Proper equipment to do it right from the beginning - 5 gallon batches

[jimmarshall]

Currently have brewed a couple of batches of extract kits, wanting to move into all grain. WHat equipment should I buy? The kits I am brewing now are just partial boil, so my kettle is no where near big enough. How big of a kettle should I be looking for? How big of a mash tun? Liqour pot?

 

[dmashl]

I have a partial boil system I use, due to the fact my stove top doesn't boil a larger volume. I use a 5 gallon mash tun(max about 12 lbs of grain), 5 gallon SS pot(4 gallon boils). I batch sparge(usually a 2 gallon sparge). Top off into a 6.5 gallon bucket to 5 gallons of fermentable). Most people use a 10 gallon tun and liquor tank, at least an 8 gallon pot.

 

[evrose]

Currently have brewed a couple of batches of extract kits, wanting to move into all grain. WHat equipment should I buy? The kits I am brewing now are just partial boil, so my kettle is no where near big enough. How big of a kettle should I be looking for? How big of a mash tun? Liqour pot?

I upgraded from 5 gallon extract kits to all grain by buying a $2 paint strainer bag from Home Depot - nothing more.

Look in to BIAB brewing. There's a forum for it here. If your kettle is small, you can just upgrade that to a nice 8-10 gallon pot, and you're good to go.

 

[stevehardt]

If you decide to avoid BIAB, you'll need a new brew kettle. I would advise to go around 7 gallons or more on the brew kettle. Do you already have the burner and stand, or a good stove? You'll also need a mash tun...many of us just converted a 10 gallon cooler. You really don't need a HLT. Many of us batch sparge and heat a second batch of sparge water in a second pot. A good, accurate thermometer is also a must.

 

[jimmarshall]

If you decide to avoid BIAB, you'll need a new brew kettle. I would advise to go around 7 gallons or more on the brew kettle. Do you already have the burner and stand, or a good stove? You'll also need a mash tun...many of us just converted a 10 gallon cooler. You really don't need a HLT. Many of us batch sparge and heat a second batch of sparge water in a second pot. A good, accurate thermometer is also a must.

Batch Sparge? Please define.

I have been brewing on the stove, but I also have a good propane turkey fryer burner

 

[bctdi]

I would get a 10 gallon kettle minimum if I were you. You may need to start with 8 gallons or more depending on your boil off rate, so even then you will only have 2 gallons space left to avoid boil overs. I would also get at the minimum a 10 gallon cooler, and even then you may not have enough room for some bigger beers, because you will lose some mash efficiency when you get up around 18 LBS of grain or somewhere thereabout. you will need some kind of burner / turkey fryer style setup to bring 8 gallons to a boil. I think most people need to start with around 7.5 gallons in order to end up with 5 full gallons at the end of fermentation. I personally need to start with 8.5. Also some beers may require you to boil for 90 minutes or more, which will cause you to have to start with a bigger boil volume. A 10 gallon pot will be able to handle all those scenarios.

 

[Transamguy77]

Personally I think your pot size needs to be the biggest you can afford, when I started BIAB AG I used a 32qt pot and turkey fryer and after I realized it will only take a little bit more time to make 10 gallons and I realized I wanted to make 10 gallon batches and I put the planning in motion. I think you need to have an idea of what you want to do and execute a plan based on that.

 

[MedicMang]

I agree with going as big as you can at first so you don't have to rebuy when you decide to go bigger. I have a 17.5 gallon Coleman Xtreme which allows me to do both 5 and 10 gallon batches. I also converted a keg to a keggle to boil in. I have no urge to go bigger any time soon, so buying all of this at the start has worked for me. Also a chiller is a must. You can build one though.

 

[jimmarshall]

I agree with going as big as you can at first so you don't have to rebuy when you decide to go bigger. I have a 17.5 gallon Coleman Xtreme which allows me to do both 5 and 10 gallon batches. I also converted a keg to a keggle to boil in. I have no urge to go bigger any time soon, so buying all of this at the start has worked for me. Also a chiller is a must. You can build one though.

Should I buy/make a CFC or immersion chiller?

 

[barrooze]

I personally think a ten gallon boil kettle is one of the worst size kettles (unless it's perfect for BIAB. I have no idea about BIAB). You need to size your kettle for whatever size batch you'll be doing. 5, 6, 10, or 12 gallons are the common sizes.

To calculate your bk size, first consider how much break and trub you leave in the kettle. If your batch size is 5gal and you leave a half gallon in the bk, you need 5.5gal post boil. You then need to consider your boil off rate. Wider pots typically have a higher boil off rate. Northern Brewer now carries kettles with an "optimized" height to width ratio. If you boil off a gallon per hour, your pre boil volume would then need to be 6.5gal for a 1 hour boil, 7gal for a 90 minute boil. You probably want some head space to allow for some foaming.

