Brewing large batches

[philelmes]

Hi all. So ive done a few 5gallon (uk) batches ok beer now and have now managed to get a proper ale cask. I have a hlt, boiler and mash tun capable of 5gallons. Can any of you recomebd a way of brewing 9 gallons with the same equipment? Ie, maybe more concentrated wort and just top up with preboiled water to get 9gallons. How do i mash nearly 10kg of grain in a 24 ltr tun?

 

[Shred]

I don't think I'd recommend topping up. First, you want to make sure you have a proper ratio of water to grains in the mash and second, you're going to lose a lot of efficiency if you don't sparge with enough water to get to you appropriate pre-boil volume.

I'd say your only options are to do 2 brews or upgrade your equipment.

 

[Shred]

You could substitute some extract in place of some of your base malt. Just be sure you have enough 2-row to convert the rest of your grist.

 

[ChelisHubby]

The easy way would be to add Light extract, the better way would be to brew twice. If it was me I would give the extract way a try first and save money to upgrade for larger boils ect.

 

[vincentAlpha]

I'd just brew twice; wouldn't be too tricky to get a couple batches going in a day back to back since you can mash while boiling/cooling and not like you'd need to do much more cleaning. Just rinse out the MLT and reload.

 

[vwmasstransit]

Yea brew twice, I frequently brew twice in one day after a festival or party at my house. My friends tend drain the end of my pipeline quickly even when I have 20+ gallons. So to make up and prepare for the next I brew twice in one day. I'll brew the lower SRM first if I'm doing 2 different styles of beer.

 

[philelmes]

Cheers for the suggestions guys. Ive gone down the upgrade route. Converting 2 large kegs. Possibly make a mash tun out of the 3rd.