bpaulik
Well-Known Member
I am looking to upgrade all of my kettles on my single tier 3 kettle system. I am looking at getting the Brewers Hardware Premium Sanitarty Fitting kettles. I have a couple of things that I am trying to get figured out though.
Most of my batches are 5 gallon but, I would really like the option to do up to a 15 gallon batch for 15 gallon barrel aged beers. I’m thinking I would go with a 20 gallon boil kettle. I would need to really watch the 15 gallon batches for boil over but I think it is a good compromise since I wouldn’t be doing 15 gallon batches that often. I’m not sure about the Mash Tun. Would a 20 gallon kettle be too large for 5 gallon batches or would I be better off doing a 15 gallon kettle and just doing 2 mashes to get my 15 gallons for a barrel aged beer, then boil both mashes at once in the 20 gallon boil kettle? I know it would make for a long brew day but I don’t want to go to large of a Mash Tun for my most common batch sizes of 5 gallon.
As for the HLT kettle I was going to go with a 15 gallon kettle which should be way more than enough for a 5 or 15 gallon batch.
To throw another thing into the mix, I am also planning to add an extra port on the boil and HLT kettles for an element so that I can convert to an electric setup down the road. I am planning to use a RIMS tube for the Mash Tun. Are there any standard dimensions to use for placement of the port for the element in the HLT and boil kettles? Example how far off the bottom of the kettle should the port be placed? Also should I add two element ports to the boil kettle for the 15 gallon batches (one low for the 5 gallon batches and one in the middle for the 15 gallon batches)?
I know it’s a lot of information here but just want to try and make the correct decisions the first time around since these kettle are not cheap.
Most of my batches are 5 gallon but, I would really like the option to do up to a 15 gallon batch for 15 gallon barrel aged beers. I’m thinking I would go with a 20 gallon boil kettle. I would need to really watch the 15 gallon batches for boil over but I think it is a good compromise since I wouldn’t be doing 15 gallon batches that often. I’m not sure about the Mash Tun. Would a 20 gallon kettle be too large for 5 gallon batches or would I be better off doing a 15 gallon kettle and just doing 2 mashes to get my 15 gallons for a barrel aged beer, then boil both mashes at once in the 20 gallon boil kettle? I know it would make for a long brew day but I don’t want to go to large of a Mash Tun for my most common batch sizes of 5 gallon.
As for the HLT kettle I was going to go with a 15 gallon kettle which should be way more than enough for a 5 or 15 gallon batch.
To throw another thing into the mix, I am also planning to add an extra port on the boil and HLT kettles for an element so that I can convert to an electric setup down the road. I am planning to use a RIMS tube for the Mash Tun. Are there any standard dimensions to use for placement of the port for the element in the HLT and boil kettles? Example how far off the bottom of the kettle should the port be placed? Also should I add two element ports to the boil kettle for the 15 gallon batches (one low for the 5 gallon batches and one in the middle for the 15 gallon batches)?
I know it’s a lot of information here but just want to try and make the correct decisions the first time around since these kettle are not cheap.
