Home of the BrewNosers

So I'm not sure how I want go and am exploring options, I'll be converting this year. Honnestly I'm really happy with my partial grain beers, this Pale Ale is one of the best beers I've produced (thank you leafman for the Hop schedule), and honnestly beats alot of craft beers you can buy. The boys can't put this down. However with that being said. I want to step up my game, I want to brew large volumes to keep up and reduce my time spent brewing over all.

What size pot would I need to do a 15 gallon all grain BIAB? and also what size pot for a 15 gallon partial mash extract beer (no top ups with water).

I'll be converting to a propane setup, I looked at Electric, but not sure I want to go that way.

Also in my planning steps, I need to find an ideal wort chiller for a brew that size. I'm looking for something that won't kill my water bill, but drop the temp at a reasonable pace.
Any suggestions are welcome. Honnestly I am contemplating 20-25 gallon batches as the boys are seriously cleaning me out and it's a fulltime job keeping up with supply haha.

Keith wrote:So I'm not sure how I want go and am exploring options, I'll be converting this year. Honnestly I'm really happy with my partial grain beers, this Pale Ale is one of the best beers I've produced (thank you leafman for the Hop schedule), and honnestly beats alot of craft beers you can buy. The boys can't put this down. However with that being said. I want to step up my game, I want to brew large volumes to keep up and reduce my time spent brewing over all.

What size pot would I need to do a 15 gallon all grain BIAB? HUGEand also what size pot for a 15 gallon partial mash extract beer (no top ups with water).LESS HUGE, BUT STILL REAL BIG

I'll be converting to a propane setup, I looked at Electric, but not sure I want to go that way.

Also in my planning steps, I need to find an ideal wort chiller for a brew that size. I'm looking for something that won't kill my water bill, but drop the temp at a reasonable pace.
Any suggestions are welcome. Honnestly I am contemplating 20-25 gallon batches as the boys are seriously cleaning me out and it's a fulltime job keeping up with supply haha.

Get them to make some??

I used to have a single tier 3 burner setup that I contemplated keeping as my brew rig so I could do 3 simultaneous brews of the same or different beers (with BIAB). I already had 3 converted kegs, though, so there wouldn't have been any extra costs.

Keith, A 20 gal pot for BIAB mash does a 10 gal batch nicely. I'm not sure you can go much larger than that with BIAB, but I don't know much.

If you have a two vessel system and drain off into a second boiling pot via a ball valve on the first pot (rather than lifting a bag, which is bloody awkward any way) that would be ok.

All grain will slow you down a hell of a lot and cramp your style a bit. You might not be able to keep the boys in beer. I think you would need a proper nano-brewery setup. Also I'm worried you are pushing poor Stanley close to his limits ...I know he's keen on this, and all that.

@ Trevor 1 friend helps out with most batches, funds the passion and was around for most brews and cleaning sessions, just had alot of bad experience brewing himself and really fucked it up lol. I'm trying to coax him back into it, and I figure I will this year. The other likes to only show up when it's cold and pouring freely, a great friend and he helped me with several renovations and provided me with expertise I lack, so honnestly having beer on tap and him showing up every week or two is the last I can do.

@ Jimmy, I'm on limited space, when I buy my next house (3-5) I'd like to move into a nano setup in the garage. Brewing has really turned into a passion that I really see no ends to. I'm happy we were in a financial pinch after we bought this house (no longer). I started with festa, and am now brewing my own recipes (thanks for the guidance everyone). It is a rewarding gift that I can share with friends and family. I love serving a beer and calling it my own.

@ Mark, I thought I may have pushing the limits of BIAB. I may be able to look at a 2 tier setup (cooler \ pot) and brew 15 gallons this way.

Check out http://www.dudadiesel.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for a chiller. They rock.
I have the 20 plate and it works great.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... erchillers

Great options on the chillers. How difficult is this to clean?

Keith wrote:Great options on the chillers. How difficult is this to clean?

Not difficult at all. I have one as well. Just be sure to back flush as soon as you're done brewing to get most of the crud out.

Do you guys run a filter over top or any type of cheese cloth to catch the majority of debris?

I have a stainless hop screen over my dip tube.

25 gal batch...that would be awesome...

I'd like to step up to 10g ....the only way I can do that is to do a partial, and top up

I run a screen too. Keep in mind you need a pump for this chiller.

Keggermeister wrote:I run a screen too. Keep in mind you need a pump for this chiller.

This. If you want to stick with a gravity fed chiller, look into a counterflow.

