Upgrading to AG & larger batches

[Mike_A]

Hi folks. I'm getting ready to hop into AG brewing, been extract brewing for a year or so. Also new to the forums - such a huge wealth of info here, sorry if my questions have been answered twenty times before.

My dilemma is that I want to plan ahead, and within a few months upgrade to a 15gal batch size setup. But since I haven't done AG batches yet I'd be better off acquainting myself with 5gal batches. So here's my thought - buy 2x 12-15G coolers, convert one to a MLT and use the other as HLT. I have an 8gal kettle which I'd plan on heating the sparge water, storing in the HLT, heating the strike water and mashing that, then use the HLT to fly sparge the MLT into the kettle. So far so good?

In the future when upgrading to the 15G batch size, I'll be getting a 25-30G kettle. But at that point, do I get an even larger cooler (20-25G)? With that large cooler I have two options using the gear I already had:
1. Use the ~25G as HLT and use both the 12-15G coolers mentioned before as MLT's (split my grains in half, hopefully keep a deeper grain bed)
2. Use the 12-15G coolers as HLT and mash in the 20-25G cooler? This setup could lend itself well to doing several temp step mashes. Would also likely give a more shallow grain bed. Would that even be a concern with 30+lb of grain in it?

Another option is this: get a ~25gal cooler now, convert it to a MLT and use the kettle for the strike water and the sparge water. For short term, 5gal batches, this will be a very thin grain bed. Too thin to even batch sparge? I think I would still need another 12-15G cooler to use as HLT if I wanted to fly sparge a 15gal batch, since I don't know if I'd be able to heat enough sparge water while the mash is going on.

Or, I could be completely on the wrong train of thought and missing some key points with all of these ideas. May be some serious considerations I overlooked when thinking of a larger batch. I could definitely use some expert input.

 

[ihomebrewing]

I don't understand why you would want to switch from 5 gal to 15 gal.

The process is the same, just some equipment variation applies in optimizing one or the other.

IMHO, you will spend more for this 'temporary' 5 gal transition idea.

Kegs are solid, cheap, and are the right volume to fill 2 corny kegs of all grain brew per batch (12.5gal recipies), so you may want to consider that option from the get go.

You can sub a 10gal cooler for your MLT keg, and that would also work fine for 5 or 10gal batches.

Add a couple turkey burners under your HLT and Boil Kettle kegs, get a bag of 2-row, and you are rocking all grain brewing.

 

[Mike_A]

Why go from 5G to 15G? Not sure I understand the question - you asking why bother with the 5G in the first place, only to upgrade to 15G?

And yeah, I agree it's a slightly more costly option but I may find it useful for acclimating myself to all-grain brewing rather than diving into large batches. And most brewing eqpt that can be used for 15gal is just way too big for 5gal batches.

I realize that this plan is not all that feasible for what I really want to accomplish - the roots of a system that can be modularly upgraded to do 15 gallon batches "easily." There's a lot about all-grain brewing that I still don't know/understand, so as I learn I'd like to be able to adapt my system accordingly. Like being able to control mash temp much more precisely, temp stepping, sparge rates, etc.

But now that I know I'll be needing an even more intricate setup, it's even more important to me that I know I'm starting off with the right gear that can be added to, modified or used for other purposes instead of completely replacing/obsoleting the old stuff.