10 gallons without a stand

[balto charlie]

Anyone brewing 10 gallon batches w/out a 3 tier stand or w/out single tier & pumps? I can handle 5 gallon batches using table and steps but am doubtful I can pull off 10 gallons this way. My property is fairly flat but have a few step to my porch(where I brew) Thanks for you thoughts. Charlie

 

[Nateo]

I'm moving to a 10g setup, although I'll have a pump. I plan on building a really basic stand out of 2x4"s for my MLT so I can gravity feed into my kettle, and only have to use the pump for whirlpooling and transferring to the fermentors.

10 gallons of water are around 90 lbs, and my pot is aluminum so it's maybe a couple pounds at the most. Definitely lift-able, but maybe not the most fun thing to lift, which is why I got the pump.

 

[rcrabb22]

Anyone brewing 10 gallon batches w/out a 3 tier stand or w/out single tier & pumps? I can handle 5 gallon batches using table and steps but am doubtful I can pull off 10 gallons this way. My property is fairly flat but have a few step to my porch(where I brew) Thanks for you thoughts. Charlie

Mashing is the extended part of the process. One piece of equipment I found essential was a pair of Ove-Gloves. As long as I could keep them dry, I could carry the 5 gal sparge water kettle to the mash tun and dump it in under full control, not worrying about slipping folded pot holders.

HOWEVER, I'M A BIG GUY AND IN GOOD ENOUGH SHAPE TO FEEL CONFIDENT CARRYING 4 GAL OF HOT WATER.

DON'T COPY MY ACTIONS IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO LIFT, CARRY AND MANEUVER 35 POUNDS OF VERY HOT WATER SEVERAL TIMES DURING THE PROCESS.

YOU, OTHERS, OR YOUR PETS COULD BE SERIOUSLY BURNED!


I used to brew 10 gal without a pump or stand for several years. I would mash in the kitchen using a 5 gal pot on the stove to heat water in 4 gal batches.

I used a 50qt rectangular cooler for my MLT placed on my kitchen island. You need a bulkhead and valve and a 4ft length of hi temperature tubing to get a siphon going when you drain the MLT. I would *overheat* the water in batches on purpose. It is easier to cool it then make it hotter. I would heat 4 gals to 175, pour in the cooler, heat another batch, volume determined by my strike water mash volume, to about 170, dump it in and stir it until I hit strike temperature. Mash in and let it go for desired time.

I would batch sparge with 2 separate batches, usually around 3.75 - 4 gal increments to hit my 13.5 gal pre boil volume. I would start my first batch of sparge water with 15 min to go on the mash.

I would drain my mash tun using gravity into a 5 gal bucket, the hi temp tubing reaching the bottom of the bucket, stopping the flow around 4 gal, exchanging for a fresh bucket, continue the full drain of the MLT, carry the full bucket outside to my 15 gal kettle, dump it in, retrieve the 2nd bucket (usually around 1.5 gal, after total drain of MLT, and dump it in the kettle.

During all of this I would keep an eye on the sparge water, adjusting the flame as to keep it around 170F, dump it into the mash tun, refill the sparge kettle and get it heating again. I would start the drain the of mash tun, when the 2nd sparge water was about 160F (about 15 min).

Repeat the drain and sparge process, and at this point I would fire up my boil kettle. Drain the MLT one last time, dump in the kettle and bring it to the boil.

You need a bulkhead and valve to drain the wort from the boil kettle after the boil and cooling. I used a 3 ft sanitized silicon hose for siphon power to drain the kettle into 2 separate 6 gal fermenters.

My brew day including cleanup was 8 hours, but still quicker then 2 full separate 5 gal batches.


This probably more info then you were expecting

 

[IrregularPulse]

I do 10G batches with 1 Keggle, a cooler and a couple buckets. No stand.

 

[kpr121]

How do you heat your mash water?

I would personally try to gravity drain from HLT to to MLT, then move the MLT to the table, to drain to my BK. Reason being is that I use a cooler as a MLT, and its easier to close the top and try to wrestle it up to the table than a pot of near boiling water.

Cinder blocks are your friends, if you put your burner on top of blocks, you should be able to gravity drain to MLT and also your fermenters if they sit on the ground.

Or if you have long enough tubing, use the area down the steps for your final drain.

