Can I brew AG half-batches with my 5-Gal kettle?

[Wooden]

Wanting to get into AG brewing here for a few reasons. One of them is cost (at least until I build my skills further). Have a couple of extract brews under my belt and I crave more of the process.

Wondering if I can get started in AG or BIAB batches with my current KETTLE (5-Gal) by scaling the batches down to 2-3 gallons in my current setup

Note I do currently have the following OTHER gear:
-outdoor propane burner
-mash tun (5 gal size boss has one I can have/borrow)
-fermenters of various sizes
-wort chiller (making one)
-mash paddle

Recently pitched this idea to LHBS who was scaling down a 6 gal bell's hopslam clone (big beer, yes, I know) to size of my gear. The software took something with 14# malt, 2# honey, and other specialty grains into a 1#9 oz, 4# honey. At that point when he was still selling it to me I kind of lost interest as that just sounded like it would end up whack and really dried out.

So, am I just nuts in trying to brew AG out of a smaller kettle thinking I can just scale down 5 gal recipes in half, or is this something I can do?

Anyone here get into AG this way or brew AG in smaller (half) batches ?

At this point I am not that interested in the super-small batches of 1 gal, as that seems a lot of work for 12 beers, but 24 beers or so wb perfect for me for now.

 

[Happydad1689]

I started with brew in a bag in my 4gal kettle. I boiled 3.5 and topped up to 5.

 

[slym2none]

Oh, wait... we've talked already.

 

[madscientist451]

Yes you can do 3 gallons in your 5 gallon pot. A 5 gallon round cooler is like $20 at Walmart, so give your boss his back and get your own. Since you're in Minnesota, I'd skip the outdoor burner 'till spring and use your kitchen stove. When its cold out I just set my brewpot out in the snow with the lid on and it chills just fine.

 

[CUrchin]

In my opinion forget the mash tun and do BIAB with a paint strainer bag. I do this frequently with great results, 3 to 3.5 gallon batches (although 3.5 is pushing it).

 

[carloscede2]

Im in the same situation bud, and yes you can. You can make 3 gallons batches in a 5 gallons pot. Go biab, is a lot easier to my understanding

 

[Wooden]

Thanks guys, for the encouraging words!!

Are bigger AG/BIAB beers (like the hopslam clone I was talking about) still possible? (I am just puzzled as to why LHBS clone recipe scaled down to less than 2# of grain, nearly 5# honey; as that ratio is so backwards from what it *should* be)....65% brewhouse efficiency it was assuming which sounded about right.

I am wondering if like the sheer amount of grains would take up too much space for my wimpy lil turkey fryer pot?

Also,... Why don't more people top up! There seems to be this mentality that you can't. Is it just hop utilization during boil? Because if that's so, that wouldn't be a huge concern to me because I'm not a huge fan of big bitterness.

Cheers!

 

[CreepsMcLane]

I just watched this the other night. You'll need a bigger kettle but thought you'd enjoy

http://youtu.be/8h-M9SHTV1I

 

[carloscede2]

I used to say the same myself. The problem with that is that you need a water/grist ratio to create the wort that varies from 1 to 1.5 quarts per lbs of grain. So, to make an all grain 5 gallons recipe you would need more grains and therefore more water. You can ALWAYS top off with water but you are gonna get a beer with only 3%. What you can do, is top off with water and add some base dme to get the right ABV%. This is just what I understand from all theories and stuff that I've read.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I wouldn't be discouraged by that one bad example of a scaled down recipe. There does seem to be something wrong with it. Since you said software was used it was probably just user error. Should have been closer to 6# malt and 2# honey for a 2.5 gal batch.

You can check out this tread. it has a table to show how much you can mash in tuns of different volumes. If your pot is 5 gallons and you mash at 1.25 qt/lb, it says you can mash 12# of grain with 3.5 gal of water. If you wanted to brew something with a higher gravity you could just add some extract at the end of the boil.

If you wanted to use you buddy' s cooler, you could do that, but like someone else said, i would get a paint strainer and try mashing in your pot. Another option instead of topping up to 5 gals would be to split your mash. Do BIAB with half your grain then do your 60 min boil and add your hops to that boil. Chill that and add to the fermenter. Then mash the other half of your grain, adjusting your water for a shorter boil, boil that for 10 mins to sanitize, chill and top off with it. It adds a little length to the brewday but you get twice the amount. If you have a way to heat the water you could do the second mash in a bucket during the first boil. I guess the whole point is that there are a lot of options.