800 Litre Brew

[gunbrew]

Hi All,
After talking about this for some time a mate and I are in planning.
Our kegs never sit around for long as we make 50 ltr batches and drink them.
The older the kegged beer gets the better it tastes so we want to fill 42 kegs at once.
Then it's 21 kegs each to gradualy drink them meaning the ones waiting to be drank would age.
Have a 1000ltr tank that will be the fermenter for this 800ltr batch.
Will multiply the ingredients of a great drinking 50 ltr batch made previously.
Plan to use:
48 litres of kit cans.
64kgs of liquid malt extract.
1.6kg grain steep.
195g finishing hops.

It's a bit of having all your eggs in one basket, that said I have not had a bad or infected brew doing my regular 50ltr batches.
Is this a good or bad Idea?
What problems could we encounter?
Comments, Suggestions, Flamings?

 

[captaincleanoff]

800l of kit beer? lol

 

[alowen474]

This volume of fermenting beer wil generate a afir bit of heat, so you could run into a few warm fermentation issues.
Buy yourself a good yeast, a 500 gram pack of dried yeast will sort it out.
Condition the beer in the kegs and it should store well enough out of the fridge.

Don't steal your kegs from the back of the pub!! There is an ebay at the moment selling legal 50's, but they aren't cheap (sic).

Keep us posted.

Cheers

 

[devo]

JEBUS!!!

 

[seravitae]

I would suggest if you are up that 'that level' of brewing, you should spend some time moving away from kit beers. It will be cheaper in the long run, and the taste will be a lot better. It may be possible for you to derive a way to 'produce kits' per se, as in, to go from grain to a concentrate which you can load into your monster fermentor.

 

[Adamt]

I'd be making sure the 1000L tank is very sanitary.

 

[iScarlet]

800l of kit beer? lol

I was just wondering that, but whatever floats your boat (seeing as I'm still stuck on K&B). May the beer gods smile upon you, bless you with good sanitation and good kit wort and healthy yeast!

I reckon with a volume like that you'll want to check the use by dates on all the kits. So, are you planning on using mixing a couple of kinds of kits, or going with one kind?

 

[Pennywise]

I'd be making sure the 1000L tank is very sanitary.

Hell yeah, I can't even begin to imagine tipping that much brew.

+1 on having temp issues, have you come up with any ideas on keeping it cool?

 

[gunbrew]

So, are you planning on using mixing a couple of kinds of kits, or going with one kind?

At this stage it will be just one variety of kit as the batch will hopefully be the same as a 50ltr batch alteady made.
That said have used 2 and 3 different types of kits in the one 50 ltr batch and it has worked well.
Plan to copy the best batch of beer I have made to date.

 

[raven19]

You would need a massive yeast starter for that volume!

I would not want to have to rack 800L in a stuck ferment :unsure:

 

[Adamt]

It might be a good idea to contact Coopers or some other malt extract-producer; you may be able to get your ingredients on the cheap for buying in bulk.

Coopers supply bulk extract in ~28kg buckets. Buying direct from the supplier should also translate to fresher extract - old extract is one of the core problems with kit/extract brewing.

 

[bum]

1.6kg grain steep.
195g finishing hops.

I'm having a hard time believing these amounts are going to be noticeable in a 800lt batch.

+1 on the temp control and sanitation concerns posted above.

Take lots of pictures during the process, fella. Very interested to see how this goes. Best of luck!

 

[peas_and_corn]

Woah.




I'd add to some of the comments given so far- see if you can get your ingredients straight from the supplier, really go crazy with sanitation, and pics plz

 

[Adamt]

Oh yeah... and don't fill your fermenter up with the garden hose...

 

[Effect]

Were I doing a 800 litre batch and owned a 1000 litre fermenter, I would make a few phone calls to some local micro breweries and see if they would make me the wort fresh instead of going down the extract path...

just my 2 cents

 

[marlow_coates]

Bum, if he is using already hopped kits, then the 1.6kg as just an aroma or flavour addition then it should be noticeable. I've used 45gms added hops to a 60L brew that used kits for the bittering, and flavour and aroma hops done at home in this quantity worked well. Did the research on what IBU's the kits would give, then topped up with home hopping.

I concur with what others have said for temp control, but then depending on where you are now could be the best time to rely on a decent ambient temp throughout.

Also agree with getting your yeast right. Use one of the brewing programs, or talk to someone in the know about pitching rates.

And pictures are always apreciated on here :icon_cheers:

Good luck

Marlow

 

[peas_and_corn]

Is there any chance you could post a pic of this 1000 litre tank?

 

[gunbrew]

Were I doing a 800 litre batch and owned a 1000 litre fermenter, I would make a few phone calls to some local micro breweries and see if they would make me the wort fresh instead of going down the extract path...

just my 2 cents

Great Idea.

 

[bum]

Bum, if he is using already hopped kits, then the 1.6kg as just an aroma or flavour addition then it should be noticeable.

I could be getting this completely arse about (maths isn't my forte) but off the top of my head his additions are coming in at something like 40g of spec grain and 5g of hops per "normal" batch size. I'm thinking that if someone posted a recipe like that they would be encouraged by all to increase it.

[EDIT: typo]

 

[gunbrew]

Is there any chance you could post a pic of this 1000 litre tank?

Will attache the tank pic.
Cheers.