Stock Pot 27 Litres And 25 Litre Esky Mash Tun?

[simpletotoro]

hi i just this last 10 mins scored a 27 litre stock pot from a garage sale for 15 dollars...am i right in thinking that i a could do a full 23 litre AG brew in this ?...also bunnings have 25 litre eskys on sale for 25 dollars ...would this be big enough to use as a mash tun ...any thoughts please
cheers simpletotoro

edit shocking spelling

 

[Jazzafish]

I have a 25 litre esky for a mash tun... wish it was bigger!

That said I can do 20 to 30 litre batches without any dramas. If you want to batch sparge you'd have to do it in two turns though... I usually ******* sparge... a cross between a fly sparge and batch sparge.

I recon if I had a 50 litre esky I'd wish it was bigger too! I guess what I am saying is it will all make beer.

 

[Jazzafish]

ALSO... the 27 litre stock pot would probally be too small for a kettle, but ok for a HLT

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I reckon the kettle would work if you indulged in some high-gravity brewing and then diluted towards the end, but the calculations would be a little more complicated than usual - nothing you couldn't master in a couple of brews, though.

Otherwise, you've got a perfectly good smaller batch system.

 

[matti]

It's not bad dollarwise.

for 27 litre kettle you will only manage to boil 26 litres.
A 15% loss leaves you 22 litre + trub loss 1 litre.
21 litres in fermenter.
You can always do higher gravity boils and then top up the fermenter at the end.

Mash tun of 25 litre is enough for 5-6 kgs grain though.

 

[Enerjex]

you'll be able to do it, you'll just have to use a little top up water probably with the stock pot so if you use a program like beersmith you can factor in the boil volume for hop utilisation etc

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I pretty much agree with Jazzafish,

I have a 20litre mash tun, and it works fine.. I batch sparge in it, but have to do a couple of rounds. But I do wish that I had a bigger tun and will
probably upgrade when I can be bothered or I find a cheap bigger eski. I struggle with "big" beers.

But... for $25.00 it will do just fine and give you time to search around for a bigger alternative if/when you think you want one.

The 27litre pot would be full to the absolute brim or a little over for a 23litre batch.. sorry.

Of course, there's no rule that says you have to make 23litres... make a 19 or 20 litre batch and it would do.. you'd have to watch it for boil overs pretty carefully and you'd most likely wish you had a bigger pot... but it'll get you going. Like Jazza said, if you find yourself a bigger pot later, then you downgrade the 27litre to a HLT. No loss.

I say go for it... but be aware that you will probably want to upgrade at a later date.. which you probably would no matter what you got

Thirsty

(or what the other guys said, jeez I'm a slow typist)

 

[Fents]

I just upgraded my mash tun for a 20 litre to a 55litre esky..

Today i mashed 10kgs of grain and still had to do two rounds of sparging...i also boiled close to 47litres in a 50litre keggle (keg used as a kettle). Damn it made for some intresting times but i loved it ended up with about 40-42 litres i think.

It will do you fine for the first few brews but like everyone you will want to upgrade as soon as you get the hang of it. I'd buy a 55litre esky, get a keg from somewhere and use the pot as your heating and spaging vessel.

 

[simpletotoro]

thanks for all the replies...i'll stick to 19-20 litre ferments for the time being and will get my feet wet so to speak... your all on the money no doubt, i'll upgrade at some point later on..but hopefully by then i'll understand all the processes a little better ...and know exactly what sized vessels i'll be needing ...thanks again for all your input...
cheers simpletotoro