Smallest pot for 5 gallons BIAB

[beauvafr]

I got a deal on a 9 gal pot. Is 9 gallons enough for 5 gallons batchs?

 

[freisste]

I got a deal on a 9 gal pot. Is 9 gallons enough for 5 gallons batchs?

Yes.

 

[BansheeRider]

If its bigger than 5 gal then I would assume so :cross:

 

[shtoive87]

I think 7 gals is the smallest pot I've heard for 5 gallon brews.

 

[BansheeRider]

I think 7 gals is the smallest pot I've heard for 5 gallon brews.

I have a 5 gal pot and I normally have to top off with at least 1.5 gal of water in the fermenter.

 

[Carlscan26]

In general, yes. But it depends on how big a beer you're making; i.e. how many lbs of grain are you going to try to fit? Also, how much pre-boil volume do you want to have?

I have a calculator I can punch these numbers in for you. I recently posted about the same size kettle and if you want to have 6.5 gals preboil your max grain is 10.87 lbs. 6 gals is 13.04 lbs. That's assuming a grain absorption factor of 0.15 gal/lb (this will vary depending on how much you squeeze, etc.) and a grain volume factor of .32 qt/lb.

Hope that helps!

 

[BryceL]

My old setup was full boil BIAB for 5 gallon batches. I had an 8 gallon boil kettle and was able to do beers up to 8.5% abv or so.

 

[Brew-Jay]

My old setup was full boil BIAB for 5 gallon batches. I had an 8 gallon boil kettle and was able to do beers up to 8.5% abv or so.

Ditto. 9 gallons is fine.

 

[beauvafr]

@BryceL Do you have water boiling off the pot sometimes ? Difficulty swirling or anything?

 

[BryceL]

@BryceL Do you have water boiling off the pot sometimes ? Difficulty swirling or anything?

When I start the boil I would be about 1.5" from the top so you have to watch it at the beginning and keep it from boiling over. Once it settles down a bit you don't have to watch it as close. I only had one boil over when I got distracted.

 

[flipfloptan]

9 gallons is fine. It is what I have been using for 2 years. No problems.

 

[dgr]

I have a calculator I can punch these numbers in for you. I recently posted about the same size kettle and if you want to have 6.5 gals preboil your max grain is 10.87 lbs. 6 gals is 13.04 lbs. That's assuming a grain absorption factor of 0.15 gal/lb (this will vary depending on how much you squeeze, etc.) and a grain volume factor of .32 qt/lb.

Good info there. That is all without sparging. If you're willing to sparge your BIAB, you can go higher than those numbers.

 

[Carlscan26]

Good info there. That is all without sparging. If you're willing to sparge your BIAB, you can go higher than those numbers.

Right. I should have clarified that's for a no sparge BIAB

 

[user 103238]

I used a 10-gallon pot for no-sparge BIAB for about 9 months. I think the most amount of grain I was able to mash was about 18 pounds for a 5-gallon batch. You'll be limited on the OG you can squeak out, but you'll still be able to make great beer!

 

[beauvafr]

@kscarrington 18 pounds for a 5 gallons means which OG?

 

[user 103238]

So it looks like I fibbed a little bit (had to blow the digital dust off of my brew log). I had a couple of batches that were 15.5 pounds of grain that I mashed in a 10-gallon pot for BIAB. The porter I brewed had an OG of 1.060. I found I could usually start with about 8-8.5 gallons of strike water, depending on the OG, and end up with about 5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

@kscarrington 18 pounds for a 5 gallons means which OG?