Kettle Sizes For New AG Brewer

[HopSong]

I've been bitten by the AG bug. I've read about brewers wanting to upgrade their pots and the answer is always go to 15G. I will *never* brew more than 5G at a time.. I just can't/don't want to drink it that fast.

I visited a kind friend who let me watch the process for a few hours.. (2 batches). He had keggles and that was capable of brewing 10+ G batches.

Considering I will keep my brews at 5G.. 6G at most. I'm wondering what size brew pots I should get. My thoughts are:

10G for HLT
10G for MT
15G for BK to account for boilovers.. or can I get by with 10? I'm currently using a 7.5 turkey pot for 5G extract batches.

Also, I can't see myself brewing "Big Beers". I like sessions for the most part and something on the order or Racer 5 or Red Tail Ale once in a while. The recipes I've seen so far that pique my attention call for about 13-15# grain.

Help me think this out.

 

[greatplainsbrewer]

I bought a ten gallon megapot for my bk. Really wish I had gotten a fifteen (and I only do 5 gallon batches). My hlt is 30 qts and my mlt is a 48 qt cooler. I batch sparge and they are big enough.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Are you using the kettle for a boil only or are you mashing in it as well? In other words, do you have a mash tun?

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I upgraded to a 15 gal and haven't had a boil over since. And I can hit the post boil volume I want without having to add top up water. Very happy with the investment.

 

[HopSong]

willy shakes.. no, the ONLY thing I have right now is a 7.5G turkey fryer pot. I guess what I was thinking is if I have, say 15# of grain with a false bottom in a 10G pot.. it should easily work.. I may be wrong. Maybe I need the 10G for a HT and the 15 for the MT?

Thanks to both for the reply

 

[EvolvedBrews]

Id say go for converted kegs. There plenty big enough for 5g batches and you'll have the extra room if you do decide to brew a bigger batch. More than likely the cheaper option. Id rather have to much room than not enough. Just my. 02¢

 

[Yooper]

Usually, for a 5 gallon AG batch you'll be starting with 6.5-7 gallons of wort. A 10 gallon kettle is probably big enough, but you may have to watch it carefully until after the hot break.

A 10 gallon cooler MLT (like my round Igloo cooler) can mash about 23-25 pounds of grain before it maxes out, so that would be big enough for most 5 gallon batches of beer.

For the HLT, you won't ever need more than 10 gallons in it, total, for a 5 gallon batch. Most often you'd use 8.5-9.5 gallons of water (total) for a 5 gallon batch. And you can always refill the HLT after you put your mash water in the MLT if you suddenly need more water than you thought.

 

[wilserbrewer]

10 gal...or even the bayou 11 gal is a nice size...I am a believer in the right size tool for the job...hell an empty keggle weighs almost as much as a five gallon batch. 10 is likely enough once you get acquainted and don't boilover to hell. A 15 is a lot of pot to handle campared to a ten when washing and moving etc. The best pot is one that is just big enough IMO, less labor....YMMV cheers

 

[jldc]

10 gallon is probably big enough for a BK, however a little larger won't hurt. If I were buying another BK, I would look at the Penrose Kettle. I've never actually seen one in person, however.

L

 

[Jakeintoledo]

I will *never* brew more than 5G at a time..

that sounds like famous last words, my man.

if you got the money, pop for a 10g Bayou Classic, like I did. another $20 gets you a ball valve at the bottom at your local homebrew shop. but then you'll be in my position--wishing you had a 15g kettle.

why kill the time to make one batch, when you can kill the same time to make two?

 

[corax]

I'm really glad I have a 15 gal boil kettle, and I almost exclusively make 5 gal. batches. It is heavy though, which is why I'm also really glad I have a pump!

You might be able to keep your 7.5 gal pot as an HLT.

 

[HopSong]

Thanks folks.. I will, despite a few folks thoughts of someday going beyond 5G batches, stick to my plan of smaller batches. In fact, I'm still so "new" at this that I really want to make more, but smaller, batches to get recipes dialed in. My druthers would be to brew 2.5-3G batches for the foreseeable future.. so I can get a better picture of where I am. Brewing a batch once every two or so months doesn't cut it for me.

