35l or 65l Digiboil for BIAB 5 gal batches

[greebo]

Hi all,

I'm looking at moving to electric for my BIAB (wilserbrewer) setup. Generally I brew mid size (1.050ish?) 5-gal batches, but would like the ability to brew stronger beers occasionally.

Would a 35l digiboil (9.24gal) or 65l work better for me?

The 65l is a bit more expensive but would require an electrician for the circuit, and I'm wondering if the extra size might actually have other issues like how the coil wort chiller might work and how the bag will work.

 

[Sammy86]

Hi all,

I'm looking at moving to electric for my BIAB (wilserbrewer) setup. Generally I brew mid size (1.050ish?) 5-gal batches, but would like the ability to brew stronger beers occasionally.

Would a 35l digiboil (9.24gal) or 65l work better for me?

The 65l is a bit more expensive but would require an electrician for the circuit, and I'm wondering if the extra size might actually have other issues like how the coil wort chiller might work and how the bag will work.

As the old brewing addage goes, Go Big or Go Home. I have a 65L Brewzilla and wouldn't go any other way. I can brew up to 15 gallons of 1.050 beer. Yes, the electrician is needed for the 240V receptacle but then it's in and set up.

I put mine in the garage, so if/when I sell the house I can easily change the receptacle for an electric car chager and it be an added selling point for the home.

 

[greebo]

Thanks for the reply, sounds like the 65l is definitely the way to go. Looking at the brewzilla now too!

 

[Sammy86]

If you want some real world experiences checkout this thread Robobrew/Brewzilla Discussion

 

[Bobby_M]

If not for the extra capacity, just the extra heating power will save hours of idle heat up time. The 120v systems are dreadfully underpowered in my opinion and they barely come to a full boil.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

It all depends on your brewing and your budget. I have the smaller 120V digiboil with the neoprene sleeve and it works well for me for my 5gallon 1.050-1.060 batches, but it wouldn't work for everybody. If I had a 240V receptacle in my garage I would have done the 65L Digiboil, but it wasn't worth the additional expense to me.

I always get my water and grains ready the night before brewing, and I almost always start my mash after waking up. So for me, I set it to strike temperature before going to bed, with only the 500W element turned on. When I wake up, it's ready to go. The voltage and wattage are pretty irrelevant in this case, because I'm asleep when it's getting to strike temperature.

Once the water is boiling, I only use the 1000W element and I get a slow rolling boil. I have about 0.5gallon/hour of evaporation.

It takes maybe 40 minutes to get from mash to boil - that's the biggest spot where the extra power would make a difference.

I use the wilser bag that I had been using with the prior (9.5g) kettle, and my wort chiller fits it as well. Had I upgraded to 65L, I probably would have needed a new bag and maybe a taller chiller.

But again, it works for me because of the way I brew. If you were more of a spur-of-the-moment brewer, you'd also have to factor in the time to get to strike temperature and that could be a dealbreaker.