26l Biab Boil In 50l Pot

[pb12]

Hi,
I have the opportunity to buy a 50L Aluminium pot for quite cheap instead of a new 32L pot I was planning. However, all the rest of my gear is based around 20L batches. I currently easily boil 16L and top up to 20L in the fermenter.
I am confident my single ring burner will boil my planned full boil of 26-28L if I purchase a new 32L pot.

Does doing 26-28L BIAB (20L batch) in a 50L pot raise any problems?

Phil

 

[felten]

That's the same size I use, I believe 50L is the minimum size you should get for single batches. For example, a 7kg batch (90m boil) you would end up with ~38L mash volume with the bag in there, and even a 40L pot is going to be brimming.

I use this spreadsheet here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=612969 from TB and it works a treat.

 

[mxd]

I'm a 50 ltr urn, I usually start with 35ltrs of Water (5-6kg of grain), with evaporation, trub, etc.. I then end up with 23 ltrs in the fermenter.

The only issue is the "air head space" so you may loose a couple of degrees over the 60 min mash.

good luck

 

[RdeVjun]

The only issue is the "air head space" so you may loose a couple of degrees over the 60 min mash.

Cut out a disc of styrofoam or some other floating insulator maybe? There was a picture in another thread recently, I don't need to as my mash tun (a 19L stockpot) is usually full to the brim.
Other than that, the OP is quite lucky, it is often the other way around, trying for a 50L batch in a 30L pot!

 

[MHB]

It may or may not be a problem but the shape and aspect ratio of a kettle is a point to consider. Ideally the height and depth of the kettle charge should be about the same, this allows good circulation of the wort, good whirl-pooling and minimises losses when the kettle is drained down.

If a kettle has a wide shallow charge, for the same amount of heat you will get faster evaporation, possibly slightly lower hop utilisation, a higher stripping of volatiles (not all bad), it's harder to get a good whirlpool action and generally a small increase in losses to trub.

MHB

 

[argon]

Hi,
I have the opportunity to buy a 50L Aluminium pot for quite cheap instead of a new 32L pot I was planning. However, all the rest of my gear is based around 20L batches. I currently easily boil 16L and top up to 20L in the fermenter.
I am confident my single ring burner will boil my planned full boil of 26-28L if I purchase a new 32L pot.

Does doing 26-28L BIAB (20L batch) in a 50L pot raise any problems?

Phil

Mate go for the 50L pot, you could start doing double batches. I do double BIAB batches of 16-17L each. I fill two Fresh Wort Kit Cubes from a single brew.
I start the boil with about 42 Litres. It's touch and go for a little while watching for boil overs but can easily be done with a bit of attention. Efficiency drops to about 70% which is acceptable and I find a grain bill of 9kg is about right for the double batch. I easily extract 34L to fill the 2 cubes leaving behind about 2-3 litres of trub. I also calculate a top-up of 4 litres each to get 21L into the fermenter, gives me a touch under 19L into the keg, after polyclar and filtering.

 

[argon]

Probably should add also that I dont do the single vessel BIAB when doing double batches. I use a tall 50L keggle and an esky

I heat up enough water for the entire process (around 48L) to mash out temps say 80C, Drain off about 20L into my 44L esky, then add cold water to the kettle to hit mash in temps, say 70C. Add grain then mash for 60-90 mins.

I then pull the bag out (9kg is about as much as I can pull out of the keggle without too much hassle) dump it into the esky full of 80C water for a dunk sparge. Give it a stir, leave for a bout 5-10 mins. Suspend the bag over the esky, squeeze it then drain the contents of esky back into the keggle to hit approx 42L. I often end up with too much pre boil, but I just boil off till I hit my mark. Pretty easy really. The extra bit of faffing about is worth it when I get to fill 2 kegs.

Single batches I dont bother with the dunk sparge my efficiency is usually a heap higher (80%+) and just go for the traditional single vessel BIAB method.

 

[pb12]

Thanks for the replies.

I appreciate the advantages of a big pot as posted above.

Looks as though the I can insulate the surface of the mash and easily eliminate some temp drop, then the only disadvantage of the bigger pot is storing it...........not a big problem. And, I have a big pot if I ever want to get into bigger volume brewing.

Phil