4 Gallon pot and going all grain

[Norwaybrewer]

Hey. I have a 4 gallon and one 3 gallon pot, plus a couple pots at 2.5 gallon . Will this somehow be enough going all grain, considering all other equipment is in place?? I have a 5 gallon grain set that i bought.

Thank you!

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[hokieguy95]

I'm in the same boat because I do not have a 10 gallon brew kettle yet.

I believe an 8 to 10 gallon pot is considered ideal for going all grain if we assume you are making 5 gallon batches. In All grain you are collecting and boiling the entire volume of wort. Sometimes that is 6 to 7 gallons to account for what you boil off

No more topping off 2.5 gallon batches like we did in extract.

Others here may think differently. Partial mashes are possible with smaller pots.

 

[Norwaybrewer]

thank you for the reply.

Im just thinking that in theory, wouldnt it be possible to just split the recipe?

Half grain, half hops etc, and then put each half in half water in each of the 3-4 gallon pots??

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[BamaPhil]

Hey. I have a 4 gallon and one 3 gallon pot, plus a couple pots at 2.5 gallon . Will this somehow be enough going all grain, considering all other equipment is in place?? I have a 5 gallon grain set that i bought.

Thank you!

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It probably could be done.
An article just went up on the HBT homepage that would give you a good idea of how to do all grain on a stove.

Considerations:
Do you have a grain bag? You'll need one to separate the grains from the wort.
Do you have a bucket you can use for the sparge step?
How many pounds of grain do you have? If it's more than 10 you may not be able to fit it in your 4 gallon pot to mash. Check the Can I Mash It? calculator here
If you have those, here's how I would try it:
-Mash in your 4 gallon pot using your grain bag.
-Move grains and bag to bucket and add sparge water.
-Remove grains and add first wort from pot.
-Split this wort between at least 3 of your other pots. Trying to pack it all into 2 pots may be a recipe for a boilover.
-Break out the calculator and split your hops accordingly

You may just want to stick to partial mash (or just smaller all grain batches) until you have the capacity to boil 6.5 gallons in one pot. Good luck!

 

[cobrem]

I have the exact same set up - 4 gal, 3 gal, and a couple of smaller pots. You can do 5 gallons if you split it into two separate mashes with sparges. You just have to shoot for getting about 3.5 gals in one, and 2.5 gals in the other. I'd then split the hops according to the proportion of the pre-boil volume in each pot.

 

[mtnagel]

You can get a 10 gal aluminum stock pot on Amazon for $50. Seems like it would just be easier to buy that.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CHKL68/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[govner1]

I'm in the same boat because I do not have a 10 gallon brew kettle yet.



I believe an 8 to 10 gallon pot is considered ideal for going all grain if we assume you are making 5 gallon batches. In All grain you are collecting and boiling the entire volume of wort. Sometimes that is 6 to 7 gallons to account for what you boil off



No more topping off 2.5 gallon batches like we did in extract.



Others here may think differently. Partial mashes are possible with smaller pots.

I'd highly recommend that you get a 12 gallon pot for your BK. As you say, you'll be boiling 6-7 gal at a minimum for 5 gal batches. That leave very little room for error with an 8 gal pot.
Use your 5-8 gal as an HLT.
I'd also recommend SS.


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