Advice from experienced brewers please...

[BubbaMan]

Hello friends,
I'm a newbie brewer and I'm just gearing up to do 5 gallon batches. Looking ahead, I want to eventually dive into all-grain, but I am undecided about larger batch sizes.

Please help me with these questions.

1. I just bought a Tall Boy 10 gallon. My stove top can boil 4 gallons in it, I'm in fact doing it now, lol. Does that mean that I can do 5 gallon Brewers Best kits indoors? I did also buy a Darkstar 2.0, so I'm still in business outside either way.

2. Should I drill holes in the Tall Boy at some point to add a thermometer and ball valve or should I shop for a new kettle down the road? How will this kettle fit into my evil plans as I go to all-grain and possibly go to bigger batch sizes?

3. Should I swap out the regulator in the Dark Star or will the 5 PSI regulator that came with it be sufficient for what I'm doing?

Thanks...and CHEERS!

 

[jalc6927]

You can boil probably up to 7.5 gallons without problem provided you pay attention to not let it boil over

It would be much easier to drill holes for ball valve and thermometer than to try to pour it into a fermenter

5 psi will take longer than 10 psi, will use more propane but it’s faster

 

[GHBWNY]

Does that mean that I can do 5 gallon Brewers Best kits indoors?

2. Should I drill holes in the Tall Boy at some point to add a thermometer and ball valve?

3. Should I swap out the regulator in the Dark Star or will the 5 PSI regulator that came with it be sufficient for what I'm doing?

Thanks...and CHEERS!

You can do 5 gal extract kit brews in a 3 gal kettle. Indoors.

At some point you will want to equip it with thermo and BV. I use an 8 gal Tallboy without thermo and BV and it is a bugger to lift and pour into fermenter.

My Darkstar is a 5psi regulator and it sets a boil fast enough for a 5 gal batch (6.5-7 gal pre-boil vol.)

 

[BrewInspector]

You may not be able to boil 6 - 6.5 gallons on the stove top. You will need that much of you intend to do a full boil. 10 gallon kettle is fine for a full 5 gallon batch with a propane burner.

I siphon from the kettle to the fermenter work no issue

 

[BubbaMan]

Thanks for your replies ...

jalc6927
GHBWNY
BrewInspector