Keith wrote:Also in my planning steps, I need to find an ideal wort chiller for a brew that size. I'm looking for something that won't kill my water bill, but drop the temp at a reasonable pace.

In Halifax 100 gallons of water will set you back a back-breaking $0.68 if you put it down the drain, and about $0.23 if you don't. Now, as I've been labelled as one of the hippie environmentalists on this board I do have to urge you to consider a solution that uses less water.

benwedge wrote:

Keith wrote:Now, as I've been labelled as one of the hippie environmentalists on this board I do have to urge you to consider a solution that uses less water.

You are more of a hipster Ben.

benwedge wrote:

Keith wrote:Also in my planning steps, I need to find an ideal wort chiller for a brew that size. I'm looking for something that won't kill my water bill, but drop the temp at a reasonable pace.

In Halifax 100 gallons of water will set you back a back-breaking $0.68 if you put it down the drain, and about $0.23 if you don't. Now, as I've been labelled as one of the hippie environmentalists on this board I do have to urge you to consider a solution that uses less water.

Ben I believe the wastewater charge on the HW bill is an exact number matching the water consumption, so no matter what you do with the water after it comes out of the tap you are getting charged for it's discharge. HW has no way of monitoring wastewater discharge on standard residential homes.

LiverDance wrote:

benwedge wrote:

Keith wrote:Also in my planning steps, I need to find an ideal wort chiller for a brew that size. I'm looking for something that won't kill my water bill, but drop the temp at a reasonable pace.

In Halifax 100 gallons of water will set you back a back-breaking $0.68 if you put it down the drain, and about $0.23 if you don't. Now, as I've been labelled as one of the hippie environmentalists on this board I do have to urge you to consider a solution that uses less water.

Ben I believe the wastewater charge on the HW bill is an exact number matching the water consumption, so no matter what you do with the water after it comes out of the tap you are getting charged for it's discharge. HW has no way of monitoring wastewater discharge on standard residential homes.

That's probably correct. I have never seen a water bill.

benwedge wrote:Now, as I've been labelled as one of the hippie environmentalists on this board...

Really? You're way off from hippie, and never really struck me as an environmentalist. But then again, it's hard for me to label people who live in cities as being such.

Keith wrote:
@ Mark, I thought I may have pushing the limits of BIAB. I may be able to look at a 2 tier setup (cooler \ pot) and brew 15 gallons this way.

If I was setting up for a 15gal batch BIAB brew I would get two SS pots with ball valves. One would be a 30Gal Mash pot with a BIAB bag in it, and the other would be a 20 – 25 gal boil pot. It wouldn’t need to be two tier as you could run the wort from the mash pot into a bucket and dump it in the boil pot, or pump from one vessel to the other.

Yea it's not so much about the .68 cents lol. I'm not a fan of waste of any means. I do my part to keep composting, recyling and reducing my foot print as much as possible.

Keith wrote:Yea it's not so much about the .68 cents lol. I'm not a fan of waste of any means. I do my part to keep composting, recyling and reducing my foot print as much as possible.

What the hell does brewing have to do with your shoe size

If I was to go up to 15 liter batches on a budget, I would probably go with a big ass cooler (100 liter one or so) on some scaffolding so you could drain it with gravity into a 19 gal boil kettle. For chilling, I would go with a counterflow chiller, more efficient than immersion chillers, and easier to use than plate chillers.

Something like this, but the HLT is optional, could always drain first runnings into a bucket before you sparge:


edit- spelling

Keggermeister wrote:Check out http://www.dudadiesel.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for a chiller. They rock.
I have the 20 plate and it works great.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... erchillers

Keggermeister wrote:I run a screen too. Keep in mind you need a pump for this chiller.

Thanks for the thumbs up! Just wanted to add that not all of our plate chillers need a pump. The 12a, 23a, and 36a models work great with gravity flow so long as you stick to just 20 plates

Keith wrote:I'm looking for something that won't kill my water bill, but drop the temp at a reasonable pace.
Any suggestions are welcome.

What is the flowrate of your water, and the temp (both best case in winter and worst case in summer)? What pitching temp are you trying to reach? With this info I can let you know before you buy the amount of time and water several different plate exchangers would take

Honestly I'm not sure on that, never really looked. I'll see what I can find.

Keith wrote:Honestly I'm not sure on that, never really looked. I'll see what I can find.

Temperature last summer was between 70 and 75 Fahrenheit. It's running around 40ish right now, which is awesome. Don't have a flow rate, but can give an approximation in an hour or so.