I'm wondering if I can downsize my brewing setup a little (not for smaller volume but simplicity) Currently I have a 15g e-kettle, 10g mash tun, 8g e-hlt with herms coil. I brew 6-11g batches. I'd hopefully simplify my brewday, cut back on some time, and have less equip.
I might swap the plate chiller for the simple immersion coil-less hassle, hoses and allow easier cleaning.
I'm thinking of eliminating the e-hlt with the herms coil and control the mash temp directly with an element. Thoughts?
Some thoughts i had for 1 and 2 vessel....
- put the hlt heating element in the mash tun, get a fb that will fit over the element, use a bag, continue as normal but gravity sparge water from a bucket
-use something like a digiboil and use a regular FB, plug into 110v and use it as a mash tun
-Switch to all-in-one
-add a FB high enought to fit over the element in the kettle, Biab in that. lifting a bag might be a pita for big batches
BIAB. You'd need a pulley system for lifting, so not sure that's doable in a kitchen. I brew in the garage, so I just screwed an eyehook into the ceiling stud, and I'm good to go.
right, I’d have to dunk sparge in the bucket for big batches.
mash in a bag in an e-tun and gravity sparge from the bucket should work . I’m fine with that. A 3” false bottoms should work over an element .
I do a two vessel biab hybrid. It works pretty well. I heat my water in one kettle, mash in the other.
7 years doing it this way and pretty satisfied with it.
If you want to continue with 11 gallon batches using what you already have, it seems a 2-vessel system is the best option. If you want to go single vessel BIAB full volume for 11 gallons, you would need a 20-gallon kettle which would not be suitable for 6 gallon batches. The 15-gallon kettle may work for low to moderate gravity larger batches with less than a full-volume mash.
I don't find the hoisting process or equipment to be difficult. I use a step ladder and a ratchet pulley with the kettle on the floor. I'm only doing 5.5 gallon batches in a 15-gallon kettle.
Another option is to biab high gravity and diluting in the fermenter for 10 gallon batches with the kettle you have. I have been using this method for a couple years and it is indistinguishable in the glass. I know that it is frowned upon and I felt that way to, until I tried it and I absolutely can't tell the difference.
No reason this should result in worse beer, but it will reduce your mash efficiency (due to lower lauter efficiency.) The efficiency loss can be calculated quite accurately, if you have values for strike water volume, pre-boil volume, post-boil volume, and fermenter volume (before and after dilution.)
Brew on
There are a couple things to keep in mind. Efficiency does go down, hops need to be increased a little for higher gravity boils, but using chilled top up water in the fermenter is a bonus. I use distilled water, chilled straight from the store up to 30% and have had fantastic results.
Interesting thoughts on the biab/top off process.
My mash tun idea looks like it would limit me to .050 for 10g batches with an element/ False bottom. I suppose I could get another15g pot and use that, or come up with a different way to heat the 10g tun
It’s a pita because everything affects everything else
Assumption is the mother of all screw ups, but if you are kegging and your keg purging game is on point... you can brew big beers less than 10 gallons, but more than 5.
I’m not sure I made any assumptions but there might not be an issue here. I typically brew lower gravity beers when I do 11 gallons, and as was suggested I could simply make 8g of bigger beers. We’ll see how low I can get the element with a good seal
Post time 2022-12-15 21:26:09
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