Transitioning to AG - help!

[altenmuenster]

I just finished building a manifold for my Coleman Xtreme 70QT and am excited to take the plunge into All Grain!

Currently I have one burner, a keggle and the cooler (and my old 3 gallon boil pot from the kitchen) Do I have enough to start AG with batch sparging?

I thought I was in good shape, but now I'm having doubts. I'm working on another keggle, but it is probably going to be a while until I get that set up as a BK and my current keggle as a HLT.

Is there any harm collecting the wort in a 5-gal brew bucket and transferring it back to the keggle when I'm done?

 

[altenmuenster]

Ah - I think I have my answer in BobbyM's All-Grain Primer - page 9 - once again, thank you Bobby.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I haven't seen that book, but a 3 gallon pot isn't big enough for ag. For an average strength (~4.5%) brew, I would suggest at least a 5 gallon pot. You could always collect the wort, like you said, then boil. Your hop utilization will suffer some with this technique.

 

[tchuklobrau]

depending on what size batches you plan on making determines the answer. If you are doing 5g batches of regular gravity you are fine. I started ag with not much more. Might want a slightly larger pot. I started with a 20qt 3 pot set from walmart got it for$25 I still use this set up for my hlt(1-2 pot utilization) not sure why though. i have enough pots and burners to go around.

 

[tchuklobrau]

I haven't seen that book, but a 3 gallon pot isn't big enough for ag. For an average strength (~4.5%) brew, I would suggest at least a 5 gallon pot. You could always collect the wort, like you said, then boil. Your hop utilization will suffer some with this technique.

a keggle was mentioned in the arsenal. and a 3g pot for hlt until his/her 2nd keggle is finished.