First 10 gallon batch tell me your mistake so I don't make it too

[crookedibrews]

I'm going to brew a 10 gallon batch for the first time next weekend. I have a 12 gallon HLT a 10 gallon cooler MT and a 15 gallon BK. I've been brewing for almost 5 years and I have my system figured out pretty well. My normal brew house efficiency is around 70-73% when it comes to 5 gallon batches. Id like to hear about common mistakes when moving up to bigger batches. I'd hate to screw up all that beer.

 

[giraffe]

Putting 15 gallons of water/wort into a pot before i lift it into place. Not a problem with a 5 gallon batch, but 10 gallon batches are uncomfortably heavy to be wrestling around at any height.

Having a burner that can bring it up to boil quick enough. My burner for 5 gal batches the common bayou classic, really could only simmer a 10 gallon batch, not hard enough to drive off dms in a pils efficiently, i ended up having to upgrade the burner.

 

[55x11]

It may take you quite a bit longer to cool down (and heat up) 10G vs. 5G batch, especially if you use the same chiller/heater setup.
It's not just the extra volume of beer, but also extra heat capacity of the kettle.

Other than this, going to 10G is a great time saver.

I would also advise splitting your batches and do experiments on fermentation side (different yeast, dry-hop, temperatures etc.)

 

[wisconsinitebrewer]

Funny you should bring this up, I just made the jump and did my first 10 gallon batch last night on the new system. I can only offer a little bit as I am 2 tier and electric but:
~As everybody has said before, 10 gallons is not that much different than 5 gallons. Just more water/grains. Because of that:
~Everything is much more heavy! I did not have to do any lifting (thank you pumps) but something to consider.
~As Giraffe said, make sure that your equipment can handle it. I pushed my mash tun but was able to make it work.

All in all, I can already tell I'm going to like 10 gallons much more. Was able to experiment a little bit and the process really is about the same.

 

[crookedibrews]

yea I imagine I'm going to have a fun time filling the HLT without a pump����

 

[JordanKnudson]

The biggest mistake I made on my first 10 gallon batch probably won't apply to your situation, but I'll tell you anyway.

I brewed a pale ale in the dead of Chicago winter on my buddy's patio. We got a late start and didn't finish the boil until well after dark. When we got ready to chill the wort, we realized that at some point we had run some water through the immersion chiller (not sure why, that's what we get for drinking on brew day) and that it had frozen inside the hose and was blocking any more water from flowing through, meaning that we were unable to use the chiller. Well, we figured that was no problem -- it was in the single digits outside with howling wind and a couple feet of snowdrift accumulated on the patio. We would just put it in the snow bank and let it chill! Yeah...turns out that a well-insulated pot with ~11 gallons of freshly boiled wort doesn't cool down quickly, even in those conditions. 2 1/2 hours later (around midnight), the wort had finally dropped down to around 100 degrees, so we said "good enough," transferred it into fermentors, and let it finish cooling to pitching temperature overnight.

The moral of this story: make sure you have a good (and functioning) way to chill this much liquid down!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

your efficiency drops the bigger the batch so add a touch more grain to get the same as your smaller batches

 

[crookedibrews]

The biggest mistake I made on my first 10 gallon batch probably won't apply to your situation, but I'll tell you anyway.

I brewed a pale ale in the dead of Chicago winter on my buddy's patio. We got a late start and didn't finish the boil until well after dark. When we got ready to chill the wort, we realized that at some point we had run some water through the immersion chiller (not sure why, that's what we get for drinking on brew day) and that it had frozen inside the hose and was blocking any more water from flowing through, meaning that we were unable to use the chiller. Well, we figured that was no problem -- it was in the single digits outside with howling wind and a couple feet of snowdrift accumulated on the patio. We would just put it in the snow bank and let it chill! Yeah...turns out that a well-insulated pot with ~11 gallons of freshly boiled wort doesn't cool down quickly, even in those conditions. 2 1/2 hours later (around midnight), the wort had finally dropped down to around 100 degrees, so we said "good enough," transferred it into fermentors, and let it finish cooling to pitching temperature overnight.

The moral of this story: make sure you have a good (and functioning) way to chill this much liquid down!

That sounds like one hell of a brew day lmao good thing I don't have to worry about frozen lines here in Texas. Thanks for sharing the story haha

 

[cswest]

I made the jump to ten gallons a few months ago when I started brewing with a friend. The biggest issue I ran into is that unless you are brewing a low gravity beer a 10 gallon mash tun was often not big enough. I ended up retiring my round cooler and upgraded to a larger rectangular cooler. It's been smooth sailing since then.

