Friendly advice is killing my move to all-grain (advice on setup please)!

[Novesette]

This is exactly what I did when I moved to AG & was very happy with it. Then I slowly got a propane burner & a 10Gal kettle.

Cheers!

So what was your process with this setup? Did you find a need for the 10gal mash tun with a 5gallon kettle or was the 5gal enough for a 3gallon batch?

 

[Novesette]

I say either get a 10 gal kettle or plan on sparging somehow if you're set on an 8 gal kettle. I have an 8 gal and it's too small for 5 gal BIAB batches. I've actually switched to mashing in a bag (MIAB) in a cooler, which I find easier in general, plus it allows me to mash more grain and sparge more easily if needed.

The bonus with MIAB is that your kettle doesn't need extra space to accommodate the grain during the mash, so theoretically you could do batches closer to the capacity of your kettle than even BIAB (like 7-8 gallon batches in a 10 gallon kettle)?

 

[McKnuckle]

I have a 5 gallon cooler. It is more than adequate for a 3 gallon batch. You will not need a 10g cooler, and as someone mentioned, the extra dead space in a larger vessel is NOT desirable for heat retention.

You can actualy fit 5.5 gallons of volume in a 5 gallon cooler when maxed out to the very tippy top.

The bonus with MIAB is that it's easier for some folks to keep mash temps stable in a cooler rather than in a kettle on a stove with pure BIAB. You have to drain the bag after mashing, which usually means sticking it in a pot or some other vessel while the kettle gets up to a boil. Since you have to clean that vessel, might as well make it a cooler - you mash in the cooler, drain the liquid, begin boiling, and leave the bag in the cooler to gravity drain til the boil is ready. Then dump in the rest of the liquid. You lose nothing to mash tun deadspace that way; you only lose what's absorbed in the grain, which will be less than if you had mashed "naked" (without the bag).

You just gotta get started with this stuff and you'll see for yourself.

 

[Novesette]

I have a 5 gallon cooler. It is more than adequate for a 3 gallon batch. You will not need a 10g cooler, and as someone mentioned, the extra dead space in a larger vessel is NOT desirable for heat retention.

You can actualy fit 5.5 gallons of volume in a 5 gallon cooler when maxed out to the very tippy top.

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. Right now I'm looking at a Russian Imperial Stout that has 20lbs of grains in a 5 gallon batch...so just halving that (staying simple) at 2.5 gallons means 10lbs of grains. As long as I can fit that in a 5 gallon cooler (no false bottom as I'll use a bag) I'm good to go with the 5 gallon and can wait on the 10 for now.

 

[PinzonCachondo]

Sorry I haven't read all 4 pages of this thread but for BIAB you usually skip the MLT and just use a single kettle almost twice your batch size. I frequently do 6-7 gallon APA's and IPA's in a 10 gallon pot. You mash in the pot, pull the bag of grains and fire up the burner to bring it to a boil.

Another suggestion: Morebeer has a 29" x 29" biab bag for $7 that should work fine in your current kettle. You could get that and a maybe chiller that you can use later no matter which way you go. That way you have minimal up front costs and can try a couple of 2.5 -3 gallon batches in your current 5 gallon kettle and see how it goes.

 

[photobru]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. Right now I'm looking at a Russian Imperial Stout that has 20lbs of grains in a 5 gallon batch...so just halving that (staying simple) at 2.5 gallons means 10lbs of grains. As long as I can fit that in a 5 gallon cooler (no false bottom as I'll use a bag) I'm good to go with the 5 gallon and can wait on the 10 for now.

You should be fine with the 5 gallon cooler, even with most 5 gallon batches. Reason being that if you're ever unable to fit the full volume mash in the cooler, you can just mash using half your water and then batch sparge with the other half. I think you can also do that with BIAB, but it's probably a lot messier and you'd need a second kettle.

 

[BrotherBock]

Get a kettle for whatever size batches you need. No sense making 10+ gallons if you don't want or have room for it. 3 gallon batches are just as fun.

I have a 6.5 gallon aluminum turkey fryer pot and I've made d@mn near 5 gallon batches in it without boiling over. Just requires watching like a hawk and quick adjustments to the flame (the aluminum pot reacts quickly to flame changes). Usually I do 4 gallons batches in it.

I can't imagine 8 gallon pot not being big enough for a 5 gallon batch. I with my pot I boil off 1.25 gal/hour. Don't know what you'd get with your setup, but 8 gallon pot should be plenty. Especially if sometimes you're not gonna be interested in a 5 gallon batch.

Definitely get a 10 gallon cooler though. You max out grain around 24 lbs. Making imperial strength 5 gallon batches is near impossible with a 5 gallon tun. You could never fit that much grain in a tun like that. Plus if you got the 5 gallon tun route one day you'll be sitting there with your recipe and realize you can't do what you want. Just go with the 10, you won't regret it.

