I want to brew beer. A keg at a time. What do I need?

[shulace]

I have a small budget for brewing. I have a large metal pot that looks like it was used for brewing at one time. Id say its probably 100 gallons or more. I will take a picture of that tomorrow morning.

Anyways. I've always been interested in brewing beer...and the internet is so damn confusing.

I just want to brew a really good Amber. My favorite is Full Sail Amber Ale. I'd like to create something like that.

What materials do I need to create a magnificent keg (55gal?) of Amber ale? Also, where can I get these materials?

I'm basically asking for the materials needed for the brewing part. Also, any recipes for an amber would be greatly appreciated!

Lets hear someones ideal Keg sized setups! I want to have a batch done in a week! I will post pics of the setup as well!

Please help!

 

[shulace]

My water here in Nor cal is Spring fed, crystal clear and clean water! I believe it will brew a decent beer! Like i said, I have a huge vat, metal, with awesome stands looks like I can build a nice fire under it and brew something up in that.

 

[brewshki]

I don't know a lot about kegging if anything, but I'm pretty sure they don't exist in 55 gallon sizes

 

[dkennedy]

The quintessential keg that most people think of is 1/2 barrel, approx. 15.5 US gallons. The scale that you're talking here is massive, bigger than a lot of commercial nanobreweries.
Not impossible, but I'd cut your teeth on something smaller before gambling $100-200 on ingredients for a massive batch. Read How to Brew to understand the basic mechanics, it's free online.

The short answer is that you need malt (or malt extract), hops, water, and yeast. Plus vessels to mash (if not using extract), boil, ferment.

Welcome to the forum, too.

 

[FatDragon]

A "barrel" in beer terms is roughly 30 gallons. The kind of large keg you get for a kegger is a half-barrel - 15 gallons. Homebrewers use sixth-barrel kegs - five gallons.

A 100+ gallon pot is enormous. Like, big enough for a fully grown man to fully immerse himself in. Could you measure the height and diameter/circumference of the kettle? You can calculate the volume from those numbers.

For the most basic brewing, in addition to a kettle (pot), you need a heat source to boil your wort and a food-safe container to ferment in. If you're planning on kegging, then you need one or more kegs and a way to carbonate in the kegs - almost always with CO2 canisters - and a way to serve from the kegs as well.

At best, for an experienced brewer making a well-known recipe designed for quick turnaround, drinking in a week is possible. For most beers, you're looking at two to three weeks at least before you're drinking. For someone to decide one day to brew beer and then be drinking his own beer a week later is possible, but very unlikely, and the beer's probably going to be horrible.

Take your time to learn what you're doing before you do your first brew. Sit in on a brew session with someone else if you can, or enlist an experienced brewer to help out with your first batch and teach you as you go. Brewing beer is a really easy hobby to get into, but you still need some basic knowledge if you're going to do it right from the beginning.

Maybe start by spending an hour browsing the online version of John Palmer's "How to Brew" book (easily googled) to get a fundamental idea of what to expect from brewing and what you'll need to get started.

 

[unionrdr]

You could also watch home brewing videos on YouTube, like Craigtube. We generally brew 5 gallon batches, that being the most common. Some recipes or extract companies, like Cooper's are 23L, or 6.072 USG. So definitely read up on Palmers online book & watch some videos to get a feel for how it's done. That 100 gallon kettle must be the size of a small car!

 

[Psylocide]

I want to see a pic of this thing.... I mean, that's mahoosive.

 

[billl]

Lets hear someones ideal Keg sized setups! I want to have a batch done in a week! I will post pics of the setup as well!

Please help!

Stop. Take a breath. Relax.

You will not have beer in a week. You probably won't have beer carbed and drinkable in 2 weeks. (Its possible, but most new brewers make enough small mistakes that it takes the beer a while to taste good.)

To brew a batch of beer you need

1) A kettle
2) A fermenter (well, multiple fermenters if you want to make that much beer)
3) A way to keep those fermenters at reasonable temperatures.
4) A keg setup and way to keep that keg cool. That can be simple or fancy, but definitely requires a keg, couplings, tubing, a CO2 tank, regulator, and a tap of some sort.
5) Probably most important - patience. Making beer is about 10% prep, 1% brewing, and 89% waiting.

