3 Gallon AG Batch Question

[robb117]

Hey guys I'm planning on going AG here soon and wanted to hear your thoughts and advice. I want to make a mash tun out of a 5 gallon water cooler (cheaper than 10 gal) and use my 5 gallon kettle that I already have. Will these accommodate my needs? I plan on fermenting in a 6.5 gallon bucket fermenter as well. I wouldnt mind doing 5 gallon batches but I can't afford to buy a more expensive mash tun, plus I'd need a bigger kettle and a burner.

Thanks in advance for any help/insight!

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[elkshadow]

I do 3 gallon batches and a 5 gallon kettle would be cutting it close. You'll have to start with around 4 or 4.2 gallons to end up with 3 post-boil. I boil in a 6 gallon kettle and with fermcap it's ok. I make big beers and you can mash ~11 pounds at 1.5 quarts/lb. in a 5 gallon cooler. Your 6.5 bucket is fine but you can pick up food grade (HDPE) 3.5 gallon buckets at a restaurant supply store for about $5 each and drill the stopper hole yourself.

I make 3 gallon batches for a reason. I like big beers pretty much exclusively and I don't need 10-15 gallons of beer around the house. If you want to make 5 gallon batches, save your money and get a burner, 10 gallon cooler and 10-12 gallon kettle. The only thing limiting you is your 5 gallon kettle but if you upgrade that you might as well upgrade everything.

Good luck!

 

[RM-MN]

Hey guys I'm planning on going AG here soon and wanted to hear your thoughts and advice. I want to make a mash tun out of a 5 gallon water cooler (cheaper than 10 gal) and use my 5 gallon kettle that I already have. Will these accommodate my needs? I plan on fermenting in a 6.5 gallon bucket fermenter as well. I wouldnt mind doing 5 gallon batches but I can't afford to buy a more expensive mash tun, plus I'd need a bigger kettle and a burner.

Thanks in advance for any help/insight!

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If your funds are tight but you really want to go all grain, look at BIAB. With the pot you have all you need to buy is a pair of paint strainer bags (the reason you buy two is because they come two to a package) so your total cost to go all grain is less than $5. When more funds become available you can buy the bigger cooler and boil pot to do 5 gallon batches or you can just buy the bigger pot and stick with BIAB because the same 5 gallon paint strainer bags you bought for doing a 3 gallon batch will work fine for 5 gallon batches unless you do a "big beer" that requires more grains than what you can reasonably fit in the bag. Somewhere in the mix of things you buy will be some kind of grain mill. That will let you get a better crush/grind for BIAB which brings your efficiency up. With better efficiency you won't need the huge amount of grains for a big beer and they might still fit into the 5 gallon paint strainer bag.

 

[chickypad]

+1 on the BIAB, I do 3 gal batches in my 5 gallon pot. I usually can't quite fit the a full mash with that so I need to sparge a bit. You can either put the bag in a big colander over the pot and pour a little sparge water over, or I do a dunk sparge in a second pot. My typical boil volume is just shy of 4 gal, you do have to be a bit careful and fermcap helps as mentioned above. With a boil off of about 0.7 gal and a small loss to trub I get a full 3 gal in the fermenter. If you happen to have an oven that will fit your pot that's an easy way to maintain temp. I pre-heat to 170, turn if off, then put the pot in and lose very little in 60 min mash. You can also just wrap with towels or blankets but I do lose a few degrees that way.

 

[RM-MN]

+1 on the BIAB, I do 3 gal batches in my 5 gallon pot. I usually can't quite fit the a full mash with that so I need to sparge a bit. You can either put the bag in a big colander over the pot and pour a little sparge water over, or I do a dunk sparge in a second pot. My typical boil volume is just shy of 4 gal, you do have to be a bit careful and fermcap helps as mentioned above. With a boil off of about 0.7 gal and a small loss to trub I get a full 3 gal in the fermenter. If you happen to have an oven that will fit your pot that's an easy way to maintain temp. I pre-heat to 170, turn if off, then put the pot in and lose very little in 60 min mash. You can also just wrap with towels or blankets but I do lose a few degrees that way.

Try doing a shorter mash. If your grains are milled fine, a 30 minute mash is more than enough. Take a look at this thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/conversion-less-than-1-hour-447471/

 

[robb117]

That is for the tips guys. I decided I'm gonna go biab. If I got a 7.5 gal kettle, would I be able to do my 3 gal batches and 5 gal if I wanted to? I'd like to buy one and not have to worry about buying another one in case I decide to do a 5 gal batch one day. Thanks for the help!

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[RM-MN]

That is for the tips guys. I decided I'm gonna go biab. If I got a 7.5 gal kettle, would I be able to do my 3 gal batches and 5 gal if I wanted to? I'd like to buy one and not have to worry about buying another one in case I decide to do a 5 gal batch one day. Thanks for the help!

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You'll be tight on space with making a 5 gallon batch in a 7.5 gallon kettle but I've done quite a few of them. Big beers are more of a problem because the quantity of grains must displace some of the water and you'll be filled to the top and will have to use a small sparge to get back to your preboil amount. One thing that will help you if you do go for a bigger beer is that instead of using as much grain as you would in a conventional tun where many people expect 65 to 75% efficiency, your efficiency can be 80% or more so you can use less grains.

 

[smyrnaquince]

If by "bigger beer" you mean one with a higher OG, then I think it is fairly well accepted that your extraction efficiency will go down no matter what method (BIAB or traditional mash) you are using. The BIAB experts at www.biabrewer.info have this effect built into their BIAB spreadsheet.

 

[robb117]

So what would be the perfect sized kettle for both applications?

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[pricelessbrewing]

I'm new as well but from what I've seen, 8-10 gal is often recommended.

 

[itsratso]

i do 90% 3 gallon recipes. i use a 8 gallon kettle and a 10 gal igloo mash tun. both work great.

 

[carton132]

I also use an 8 gallon kettle but have managed with a 5 gallon Igloo round cooler for 3 gallon batches. You can easily mash a 1.085 beer or so in 5 gallon coolers, probably even much bigger but I haven't tried. If 5 gallon batches are in your future you'll probably want the 10 gallon cooler to make big beers. The good news is that you could buy one cooler now and if you get another in the future you can always swap the valve between them depending on your batch size. That'll save some money at least.

I got the 8 gallon aluminum kettle for maybe $32 bucks through amazon. If you want a yellow industrial Igloo cooler try Zoro tools online for a good deal. Not sure if there is really any difference but I know mine holds temps really, really well.

 

[ericbw]

Hey guys I'm planning on going AG here soon and wanted to hear your thoughts and advice. I want to make a mash tun out of a 5 gallon water cooler (cheaper than 10 gal) and use my 5 gallon kettle that I already have. Will these accommodate my needs? I plan on fermenting in a 6.5 gallon bucket fermenter as well. I wouldnt mind doing 5 gallon batches but I can't afford to buy a more expensive mash tun, plus I'd need a bigger kettle and a burner.

Thanks in advance for any help/insight!

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I routinely make 3 gallon batches in a 5 gal cooler and 4 gallon pot. It's very tricky but works.