driven decision to upgrade from 5 to 10 gallon batches.
I have sons that really enjoy hoppy beers and their spouses that enjoy anything but, and to keep up with them, friends, and my own consumption I'd have to brew 3 weekends a month.
Which would risk the wrath of The Spousal Unit, and that's never a good thing with her

Cheers!

 

[CodeSection]

As @Brewfreedom pointed out, with the right 20 gallon system, you could brew 5-15 gallons. It appears he and I have similar Spike kettles along with their CF10 conical.

If you are brewing for only your consumption, it sounds like a 10 gallon system will be cheaper and will work out fine for you. On the other hand, if you see yourself possibly wanting to give your brew to others as gifts, then a larger 20 gallon system will probably be more useful rather than brewing repeatedly 5 gallon batches over consecutive weekends.

Personally, I get enjoyment giving my brews as gifts. When I started brewing 5 gallons, I ended up giving most of it away and had very little for myself. After about six batches, I decided to upgrade to Spike's 20 gallon kettles.

Thus, a 10 gallon system costs less but limits size of brews. A 20 gallon system costs more but gives you greater options on batch sizes. @tooblue02 , based on your initial question, it appears to me that something may be lurking in your mind that may point you to a 20 gallon system.

Good luck!

 

[Nagorg]

I'm setup for 20G but mostly do 10G-15G. I haven't brewed less than 10G for myself in a while. I sometimes brew with my brother and its nice to still keep 10G for myself on those days.

I did recently set myself up with a smaller MLT and kettle with intentions on doing 5G "pilot" batches. I like to play with recipes and its sad when one doesn't turn out like I hoped but I have 10 gallons of it..

To echo others comments, it doesn't take that much longer to brew twice as much or more beer so why not! I've yet to have a problem with it sticking around too long.

 

[juggabrew]

You could split the difference and go with 15 gallon kettles. That’s what I did recently when I bought spikes 15 gal eherms kettles. 98% of my batches will be 5gal of packaged beer. Plus since I will be moving to indoor brewing I’m looking to avoid any chance of boil over. I can still do larger batches if I decide as well

 

[wilserbrewer]

While it can be done, I feel brewing 5g batches w/ 20g kettles would not be as enjoyable.

20g kettles are much more difficult to handle and clean and move about the brewery...worth it for larger batches but I would feel silly using 20’s to consistently brew 5g....jmo

 

[4of7]

I would suggest 15 gallon kettle.go electric.pressure ferment and keg... I make 10 gallon batches and yes there is a very good point about drinking same brew... I will transfer to corny and or bottle.

 

[bleme]

I use a 10G pot for BIAB. For big beers, I have to pull out my 5G pot for Hybrid batch sparge.

A friend that I brew with regularly has an all electric, 2 vessel, 15G system that can comfortably do either 5G batches or 10G (under 1.100) batches. I like that versatility. His equipment is a little more awkward to move around but he has a dedicated brew area in the garage so it doesn't have to move around nearly as much as my stuff does.

 

[kevin58]

A 20 gallon kettle may be too much for a 5 gallon batch. If you go with 10 then you are limiting yourself on how much you can mash. it won't be big enough for some big gravity beers. If I were you I would look for 15 gallon kettles. You can do 5 gallon batches easily and still have enough room for a big grain bill when you want to make a strong ale or barleywine.

 

[tooblue02]

I like the 15gallon idea, I guess in the end it will take some handy work to make the HERMS coil anyways. What size elements would you put in 15 gallon pots? Will a 10 gallon HD style mash tun be sufficient for a 1.1 style beer? Would the Electric Brewery controller be sufficient for that size? Thanks!!

 

[Rodent]

I opted for 10 gallon boil kettle and a 15 gallon mash tun for my all-grain brewing. For 'larger' Imperial Stouts/IPAs and/or for longer boil times, this setup has worked great for 5 gallon batch sizes.

In hindsight I wish I had gone one size larger on both (15 gallon boil kettle and 20 gallon mash tun) so I had the option for 10 gallon batches when I wanted to

 

[4of7]

this is 2 15 gallon kettles one the left one is the mash tun and other is the Brew kettle what your see is a full circulation mode during a mash the mash tun will hold over 30 lb of grain but I can't lift that so what's the point

 

[4of7]

The Brew kettle on the right has the heating coil in it the mash tun has no heating coil at all that is why it's a full circulation brewing during the mash the the downside to this of course is that the pumps need tweaking during the recirculation

 

[4of7]

what you see in this picture is a beer keg transfer to a corny keg I have a scale underneath the corny keg because it weighs 44 lb. The corny keg has the spunding valve on it to release the pressure this is called the pressure transfer method

 

[4of7]

what you see here is the Brew kettle where the hops in the basket in the 15 gallon pot also you what you see is a chilling plate that's hooked up

 

[4of7]

what you see here is the gas line hooked up as a blow off it is into a water bucket this is for about 12 hours after the initial pitching before the spunding bat spunding is attached the spunding is set at 20 psi for the duration of the fermentation that is keg is 50 liters or around 13.2 gallons

 

[tooblue02]

Thanks for all the thoughts and pictures, I think I am going to go with a spike 15 gallon HLT with HERMS with a tri-clamp style 5500 watt element, and a Spike 15 gallon kettle same tri-clamp element, then probably go with the electric brewery controller. As much as I like the SS one I think this would be better suited for me, unless the 20 gallon SS system is available before I buy then I’ll be back to the drawing board! Anyone have any recommendations on designing the spike kettle or is this pretty simple? How do you guys have your temp probes hooked up with the electric brewery controller? Separate thermowells? Thanks and cheers!

 

[lump42]

More curiosity... what benefit is there to brewing 10g over 5g? Just wondering if any of you that do brew 10gallon batches do so knowing you will have a lot of the same beer or do you brew with others who take half of it off your hands?

Different yeast? Temp control? Do you sell or trade a lot of beer?

Lots of questions! Sorry, I’ve been reading tons and just want to make sure I’m making the right choice!

I went with a 15 gal kettle so that I could do 10g occasionally. I do 10g batches when I have a friend splitting the batch with me (we each get a keg to take home), different spice/fruit additions, or my house beer that I want to keep around all the time.

I went with a 15 gal also because as we were just starting a family I knew time was a premium. This gives me the option on trying BIAB without worrying about overflow.

 

[tooblue02]

I went with a 15 gal kettle so that I could do 10g occasionally. I do 10g batches when I have a friend splitting the batch with me (we each get a keg to take home), different spice/fruit additions, or my house beer that I want to keep around all the time.

I went with a 15 gal also because as we were just starting a family I knew time was a premium. This gives me the option on trying BIAB without worrying about overflow.

I have been doing BIAB primarily in a 10 gallon bayou classic pot, but decided recently to move up to using a dedicated mash tun. Good to know how to do it and have the kettle to support if needed, the 10 gallon was always really close to the top!

Now I gotta start getting things ordered... maybe after the holidays and see if there are any good returns [emoji16]