Who Brews 5 Gal Batches in ~20 Gal Pot

[Jiffster]

Reason I ask is I'm doing my due diligence in planning for my move to AG brewing and deciding on my equipment upgrades.

I assume the majority of my batches will be 5 gallon, at least for a good while (?). Knowing I may want to do 10 gallon batches and knowing I don't like to waste money, I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and purchase a 20 gallon pot (or thereabouts). Would there be drawbacks that I would regret if the majority of my batches (at least for now) are 5 gallon batches?

Appreciate any wisdom drawn from experience.

 

[jrcrilly]

I haven't tried a 20 gallon pot but have brewed many 5 gallon all-grain batches in my 15 gallon pots. No problem - and no issues with hot break boilovers (see photo)! I have to be a little more watchful when boiling 13 gallons for a ten gallon batch, though.

 

[Silentdrinker]

There are countless threads about this exact topic.

I personally find it to be a pain... Majority will tell you the thermometer placement can be an issue. And just about everyone will tell you to go 15 gallon.

 

[Gavin C]

Totally doable assuming of course your not using an electric element in the pot as 5 gallons could possible uncover the element toward the end of the boil depending on where it's placed.

With propane or NG

If your planning mostly 5 gallon batches 10 gallon pot is fine.

if you plan mostly 5 but with some 10 gallon batches 15 gallon pot sounds like the best idea. Simply because 20 gallons is overkill unless you are doing single vessel brewing.

If your mashing in a separate mash tun I see no need for a 20 gallon pot for 10 gallon batches. 15 is ample. Kegs are ~15 gallons and may brewers use them with great success.

 

[Brewski_59]

I use a 20 gal pot. gives me the flexibility to brew larger batches when I want to. but I find that I boil off too much of my 5 gallon recipes.
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=e76719cd78c36dc995ef661fa85b4f22&oe=5660CA91

 

[Jiffster]

I would be using an Igloo 10 gal mash tun. I'm using propane now. I would love to go all electric but that would be down the road quite a ways.

Would a 15 gal pot allow me to do high OG 10 gallon batches?

Brewski 59,
When you say larger, do you mean volume wise or higher OG?

 

[bhchrist]

Would a 15 gal pot allow me to do high OG 10 gallon batches?

The OG should not really be a factor unless you are mashing in the kettle, like with brew in a bag. The biggest factors are boil time and target end volume. The longer you boil, the more evaporation you will have and the more wort you will need to start with. If you are using a lot of pilsner malt, plan on 90 minute boils and a larger volume pre-boil.

Your limiting factor for high OG 10 gallon batches will be your mash tun. You may find yourself picking up a second Igloo cooler so you aren't doing back-to-back mashes to get your OG and pre-boil volume on a 10 gallon batch (says the guy who has used two 10G Igloos for 5G batches of First Runnings Only RIS).

 

[jrcrilly]

I use a ten gallon mash tun here. 5 gallon high gravity brews are no problem. 10 gallon "normal" gravity brews are no problem. 10 gallon high gravity brews would be a big problem, requiring some of the alternative methods mentioned above (back to back mashes, parallel mashes, etc.)

This photo shows what the 10 gallon cooler looks like with a 10 gallon batch of 1.061 mashing.

 

[Gavin C]

Would a 15 gal pot allow me to do high OG 10 gallon batches?

Yes, but...

Lets imagine an extreme

2 gallon/hour boil-off

1.5 hour boil

For 12 gallon post boil (2x5.5 gallon fermenter volume) and allowing for shrinkage and trub loss in the kettle

Pre-boil would be ~15 gallons. It's close at these extremes

Solution Fermcap S for a long boil with a very high boil-off rate.

 

[jrcrilly]

I figure 11 gallons post-boil for two 5.5 gallon fermenter fills. That means 13 gallons pre-boil here. I've done it with fermcap-S (no issues) and without (requires babysitting).

 

[LandoLincoln]

Reason I ask is I'm doing my due diligence in planning for my move to AG brewing and deciding on my equipment upgrades.

I assume the majority of my batches will be 5 gallon, at least for a good while (?). Knowing I may want to do 10 gallon batches and knowing I don't like to waste money, I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and purchase a 20 gallon pot (or thereabouts). Would there be drawbacks that I would regret if the majority of my batches (at least for now) are 5 gallon batches?

Appreciate any wisdom drawn from experience.

I have 25 gallon pots and the smallest batches I can do are 7 gallon batches because I have an electric heating element in the bottom of my BK and it needs to stay submerged or else it will fry. 7 gallons is the smallest volume that will give me pretty much guaranteed coverage of the element. My pots are as wide as they are tall, so that means they're pretty wide. Had I gone with tall pots I might be able to get away with a smaller batch size. So if I want to brew a 5 gallon batch that means 5.5 gallons goes into the fermentor and 1.5 gallons gets dumped. Not the end of the world, but...ya know.

Bigger pots typically means more surface area and that means more evaporation, so you will lose more water to steam loss than with a smaller rig.

 

[Jim311]

For big 10 gallon beers you could just no sparge mash in your kettle but it's not really ideal.

 

[Jiffster]

So is it this batch sparge method that John Palmer demonstrates that would allow me to brew high OG 10 gallon batches with a 10 gallon mash tun and a 15 gallon pot?

http://youtu.be/h5J8S5nBdUc

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

I bought a 15 gallon kettle thinking I could do 10 gal batches but never did because it's heavy, probably need a pump or help. I just use my 9 gal for 5 gal batches and it works, less boil off too.

 

[Jiffster]

I bought a 15 gallon kettle thinking I could do 10 gal batches but never did because it's heavy, probably need a pump or help. I just use my 9 gal for 5 gal batches and it works, less boil off too.

What if you drained it? Would the 15 gal pit handle the boil well without too much babysitting?

 

[Brewski_59]

Brewski 59,
When you say larger, do you mean volume wise or higher OG?

I meant volume. My MLT is a ten gallon cooler.

 

[Chrisbrewbeers]

What if you drained it? Would the 15 gal pit handle the boil well without too much babysitting?

When I use the 9 gal kettle for 5 I use about 8 gallons of it to have exactly 5 in carboy. This leaves about 1 gal with lots of hop debris in kettle. That I do drain but the 15 gal kettle has no drain fitting. The way I brew with these volumes I'm not sure it would work. Fermcap would help. I have 15 gal bayou kettle, it is huge. I think it would weigh about 70 pounds with 10 gallons in it which would be awkward to lift high enough to siphon alone. It's not easy with 5 gal because of how big it is.