I've been slowly gathering/building equipment for doing 5 gallon mashes. I ran some water through the system tonight. Since it's cold out I thought it would be a good worst case scenario test for outdoor brewing.
Equipment used:
Cast iron camping stove (like this one)
10 gallon pot
10 gallon Gott cooler (probably 20 years old)
20°F ambient outside temp. I was working on a covered porch which was about 10° warmer. Tap water measured about 50°.
2 gallons from tap to 200° in 12 minutes then dumped into the mash tun (cooler)
I checked it 20 minutes later and it measured 175°
Another 20 minutes and it dropped to 165°
5 gallons in the brew pot went from tap to boiling in 40 minutes
I then added the 2 gallons from the mash tun at 165° which brought the brew pot contents down to 195°
Another 15 minutes and I had a full rolling boil
I was worried that my camping stove wouldn't be able to handle 6-7 gallons of wort but tonight's test made me feel better. I'm going to brew this weekend when it's warmer outside and see how it goes.
Equipment used:
Cast iron camping stove (like this one)
10 gallon pot
10 gallon Gott cooler (probably 20 years old)
20°F ambient outside temp. I was working on a covered porch which was about 10° warmer. Tap water measured about 50°.
2 gallons from tap to 200° in 12 minutes then dumped into the mash tun (cooler)
I checked it 20 minutes later and it measured 175°
Another 20 minutes and it dropped to 165°
5 gallons in the brew pot went from tap to boiling in 40 minutes
I then added the 2 gallons from the mash tun at 165° which brought the brew pot contents down to 195°
Another 15 minutes and I had a full rolling boil
I was worried that my camping stove wouldn't be able to handle 6-7 gallons of wort but tonight's test made me feel better. I'm going to brew this weekend when it's warmer outside and see how it goes.
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