How many pots for all-grain brew?

[cardinal]

So this may be a dumb question, but I figured that's what the Internet is for.

I received a 1 gallon brooklyn brew shop kit for xmas, and I'm making sure I have everything I need before I start brewing. The instructions say I only need one 6-quart stock pot (I have an 8 quart one), but I don't understand how that can be enough. If I make the mash in the stock pot, what do I use for a lauter tun? Can I just use a cheap teflon pot, and then pour everything back into the stock pot for the boil? Or should I get another stock pot? Thanks!

 

[veritas524]

What's your grain bill look like? You're probably looking at 1.25 - 1.50 qts per pound of grain for your mash. What method are you using?

 

[Ziggybrew]

You have several options. Check this website out. I think you may want to go with the brew-in-a-bag method http://www.biabrewer.info/

 

[RM-MN]

So this may be a dumb question, but I figured that's what the Internet is for.

I received a 1 gallon brooklyn brew shop kit for xmas, and I'm making sure I have everything I need before I start brewing. The instructions say I only need one 6-quart stock pot (I have an 8 quart one), but I don't understand how that can be enough. If I make the mash in the stock pot, what do I use for a lauter tun? Can I just use a cheap teflon pot, and then pour everything back into the stock pot for the boil? Or should I get another stock pot? Thanks!

The kit instructions are lies. If you read through the instructions it will tell you that you need the 6 qt kettle but then it tells you to drain that into ???? and then use the hot water (heated in ???) to rinse (sparge) the grain.

It looks like you really need a minimum of 3 pots but only one needs to be the 6 qt or larger. I'd prefer to have at least one 8 qt and a couple smaller ones. Good luck with the kit. Ill bet that if it turns out good, you'll be upgrading to a larger equipment kit within the year. :rockin:

 

[HarkinBanks]

If it is only a 1 gallon kit, a 2 gallon pot will be fine. Did they give you anything to mash/steep the grains in? If not, go to home depot and buy a 5 gallon paint strainer in the paint section. Add about 1.5 gallons of water to your pot, heat it up to about 155, drop the grains in your paint strainer then into the hot water and stir (I am assuming they are crushed already), cover for an hour, stir again, turn on your burner and heat up to 168 degrees as you stir, then remove the bag with your grains, let the bag drain over the pot, twist the bag but don't squeeze too much. Discard the grains, heat to a boil and add your hops per the instructions. I am assuming you will boil off about .5 gallons in an hour. After the boil, move the pot into your sink with ice, get it down to around 70 degrees then transfer the wort to a 1.5-3 gallon bucket or glass vessel, pitch your yeast, and wait 3-4 weeks before bottling. If you don't have an airlock, just put some aluminum foil over the top of the vessel. After 3-4 weeks, bottle.

 

[CheapPizza]

I have ALMOST exactly the same question.

I have found some awesomely huge aluminum pots at sams club that i'm planning on drilling in ball valves and a temperature probe but I was wondering what the difference between having three pots or just two is? It would be much cheaper to just buy a pot to convert to a MLT and another one to use as a brew pot and save money by not buying a hot liquor tank.

I've been researching like crazy but I can't find the reason for a hot liquor tank. Is it wrong to just directly heat my MLT?

 

[stellaontap]

i use two pots.....one to heat my strike and sparge water and the other to collect the wort and boil.

Eric

 

[SumnerH]

I do 5-gallon batches all the time with 1 pot and 1 bucket. I have a 3-vessel setup for more complicated mash schedules, but for 95% of beers the 1-pot brew in a bag method is functionally identical and much easier execution/cleanup.

You'll probably eventually want to get more for doing turbid mashes, complicated step mash schedules, and the like, but brew-in-a-bag is the cheapest and simplest way to get into real all-grain brewing, IMO.