Step 1 would be remeasure your kettle and adjust your expectations. A gallon weighs 8.34 lbs. A filled 100 gallon kettle would weigh over 800 lbs. There is no way you could do that in your home. A 55 gallon "keg" would weigh 450 lbs or roughly 550 12oz bottles.

A normal home sized batch would be 5 gallons. That would weigh a bit over 40lbs, so you could actually lift. People who make larger batches generally divide them up into 5 gallon increments in order to ferment and keg it.

 

[unionrdr]

Yup. Even kegging your beer seems to save only about a week over bottling. And that takes me about 6-7 weeks kettle to glass. So you definitely have to learn patience first & foremost. So step back, take a deep breath, & start reading & watching videos.

 

[dogslapbrewery]

First time Home brewer falls into giant kettle and gets boiled alive!...haha

 

[sputnam]

I want to have a batch done in a week!

Please help![/QUOTE]

This alone tells me you have not read nearly enough....

 

[sputnam]

I have a small budget for brewing. I have a large metal pot that looks like it was used for brewing at one time. Id say its probably 100 gallons or more. I will take a picture of that tomorrow morning.

another issue...small budget and kegging (especially 100 gallons) are not even allowed in the same sentence


I'm a bit skeptical on the 100 gallon pot, I saw a 50 gallon recently and it was big enough for a grown man....but I won't call BS until I see the pic.

 

[shulace]

So I remeasured the "Kettle" as you guys call it. Its quite large, and yes, could possibly boil a human.

It will hold at least, 55 gallons of water.

Sorry to jump the gun, but this doesn't seem like the hardest task, especially if you say to make this much beer would only be about $200 in materials.

SO!

I have this "Kettle". I can use a fire or get an LP 65,000 BTU burner to heat my "Kettle".

I want to make a large batch, and keep it large. We drink a lot of beer, and why not make kegs at a time.

NOW!

Will wine barrels work as ferment tanks?

Next, what is the optimal temperature for keeping the ferment room? Do you keep the room that temp or the liquid that temp?

Also, is that the same temp to keep the once bottled beer for 2 weeks?

I plan on the 2/2 method. 2 weeks in a fermenter then 2 weeks in some bottles.

Sorry to ramble on but we are very excited. We are starting an organic produce farm, and we will be growing our own Barley and Hops.

Thanks again!

 

[Yellowirenut]

Throws book on doorstep... runs

Screaming as he runs...
Sanitation, Sanitation, Sanitation!

you will soon learn that cleaning is second most time consuming thing a brewer does.... the first is thinking about there next brew wile enjoying a beer.

 

[cease]

I commend your enthusiasm but that kind of brewing requires a lot of equipment which at a low budget really can't be had. You need 13 vials of yeast in a 13 L starter on a plate according to Mr. Malty (for a 1.055 beer). How are you going to aerate your wort? Transfer to the fermenter? Sanitize? You are venturing into professional micro-brewery territory.

You *can* ferment in barrels but I wouldn't recommend it for primary. Too many sanitation concerns. Aging in barrels as secondary is the most common thing for beer brewing.

Temps need to be kept between 60-70 for ales, 50s for lagers. Temps depend on the yeast strain and desired flavor profile. That's beer temps not room and the fermentation will give off lots of heat being so large.

I say start with 5 gallons, you're gonna need the equipment to make a large beer anyways (think starter, 3-4 gallon batch). At 55 gallon scale there is no such thing as "on a budget," there's expensive and less expensive.

 

[Hoppity]

What is the pot made of? Maybe you could sell it and get a system that is easier to handle. Sounds to me like you found some moonshiner's still. If so, be careful: those boys play for keeps.

 

[shulace]

If I wanted to read a book I would have gone that route.

What's the point of a forum then?

Heres the kettle:

 

[Yellowirenut]

If I wanted to read a book I would have gone that route.

You just admitted you are not serious about your endeavor. You just want huge quantities of beer for cheep.

Go down to the liquor store and buy a keg

 

[shulace]

I'm going to experiment, instead of reading.

Also, if someone can't help me here then why ask anything?

