Stepping Up....Advice On AG brewing Setup?

[Shonkzy]

Hey All,

Im looking at taking my hobbie the next step further and going all grain.

For the past year I have been brewing extracts and kits which was fine.... But not enough...

Several months ago I started dry hopping my beer and then moved on to small amounts of grain and steeping hops Currently Have a Squires 150 Lashes Clone In Primary (cant wait to taste it).

Throughout my short time brewing I have managed to accumulate a fair bit of gear... got double fermenters, secondarys and have a temp controlled fermenting fridge (hot&Cold) and a two tap keg setup on the kegerator.

Have been considering BIAB Methods but have Decided to go with the Mash-Tun Setup.

At the moment I am looking into a 3 tier gravity fed system..

Starting off with a 60 litre s/s stock pot with 1/4 ball valve, level glass and temperature probe, all on a gas heating burner??? (any suggestions into buying an adequate burner in NSW???)

Then for the mash tun ill use a 48L esky with some sort of sparging head(was thinking just a cheapo shower head from bunnings) and then a filter element at the bottom (false bottom or some perforated ag pipe??? ideas???

The Kettle will be a lot like the HLT vessel with another false bottom/filter element.????

Sorry im pretty new to all of this and any info or tips would be great

I am a fitter and turner by trade and im working in a food plant at the the moment so getting my hands onto the gear and welding it all up should be fairly simple...

So Any tips, suggestions or advice would be great!

Thanks In Advance

Shaun

 

[adryargument]

60L is not big enough, go for 3x 80's then you have the option of double batch large beers (7-8%), or triple normal 4-5% brews.
Maybe the 70L kettles from craftbrewer will be close enough...

Maybe even bigger for the kettle.I use a 98L kettle and i have it filled to around 75-80L for a triple batch once evap is taken into account. Extra size helps reduce boil overs and easier hop additions.

 

[Shonkzy]

I Do like the sound of it! Not Sure the boss will be to happy with the price of bigger stockpots, bigger burners and more gas......... Looking at figures now it will probably only cost another 150-200 bucks for an extra 30L.... Still in the favour of a gravity fed system but with that size I might have to start pricing march pumps and a heat exchanger somewhere in there too...

 

[MartinOC]

Having a look at the size of kit you're thinking of, my best advice for you would be to start with the end in mind (ie. what do you want to make & how often?). A few things to consider:

1. What actual batch-size are you thinking of making in one go? If you're thinking of using a 48L esky for your mash/lauter tun, you'll probably be able to fit 20-25Kg of grain & liquor in it. That's going to make a LOT of ONE kind of wort. Unless you plan on splitting the wort & hopping it differently, you're likely to end-up with an awful lot of the same kind of beer (which can get kinda tiring on the palate after awhile). If you don't like what you've made, you're pretty-much stuck with it.

2. Your boiler will need to be at least the same size as your HLT, if not a LOT bigger. Sparging 20Kg of grain is going to take more than the 60L you're planning.

3. If you make large batches at a time, there's not much room to experiment & play with new recipes/ideas to tweak them before going into full-scale production.

4. How much do you actually drink & what kind of variety do you like to have? Do you actually NEED 80-100L of the same kind of beer, or would you be happier making smaller batches of different styles (that's where the fun & creativity lies in this hobby).

5. Unless you eat a lot of Weeties & spinach, you're going to have bugger of a time lifting/moving/cleaning vessels of the size you're proposing (especially the mash tun, which is gonna weigh about 40-50Kg, even after you've finished sparging).

6. Can you actually ferment & store that amount of beer? Will you be bottling or kegging? How many bottles/kegs do you have?

If I was going to suggest anything else in general, it would be "start small, find your feet & THEN upscale to the vessel-size you're proposing". Nothing worse than jumping-in with both feet, then finding out that it's all too much for you to handle & lose the spark. Since you're a fitter & turner, I'd guess that you'd want to tinker with your stuff to improve the system. If you go big straight off the bat, there's not much room for playing-around.

Have a look around in the Gear & Equipment area & get an idea of what other folks have done join the conversations & ask questions.

Welcome to the vortex!! :beer:

 

[vortex]

Look at batch sparging whatever size you build, no real need to go for fly sparging like you're thinking.

