A couple questions before I buy my equipment.

[HBKidJr]

I've decided to go ahead and purchase a 10 gallon pot and the other various things I need for BIAB (bag, pulley, etc.).

There are a couple things I can't get clear in my head though:

Will 10 gallons be large enough for a 5 gallon batch? I would occasionally like to make a higher gravity beer (10% ABV, ish).

My plan is to mash and then suspend the bag (and strainer) over the wort and then sparge. My biggest question is amount volume. I'm adapting one of my previous extract recipes over to AG. It's a simple recipe and I know it like the back of my hand, so I'll know how to judge the results. I've got about 10 pounds of grain. BrewToad is telling me to mash in 3 gallons of water and then rinse with 4 gallons of water. Does that sound right? I could also do a no rinse, mash in 7 gallons of water. I'm just wanting to get good efficiency.

I'm mainly just concerned about amounts. I can't find a definite answer on how much water I need to mash with and how much I need to rinse with. What happens if I mash with too much water? What happens if I rinse with too much water? What if I complete my boil and I only have 4 gallons of water? I suppose I can add water to get to my target gravity.

Sorry about the questions. Coming from extract, this is a whole new world for me. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[wilserbrewer]

For a 10% beer, a 10 gallon kettle might get a little tight.

Many calculators out there, but a very simple approach is to mark a spoon related to the wort depth / volume in your kettle. Then simply mash in with the finish batch volume, pull the bag and then sparge to reach preboil volume.

So for a 5.5 gal batch, mash in w 5.5 gallons, pull the bag and sparge to reach around 7 in the kettle depending on how much you anticipate boiling off. Knowing how much wort you have in the kettle is key IMO.

It's quite simple really, don't over complicate it.

Concord sells a 12 gallon on eBay Fwiw, nice compromise b/w a 10 and 15.

 

[DurtyChemist]

10 gallon pot will work.

Mashing with 10lbs grain and 3 gallons is about 1.25 quarts/lb. I personally do 1.5 because I can and it usually puts me at 5 gallons.

After sparging if you don't have enough to account for boil off and loss to trub just sparge some more.

 

[GearDaddys]

I'd go with 15... I have done a few high gravity 5 gallon batches that were 90 minute boils.. Beersmith had me starting with almost 10 gallons of water.. If you go with a bigger pot, you won't have the headache of worrying about boilovers.. I actually wish I'd had gotten a 20.. A friend likes to brew with me, and It's tough to pull off a 10 gallon batch in my 15 gallon pot (Didn't anticipate ever doing a 10 gallon when I bought my pot!)..

 

[Eamon]

I also think you should consider something larger than 10g for making 5g batches. For my last brew of 5.5g I was at 10.3 gal at one point. There is something strange about Beersmith in that it seem to recommend higher water volumes.

I have a 15 gal kettle, but I actually think that a 50 or 52 quart kettle would be an ideal volume for 5g batches. There are some good deals out on ebay for 52 quart kettles if you choose to go the ss route. I think there is some value in never having to worry about (or experiencing) a boil over.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/52-QT-Quart...738?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5414b37b7a

 

[uncleleon]

+1 go all grain and don't buy a bigger kettle

 

[TexasWine]

10 gallon will be fine. You can even do your 10% batch in it. Made a few assumptions (90 minute boil, 1 gallon per hour evaporation, 24 lb grain, others) and you should be able to mash in with 7.5 gallons of water and then sparge with about 2 gallons and be on your merry way with room to spare.

Oh and take the advice of Wilser and Durty and use a sparge step. Keeps the maths simple. And don't use the volumes from BrewToad. Use more water in the mash.

 

[browder]

I've got a Concord 12.5 and liking it a lot--only done three boils with it so far but I'm glad I went with it instead of a 10 gallon pot--two boils were 8 gal. held back 1.5 Gal. & sparged grain worked out nice----

 

[HBKidJr]

Man, everybody seems split on 10G vs larger. I may look into 15 or 20 gallons so I can be prepared if I ever go bigger.

 

[ReverseMonk]

For true BIAB/No Sparge, I have come to the conclusion that you want your kettle to be roughly 3x your batch size, especially when you're talking high gravity batches. Are there work arounds for a smaller kettle? Yes. But you'll never regret going with a 15 gallon kettle for true no sparge 5 gallon batches. The cost of a 15gal vs 10 gal is very small in the scheme of things.

