800 Litre Brew

[bum]

Dude.

 

[chappo1970]

Plan to use:
48 litres of kit cans.
64kgs of liquid malt extract.
1.6kg grain steep.
195g finishing hops.

...completely whacked.... :huh: 800lts of the same beer? Sorry GB nothing personal but I have to ask... WHY?

For starters I figure you need about 120kgs of extract/goop to get a decent SG gravity of around 1.045 at 800lt volume. You could steep between 5 to 12kgs of specialties if you needed to in that volume so as to give the beer some body. 484grm of yeast of there abouts.

The cost is going to be horrific if you stuff it! I hope you like that recipe ALOT because that's all you gunna be drinking this year.

Anyways good luck with it

Cheers

Chappo

 

[jayse]

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?

I think its a bad idea for more reasons than I can even think of right now, I don't know where to start.
where are all the kegs coming from, have you got 42 kegs? :unsure:

 

[chappo1970]

ROFL! :lol:


A rainwater tank AIN'T a fermenter! But hey have fun! h34r:

Chappo

 

[gunbrew]

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

Jokes, here it is...

 

[bum]

Ha! You should have waited longer, That could have been gold.

[edit: how are you going to mix your wort in that?]

 

[Timmsy]

Hay guys he did ask for comments if it was a good idea or not

 

[Pennywise]

Your a cunny funt mate.

Seriously though, do you have 2 of them just in case?

 

[gunbrew]

Your a cunny funt mate.

Seriously though, do you have 2 of them just in case?

Have 2 of them as thinking it would need to be racked.

 

[chappo1970]

+1 Timsy!

I say go for GOLD! It will only cost about $1000 in ingredients and the "Fermenters" are going for about $150 from a Dude i bought my grain drums from. Awesome stuff "You Can Do it"!

Cheers

Chappo

 

[cozmocracker]

woah! i think this is awesome, frickin awesome, i hope its a roaring success.

this is the best use of a IBC i have seen.

has anyone else come close to this kind of volume?

the only thing that would make this better is if it was AG.

and please, plenty of pics and updates as you go.

 

[HoppingMad]

How do you keep a thing like that fermenting with a constant temp? Check the five day forecast and hope ambient temps will see you through or duct tape a bunch of heater pads or brew belts together?

:lol:

Hopper.

 

[raven19]

Does this need to be moved to the jokes thread? h34r:

If not, then I would pay a micro brewer to make it - i reckon it would be cost comparible for such a large batch of beer...?

 

[Adamt]

Why would it not be cost effective? The scale-up from a 23L batch to a 800L batch still has the same ingredient cost per litre, likely considerably less with bulk extract purchase, etc. The time effectiveness is also an order of magnitude higher brewing one instead of ~35 single batches...

 

[marlow_coates]

Bum, my apologies. I read the original recipe as though he was adding 1.6kg of hops, which made sense. (about 45-50gms per each 23L)
I agree, the hops are not enough unless he only wants the IBU's provided by the cans, and that volume of grain will make minimal difference.


The overall idea to me seems fair enough. But drinking the same drop for that long would get to me.

Also consider that you aren't going to need to brew for months to years after this monster.
So where does the joy of brewing come into it for you?

In the accomplishment of a big brew?
In saving money?
In seeing all those kegs full of beer every time you go to the shed?
In the bewing process?
In the variety of different things you can do with a brew?
Being able to throw massive parties and provide all the drink?

Probably important to consider a few of these things before spending the dough.

Marlow

 

[Ronin]

Does this need to be moved to the jokes thread? h34r:

If not, then I would pay a micro brewer to make it - i reckon it would be cost comparible for such a large batch of beer...?

I agree, I'd at least enquire about getting it contract brewed. Have no idea how expensive that would be though.

 

[bum]

Bum, my apologies.

No wukkas, bloke.

The questions you've just raised are probably some of the most pertinent in the thread, IMO.

 

[drsmurto]

I recall sitting in Grumpys back in the day it had a brew shop chatting to a bloke who was buying 10kg of crystal.

I asked him what he was brewing that required that much crystal malt and he told me he made 1000L extract batches. No kits. It was done all in the same vessel IIRC.

Didnt ask about the logistics.

Now i should have prefaced this by saying i was drinking at the time and this was probably more than 2 years ago now but it sounds about right to me.


Back to the OP, you have yet to respond to comments about ferment temps. The biggest challenge you face is controlling the vast amount of heat that will be generated. Keeping 20, 40 or maybe 60L of fermenting beer in check using fridges and/or heat pads is ok, 800L is going to be a logistical nightmare.

How many micros ferment without temp control?

 

[Plastic Man]

gunbrew

A possible alternative strategy.

Ask a local micro who does the fresh wort packs to do a special batch for you. 600 ltrs is probably about right for a batch for most small micro's. That's 40 x 15 litre cubes. Pour into your large fermenter and add 200 ltrs of water as per normal fresh wort pack instructions. That way you get an all malt beer, you don't have to muck around with kits and extract, it may be cheaper, and I reckon it will taste better. You just need a way to get 40 x 15ltr cubes home....

Try before you buy by fermenting up a single pack.

While your at it, ask him to part fill a corny keg with yeast as part of the deal and pitch that.

For a 40 cube order you could talk your way into the brew session as an assistant and get some micro work experience....

(keep your 40 cubes and get him to refill them when you've worked your way through your 800 litres)

Good luck !!!

 

[bum]

Was just having a look at the pic of the proposed fermenter and am wondering if anyone else thinks gunbrew is going to have trouble using a "tap" at the bottom? He'll probably have to siphon, won't he?

[EDIT: makes more sense when I use the right words]