No More "all Grain Or Extract"

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

Having followed the "All Grain or Extract" thread from inception I have been privileged to read the POV of many AG only brewers, KKK and Extract only brewers, some Bibrewers and I even got to witness a couple of Extract brewers "coming out".

I would classify myself as "Curious" and just looking for an excuse to come out.


The "All Grain or Extract" thread seems to have turned the corner and become a general AG / Partial discussion so I felt a new thread was in order.

I am sure I could sieve through past posts to work this one out, I spend too long on this forum as is.

My question is;
Apart from the fermenter, which "vessel" in the AG process needs the volume.

I have an old Keg in my garage that a friend gave me a while back with the good intention that I may use it to keg beer. As it is not a "Postmix" type it is of very little use as a keg.

I was considering cutting the top off it but was wondering what I would be best using it for.

Any thoughts?

ATOMT

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

Cut the top off and use it as a kettle!

Works a treat.

You can either put a tap in it, or after cooling the wort, siphon it into the fermenter

 

[Airgead]

My question is;
Apart from the fermenter, which "vessel" in the AG process needs the volume.

I have an old Keg in my garage that a friend gave me a while back with the good intention that I may use it to keg beer. As it is not a "Postmix" type it is of very little use as a keg.

I was considering cutting the top off it but was wondering what I would be best using it for.

Any thoughts?

ATOMT

Come join us on the dark side...

I would cut the top off and use it as a kettle. The kettle is usually the most expensive part of an AG setup so you have that pretty much free. You can also use it for boiling extract and partial mash brews while you ramp up to AG.

You could use it as a mash tun but a cheap esky would be easier (and cheaper) as the keg would need insulating to hold the temp through the mash.

Edit: I am assuming here that its a 50l pub style keg. if its something smaller then I'm not sure what you could use it for... HLT?

Cheers
Dave

 

[berazafi]

Easy, The Kettle (boiler), add an esky and 15dollars worth of bits from bunnings and you have all grain

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

I am assuming here that its a 50l pub style keg.

Yeah thats right (18 gallon?). The ones I had to lift out of the cellar every morning at "The Grand Hotel" in Frankston as part of one of my earliest jobs (About 1983).

According to old "Archim" thats 46.49 Litres (Keg body Height 41cm. Keg Body Diameter 38cm)

Keg Volume = ((3.1415 x (19x19))*41)/1000 = 46.49Litres

Now I am confused as I always called these 18 gallon Kegs and yet it has a volume of 46 Litres (Which is being referred to as a 50 Litre keg) and which converts to 12 Gallons. (US Gallons?....Who knows)

Sheeesh :blink:

ATOMT

 

[Millet Man]

Now I am confused as I always called these 18 gallon Kegs and yet it has a volume of 46 Litres (Which is being referred to as a 50 Litre keg) and which converts to 12 Gallons. (US Gallons?....Who knows)

Sheeesh :blink:

ATOMT

The 50 litre kegs are actually 11 UK gallons (1 UK gallon = 1.2 US gallons).

An 18 UK gallon keg would be almost 82 litres. You'd have to be Atom Ant not ATOMT to lift one of them.

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[hughman666]

i am in the same boat as ATOMT. i have a 50L keg and was thinking of converting it to a kettle.

this being the case, what would you use for a HLT? Just a few stock pots??

 

[berazafi]

the keg is fine for a hlt as well if you batch sparge, you can just use a plastic jerry to store the wort until the kettle is free again

 

[Screwtop]

I'm with berazafi, a combo HLT/Kettle would be the most efficient use of a single vessel. Have plenty of 50L vessel's available here but lately find it more simple to PH balance water then split up into separate plastic pails in the correct amount for each infusion then heat in turn on the gas, so one single 20L stock pot is all that's required. Wort is collected in a large plastic pail, mostly just because I don't have an accurate measuring device to measure the volume into the kettle. Bit archaic, but then simply measure wort from pail to kettle using a 5L jug.