Making The Move To Ag

[poompy]

Hey,

Brief history: I have been kit brewing for quite some time 5+ yrs and have the cleaning + sanitising + fermentation control down.

I am making the move to AG in the very near future and I am sourcing what I think are the final few parts

Currently have
- 25l willow esky with tap and SS braid manifold
- 50-60l keg, top cut out (will siphon out the wort for now)
- tap to be installed at some point
- is a SS braid ok here as well?
- 1 x cube for no chilling
- 19l stockpot
- gatorade round water cooler (not sure on volume)

Going to get
- Italian Spiral Burner (beerbelly)
- MP adjustable regulator (beerbelly)
- should have another 50-60l keg on the way
- silicon hose + brass compression fittings to fit SS keg spear to siphon

Is there something that I am missing?

I plan to start off with single batches (30 long necks) and possibly move to double batches. I believe I will need to sparge in rounds (1-3 times) depending on batch size. Beersmith can work these volumes out.

Thanks for your help

 

[raven19]

That extra Keg will act as your HLT? If so sounds like you are well sorted and on your way.

Maybe go a weldless tap for your keggles - that seems to work well for many other brewers.

 

[poompy]

That extra Keg will act as your HLT? If so sounds like you are well sorted and on your way.

Maybe go a weldless tap for your keggles - that seems to work well for many other brewers.

the extra keg will be my HLT. I will have to use the stock pot if that falls through which should be enough for a 23l batch.

 

[muckey]

sounds like you well on your way

you might want to fill in your locations so that if any members are close by, they can help out if needed

 

[Thirsty Boy]

If anything, you seem to have more than the needed equipment. Fill us in on your plans for each bit of gear in your list.

I have found stainless braid worse than useless as a kettle screen - I'm not sure how other feel about it.

Thirsty

 

[poompy]

Currently have
- 25l willow esky with tap and SS braid manifold - mash tun for single batches
- 50-60l keg, top cut out (will siphon out the wort for now) - boiling the results from the mashtun
- 1 x cube for no chilling
- 19l stockpot - HLT
- gatorade round water cooler (not sure on volume) - looks big enough to mash for double batches

Going to get
- Italian Spiral Burner (beerbelly)
- MP adjustable regulator (beerbelly)
- should have another 50-60l keg on the way - replace stockpot as the HLT
- silicon hose + brass compression fittings to fit SS keg spear to siphon

I am also going to get a digital thermometer from beerbelly

 

[Kleiny]

Looks like you will be getting into AG very soon with that list.

something small but maybe a big spoon for mash in. Not the plastic one from the kit it will break.

the gatorade esky is the go get a ss false bottom and you have a great mash tun for double batches and single batches, The only limiting factor is your kettle. I can only do 45L start of boil in the keg style kettle. But usually can get 2 cornies at the end fermentation.

Good luck and post some pics, everybody likes to see how new and old brewers get along on a brew day

Kleiny

 

[lespaul]

:icon_offtopic: would a 50-60lt keg be big enough for BIAB double batches? or is the only way to get a 100lt stock pot, or go to all grain with the equipment above?

 

[QldKev]

:icon_offtopic: would a 50-60lt keg be big enough for BIAB double batches? or is the only way to get a 100lt stock pot, or go to all grain with the equipment above?

Yes and No

Yes. if you do high gravity beers and water it down. Not the best way but it does work.

No, if you want to do a full boil. One of my pots is a 40L pot for singles and I find it a tight squeeze. A 50L pot is a better size for singles.

If you have 2 kegs you could always try "Dual BIAB", that is what I do. Two BIAB setup and running at the same time. Actually I have almost finished my 82L pot for doubles, so I will be able to do a Double and Single at the same time.

Pic of my Dual setup running

QldKev

 

[RdeVjun]

:icon_offtopic: would a 50-60lt keg be big enough for BIAB double batches? or is the only way to get a 100lt stock pot, or go to all grain with the equipment above?

Ahem. I think you'll find that BIAB is actually an "All Grain" variant, it is indeed one of several "All Grain" methods. Sorry if I've misunderstood though.

Now, IMO a 50- 60 litre keg should be big enough for double batches. I regularly use a 19 litre stockpot and get 21- 23 litre batches with ease, just by dilution. What that means is I'll use a 3.5 kg grain bill, even had 4kg once without too much hassle, and I just keep the water volumes as high as I can without inducing a boilover. This should yield slightly concentrated wort (around 1.060), after it has cooled I'll tip it into the fermenter, measure SG and dilute back to a target and then pitch.
With this method, I usually do about 20% dilution, the maths is pretty simple:
Water Addition = Measured SG / Target SG * Wort Volume - Wort Volume
Nb. With the SGs, 1.045 would be entred into this equation as 45, 1.060 as 60 etc. Also, this method is a bit rough and only an approximation, so check the SG after dilution to be sure.