So if someone wants to help me brew in this big kettle, great!

Questions:

I can pasteurize wine barrels for sanitation purposes...I have grown King Trumpets before so I know all about sanitation.

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

 

[shulace]

What can be used for a ferment tank then after the main brew?

I have access to food grade 330 Gallon HDPE Cargo Liquid Totes. Will this work?

Wine Barrels?

 

[aprichman]

If you're planning on doing 55 gallon batches (this is absolutely insane for a 1st timer BTW) you are going to need a plastic vessel that is ~75 gallons to ferment in.

No clue what temps you would need to ferment at in that size of vessel. Fermentation creates a ton of heat. Most breweries that make batches that size (yes breweries - I have never seen a home brewer do a batch that large) use fermentation vessels that have a "jacket" that surrounds the vessels that can pump temperature controlled liquid in order to reach the right temps.

The internal temp of the fermentation vessel will need to be around 63-70F.

Other then that you are going to need a motorized pump to transfer the the beer from one container to another.

You will also need to find several 1/2 barrel kegs and then invest in a CO2 system in order to carbonate. The kegs and CO2 system could easily cost $1000+ and if you want to keep your beer cold probably a good deal more.

Your other option would be bottling but then you would need another 55 gallon vessel with a spigot close to the bottom. Bottling a 55 gallon batch would probably take 8+ hours with no breaks. Bottling is also going to add another 2 weeks to the brewing process.

As far as getting 55 gallons of water up to a boil, I don't think you are going to be able to find a burner to do that easily. A fire under the kettle might be an option but you're going to have to deal with soot getting into the wort.

IMHO if the only piece of equipment you have is a huge kettle I would just scrap the idea of brewing a 55 gallon batch and get the equipment to do 10 gallons at a time and use 2 corny kegs.

 

[ChefRex]

If I wanted to read a book I would have gone that route.

What's the point of a forum then?

Heres the kettle:

Damn, this is how I learned to brew, you should have said so!

No one learns to brew good beer doing as you are suggesting, good luck to ya and happy new year!

 

[shulace]

I will read what people write here. This will be an endeavor that will have audience participation!

 

[aprichman]

Keep in mind also that the cost is going to be around $200 if you are going all grain which would need a LOT more equipment. If you're doing extract brewing you are looking at around $400+ in ingredients

 

[Hoppity]

Since you will be into organic farming, you are probably concerned with your carbon footprint. An array of mirrors aimed at the pot might work as a heat source or maybe a giant magnifying glass.
Good luck and have a happy New Year's.

 

[b-boy]

Sorry to jump the gun, but this doesn't seem like the hardest task, especially if you say to make this much beer would only be about $200 in materials.

You have no idea how hard it is to make good beer. It's hard on a small scale, and even harder in a large scale. I've been doing this for 4 years and I feel like I've just started to get decent results.

My advice - start small, start simple, and work your way up.

Billy Klubb - is this really you?

 

[shulace]

Jesus. I didn't know this forum was full of such pessimistic people. My first batch will be 50 gallons.

Do you see the size of the kettle?

I have 80 gallon HDPE pickling containers. Will this work for ferment tanks?

I can keep anything, any temperature, consistent. They make neat little gadgets for $70 that will turn fans on and heaters on when.

If this is going to be Brewery sized, then call me a brewery then.

I have 3 empty kegs.

I have co2 setup, for each.

I have spickets for each vessel to make easy fluid transferring.

 

[aprichman]

Well it's more or less like someone saying, "I have an old piano and want to play Bach in a week" - you may call it pessimism but I would call it realism

a 75 gallon HDPE vessel would work for fermenting a 50 gallon batch. Temperature control is probably going to be harder than you think. I would imagine that you would probably want an ambient temperature of around 50-55F at the start of fermentation and then slowly raise it to ~65 as fermentation dies down over the course of a week or two.

It's hard for me (and most others here) to give you advice because we don't brew on the scale you are talking about.

Certainly keep everyone updated on your progress. I'm quite interested to see what you rig up to brew 50 gallon batches.

Cheers

 

[storytyme]

This has to be a joke, and funny I may add. If not then so smaller and good luck.