Planning on 5 Gal electric All grain, let me know what you think!

[dmcman73]

So I am planning on building an all electric 3 tier all grain setup to brew 5 gal. I have most of the items and was wondering if you can give me advice.

- For the HLT, I have my old 5 Gal brew pot
- Mash/Tun I have a 10 Gal Igloo round cooler with a Stainless false bottom
- Brew Kettle I have my current 8 Gal thick clad bottom kettle (I upgraded to this from my 5 Gal pot)

Starting with these items, would these be ideal for creating an all electric 3 tier brewing system? Is 5 Gal for the HLT good or do I need a larger one? At this time I would not go above 5 Gal brewing just because I don't have the room for it all (multiple Fermentors or one large one) plus I like to brew a few different beers to keep on tap.

I plan on modifying the 5 Gal pot with a heating element along with the Brew kettle. I don't think I'll need any type of HERMS setup since I am using an Igloo cooler which would simplify things.

Part of the build will include some automation which I'll save for the automation forum.

Please let me know what you all think!

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Strecker25]

I'd say the definitely get a larger HLT if you can swing it, not that the 5gallon wont work but you'll undoubtedly be refilling it during the course of the brewday causing the temps to drop way down again. Also, the diameter might be pretty small so you'll be limited with which electric elements you can use. You dont necessarily need ulwd in the HLT, but the camco ripple would probably be too long for a 5G pot.

 

[iijakii]

How simple and cheap are you wanting to go? You could always skip doing anything to your HLT. Just heat up your sparge water in the BK and then transfer it to your HLT and sparge as usual, or you could drain your first runnings into your HLT and add it to BK after you've added the sparge water to MT.

 

[dmcman73]

Would an 8 Gal work well for an HLT then or should I just bite the bullet and get a 10 Gal? What would the minimum be? I don't want to keep refiling the HLT and fluctuate the temps during the brew.

 

[dmcman73]

It's not the fact of making it cheap, just was trying to re-use what I have. But I also don't want to create more work either so if I have to purchase a larger HLT and keep what I have for the BK and Mash/Tun then that would be fine.

 

[dlester]

You need head space to avoid boil-overs. An 8 gallon would be good for 5-6 gallons. However, you'll kick yourself for not spending a slight bit more amount of money to brew 10 gallons, which requires a 12-15 gallon HLT. I know, I did the same thing you are and had to spend more money to replace my smaller HLT only 6 months later. I now brew on a Blickman 15 gallon for 10 gallon brews.

 

[iijakii]

I think spending money on a bigger HLT is a waste. You'll only be sparging with what, 3-4gals max on a 5gal batch? Maybe less depending on how thin you like your mash.

 

[iijakii]

You need head space to avoid boil-overs. An 8 gallon would be good for 5-6 gallons. However, you'll kick yourself for not spending a slight bit more amount of money to brew 10 gallons, which requires a 12-15 gallon HLT. I know, I did the same thing you are and had to spend more money to replace my smaller HLT only 6 months later. I now brew on a Blickman 15 gallon for 10 gallon brews.

The guy said he wants to stick to 5gal. Why does everyone on this forum repeatedly coerce people into going to 10gal? I see a lot of people downsizing because they went with the common mantra of "Go bigger!". Not everyone wants to brew 10gal.

 

[Strecker25]

Good point. With the existing equipment you could heat your strike in the 5g kettle, dough in. Then refill and just heat to sparge temp while the mash rests.

 

[dmcman73]

I definitely do not want to brew 10 Gal or even plan on doing so in the future. So what I am gathering is that what I have is perfect for brewing 5 gal including the 5 Gal pot I will use as a HLT?

I bought the 10 Gal igloo only because of what I was told about the amount of grains + water that will go in it may get to the rim of a 5 Gal cooler.

EDIT: I meant to say I bought the 10 Gal igloo, edited my post to reflect that.

 

[Strecker25]

Yep I'd say your equipment is fine. Just make sure your element isn't too long for the diameter of your 5g pot

 

[dmcman73]

Great, thanks all. I ordered the heating element for both the HLT and BK. If it's to large for the HLT, I'll take it as I need to upgrade the HLT and give the 5 gal pot to my wife to make big batches of pasta!

 

[dyqik]

If your 5 gal pot is induction compatible, you might consider one of the 1800W induction hot plates that people on here have mentioned for heating it - no holes to drill, no controller to build, and the plates can have a temperature controlled setting that would be good enough for controlling the sparge water temperature.

I'm pretty sure that a 5 gal HLT would be big enough with a 10 gal cooler MLT. The only time I've had to sparge more than 5 gallons is trying to do a 6 gallon final volume big beer in a 5 gal cooler MLT with a very thick mash. With a bigger MLT, you can mash a bit thinner and use less sparge water.

 

[dmcman73]

If your 5 gal pot is induction compatible, you might consider one of the 1800W induction hot plates that people on here have mentioned for heating it - no holes to drill, no controller to build, and the plates can have a temperature controlled setting that would be good enough for controlling the sparge water temperature.

I'm pretty sure that a 5 gal HLT would be big enough with a 10 gal cooler MLT. The only time I've had to sparge more than 5 gallons is trying to do a 6 gallon final volume big beer in a 5 gal cooler MLT with a very thick mash. With a bigger MLT, you can mash a bit thinner and use less sparge water.

Excellent! I didn't even think of using the induction hot plates! Saves a lot of work, no special tools and I can reuse the plates for other purposes. Thanks for the heads up dyqik! Even if my pots are not compatible, they make a plate to adapt pots.

 

[dmcman73]

Well, I did a lot of reading up on the induction hot plates for brewing and from what I gather, it takes one that is over 3000W to really get things going, the 1800W ones take a while to heat up anything over 5 gal and the ones that are over 3000W can get pretty pricey. Looks like I'll stick with my original plan and punch a hole into my kettles and install the heating elements like others have done.

 

[stevedasleeve]

Fwiw I use a 1800W induction burner in combination with a 1500w heat stick. Works perfectly for 8-9 gallon boils. No drilling, cheap and efficient.., the heat stick took 30 mins to build...

Steve da sleeve