Just bought an 80 litre esky. What size batch can I make?

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Weizguy

Barley Bomber
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Just bought this second-hand Techni-Ice box on eBait. 80 litres capacity for $86 (plus freight) (edit for price)

80 l Esky.jpg

Good price, I think, but not entirely compatible with a Brew bucket size fermentor.

Now what size batch can I make with it? Say O.G. of 1.050. (Feeling a bit too overwhelmed to work this out for myself).

I assume that I will lose heat more quickly if I only make a small batch (shallow grain bed) in this new mash tun, just like my current vessel

Thanks in advance.
 
Not sure if this helps, but it looks a lot like the esky Nick R (aka the Barleyman) used in the Berlner Weisse thread (page 9) and IIRC that was a 46L barch
 
Nice score.

It might be time to do double batches. 1 50l mash, split into 2 boils in two pots, 2 standard size fermenters, and then you'll be able to experiment with different hops in the same wort.

Or start with a 50l mash aiming for 46l and get a 60l fermenter.
 
You will easily pull out 75l and 100g with a bit of effort, I run a similar esky and do this size, I pull out 3 cubes of 1050 wort without even thinking about it these days, if you go the cube option, it's so much easier to cube hop then just ferment as desired
 
MrChoat said:
Nice score.

It might be time to do double batches. 1 50l mash, split into 2 boils in two pots, 2 standard size fermenters, and then you'll be able to experiment with different hops in the same wort.

Or start with a 50l mash aiming for 46l and get a 60l fermenter.
Hmm, so I'll need another kettle and a burner? Yep, slippery slope... Lucky I have that 10 tap keezer in the works.

Yob said:
You will easily pull out 75l and 100g with a bit of effort, I run a similar esky and do this size, I pull out 3 cubes of 1050 wort without even thinking about it these days, if you go the cube option, it's so much easier to cube hop then just ferment as desired
I think I need to read more about this cube hopping. I assume 25 litre cubes? Can someone hook me up with a link re cube hopping. (yeah, I'm being a needy b!tch today. A lot on my mind, and more on the plastic). 2 more days until payday. Hope there's still some ANHC tickets remaining
 
crash course in cube hopping:

put wort in cube
put hops in cube

that is all

prob research no chill/cubing, thats the part you have to get your head around.
 
I have an 80 ltr mlt and do 60 ltr batches for all things up to 1.065, so far never (touch wood) had to do 2 batch sarges. I run 3ltr per kg of grist.
 
So cube hopping for bitterness, aroma and flavour?

I have been no-chilling for years, so I understand that much, but cube hopping is new tech for me. (Not too keen on the no-brew method though - $$$)

And surely you put wort in the cube, as it's not beer yet?

Edit - Spelling
 
Or if you want to you could get the 15ltr cubes from bunnings. Then you can brew

1x 25 ltr cube + 1x 15ltr cube
Or
2 x 25 Ltrs
3 x 15ltrs

The options are endless.

I have one of those techni ice eskys, It literally keeps ice for a week.

They are the bomb.

I work put my cube hopping bitterness as a 20 min addition.

Which if you use brewmate works the same as a 6 min addition with the no chill box ticked.
 
Les the Weizguy said:
Hmm, so I'll need another kettle and a burner? Yep, slippery slope... Lucky I have that 10 tap keezer in the works.
Ten taps?! Fook me sideways that'd be awesome. My two tap kegerator looks a bit sad with only two taps. Might have to find 2 more.

I know what you mean about slippery slope. I only started with extracts 3 months ago. Now there's a fridge, 7kegs, 140 bottles, 4 fermenters, 2 cubes, 3 sankes waiting for plumbing to be made into keggles, and a lot left on my shopping list.

What in the hell did we begin?
 
Les the Weizguy said:
So cube hopping for bitterness, aroma and flavour?

I have been no-chilling for years, so I understand that much, but cube hopping is new tech for me. (Not too keen on the no-brew method though - $$$)

And surely you put wort in the cube, as it's not beer yet?

well in that case...
Cube hopping adds bitterness and flavor, and a little aroma.

i am currently drinking a solely cube hopped DSGA. did a 40-50 min boil (i wasnt really counting... there were no kettle hops), threw 80g Amarillo in the cube, closed it up... done
 
My next question is how do I get this to me for under $50 postage (Ballina to Newcastle)?
 
Fastway or couriers please should fall in that price - just cross your fingers nothing goes wrong as their customer support can only be laughed at IMO.