If you're only ever going to brew 5 gallon batches, I'd recommend an 8gal pot. If you think you'll ever be doing 10 gallon batches, go for a 15 gal pot or a decommissioned keg (15.5gal). I had a 10gal bk and had to upgrade when I went to 10gal batches.

As for mash tuns, I have a 48qt cooler can do a 6gal batch of really any gravity I want. I can easily do 10gal batches up to about 1.065 and have done an 11 gal batch of about 1.075. If you want to do large batches of high OG beers and don't want to supplement with extract (no problem doing that), then you'll want at least a 70qt cooler or kettle.

 

[barrooze]

Should I buy/make a CFC or immersion chiller?

Depends on what you want. Do you have a pump or will you gravity-feed the wort through the cfc? The last two days HD has had their copper tubing on mega clearance. I'd just make an IC with 50' 1/2" copper. Works great.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you're only ever going to brew 5 gallon batches, I'd recommend an 8gal pot. If you think you'll ever be doing 10 gallon batches, go for a 15 gal pot or a decommissioned keg (15.5gal). I had a 10gal bk and had to upgrade when I went to 10gal batches.

Due to the fact that I have boiled over 7 gallons in a 15 gallon pot, I know I'd never want to play around with only 1 gallon of headspace. 10 gallons is a dandy size for a 5-6 gallon finished batch.

 

[stevehardt]

Batch Sparge? Please define.

I have been brewing on the stove, but I also have a good propane turkey fryer burner

I always found Denny's link on batch sparging (and other items) helpful

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

good luck!

 

[barrooze]

Due to the fact that I have boiled over 7 gallons in a 15 gallon pot, I know I'd never want to play around with only 1 gallon of headspace. 10 gallons is a dandy size for a 5-6 gallon finished batch.

I always found it to be overkill when I used my 10g for 6gal batches, but I guess I actually watch for boil overs during the start of the boil. Live through (and clean up) one massive boil over and you won't make that mistake twice.

 

[jimmarshall]

I always found Denny's link on batch sparging (and other items) helpful

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

good luck!

Thank you, great resource. I like this "batch sparge" technique

 

[jimmarshall]

Depends on what you want. Do you have a pump or will you gravity-feed the wort through the cfc? The last two days HD has had their copper tubing on mega clearance. I'd just make an IC with 50' 1/2" copper. Works great.

I do not have any kind of pump.

 

[jimmarshall]

Sorry for the newbie questions.... So, lets say you are shooting for a post boil volume of 5.5G, and you end up with too much after sparging, etc and end up needing to do a 2 hour boil for a 1 hour recipe, do you boil just the wort for an hour and then add hops starting at 60 mins as usual?

 

[wmtunate]

Sorry for the newbie questions.... So, lets say you are shooting for a post boil volume of 5.5G, and you end up with too much after sparging, etc and end up needing to do a 2 hour boil for a 1 hour recipe, do you boil just the wort for an hour and then add hops starting at 60 mins as usual?

Yes. Follow the hop boil times.

 

[barrooze]

I do not have any kind of pump.

Then I'd get or build an immersion cooler. No pump needed!

 

[hophop]

Minimum for a5.5 gallon batch:

1) 10 gallon kettle. 8 gallon leaves too little head space (boil overs)
2) 5 gallon cooler for mash tun
3) GOOD thermometer.
4) refractometer. Makes measuring on the fly quick and easy.
5) ph meter.
6) brewing software. I use Beersmith but there are other free ones out there.
7) I use my old 5 gallon pot to heat strike and sparge water.
8) mash paddle of some sort.
9) I use an immersion chiller, maybe not as effective, but cheap. Buy copper tubing at Home Depot and make one for $25.
10) a lot of wisdom from reading and asking questions like you are doing here.
11) patience! You will have low effiency and problems. Deal with it, learn from it and more on.

Good luck. You'll never regret it.

 

[Gunfighter04]

Here's my setup. I have only done 5G batches. I do plan on 5.5G into the fermenter so I end up with 5G into the keg

HLT: 50qt. This may seem oversized, but, I recently converted to elec on the HLT and with this size I can keep the element submerged and still have enough for brewing. The extra couple of gallons works great for clean up
MT: 10G igloo round. Haven't run out of space on this yet.
BK: 44qt. On a 90 Min boil, and going for 5.5 at the end, it can even be close on a boil over. Running propane on the boil and you have to watch it.

Summary: I'm glad I bough much larger than I would have originally thought. My first thought is that I may want to do a 10G batch but that's never happened, BUT, the system I've got has been perfect for the 5G batches. Could you get away with less? Yes, but if you can afford it buy bigger.