Its hard to give suggestions without seeing your setup, but the one thing I can tell you is that gravity never stops, and lifting 10 gallons of hot liquid is no fun.

 

[Nohup]

Your setup sounds very much like mine.
Burner is up on some steps (Patio for me), MLT is on a table at ground level, below the steps, and I catch the wort in buckets (on the ground), that I carry Back up the steps to the kettle.
I also use an old cooler to hold sparge-water, it sits up with the burner/kettle.

I do 10 gallon batches fine, as all I have to lift is a few buckets of wort, and you can make as many trips for that as I need.

 

[Erroneous]

I don't do 10 gallon batches but...I would love to see an old swing set repurposed with pullies.

 

[TheWeeb]

we are doing 15 gallon batches on a single burner basement system. The burner is about 2' off the floor with a 25 gallon kettle. The mash tun is on the counter next to it, 38 inches or whatever the standard counter height is. we have to do a kind of dick-dance to get it to work but basically it goes like this: We bring the estimated water volume for the mash up to temp, then use buckets/stock pots to transfer to the mash tun. We then fill the kettle back up with water for either the next step or sparge, and heat. For the sparge, we heat up the water to a bit above sparge temp, and transfer to several SS stock pots which are then lidded and sit on the floor. This of course frees up the boil kettle for the wort, which is gravity transferred. We then batch sparge using the hot water that is now in pots on the floor. It is not the most efficient way of doing things, but for a system on the cheap we are doing some really great 15 gallon batches.

Edit: Mash tun is another 25 gallon SS pot that we built a thick foam insulation chamber around. We have done 90 minute mashes with only a couple of degrees drop, once everything is heated up of course

 

[theonetrueruss]

I do 10G batches with just a kitchen kart with some bricks on it to set my ice chest mash tun on. My kettle sits on a burner on the ground (the burner is tall enough to drain into carboys).

I use a second ice chest as a HLT and just leave it on the ground.

I heat my mash water in the kettle and transfer to the MLT slowly using a 2QT pot as a ladle. I have to stand on a step ladder to reach the top of my ice mash tun but just do that carefully when adding grain /water/stirring.

While it is mashing I heat my sparge water and drain into that second ice chest and leave that on the ground.

When it comes time to sparge I vourlof then drain my first runnings. I use the 2QT pot to ladel in half my sparge water, stir for 5 minutes, let rest and drain- repeat as needed unitl done sparging.

Then it's all just a boil/chill/drain/aerate/pitch process from there into 2 fermenting vessels. (I always split.. my fermentation area is upstairs and I ain't gonna try to move 10G in one container up my stairs)

So no fancy pumps or stands... unless you count the cheap (like $30 or less) kitched stand thing that I set the mash tun on.)

I do the same process for 5G batches, except that I can put my mash in the mash tun on the ground before I set it on the 'stand'. 10G of mash is really too heavy to safely move up there.

 

[balto charlie]

Some great ideas here. Glad to see so many use what they have.
FWIW: For my 5 gal brews I use a 10 gal pot, large cooler and a few large pots for sparge water. Works well, with little work on my part. When I go to 10 gallons I will have a 10 gal pot and 2 kegs(plan to convert). The plan is to use the 10 gal as HWT, one keg as BK and the other as MT. My cooler has started to warp(never put boiling water in it!!) thus the desire to go to keg MT. Plan to direct fire then wrap in insulated cover and move the burner to the HWT and heat sparge water. Then move burner to BK.

SO after reading you comments I think I might try putting the HWT as high as possible, MT below it and at the top of stairs, heat then drain MT to spare pots or buckets and carry up to BK(next to HWT), send sparge water to MT.
I'm hoping I won't need another burner. If I heat my sparge and insulate it, I can then use the burner for the wort as it comes off the MT.

Possible problem: If I use the same burner I must support each pot idependently....hm. Might need a second burner.

 

[DaleP]

I do 10G batches with 1 Keggle, a cooler and a couple buckets. No stand.

Same here, pull out the 22 gallon pot for 15 gallon batches.

 

[P-J]

I'd say: Do yourself a favor and buy a pump. Here is a single level system without a stand. It's just old office furniture legs attached to the kegs. The single burner slides under any one of them.

Works a trip.