 

[wilserbrewer]

it was in the single digits outside with howling wind!

There's your chiller right there, should have abandoned it in place and let it chill, burying in a snowbank is a warm igloo for your hot kettle.

I do give credit for brewing in such adverse conditions.

Just thaw the wort next time and bring it up to pitching temps a few days later lol

 

[crookedibrews]

I made the jump to ten gallons a few months ago when I started brewing with a friend. The biggest issue I ran into is that unless you are brewing a low gravity beer a 10 gallon mash tun was often not big enough. I ended up retiring my round cooler and upgraded to a larger rectangular cooler. It's been smooth sailing since then.

I'm going to try and stay within the perimeters of this chart. Would you say 24 lbs of grain would be to much for the 10 gallon cooler

 

[JordanKnudson]

There's your chiller right there, should have abandoned it in place and let it chill, burying in a snowbank is a warm igloo for your hot kettle.

I do give credit for brewing in such adverse conditions.

Just thaw the wort next time and bring it up to pitching temps a few days later lol

LOL true enough! The next time I find myself in that predicament (hopefully never) I'll do that. Then maybe the following week I'll go back outside and turn it into an eisbock!

 

[giraffe]

I'm going to try and stay within the perimeters of this chart. Would you say 24 lbs of grain would be to much for the 10 gallon cooler

I mean its the limit. 15 gal mash tun is better. I mean, 1.25 qt/lb is a bit thick for lagers and continental styles. Or you may need to make 10 gallons of a quad or ris for some reason. Or fly sparging. You are always going to be at the limit of the tun.

 

[sleepspeaking]

Just finished my first 10g batch last month.
It was my best brew day by far, everything went smooth. But the batch ended up infected.
Looks like everyone has pointed out most the things you need to be aware of, but I'll add my +1s.

yea I imagine I'm going to have a fun time filling the HLT without a pump����

Pumps, or well thought out gravity feeds are gonna help a lot.

The moral of this story: make sure you have a good (and functioning) way to chill this much liquid down!

Yes this. I used to just ice bath my 5gs. But I invested in an immersion chiller for 10g. Very glad I did.

The burner sizing is something I didn't think about (shame on me) but the burner I have handled it fine.

So I guess other than my head nodding to other's posts, the only thing i have to add is be sure to stay detail oriented in your cleaning/sanitizing, and allow extra time to prep the additional fermenter and parts well.

 

[Tribe Fan]

24lbs will fit, but you have to be dead on with your temp calculations to hit your strike temp. I just did a 20 lb batch and was lucky I had the headspace because I had to add water to get to the strike temp.

I would dial back some of the base grains for my first batch to see what the mash and BH efficiency is before I did a max load batch.

And your going to be fly sparging for a long time with a lot of heavy water. My HLT is at ground level, so I used a bottling bucket and did it in 4 gallon increments just for the sake of safety.

 

[crookedibrews]

Thanks for all the input. I haven't settled on a recipe yet so I will try to stay in the lower gravity range until I get the efficiency and procces worked out.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Yea sure, you can mash 24 lbs of grain in a 10 gallon cooler, barely to the max! But then you have to carefully fly sparge it cause the cooler is to the brim!!!! IMO be a helluva lot easier to batch sparge it in a 60 - 70 quart cooler. Jmo

If you try it in the ten gallon cooler and your mash temps are low....be ready to decoct a few gallons of mash to bump your temps....and so begins the brew day from hell lol

Good luck I appreciate your ambition.

 

[cswest]

I'm going to try and stay within the perimeters of this chart. Would you say 24 lbs of grain would be to much for the 10 gallon cooler

You could make it work with fly but I batch sparge and it was taking me three batches to get to the right volume.

 

[cswest]

You could make it work with fly but I batch sparge and it was taking me three batches to get to the right volume.

 

[kh54s10]

When we got ready to chill the wort, we realized that at some point we had run some water through the immersion chiller (not sure why, that's what we get for drinking on brew day) and that it had frozen inside the hose and was blocking any more water from flowing through, meaning that we were unable to use the chiller.
The moral of this story: make sure you have a good (and functioning) way to chill this much liquid down!

Why didn't you wait 10 minutes for the ice to melt? If it was in the tubing, you could just have submerged that part into the wort and waited the 10 minutes.

The snow insulated the pot. Better to leave it in the cold wind.....