So, I think I'm headed for using my 7G turkey fryer kettle for a HLT, a 10G pot for my MT and the 15 for a BK. I like the stuff that HomeBrewStuff has. Nice heavy kettles for a good price with the valve and thermometer. The 15 with the false bottom. I may, however, be able to build them a bit cheaper by purchasing the kettles locally and doing my own hole drilling to add the valves and thermometers. My only concern about DIY is that it may be more difficult for me to come up with a false bottom for the pots from the local restaurant supply. Plenty of time to investigate tho.

 

[Voodoo_Child]

I've got the Bayou Classic 9 gallon and I've done my extract + specialty grain 5g batches no problem but now I'm into BIAB and I'm kicking myself for not going straight to 15g. I also have interest in big beers though.

 

[barrooze]

if you got the money, pop for a 10g Bayou Classic, like I did. another $20 gets you a ball valve at the bottom at your local homebrew shop. but then you'll be in my position--wishing you had a 15g kettle.

That's my thoughts as well. I have a 10g BK which is plenty big for 5 or 6 gallon batches, but too small for a 10g batch. If you will "never" do anything larger than a 5-6g batch, an 8g BM is probably big enough. I personally wish I had gotten a 15g BK so I can do 10g batches but I had no idea I would want to brew this large of batches when I bought the 10g kettle 4 years ago.

 

[smokewater]

Do you have a seafood strainer with that 7.5 gallon pot? You could get a taste of all grain brewing with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. 7.5 gallons is perfect for 4 gallon batches. I brewed 15 or so batches like that before spending $40 on a 13 gallon pot.

 

[HopSong]

No seafood strainer. I thought about the larger Bayou Classic cuz I was going to do BIAB.. but, I want the flexibility to do extract, BIAB and AG.. I think it'll be a progression... but, I also think there could be a purpose for each method in the arsenal.

 

[Wreck99]

I picked up a 13gal kettle from spikebrewing when I switched to AG and love it! The kettle is very wide, so less surface tension seems to make it near impossible to boil in my experience.

 

[HopSong]

Please explain.. Love the kettle but can't bring it to a boil? I'm not clear on why you love it if you can't the water/wort to a boil.

 

[Wreck99]

Sorry meant boilover

 

[DonMagee]

I have a 15 gallon kettle from morebeer. At first, I thought I made a costly mistake. The kettle seemed too big for 5 gallon batches, but as I tuned in the system, it turned out to be just perfect. The only issue I had was that my immersion cooler just didn't work anymore because of the depth of the wort. I'm very happy with my kettle choice.

 

[MNDan]

I can boil 13.5 gallons in my 15.5 gallon keggle - Fermcap is all you need!

 

[BrewThruYou]

I do 5.5G to 6G batches on the stovetop. 10G Rubbermaid MLT, 10G BK and 7.5G sparge pot. The BK functions as the HLT in the beginning - it takes the full water amount (usually ~9G), I do my water additions, then drain my sparge water into the 7.5G sparge pot. The remaining water in the BK is the strike water and I then heat it up in there. When done, drain into MLT and the BK is empty until I need to start the first runnings. Doing it this way, the HLT is just a dumb pot while the BK needs to have a sight glass.

Even if you did it a more standard way, I don't see how you would need a 15G BK if you never intend to do 10G+ batches.

 

[Jukas]

I've been bitten by the AG bug. I've read about brewers wanting to upgrade their pots and the answer is always go to 15G. I will *never* brew more than 5G at a time.. I just can't/don't want to drink it that fast.

Considering I will keep my brews at 5G.. 6G at most. I'm wondering what size brew pots I should get. My thoughts are:

10G for HLT
10G for MT
15G for BK to account for boilovers.. or can I get by with 10? I'm currently using a 7.5 turkey pot for 5G extract batches.

I too thought I'd never go over a 5-6g batch, fast forward and I'm itching to move up to 11 gallon batches.

For a BK I'd really recommend a 15g kettle. You can squeek by with 10 but you're going to have to use fermacap and watch it like a hawk at the start of the boil. My average pre-boil volume is about 8.5 gallons, and during hot break I've had it the foam come almost to the top.