 

[Shonkzy]

Thanks for the reply Martin OC,

Im Looking at double batching so roughly around 50 Litres in the fermenter at the end of the week

Now im Looking at a 90l S/S Vessel for the Boil and probably looking at joining 2 kegs to make around and 80l for the HLT

I can see your point on the risks of making such a large amount of beer.. though im not too worried about the amount of beer as my mates seem to drink the kegs dry weekly.

I have 6 corny kegs at the moment and double fermenting and seconds. so really I have enough for 50litres on the bubble at a time

I want to start small.... but im a bit worried about upgrading further on and it costing another heap of money.

at this time im still interested in the esky idea and can always upgrade that phase of the brewing process later on


cheers mate

 

[BeerNess]

just my 2c ... as has been said above, think about your volumes, but IMO go a bit bigger than you plan.

I have a 2nd hand 50L keggle set-up (BIAB) that was given to me, and before I got that I honestly thought I'd be set with that size, never need anything bigger (moved up from 19L stock pot). After less than 6 months of using it I was already putting money away so I can get an 80-100L pot soon.

My plan has always been to start adding in HLT and Mash/Lauter Tun whilst I BIAB, just very glad I got the keggle given to me as starter kit and didn't spend money on a pot that would be too small for my desires.

Although even once I have 3v set up I will probably still BIAB some of my simple house brews, especially when I am shorter on time.

Good luck with setting up your brewery!!!

Edit: grammar

 

[adryargument]

Im Looking at double batching so roughly around 50 Litres in the fermenter at the end of the week

I can see your point on the risks of making such a large amount of beer.. though im not too worried about the amount of beer as my mates seem to drink the kegs dry weekly.
I have 6 corny kegs at the moment and double fermenting and seconds. so really I have enough for 50litres on the bubble at a time

That sentence alone is reason enough to go big.
My household does a keg every 5-7 days.

I brew a triple batch of a general everyday beer (60L), or a double batch of two bigger beers (80L).
This means i generally brew every 3-4 weeks.

Brewing every weekend can get tiring. Fast.
I enjoy spacing mine out and a bigger system does it.

Do you really need 60L of the same beer? It doesnt really matter! Buy 3x30L vessels from bunnings and use different dry hops and/or yeasts.
So many options for variety!

Keep in mind once you have your initial water, the HLT can always be refilled and heated during mash for sparge water. So you can always get around having a slightly smaller unit - but its not recommended.

 

[Camo6]

You're a fitter and turner and you work in a food plant?
Sabotage, condemn, borrow or steal!
By the sound of your post your infected with brewitis so no point dicking around, you've got it, it's incurable, go with it.
Buy a decent sized good quality pot of 60l or more and a burner and churn out some BIAB batches while you accrue the rest of the gear towards a 3 or 4v system.
If you start to have second thoughts, search for build threads on this forum to set you straight.

 

[MartinOC]

OK, I think I've got a better idea of what you're trying to achieve. The proposed size of your Esky was what threw me, as it's the heart of your system & it struck me you were trying to run before walking.

If all you're planning is double-batching, a 90L boiler will do you fine & also give you a bit of "future-proofing" if you decide to upscale. Your 60L HLT will (at a pinch) be enough to achieve that, but you'll need to learn your system, volumes, heating capacity/times etc..etc...(too many variables to be definitive). It's all part of the fun, getting to know what you can do to nail certain numbers.

The 48L Esky had me thinking that you wanted to go into full-scale production of triple or quadruple batches. For your proposed double batch system, something smaller (30-40L) would give you plenty to play-with whilst you learn the intricacies of AG brewing & still give you the ability to produce a range of "small", "standard" & "big" beers without it getting too expensive to make mistakes (believe me - you WILL make mistakes, we all have & it's just part of the learning-curve).

Have fun!!

 

[Shonkzy]

Hahaha Yeah Camo this brewitis seems to be infectious.

Martin I will definatly make mistakes mate, been drinking an off flavoured keg for the past fornight due to an accumulations of problems that I hopefully rectified this weeks brew.

All part and parcel of the learning curve (Hopefully a tasty learning curve)

Cheers Guys