Going AG: 5x10 gallons in one day!

[lrbijl]

Im a college student moving into a new apartment with some friends in the beginning of July. I will only be in town to move in there for 48 hours tops. The rest of the summer I will spend on vacation far away. Basically I will have one day to move and one day to brew. On my brew-day there will be at least 1, maybe 2 very unexperienced, but interested and quick-learning helpers.

So, since my new apartment is 6 hours away from any good lhbs (yea, thanks Norway..) I want to use the opportunity to upgrade to AG. Im probably buying a 10 gallon stove-top starter kit (for some 800$, thanks again Norway) with two large pots with ball valves and an immersion chiller ++. I have killed 25 (125 gallons!) batches made from modified Cooper kits, which have been of very high quality, the price (50 bucks per brew) and the sheer awesomeness of AG is making me take the leap.


So heres the deal:
Since I´m a student, and partially responsible for new students that start at the university in the fall (no worries about drinking age, its all 18 in Norway), I will need to provide a lot of beer (for myself, my friends and the new kids). The plan/idea is to have a total of 50 gallons in primaries ready to go into corny kegs when I get back in the fall. I already built a 3-keg kegerator which should be good enough if I keep 2 cold on tap and one chilling. Here´s my questions:

1. Im not exactly sure exactly how big the pots in the kit im buying are, but assuming theyre pretty much completely filled up at 10 gal, will it be possible to keep adding water during the boil to keep the volume up?

2. Does anyone have experience with mashing and boiling at the same time? Im thinking I´ll mash, sparge and start the boil. Then clean up the mash tun and start a new mash while the boil is probably half way. That way, when I start to chill the wort, I can start the sparge. Ill pitch the yeast when the next boil gets going.. Anyone see any obvious flaws?

3. I have a corona mill that Im going to motorize. Is there any way this one will be able to crush the amount of malt Ill need in any reasonable timeframe? (120 pounds I assume?)

4. I will probably make 40 gallons of an PA/IPA type beer with 5/6 % alcohol, a slight bitter bite and good aroma hops, to keep the recipe simple and the beer as drinkable as possible. Does anyone have a good suggestion for a beginner?

5. Also, how will hop flavor be affected by 2 months of "conditioning" at room temperature (not THAT high in Norway, but maybe up to the 80s at its hottest). Should I use extra hops so they will stay be a little hoppy?


Other than that, you guys are awesome and have given me many great ideas and lots of inspiration! In Norway we hardly have any craft beers, so I really love presenting people to an alternative! Its safe to say I´ve already inspired a dozen people to start brewing!

 

[Shaneoco1981]

Ok, I am going to try and answer your questions 1 at a time.

1. No, you usually start with close to 10 of wort for a 5 gallon batch. During boil, you boil water off to achieve your desired OG. If, you want, you can make a STRONG 5 gallon batch and top off in carboy or bucket(whatever you use for fermentor). That's what I would do, don't bother keeping the boil going with top off water there.

2. Mashing and boiling at the same time will work as long as you have 2 things, and a helper. First, you need 2 pots, one for the boil, and one to heat your infusion water and then to heat your sparge water while your boil is going on.

3. No idea, sorry, have never used/seen a corona mill. I got a monster mill that I attach a motorized drill too.

4. I did a rye saison that is REALLY good. The recipe (which I am sure I found here but I am unable to find at the moment) is this

Grain Bill
6 oz. Rice hulls
9 lbs 6 oz Pale Malt 2 row
3 lbs 6 oz of rye malt
12 oz. Candi Sugar Dark

Hops
1.5 oz Styrians Goldings @60 min

Yeast
1 Package Wyeast #3711 (French Saison)

Mash at 152 for 60 min with 16.23 quarts of water.

5. Hops will definitely diminish with time. How much? I don't know. I would if I were you add an extra .5 oz of hops total and call it good.

The only other thing I can think of is possibly wait to watch the fermentor to make sure primary is going well, with blowing the top off of it. Just my thoughts.

 

[TXCrash]

50 gallons in a day as a new AG brewer... wow!

If I were doing this at your stage in brewing (If I'm reading this correctly, you've never brewed an AG batch, correct?) I'd do 50 gal of extract this time around. Do AG when you have time to fveck up.

The first week of fermentation is what's going to matter most - will the apartment stay between 60 and 70 during that first week?

That said, I've done 20 gallons in a day by myself. I wouldn't want to do more than 30 with the equipment I have (converted kegs).

Here's what I did:
Heat strike water for first batch
Mash in first batch.
Heat sparge water for first batch, strike for second (same temp, same vessel - adjust as nescessary after sparge).
Sparge into boil kettle, begin first boil.
Dump mash tun, mash in, start second mash.
End first boil, cool, transfer to fermenter.
Heat water for sparge of second batch.
Sparge second batch.
Boil.
Cool.
Transfer to fermenter.

