Help With All Grain Setup

[udt89]

I need help with an all grain setup.

In my mind I picture having three pots of equal volume. HLT, mash tun, and a brew kettle. Ive missed a couple of sales in the classifieds for these type items and it annoys me because I dont really want to buy three new pots. I am looking to have the pots be big enough to do 10 gallons but still do 5.

Is having the HLT (ill abbreviate it) that is smaller than the other pots doable? If building a 10 gal system, how much smaller could it be? In regards to false bottoms, are they really necessary? What other options are there? Is a boil screen the best route to go for the brew kettle? Is having two burners the way to go?

We dont have a brew stand nor plan on building one in the near future so our setup logistics are foggy at the moment. I dont want to be moving 5-10 gallons of hot liquid around all that much. What options do I have if I only have one burner? If anyone has some video/pic links of setups that would be awesome. I've been browsing google and youtube and havent really seen anything that would work for me with one burner.

Any suggestions/advise would be awesome. I dont want to purchase the most expensive items in my build and regret it a few months down the road.

 

[Gduck]

If you have a burner for your boiling kettle and a burner for your HLT then you can get away with a smaller HLT. It'd be a little more work, but yeah, after putting in your mash water you can fill the HLT back up and heat that water up for sparge. I wouldn't want it to be too much smaller though because you might see some issues doing a 10 gallon batch. Generally speaking going 5 gallons over how much you want to brew works best... So for a 10 gallon brew, a 15 gallon brew pot is good. Can you do it with say a 12 gallon brew pot.. Sure. Just have to be VERY careful of boil overs because you're going to have to fill it pretty high to account for volume lost during the boil.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

You CAN do it with one burner but it does require lifting and pouring large amounts of hot liquid. And yes your HLT can be smaller UNLESS you do no sparge in which case you heat the entire strike water volume at one time. For no sparge just calculate the entire water volume you need and heat it to the proper strike temp. pour it into your mash tun and stir in the grains once the temp is stabilized where you want it. Lift the mash tun to a higher surface and let it set the desired length of time. In the mean time set the brew kettle on your burner. When mashing is done, drain the mash tun into your brew kettle and fire it up.........For sparge brewing, it is basically the same except that you only initially heat the strike water, then drain to the mash tun and then refill the HLT with your sparge volume and heat that while the grains are mashing. Drain first runnings into your kettle or a bucket, them sparge your grains and run that into your kettle or bucket. Then either set the kettle on the burner and pour in your wort from the bucket, OR lift the filled kettle to the burner.

None of it is hard.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

OR you can buy a pump

 

[udt89]

You CAN do it with one burner but it does require lifting and pouring large amounts of hot liquid. And yes your HLT can be smaller UNLESS you do no sparge in which case you heat the entire strike water volume at one time. For no sparge just calculate the entire water volume you need and heat it to the proper strike temp. pour it into your mash tun and stir in the grains once the temp is stabilized where you want it. Lift the mash tun to a higher surface and let it set the desired length of time. In the mean time set the brew kettle on your burner. When mashing is done, drain the mash tun into your brew kettle and fire it up.........For sparge brewing, it is basically the same except that you only initially heat the strike water, then drain to the mash tun and then refill the HLT with your sparge volume and heat that while the grains are mashing. Drain first runnings into your kettle or a bucket, them sparge your grains and run that into your kettle or bucket. Then either set the kettle on the burner and pour in your wort from the bucket, OR lift the filled kettle to the burner.

None of it is hard.

This is where I need to make my decision. You basically hit the nail on the head of the two options I am having a hard time choosing which to do. I guess once i figure out of i want to sparge or not it will come together.

 

[udt89]

Ok i'm bumping this because things have changed a little. I basically have everything I need except my pots. I have two burners and accumulated some items from the for sale forums as well as gift cards that I had.

Right now I have $200 in amazon gift cards and another $100 visa gift card. Browsing amazon I'm confused what to get. I know I am starting off doing 5 gallon batches but will eventually go to 10 gallon. Anything past 10 gallon, if I get there, I will sell off my pots and buy new.

We are going to build a three tier wooden stand for now and eventually get a single tier steel stand later on. Do I go and buy three pots of equal size? Do I buy one pot larger than the other two? Do I even need three pots?

Should I sell the amazon gift cards for a slight loss and buy somewhere else? Just looking for some advise. If the budget allowed it, I'd just get three 20 gallon pots and a false bottom. But I havent been able to make it work. I dont expect to get this for under $300 and would spend a little extra if need be.

 

[udt89]

Still looking for advise

 

[chickypad]

You're going 3 tier so you can do it without a pump, right? So HLT on top, gravity fed to MLT in middle, gravity fed to boil kettle on the ground. I assume no HERMs or anything. It seems like you could either go 3 pots or 2 pots and a cooler as the MLT. Sounds like you're building this yourself, so you could go a little longer on the middle platform to hold a cooler. I'd say minimum 15gal for boil kettle (although I love my 20gal pot for 10gal batches). Mash tun should be 15 gal, but you could probably go with a 12 gal HLT.

 

[CPFITNESS]

why are you even considering buying pots? why not go the keggle route? I see your in long island. I know any bar in NYC would easily be able to get me an empty keg to convert over. Save yourself a lot of money and a keg is 15 gallons so your good to go.

 

[udt89]

why are you even considering buying pots? why not go the keggle route? I see your in long island. I know any bar in NYC would easily be able to get me an empty keg to convert over. Save yourself a lot of money and a keg is 15 gallons so your good to go.

Know where I can get someone to convert it? I don't have the tools to cut it open and would like the fittings welded.

 

[HollisBT]

Know where I can get someone to convert it? I don't have the tools to cut it open and would like the fittings welded.

I just did a google search for a welding shop near me, and they used a plasma cutter to take the top off (I removed the stems myself beforehand). It was the best $35 investment in my brew set up to date.

They could also weld fittings onto the kettle, but I opted for wellness fittings as I didn't want to risk any rust forming on the welds.

 

[udt89]

Thanks for the tip. With weldless do you remove and clean each brew?