Just got my all grain kit and now I’m wondering if my equipment is big enough. I had a five gallon cooler that I made into a mash tun and what I hope to do is . Mash with 11lb with 3.5 gal and then fly sparge with 3.5 gal. My pot is only 6.5 gal so it’s going to be close. I’m thinking the grain will hold some water. Can I use less water to sparge?
the grain will definitely hold some water. Do your 60 minute rest, then fly sparge untill you hit your pre boil volume (probably around 6 gallons - give or take depending on your boil off rate).
you can also take some wort into a smaller pot and boil it on the stovetop. Keep a spray bottle with water handy (good for spraying foam/boil overs and subdueing the mess). It will be close, but it’s not impossible…
Good luck, and be careful!
What I used to do when I had a smaller set up is I’d collect the wort in other pots and add that wort to the boil kettle once room was made from evaporation. Seemed to work pretty well for me! It’s just an inconvenience is all.
Thanks. Good idea. Ill keep my eyes open for an 8gal. pot
This seems it would be very difficult to calculate your efficiency or IBU’s.
10 gallon pot $40… BOOM… problem solved!
http://www.amazon.com/Winware-Professio ... uminum+pot:cheers:
This seems it would be very difficult to calculate your efficiency or IBU’s.[/quote]
The efficiency wasn’t hard since I based it on my final boiled volume and OG rather than from run off. To simplify things, I upgraded to much bigger and better things 
ETA: Also, my process consisted of adding wort to the kettle, boiling it down, adding more wort etc. Once all of my wort was in the kettle, then I started my hop additions. I did not boil the hops in the kettle the entire time I was boiling wort. I’m not sure how much it affected the IBUs all that much.
That’s a good price for a 10 gal. Goes on the wish list. Why would it change the IBU if I held out a 1/2 gallon or so and boiled it seperate then added it back
The volume of your boil directly effects hop utilization. The larger the volume, the high the utilization. So if you are boiling a smaller volume of wort, you aren’t getting all the IBU’s from your hops.
Well that’s a problem since I prefer high IBU beers. I’m going to hop up the chinook ipa kit to get more IBU instead of .75 chinook at 60 I’m doing 1.0 the recipe calls for .5 at ten and 1min. I will increase those to 1oz additions also. Then dry hop with cascade 1oz. Instead of 6gal pre boil I’ll do 5.5 and see we’re that goes. If the fermenter isn’t a full 5 gals will that be a problem ?
Sounds like a personal problem… :lol:
Just giving you crap, man. I hate to say it but I don’t think your setup is going to work for 5-gallon batches.
One thing to consider is brewing smaller batches. I’ve just started doing 3 gallon batches and it’s allowing me to brew way more often, try more styles, and still have a decent amount of each beer. Just a thought.
:cheers:
El Capitan- Are you doing AG or BAIB?
It’s going to be AG. I think I will be alright the bottom of the pot said 26 quarts but I just measured it out and to the brim is 7.5 gal. 6.5 is two inches down from the top. Ill sparge till I get 6gal that leaves of head room me 3 inches of room .
El Capitan- Are you doing AG or BAIB?[/quote]
I’m brewing AG. I batch sparge with a braid. On my last batch, my efficiency was 84%.
I think the OP’s description of his equipment sounds about perfect for 3-gallon batches. I have everything I need for 5 or 10-gallon batches, but I chose to scale back this year so I can brew more often. I built a new 5-gallon orange mash tun and it’s been great. I even brewed a 5-gallon kolsch and it was tight, but the mash did fit in the cooler.
I’m going to brew a RIS here soon, and I’m not sure it’ll fit in the tun. I may have to bust out the 10-gallon cooler for that one.