You sure you want to do that 5 times?

Doing 10 gallon batches in 15 gallon kegs is a bit tough. Consider that you'll want a boil volume of 11-12 gallons.

Sorry for the disorganized reply.

 

[yodalegomaster]

It is possible to partial boil at 2X the OG. The problem is you need to use more hops to compensate for the high gravity boil. It's possible to go all day with a 55lb bag of grain and just keep mashing by batch to feed into the boil kettle. This is not something you need could do with a kit (It's best to follow the instructions in a Kit) This process would be greatly simplified by using a 3 pot system.

If you want lot's of output I would go with the LME at the end of the boil and then dilute to your final gravity in the fermentor.

 

[Julohan]

If you do all-grain its going to be a stressful day. I did 6 batches in a day to fill up a barrel and I will never do that again.

1 If you could get at least a 15 gallon pot to do 10 gallon batches. 20 gallon pot if you are going to do very big beers. If you are going to be just adding water to the boil, then you might as well do extract.

2 For multiple batches, I did the whole process to the boil for the first. As the first batch is boiling, I heat the strike water and sparge water and start mashing. Once the boil is done, I chill and put wort in fermenter. Then I drain the second batch from the mashtun to the boil kettle, while fly sparging.

3 If you cold get the grains pre-milled and measured out for each batch. It will make life easier.

4 Plenty of good solid beers in the recipe section of homebrewtalk.com

5 Not experienced with the temp you are conditioning at. I would think you will lose some aroma. Maybe when you get back to university, you could dry hop for a week.

 

[lrbijl]

First off, I´ll have 2 pots for "5 to 10 gallon brews", their website do not state the exact size. I also have a 3 gallon pot and a smaller water boiler to heat half a gallon in a matter of minutes, which I can use to speed up the heating of strike and sparge water.

My fermenters are all 5 gallons (yes, I have 10). As for temperature, there is no way to know what it will be, but in Norway it will usually not be too warm in the beginning of July. The end of July/August is worse.

I first thought of doing extract instead, but there are huge savings involved. For me to brew 50 gallons with Cooper kits will cost 500$. Maybe 1/3 if I go with all grain.

I do like the idea of keeping a constant mash, sparge and boil going. I can then mash in one pot, boil in the other and then do an old plastic fermentor bucket with holes inside a new one for sparging. With the water boiler and my 3 gallon pot combined I could probably heat water quick enough to keep the sparge and mash going. Does anyone have experience with this? I measured a standard stove top, and Im pretty confident I can keep the boiling kettle on the big plate, the water boiling pot on the second largest and then have the mash pot barely touch one of the small plates.

 

[brewit2it]

1. 10 gallon pots are for 5-6 gallon batches
2. You've never done AG brewing so you need to do a single batch to learn the process and see if the beer even comes out okay. There 100% chance you are going to run into some unexpected snags or even major problems on your first try.
3. There's not a chance in hell you are going to be able to go from never having brewed AG to making 50 gallons in a 5 gallon setup in one day. It's totally unrealistic.

I would seriously rethink this plan. Your reason doesn't really make sense anyway. If you have the capability to move the 50 gallons of beer then you obviously have some major hauling space so you might as well just bring the ingredients and equipement instead, and brew it a couple of batches at a time as needed.

Anyway, good luck and have fun at school

 

[lrbijl]

Alright, so if the seller says I can make 10 gallon batches, the pots will be more like 15?

The beer will be consumed in my apartment during a two week period right after I get back to school. There will not be enough time to brew anything. Also, when I move all the equipment up, I will be driving a large van with room to move all my stuff from one apartment to the other. This will however be the only time this van is available, and also the only time I have the chance to bring large pots etc.

But I definitely hear what you guys are saying, and Im leaning towards doing a double 10 gallon batch of AG, and sticking with some batches of Coopers with extra hops & LME for the rest of the beer.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

Alright, so if the seller says I can make 10 gallon batches, the pots will be more like 15?

The beer will be consumed in my apartment during a two week period right after I get back to school. There will not be enough time to brew anything. Also, when I move all the equipment up, I will be driving a large van with room to move all my stuff from one apartment to the other. This will however be the only time this van is available, and also the only time I have the chance to bring large pots etc.

But I definitely hear what you guys are saying, and Im leaning towards doing a double 10 gallon batch of AG, and sticking with some batches of Coopers with extra hops & LME for the rest of the beer.

Yea... I did 2 - 5 gallon batches all grain in a day and while I did get it done, it was a long stressful day where I had a lot of help. If you are gun ho about doing this all grain, then maybe cut it into 2 days. Give yourself an extra day.

 

[Scruffy1207]

I wanna hear how this brew day goes lol