 

[balrog]

Get a bag and try it out in your current pot, if you like smaller batches. If you're heating option is your range, then a keggle/super big pot may not work well for you...regardless of how you mash, you still have to boil it all. Just a thought.

PS- chiller is good too

Gosh, a lot of people are sure willing to spend you money. I'd start simple. Buy a paint strainer bag. Do a 2 1/2 gallon batch in the pot you already have. Chill it like you would your extract batch or just do a no-chill. You shouldn't "need" any more equipment for several batches. Your limitation will be in the amount of grain you can mash so you can't do a real high gravity brew. With my equipment I seem to top out at about a 10% ABV brew. :cross:

After you have done several 2 1/2 gallon batches you can decide on which way to go from there. Maybe a bigger pot, maybe your own mill, maybe you need a chiller, but until you have made a few AG batches you won't know what works with your space and heat source.

Paint strainer bag works great. Cheap. And you can try it out a few times and IF you want to continue BIAB, you coudl upgrade to a Wilserbrewing bag later. I hear they are really nice.

Don't fret about kettle size, gravity, etc. That stuff is all doable in some way or another. You have the advantage that you are planning on doing smaller batches. A turkey fryer kettle will work great for you. A 10 gallon kettle is actually better though, you just might not need it until later.

if you want to do a higher gravity beer you can mash thick and use lots of grain, then sparge in a separate kettle (or bucket filled with hot water or cooler or whatever) and combine to get a high OG wort, then dilute at chill time with cold sanitized water.

I do recommend a nice IC, though. Sure beats a sink full of ice.

Just quickly chiming in as someone who recently moved to AG from extracts, and I **ONLY** have a couple 5G pots. I use the paint strainer bag, have mashed up to 11.5# albeit somewhat sloppily, right in the 5G BK, dunk sparge in the other 5G, boil 3.5-4G as a partial boil.

I could boil in both but that's just more than I want to do. I use my stove top, and I do have the Immersion Cooler and highly recommend that.

It's **VERY** easy to do this to get into AG and all I really needed was the paint strainer bag.

 

[brew_darrymore]

As long as I can fit that in a 5 gallon cooler (no false bottom as I'll use a bag) I'm good to go with the 5 gallon and can wait on the 10 for now.

Yes, you will be able to fit 10lb in a 5-gallon cooler. I use an Igloo 5-gallon beverage cooler, I mash in a bag, and I'm able to fit 12lb of grain @ 1.25qt/lb strike water. I just did a Westvleteren XII clone with 11lb of grain and even had some space for an extra pound of grain or so.

 

[smAllGrain]

So what was your process with this setup? Did you find a need for the 10gal mash tun with a 5gallon kettle or was the 5gal enough for a 3gallon batch?

I have found that the 5Gal Mash Tun has been plenty for my 3Gal Batches as well as my 5Gal batches. The only issue with the 5Gal batches is that I need to add some DME if I want a higher ABV. But I usually don't. I try to keep it as simple as possible and have really enjoyed it

 

[Novesette]

You all rock! Thanks for getting me back on the right track everyone. I have one more extract kit to do this week and then I have 2 AG batches I really NEED to do. I can't wait!

 

[bobeer]

I started brewing all grain with my extract 5.5 gallon pot. I just did 2.5 biab batches. It was fun but sparging was a pain in the rear... I built a mash tun and still just used my 5.5 gallon pot and the stove-top. My setup now isn't much different except I bought a 9 gallon kettle off of homebrewing.org for about $60. It's nothing special but I've had zero issues with it and I've used it on a burner and on my coil stove-top. I don't have a rig or anything to do my sparging but I make it work. It's sort of different every time depending where I brew. It's really just about using what you have and if it makes good beer then just upgrade when you have the extra money.
Now in the winter I brew 3 gallon batches inside with the mash tun and 5.5 gallon pot and use the big 9 gallon pot as my hlt. The 9 gallener has a weld in it so that makes sparging easy. When it's nice out I use the 5.5 gallon pot as my hlt and the 9 galloner at the boil kettle. The 5.5 galloner doesn't have weld so I just use an auto siphon to sparge. I could use a bigger mash tun but it's not in the budget atm so I just make do with what I have. I can only brew 3-3.5 gallon batches of imperial beers; which is fine. In the summer I can do up to a 6.5 gallon batch of a nice lighter summer beer.

If I had to do it over again I'd just get a big 9 or 10 gallon kettle and a 10 or 15 gallon mash tun. I probably wouldn't use it to it's full potential very often but I'd at least have the option to make full batches of bigger beers. What I have works very well though and I'm grateful for it.