OP: I have done 21 pounds in my 10 gallon cooler. It was within 2 inches of the rim. Batch sparge in two steps - no problem. Mine was an 11% ABV 5 gallon batch of RIS. With the 10 gallon cooler you are going to be limited to low ABV 10 gallon batches.

 

[JordanKnudson]

Why didn't you wait 10 minutes for the ice to melt? If it was in the tubing, you could just have submerged that part into the wort and waited the 10 minutes.

The snow insulated the pot. Better to leave it in the cold wind.....

Lol thanks for the advice, but can you go back 5 years and give it to me when I needed it? Obviously the snow insulated the pot, but we weren't thinking about that aspect...we just kind of went, "well that's like an ice bath, right?"

As for the hose, it was a standard outdoor garden hose. No way would I dunk that grimy thing into my precious wort, and besides, it was frozen to the spigot. Even when we tried to remove it, it wouldn't come off. Chicago winters are notorious for a reason...

 

[psujeeperman02]

I've been brewing 5gal batches for years but have always had the equipment for 10gal batches.
Brewed a 10gal east coast IPA this past weekend with a buddy. He wants half of the batch so we split the cost of ingredients and split the batch into 2 separate fermenters.

At first I was worried about my MT size. It's one of those gray Xtreme coolers (igloo maybe), but it held up great. Had the mash pretty much at the top of the cooler.

So yeah, as others have said, the process is the same, and even for me, the brew day took just as long as a 5 gal batch does...except maybe a little extra time to cool.

I think I'll be doing more 10gal batches from now on as long as I can find a friend to help lift the kettle, etc with all that liquid....or just buy a pump

 

[Transamguy77]

I have been making 10 gallon batches for about 4 years now and my first batch was about this time of year and everything went well until I went to cool it and realized that my 3/8" 50 ft IC wasn't gonna work it was too short and was completely submerged, which is a good thing but half of the hoses were too and they were just clamped on the ends so I was concerned that they would leak into the wort. It was a late night and finished up after midnight (used to do a lot of late night brewing back then) I just put the lid on and put it into the fermenters in the morning. So make sure you can adequately cool it down.

 

[coypoo]

I want to start doing 10 gallons so I can do sours with different cultures, etc. I have a Bayou Classic burner, are people able to get a good boil going with 11-12 gallons at the start?

 

[bonecitybrewco]

Having someone on hand to help move the BK to where you want it to go. Personally, I use carboy carts to put the pot on and move it around. I have a 15.5 gallon BK. I had 2.5 gallons of headspace to work with on a 1.050 batch. Any bigger than that and I would have had boilover issues. I have 12 gallon round coolers for MLT and HLT and they worked great. I mash in a bag though. I run a SQ14 burner. Unfortunately, I recently discovered (of course my first 10 gal batch) that mine came with a 5 PSI regulator, so it took quite a while for mine to get up to a boil, but I worked around it. Started heating water 30 mins before I needed it and it was great, other than the actual boil and keeping a true rolling boil.


All of that being said, I made the jump and maintained my efficiency on 1.050 and lower beers. Have yet to do a higher OG beer yet because of lacking headspace. Ideally my current 15 Gal will retire to HLT once I get a HERMS coil built into the lid and I will move to a 20+ gal BK.

 

[pvpeacock]

All of my equipment is set up for 5 gallon batches -- 10 gallon mash tun, 10 gallon kettle, 7 gallon conical fermenters (3). Then it dawned on me that I could make a high gravity beer and dilute it in the fermenters. So I essentially mash as if I were making 10 gallons of beer, but only batch sparge enough to make approx. 9 gallons of pre-boil wort. After the boil, I split the wort between to fermenters and top each off with water up to 5 to 5 1/2 gallons depending on the post-boil gravity I am shooting for. That gives me 10 gallons at the end of the day. In addition, I like experimenting with different yeasts and dry hopping in each fermenter. Doing it this way also lets me use gravity instead of a pump for all of the steps.

 

[Moose_MI]

As others have said...when I started doing 10gal I realized the 10gal orange cooler was not going to be big enough...22lbs of grain MAXIMUM is what I would tell you. Then I realized my turkey burner was just to shaky with 12gal of boiling wort and was a bit slow. Then while shopping for a bigger mash tun and burner I ended up upgrading the whole system to a 30gal RIMS system for $$. It's a slippery slope.

 

[gnef]

I would also recommend you fully thresh out your reason for going to bigger batch sizes. I find for most that are going to large batch sizes, the reason is usually due to number of opportunities to brew regularly, and number of beers on tap is limited or drinking quickly.