I'm fairly sure other brewers have done double BAIBs in keggles though. I actually have a stainless firkin of about 40 litres, when I get a decent burner I hope to scale up my BIABs with it and go close to double batches. A sparge might help efficiency at this end of the scale too, but initially I wouldn't be doing that until developing some experience with actually using the equipment and only continue with it if it can be shown to be a benefit. Also, hops utilisation isn't as good at >1.050 SG, but adding even 20% more is no biggie for me.

So to reiterate: No, in my view the 100 litre pot wouldn't be necessary for double BIAB batches.

:icon_cheers:

Ps. Damn, beaten by Kev! His kit looks fanastic too BTW.

 

[lespaul]

Ahem. I think you'll find that BIAB is actually an "All Grain" variant, it is indeed one of several "All Grain" methods. Sorry if I've misunderstood though.

Is this to do with the 'off topic'? i just put that there because my question wasn't in reference to poompy's origional question in the thread :huh:

So to reiterate: No, in my view the 100 litre pot wouldn't be necessary for double BIAB batches.

:icon_cheers:

Ps. Damn, beaten by Kev! His kit looks fanastic too BTW.

Sounds good, although ill probs just stick to singles for the moment, sharpen the learning curve and help my liver

 

[RdeVjun]

Is this to do with the 'off topic'? i just put that there because my question wasn't in reference to poompy's origional question in the thread :huh:

Sorry mate, your query seemed to imply that BIAB wasn't All Grain, i.e. do double BIAB batches (with or without the 100L stockpot) or to go All Grain.

or go to all grain with the equipment above?

I understood this to mean that AG didn't include BIAB. Again, sorry if that isn't what you meant. Us BIABers are a twitchy lot some times!!

Sounds good, although ill probs just stick to singles for the moment, sharpen the learning curve and help my liver

Yeah seriously, go for it with the singles, I don't know if you're already BIABing, if not, you'll be surprised how easy it really is! If you've already got that keggle and a burner of course, you're well underway.

Any hassles or questions- you know what to do, so good luck with it!
:beer:

 

[poompy]

looking to do my first AG batch (Dr Smurtos Golden Ale) after santa drops of my burner, regulator and thermometer.

will definitely take lots of photos and notes.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

looking to do my first AG batch (Dr Smurtos Golden Ale) after santa drops of my burner, regulator and thermometer.

will definitely take lots of photos and notes.

You certainly have enough gear - I also would use the round cooler as your mashtun for both doubles and singles. Easier to learn how one bit of kit behaves than two. Still, it would work out fine the way you suggest.

50L is marginal for doubles - but with a little care, some anti foamover agent and maybe a bit of adding water during or after the boil... easy enough. If you were planning on making doubles regularly - I would consider a bigger pot better suited though to avoid the need to muck about.

icon_offtopic.gif would a 50-60lt keg be big enough for BIAB double batches? or is the only way to get a 100lt stock pot, or go to all grain with the equipment above?

As Rdj pointed out - it can be done. But in my opinion, with the amount of farting about you have to do to squeeze large batches of BIAB out of small pots - the benefits of the method almost disappear. I've done concentrated BIAB, normal BIAB and batch sparging as well... If it were me, I would tend to go with an Eski/braid mash tun, single keggle batch sparge combo instead, pretty much as described above, rather than trying to squeeze extra volume out of BIAB. Perhaps with a bigger pot than the single keggle for the reason given to Poompy

If you wanted to double BIAB batches in the "stock" BIAB fashion - thats easy enough, but you do need a prety big pot. 75-80L should see you right, but similarly to a 40L pot for single BIAB, that's about as small as you could go without a regular need to bugger about. Spills has a 76L pot and its fine for single BIAB batches and he gets a double batch of regular strength beer out of it no problems when he feels the need.

It all depends on how you want to do it - what you think is going to be easier - whether the $150 or $160 for an 80L pot vs a "free" converted keg is the overriding factor. Easier and IMHO better to go with a bigger pot and the simple process... but more expensive. Cheaper to go with a method like Rdj uses - but stacks more stuffing about on brew day. Your choice.

Good luck to the both of you. Happy brewing.

TB