 

[ClayHenry]

You will notice that pretty much everyone says get a 10 gallon kettle. Do it! That was the first upgrade I made.

 

[barrooze]

You will notice that pretty much everyone says get a 10 gallon kettle. Do it! That was the first upgrade I made.

All I'm saying is that if you're going to be doing 10 gallon batches ever, go bigger now! Get a 15 gallon kettle!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/tall-boy-kettles.html

Use promo code "elevenses" today to get 11% off. $133.49 is pretty damn good for this kettle!

 

[MedicMang]

You can gravity feed counter flow chillers. I've been using an immersion chiller for a while now. While its nice and all, I just don't like that my lid wont fit on my keggle with the chiller in there. During cooling, I have been using a bunch of foil to make somewhat of a contaminant blocker, which seems wasteful. I have been looking into gravity feeding a homemade counter flow chiller and like the results people are getting. Food for thought.

I am in the camp of going with a large kettle and mash tun if there is ANY inkling that you may do a 10 gallon batch. You can get 15.5 gal SS keg for $50 somewhere and convert it into a boil kettle. Comes with handles and everything. Coleman Xtreme homie. 17.5 gallons homie. HA. Sorry. I just love mine. Allows me to do any 5 gallon batch I can dream up and the ability to do most 10 gallon batches. I do a 5 gallon SMASH Partigyle every Halloween (Graveyard SMASH... Get it?) in which I use 26 Lbs of grain and I have room to spare. Plus, the cooler itself is considerably low price for the size.

 

[jflongo]

All I'm saying is that if you're going to be doing 10 gallon batches ever, go bigger now! Get a 15 gallon kettle!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/tall-boy-kettles.html

Use promo code "elevenses" today to get 11% off. $133.49 is pretty damn good for this kettle!

I even push my Keggle(15.5 gallon) to it's limit doing 11 gallon batches. I end up with about 13.5 - 14 gallons or wort pre-boil.

You can get a Keggle for a heck of a lot cheaper than $133.49 too For that price you could probably get a keggle with a valve, dip tube, thermometer, and sight glass.

 

[jflongo]

Minimum for a5.5 gallon batch:

1) 10 gallon kettle. 8 gallon leaves too little head space (boil overs)
2) 5 gallon cooler for mash tun
3) GOOD thermometer.
4) refractometer. Makes measuring on the fly quick and easy.
5) ph meter.
6) brewing software. I use Beersmith but there are other free ones out there.
7) I use my old 5 gallon pot to heat strike and sparge water.
8) mash paddle of some sort.
9) I use an immersion chiller, maybe not as effective, but cheap. Buy copper tubing at Home Depot and make one for $25.
10) a lot of wisdom from reading and asking questions like you are doing here.
11) patience! You will have low effiency and problems. Deal with it, learn from it and more on.

Good luck. You'll never regret it.

I used to use a 5 gallon cooler, but that is ONLY good if you are doing lower gravity beers. I strongly recommend going larger than that for even 5 gallon batches. I would spend the extra few dollars and go larger.

I moved up to a 50 quart mash tun, which made it much easier for 5 - 6 gallon batches. I am now finding now that I am doing 10 - 11 gallon batches, I'm maxing out my 50 quart, so I'm going to move to a 70 quart mash tun.

 

[barrooze]

If you guys are super concerned with boilovers, you can always use a defoamer in your boil if you're pushing your kettle to its max. I use this stuff in every starter I do as the erlenmeyer has a way of volcano-ing all over my stove... I use it in my kettle also when my PBV is close-ish to my kettle size.

 

[jflongo]

If you guys are super concerned with boilovers, you can always use a defoamer in your boil if you're pushing your kettle to its max. I use this stuff in every starter I do as the erlenmeyer has a way of volcano-ing all over my stove... I use it in my kettle also when my PBV is close-ish to my kettle size.

I plan on using Fermcap-S next time, I push my kettle that high

 

[hophop]

I used to use a 5 gallon cooler, but that is ONLY good if you are doing lower gravity beers. I strongly recommend going larger than that for even 5 gallon batches. I would spend the extra few dollars and go larger.

I moved up to a 50 quart mash tun, which made it much easier for 5 - 6 gallon batches. I am now finding now that I am doing 10 - 11 gallon batches, I'm maxing out my 50 quart, so I'm going to move to a 70 quart mash tun.

Agreed, and I have a 10 gallon mash tun. But I did state the minimum would be 5 gallons. For the extra $20, I'd just get the 10 gallon cooler.

 

[jimmarshall]

Thanks for all the advice guys, for the extra money I will just get the 15 gallon kettle off the bat.