If that fits your current situation, 10 gallon batches will serve you well.

I have now transitioned to 5 gallon batches for most of my beers. I was doing 10 gallon batches for years, but came to realize that I don't drink it quickly enough, and the first keg lasts 1-1.5 years because I have 14 taps on the walk-in. If I only had 2 taps or so, it would move more quickly.

There are only a few reasons I would do a 10 gallon batch now: A beer I want to age for years (barleywine, RIS, Wee Heavy, solera barrel, etc.), splitting the beer with a friend, or for a specialty event.

I built an electric system that can handle both 5 gallon and 10 gallon batches (It is amazing what 5500 watts of energy directly in the liquid can do!). I also built a two stage counterflow chiller that can chill to 60-62F in one pass at a rate of just under a gallon a minute (about 7 minutes for 6 gallons of boiling wort). Being able to chill quickly makes the whole brewday much more pleasant.

 

[beerman1957]

You can always add LME/DME to the boil if you run out of space in the mash tun and want more alcohol.

 

[bigplunkett]

Itryed to carry it up the stairs by my self to rack and airate. Didnt end well

 

[northernlad]

Yeah, heating and cooling will be your biggest challenges.

I use a 52qt cooler for a mash tun and can fit roughly 25lbs grain with about 1.25qt water per lb.
Works well for me. If I want a beer over 1.060 I need to add DME.

When I started 10+ gallon batches I only had carboys and splitting was kind of a pain. I got a 15gal Spiedel fermentor and love it (except its heavy as **** when full).

Have fun. You'll not want to go back to small batches.

 

[FranklinNewhart]

I was watching the program Moonshiners and I noticed they used a rosebud style burner instead of a corn kettle style burner. I would think that the rosebud would be a good upgrade for more heat. Little harder to control though for holding temp at a specific heat.

Putting 15 gallons of water/wort into a pot before i lift it into place. Not a problem with a 5 gallon batch, but 10 gallon batches are uncomfortably heavy to be wrestling around at any height.

Having a burner that can bring it up to boil quick enough. My burner for 5 gal batches the common bayou classic, really could only simmer a 10 gallon batch, not hard enough to drive off dms in a pils efficiently, i ended up having to upgrade the burner.

 

[humu1us]

The main difference for me was finding a way to transfer beer. I am a simple guy and didn't want to mess with pumps. I am also fit and can lift a kettle with 13 gallons of warm (not freshly boiled) wort. So, my method won't work for everybody. I like to weigh my kettle with mash water and then later with sparge water using a digital bathroom scale. I am a precisionist. I pour this water into my 10 gallon cooler mash tun. I have two 5 gallon coolers for the 170F sparge water. I batch sparge. After I have filled my kettle with wort I lift it up onto my propane burner. The propane burner is resting on a small dolly I made out of a wooden pallet. The dolly has 4 caster wheels and the surface is probably a foot off the ground. I boil my wort and then when finished I just roll the dolly with kettle over to the sink I have in my garage where I have a set up with 2 immersion chillers. I am not stupid enough to lift 11 gallons of just-boiled wort. My kettle has a spigot which allows me to transfer to my carboys. When the kettle is half empty or so I pick it up and pour the rest into carboys. I am not patient enough to wait for the slow flow through the spigot at the end. One tip for everybody is DONT WORRY ABOUT TRUB! The "Trub is bad" myth needs to go away. I have brewed many batches trying to keep Trub out of carboys and wasting quite a bit of beer in the process. I then read a great article that debunked this myth and have happily been sending all the trub into my carboys ever since. My beer tastes just as good as ever; and I have more now.

 

[wwgiese]

The biggest problem I have had since going big (15Gal) is with stuck mashes. My 10 gal pot is often very full of grain and can easily clog when recirculating the mash. More so when I have wheat in the mash. I have found it easier to some extent but it probably is due to having bought better equipment to go big.

 

[timdillon36]

That setup can work but as others have said, and i agree, that the MLT is too small. I use a 12g square cooler and it is maxed out at 25lbs and sill a double batch sparge to get to 13g pre boil and the third runnings are very low gravity.

24lbs grain
+7.5g water
3g absorbation
=4g run off

13g pre boil
-4g flirst runnings
=9g of sparge water

If your MLT was maxed out and you drain off 4g you can only add 4g to it. If you plan to fly sparge this might work but I believe your HLT is also only 8g.