Now if I move up to 11gal batches I can plan on almost 14g pre-boil which is going to make using a 15gallon kettle dicey at best.

 

[texasbrewer73]

My thought is that so long as your grainbed is deep enough in you MLT for a good sparge, bigger is always better. You say now that you'll never do 10 gal batches. That could very well change in the next year. If you're going to make the investment, then I would not limit yourself in the future based on today's thoughts.

Remember when Microsoft thought no one would EVER need more than 640K of memory?

 

[Jukas]

One thing to keep in mind when getting your equipment is scalability. It may be better to spend a few extra bucks now while thinking you'll ever go to 10 gal batches than having to rebuy stuff later if you change your mind.

I'm now in the situation where if I do move up to 11 gal batches, I need a new Mash Tun (my 10g igloo won't hold my grainbill for my most commonly brewed beers), may need a new brew kettle, will have to replace my IC, which likely means going to a plate chiller and keeping my IC for a pre platechiller ice bath not to mention adding in a pump as volumes in a 10g batch will be too heavy to life and utilitize gravity for.

 

[HopSong]

Well, I bought the farm today.. or at least my wallet thinks so. Between this thread and another I was asking questions in... a Blickbucks kettle in the Equipment forum, I feel I had enough information to bite the preverbal bullet and bought my kettles.

I was strongly considering the kettles at "Homebrewstuff" I mentioned that I found some awesome kettles at a restaurant supply store as well.. for what I thought to be a very good price... and that's what I ended up with.

So, what did I buy..? I bought two SS 40qt kettles w/lids and tri-clad bottoms. When I get back from my trip, Ill measure the wall thickness.. but these babies are heavy. And one 60qt kettle.. same specs. these are beautiful restaurant quality.
w
So, what did I pay..? The 40qts were $109 each and the 60qt was $147. I went to a local supplier and bought three weldless SS valves/spigots that are threaded to accept the kettle screen. The valves were $13 ea and the screens were $11.

All I need now are three weldless thermometers

This, I feel is going to work out very well for me. :rockin: Yesser.. it feels like "muy bueno"

 

[9Frogs]

Are you sure you will "never" do 10 gallon batches? I used to think that, too, until I found out how popular I became once people knew I was a brewer! Just my 2 cents, right now I am cleaning up 2) 120 qt. pots my wife happened to find on a garage sale. Oh, the possibilities!

 

[HopSong]

Are you sure you will "never" do 10 gallon batches? I used to think that, too, until I found out how popular I became once people knew I was a brewer! Just my 2 cents, right now I am cleaning up 2) 120 qt. pots my wife happened to find on a garage sale. Oh, the possibilities!

Yep,but IF...IF..I Ever get close to perfection.. I may think 10G batches... That being unlikely...fill in da blanks.. Grin

 

[helibrewer]

Well, I bought the farm today.. or at least my wallet thinks so. Between this thread and another I was asking questions in... a Blickbucks kettle in the Equipment forum, I feel I had enough information to bite the preverbal bullet and bought my kettles.

I was strongly considering the kettles at "Homebrewstuff" I mentioned that I found some awesome kettles at a restaurant supply store as well.. for what I thought to be a very good price... and that's what I ended up with.

So, what did I buy..? I bought two SS 40qt kettles w/lids and tri-clad bottoms. When I get back from my trip, Ill measure the wall thickness.. but these babies are heavy. And one 60qt kettle.. same specs. these are beautiful restaurant quality.
w
So, what did I pay..? The 40qts were $109 each and the 60qt was $147. I went to a local supplier and bought three weldless SS valves/spigots that are threaded to accept the kettle screen. The valves were $13 ea and the screens were $11.

All I need now are three weldless thermometers

This, I feel is going to work out very well for me. :rockin: Yesser.. it feels like "muy bueno"

MoreBeer sells the 1/2" MPT thermometers in a couple of probe sizes. I have two. You'll have them in 2 days ordering from Healdsburg.

 

[HopSong]

Tnx Heli.. I'll likely be visiting my kids down there and pick up a few on the way home...