 

[brewprint]

I must jump in here and ask about sparging.

I thought that we just filled the kettle with all the water we needed and compensate for hop absorption, grain absorption and boil off.

Now I see all this talk about sparging. I thought that we just mashed for an hour and then held the bag above the kettle and let it drain out.

How would one sparge? That essentially means to rinse right?

 

[jahdub]

I've done a few 10%ish beers in my 12.5gal kettle and feel like 10gal would be a little tight for no sparge. Having a 10 gallon wouldn't stop me from brewing these beers, but I am happy that I went with the 12.5gal.

That said, sometimes I wish I had a 15gal, so I could do double batches of session beers. I guess we'll always want more, until we have too much.

 

[TexasWine]

The cost of a 15gal vs 10 gal is very small in the scheme of things.

This is the cheapest 10 gallon kettle I've found ($30). It was such a good deal I bought it so I could have two kettles and do double brew days.

Do you have a 15 gallon kettle around the same price?

Supera AP-40, 40 qt Aluminum Stock Pot

http://m.staples.com/touch/product.html#1115499

 

[TexasWine]

Here's a 15 gallon pot for $50.

http://m.staples.com/touch/product.html#1115752

 

[doug293cz]

I must jump in here and ask about sparging.

I thought that we just filled the kettle with all the water we needed and compensate for hop absorption, grain absorption and boil off.

This is the classic BIAB method of doing a full volume mash. Works just fine if your pot is big enough to handle all of the water + grain. To maximize efficiency, you want to get as much of the wort out of the spent grain as possible, either by squeezing the bag or doing a really long drain (a pulley suspended over the BK is handy for this, as you can start the boil while still draining.)

Now I see all this talk about sparging. I thought that we just mashed for an hour and then held the bag above the kettle and let it drain out.

How would one sparge? That essentially means to rinse right?

Sparging is a way to rinse more of the sugars out of the spent grain. It can improve sugar extraction efficiency. You can either pour the sparge water over the bag while it is suspended over the BK, or place the drained bag in a separate pot with the sparge water and then add the second runnings to the BK. The second option is known as a batch sparge. Sparging may be necessary if your BK is not big enough to do a full volume mash.

Brew on

 

[brewprint]

Okay so if I use a big enough kettle and fill it with enough water to account for boil off, grain and hop absorbing there's no need to sparge and the efficiency is just as good if I let the bag drain over the kettle?

 

[doug293cz]

Okay so if I use a big enough kettle and fill it with enough water to account for boil off, grain and hop absorbing there's no need to sparge and the efficiency is just as good if I let the bag drain over the kettle?

Not sparging may reduce your efficiency somewhat, but there are other more important factors that affect efficiency. At this stage in your AG progression, you should concentrate more on learning how your brew set up performs. Once you have a baseline, you can start experimenting with different crushes, mash times, sparging, squeezing, etc. to see how they affect your process and more importantly your final product. Good beer is more important than good efficiency.

For BIAB, you want to crush very fine to maximize your efficiency. Since you are just starting with AG, you probably don't have your own grain mill yet. So, you want to get you grain supplier to double crush the grain (run it thru the mill twice.)

Brew on

 

[brewprint]

Not sparging may reduce your efficiency somewhat, but there are other more important factors that affect efficiency. At this stage in your AG progression, you should concentrate more on learning how your brew set up performs. Once you have a baseline, you can start experimenting with different crushes, mash times, sparging, squeezing, etc. to see how they affect your process and more importantly your final product. Good beer is more important than good efficiency.

For BIAB, you want to crush very fine to maximize your efficiency. Since you are just starting with AG, you probably don't have your own grain mill yet. So, you want to get you grain supplier to double crush the grain (run it thru the mill twice.)

Brew on

It would be nice to get it right the first time

At one of my lhbs we run it through the mill ourselves. Is there any advantage to running it through 3 times or is that a waste of time?

 

[doug293cz]

It would be nice to get it right the first time

At one of my lhbs we run it through the mill ourselves. Is there any advantage to running it through 3 times or is that a waste of time?

Not sure, but I think with 3 times, you may be in the range of diminishing returns. You should check with your LHBS to see if their mill is adjustable or not. If it is, you might want to adjust it towards the fine limit (don't forget to set it back where you found it.) If not adjustable, then run thru twice.

Brew on