Im guessing your 8g HLT was your BK for 5g batches. I dont know if you had or might still have a 5g MLT but if you use that with the 10g MLT you now have 15g.

You could also mash in with part old the grain bill in your MLT and then use any other cooler you have for a 2nd MT and after you drain, sparge and dump the main MLT and start to bring the wort to temp then just dump from your small MT into your LT. Drain and sparge.

Sorry for the ramble. You could also do part of the grain bill BIAB in the BK?

Also the chilling.

 

[55x11]

The main difference for me was finding a way to transfer beer. I am a simple guy and didn't want to mess with pumps. I am also fit and can lift a kettle with 13 gallons of warm (not freshly boiled) wort. So, my method won't work for everybody. I like to weigh my kettle with mash water and then later with sparge water using a digital bathroom scale. I am a precisionist. I pour this water into my 10 gallon cooler mash tun. I have two 5 gallon coolers for the 170F sparge water. I batch sparge. After I have filled my kettle with wort I lift it up onto my propane burner. The propane burner is resting on a small dolly I made out of a wooden pallet. The dolly has 4 caster wheels and the surface is probably a foot off the ground. I boil my wort and then when finished I just roll the dolly with kettle over to the sink I have in my garage where I have a set up with 2 immersion chillers. I am not stupid enough to lift 11 gallons of just-boiled wort. My kettle has a spigot which allows me to transfer to my carboys. When the kettle is half empty or so I pick it up and pour the rest into carboys. I am not patient enough to wait for the slow flow through the spigot at the end. One tip for everybody is DONT WORRY ABOUT TRUB! The "Trub is bad" myth needs to go away. I have brewed many batches trying to keep Trub out of carboys and wasting quite a bit of beer in the process. I then read a great article that debunked this myth and have happily been sending all the trub into my carboys ever since. My beer tastes just as good as ever; and I have more now.

I agree with all of the above, especially the trub - no need to worry about trub.
I used to do the same procedure as above (let wort drain from kettle into fermenter via gravity and pour the last bit manually by lifting the kettle).
Lately I do it via pump though. I use a pump for recirculating the wort to cool it down faster. Cooling is considerably slower for 10G batches than 5G batches - it's not just extra amount of beer, but also the kettle is a lot thicker and bigger. So since I am already recirculating the wort via the chugger pump, it is much easier just to disconnect from recirculator arm and redirect the wort into fermenters.

 

[Lagerhead1]

Been brewing 10 gallon for years....love it. You made a wise decision. I have found three areas of concern:

#1 Ten gallons of liquid is very heavy. Once you have filled your HTL or more importantly your fermentor don't plan on moving it. Ripping the handles off the vessel, having it warp, or throwing out you back (lift with you legs) are all possible.

#2 Yeast. Unless your repitching....getting enough yeast to brew a lager beer is challenging. When you repitch you are often using a yeast strain that is inappropriate for the beer style. Sure you can buy eight smack packs. A multistep starter is way cheaper but takes planning and extra time.

#3 Mistakes. I'm sure everyone reading this post has brewed a beer you weren't proud of, but you drank it anyway. Well now you have 10 gallons of this stuff. The cost of dumping it has also doubled.

 

[beernutz]

Apologies if I'm repeating what others have suggested. I've brewed 10 gallon batches for many years and one thing I learned the hard way is that you need more propane. I ended up buying an extra tank so I would always have a backup close by.

I switched to natural gas 4 years ago and now never run out as long as the bill is paid.

 

[jmcquesten]

your efficiency drops the bigger the batch so add a touch more grain to get the same as your smaller batches

I second the efficiency. It's fine for most beers, but when I get over probably 8%, the efficiency starts to drop. I feel like I've taken as much as a 15 point drop in efficiency on some of my bigger beers. I mash in a keggle and can get about 35 lbs in it, but it doesn't leave much (enough) room for water.

And, make sure it's a beer you really want 10 gallons of. I've made the mistake of brewing a beer that I gotten over after the first 5 gal keg, ended up giving it to someone. Of course there are some where 10 - 12 gallons isn't enough (Munich Helles).

 

[numberspace]

I will concur with the more propane comment. Did an 11 gallon batch of a Belgian Pale Ale on Saturday and hit all my numbers at 83% which was slightly higher than average (OG 1.050). Everything will take longer, its much more sparge water and water in the boil kettle. Cooling was a breeze due to the Jaded Hydra IC, something like 8 minutes total to 75 degrees. Lifting the full mash tun, HLT, and BK were an absolute bear. I wish you luck