80L MT:

At my guess, you should mash at no less than 1.5L/kg. You also have to factor in displacement, which at a stab is 1L-1.5L per kilo, yeah?

So, a triple batch, say 15kg @ 1.5L per kg = 22.5L + 1.5L/per kg displacement = 45 Litres.

That said, you should check out this tool too: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml


Above is all in theory, in practice, I run a 70L MT and can push about 18kg of grain into it at about 1.8:1

The real question is, what can your kettle handle?
 
Les the Weizguy said:
So cube hopping for bitterness, aroma and flavour?

I have been no-chilling for years, so I understand that much, but cube hopping is new tech for me. (Not too keen on the no-brew method though - $$$)

And surely you put wort in the cube, as it's not beer yet?

Edit - Spelling
That's all it really is Les, hops in cube, rack wort to cube. I love it coz I can do 3 different beers on the same wort, however, I still do add a battering charge to the kettle, approx 1/3 total IBU for an IPA and 1/4 for an APA. I get **** all losses to the kettle now and if you do it right, **** all losses to the cube.

As a habitual no chiller, it suits my brewery down to the ground, one of my recent brews was an NZ Cascade / Amarillo and was that nice by itself I never got round to keg hopping it.
 
Cocko said:
Fastway or couriers please should fall in that price - just cross your fingers nothing goes wrong as their customer support can only be laughed at IMO.

80L MT:

At my guess, you should mash at no less than 1.5L/kg. You also have to factor in displacement, which at a stab is 1L-1.5L per kilo, yeah?

So, a triple batch, say 15kg @ 1.5L per kg = 22.5L + 1.5L/per kg displacement = 45 Litres.

That said, you should check out this tool too: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml


Above is all in theory, in practice, I run a 70L MT and can push about 18kg of grain into it at about 1.8:1

The real question is, what can your kettle handle?
Hey Cocko,

My kettle is a reclaimed 18 gallon keg, so it holds about 78 litres, so probably no bigger than a 65 litre boil (using boil-over insurance/ hop oil).

Looks like it's time to up-size my kettle equipment again.
 
Does it ever end! ... So now you buy a massive kettle and realise your tun is too small... LOL! :D

Also, do not stress too much on the head space and temp loss, I used to run a techni-ice [style] ice box MT and that fecker would hold temp for days, regardless of grain height.

Never done it but people swear by a layer of foil on top of the grain bed to help too.

Keep us posted.

:icon_cheers:
 
Good to know about the heat retention. I'm sick and tired of the old Esky brand cooler and it loses a lot of heat, and very much needs to be at least half full of grain bed for heat retention.

I used to use foil on top of the grain bed, poked with a knife to create a random slotted pattern, as an aid to even the lautering of the grain bed, and discourage channeling.
 
I updated in another thread, but thought I should keep this thread going too, but a bit more detail:

The mash tun has been sitting around for a few months, and I felt the need to move ahead with this project, as I can't do much brewing due to flood inundation of my brew areas.
I bought a 3m coil of copper and the required number of T-joiners and 90° corners to assemble my manifold. I decided to go with 6 runners and as the total width is 350mm, that equates to 6 gaps of ~58mm each, including the 2 half gaps each side of the manifold to the mash tun wall. I cut the long runners ok with a hacksaw, but screwed up the calcs initially, and had to buy more copper for the pipe spacers.

*short side story - went to a large hardware chain, and they had no 1.5m straight lengths of 1/2"copper, but I was offered a 6m length for about $31. I decided it was the only way I could proceed. When I picked up the 6m length, it was a bit bent, so they guy at the counter (feeling some Friday late arvo benevolence) decreased the price to $25, and cut the 6m length into 3 X 2m lengths so I could get it in the car, and I had enough leftover change to buy a pipe cutter for under $9.
Pics:
80 L mash tun and manifold.jpgcutter.jpg

Now I have some pipe (at cost) and a pipe cutter (free loan/hire) if anyone in Newie has a similar project planned...
Maybe I'll make a new manifold for the old Esky and sell it off cheap to an all-grainer who is looking for a introductory mash tun. (*I'll keep the old ill-fitting manifold, as it was gift from another AHBer ad now is brew memorabilia).
 
off topic/Hi les im in Medowie also I have access to most pipeworking tools/off cuts ect if you get stuck drop us a message I tried to pm you but would not work
Cheers Troy
 
thanks for the offer, Troy. Manifold is OK so far, now to cut slots into it. Could be a lot of work...
 

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