Small pot

[CodyA]

Thinking about taking the dive into AG already. Did a partial mash 2 weeks ago for an American IPA and it came out great! My only problem is, the pot I brew in is only 7.5 gallons. The AG option for the IPA recipe I followed called for 12.5 pounds of grain, but that 6 pounds I mashed for the partial was almost pushing the capacity limit. I was wondering if maybe I could mash 6.25 pounds for an hour, replace that grain with the other 6.25 pounds in the same water, and mash for another hour? Anyone see anything wrong with this approach?

 

[ArcLight]

You can do12.5 pounds All Grain in a 7.5 gallon pot using BIAB (Brew in a Bag). There is a great stickied thread in this folder.
You will need some Fermcap to prevent a boil over though.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Are you mashing the entire volume or mashing at 1.25 QT/Lb and then sparging to get the reamaining volume? I did a mash and sparge with my 7.5Gal pot before I upgraded to 15 Gallons.

 

[kingwood-kid]

How can you barely fit 6lbs of grain in a 7.5 gallon pot? You should be able to fit three times that much and the water to mash it. Nor is 7.5 gallons a small pot. Maybe you have a 2.5 gallon pot? But mashing twice in the same water won't work; the mash water will be too saturated with sugar from the first mash to absorb much more sugar from the second mash. If you can't fit all your wort in your pot, you either need a bigger pot or less wort, i.e., smaller batches of beer.

 

[drawdy10]

Does anyone have the formula for volume of mash grain/liquor combo? This could help with determining how much grain and water will fit in to said sized vessels. This will then let us play with mash consistencies on our own and figure out how to proceed with the mash in a specified sized vessel where size is a concern. I have a similar issue as the OP but my mash tun is 55gals and I am trying to get the highest OG wort possible out of it.

 

[drawdy10]

So if the water you are adding at 1.25 qt/ lb is 1.25 qt volume, what would the resulting grain with that 1.25qt of water yield for volume? For instance is it like a lb of grain has a volume of .5 qt? So the total for mashing 1 lb of grain would be 1.75 total qts of mash run volume required? Does anyone know this?

 

[kingwood-kid]

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml then scroll down to "Can I mash It?." It's a little backwards; you have to put in how much grain you have and it spits out the size of your mash tun. But it's basically 2.5lbs of grain per gallon capacity of mash tun. Assuming you want to stir, you might want to leave yourself a little extra room.

 

[daksin]

Yup, I mashed my barleywine (22.5lbs of grain) at 1qt/lb in my 7.5 gallon turkey fryer. Lower efficiency, but that's to be expected with high-gravity brews.

 

[drawdy10]

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml then scroll down to "Can I mash It?." It's a little backwards; you have to put in how much grain you have and it spits out the size of your mash tun. But it's basically 2.5lbs of grain per gallon capacity of mash tun. Assuming you want to stir, you might want to leave yourself a little extra room.

This is awesome, exactly what I needed. Thanks

 

[CodyA]

So the grains don't have to be completely submerged then? I was starting with 3 gallons with the 6 pounds, then adding the water to get 5 gallons after the mash, then the hops and boil. If I could fit 12+ pounds though in that 7.5 gallon pot in a grain bag, I'll just do that then. I was just worried about boil over. What is "farmcap"? And could I just use a wooden spoon?

 

[kingwood-kid]

The grains need to be completely submerged when you mash. And you have plenty of room to submerge almost 20lbs of grain in your pot, so 12 should present no difficulty. I'm confused as to why you're having trouble fitting everything in the pot, unless you're leaving the grains in the pot while you boil 6 gallons of liquid.

 

[CodyA]

No, I think I just freaked out when I saw the volume of 6 pounds and figured 12 pounds would cause a boil over. Guess I'll start my first all grain beer tomorrow, thanks everyone!

 

[kingwood-kid]

You still might have a boilover. I come pretty close sometimes while making 2.5 gallon batches in a 7.5 gallon pot. Stirring at the foam helps beat it back, but you're going to have to be ready to lift the pot off the flame without much notice. You can stop by your LHBS (or order from one of the online stores) and pick up a bottle of Fermcap for just a few bucks. I've never used it, but apparently it's pretty effective at preventing boilovers in the pot and blowoffs in the fermenter. Just bear in mind that it's not magic.

 

[drawdy10]

You still might have a boilover. I come pretty close sometimes while making 2.5 gallon batches in a 7.5 gallon pot. Stirring at the foam helps beat it back, but you're going to have to be ready to lift the pot off the flame without much notice. You can stop by your LHBS (or order from one of the online stores) and pick up a bottle of Fermcap for just a few bucks. I've never used it, but apparently it's pretty effective at preventing boilovers in the pot and blowoffs in the fermenter. Just bear in mind that it's not magic.

It's magic and amazing too, get some