70l or 100l Shiny pots?

[Rocky]

I'm currently running a 30l boiler and mash tun for my brews. I get less time to brew these days so when I do I need to get more brewed in less time.

I have been looking at a 70l stainless steel setup, containing HLT, MT and HLT, (not sure of the rules of linking the external website for the details of this so will leave the website out for now) to increase brewing capacity and maybe do one beer style, one mash but split the final boil down to 2 batches so 2 x IPA's for example hopped differently in the boil.

Then seeing the small increase to 100l setup (£30) I was tempted to go one step further. Having never brewed at this capacity, do any of you see any reasons not to step up to 100l setup? It is also gas rather than electric which I am used to at present. Would there be more evaporation etc?

Any advice is appreciated before I click the add to cart button!

 

[graysalchemy]

I brew to 55L capacity and always thought that if I went to shiney I would go to 100L. However even at 55L I only brew about 5-6 times a year, so increasing to 100L would see me brewing no more than 4 times a year. So for me I think 70L-80L would be fine. However I would be tempted to make HLT and Kettle out of thermo pots so as you could get away with only having one element on at a time or using a phase controller, thus saving a bit of energy.

 

[Rocky]

I've heard of them being used as MT's before but as the new setup will be gas, are they safe to use as HLT and kettle? Thought they had foam insulation between the steel.

 

[graysalchemy]

no only if you are using electricity. :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

It's really a case of future proofing yourself should you wish to brew more. You can always mash less in a big tun and boil less in a bigger boiler etc, evaporation will depend on heat input so it's impossible to say.
I used to brew 46ltr batches of OG brews to 1.070 (2 x cornies and a few bottles) comfortably using a 70ltr copper and HLT and a 50ltr mash tun.
I now have 100ltr copper and HLT with a 80ltr mash tun so I can make much bigger volumes if I wish, I also have a smaller 50ltr copper for boiling much smaller batches.

 

[mixale]

Just confirming what has already been said - "you can always brew a smaller batch in bigger pots"
My non-thermo 100lt mash tun has two layers of foiled camping mats as insulation and even with 50lt of 4% beer in there I only loose about 1deg on mash temp over 90mins.

Just bear in mind that with bigger pots/volumes you are NOT going to be lifting anything so you need to either plan a gravity setup or have the extra expense of pumps.

 

[Hawks]

Bigger, bigger, bigger - you know you want to :thumb:

Seriously though, as people have said, you don't need to fill it right up and you are future proof

I brew 50ish litre batches in 70l pots, doing again I would have a 100ltr boiler as I could then fill another keg in pretty much the same amount of time :thumb:

 

[kev]

How often do you brew Hawks?

What if you wanted to try a new recipe....do you do 20l batches?

K

 

[Hawks]

How often do you brew Hawks?

What if you wanted to try a new recipe....do you do 20l batches?

K

I try and brew about every 5 or 6 weeks I suppose, sometimes on my own and some with a mate of mine and we split the brew.

I could brew a smaller batch in the setup but to be honest I never have, new recipes are done to full scale as I know I'll drink it

 

[kev]

Good stuff.

I've had a big setup before (70L HLT, 80L MT & 100L Boiler) but flogged the mash tune as doing a wee batch was a right pain in the ****. Anything less than 30L was a nightmare for various reasons...........

However, my new 70L Thermopot arrives on Tuesday which will then put me back into a big setup. However i suspect it'll be a LOT more successful this time as my brewing has come on a lot since then and I'm a lot better at dealing with stuff.

Reason I'm asking you is I'm just curious to see how people use there systems for differing batch sizes.

K

 

[Hawks]

Reason I'm asking you is I'm just curious to see how people use there systems for differing batch sizes.

If I do another HUGE IPA or an RIS ( which I am still yet to brew ) then I will do a smaller batch ( around 25l ). I lose some efficiency on my cooler just due to how much I can submerge but that's about the only downside I can think of. Both elements are covered once I have 30ish litres in the boiler so all should be good :thumb:

Of course, I have said this before and then made 45 litres of an 8% IPA around 2 years ago ( just finished the last of it a week or so ago )

 

[kev]

Cool. I'm probably going to hang onto my 40l cooler mash tun for wee test batches, etc. I've got the equipment profile for that absolutely nailed and bang on in Beersmith so once I dial in my new mash tun then I can easily switch between them.

K

 

[Cactus]

i think really you need to think of it backwards to a certain extent.

How are you going to dispense? 19ltr cornys / 10 /20ltr polypins / cask pins / firkins?
How are you going to ferment the beer? 2 x 23l buckets? a larger bucket? a conical?

I think once thats answered you can work out how big you need to go in terms of pots. I would say from quick calcs 70 ltr would be doable but close to the top of the pot and would have to watch for boil overs i would suspect. 100ltrs would give ample room for 46ltrs into the fermentors.

 

[Rocky]

i think really you need to think of it backwards to a certain extent.

How are you going to dispense? 19ltr cornys / 10 /20ltr polypins / cask pins / firkins?
How are you going to ferment the beer? 2 x 23l buckets? a larger bucket? a conical?

I think once thats answered you can work out how big you need to go in terms of pots. I would say from quick calcs 70 ltr would be doable but close to the top of the pot and would have to watch for boil overs i would suspect. 100ltrs would give ample room for 46ltrs into the fermentors.

That was how I decided in the end. When I considered the final outcome of a usual (my usual being 30l boil, 23l final beer) double brew, I would have been near to the top of the 70l pots, so went 100l as I was currently running close to capacity and occasionally boiling over on my current set up, which is annoying. Besides, like others have said, bigger is better. Having some extra space should make things easier, hopefully!

The full 100l stainless steel kit turns up at the end of this week... finger crossed. :

 

[beermaker]

I'm a bit jealous rocky!! After being hospitalised twice in the last two years from motorcycle accidents my wife has banned me from bikes and as a sweetener has said I can upgrade to 100 litre stainless brewery, but still waiting for the I surance to pay out the readies! Where are you getting your vessels from? When I'm finally ready to go, I plan to largely copy the set up from the electric brewery WWW.theelectricbrewery.com but just trying to source suitable vessels without breaking the bank. Moving away from propane due to the eye watering cost of a big bottle nowadays!

 

[Vossy1]

The full 100l stainless steel kit turns up at the end of this week... finger crossed.

:party:

 

[Rocky]

I'm a bit jealous rocky!! After being hospitalised twice in the last two years from motorcycle accidents my wife has banned me from bikes and as a sweetener has said I can upgrade to 100 litre stainless brewery, but still waiting for the I surance to pay out the readies! Where are you getting your vessels from? When I'm finally ready to go, I plan to largely copy the set up from the electric brewery http://WWW.theelectricbrewery.com but just trying to source suitable vessels without breaking the bank. Moving away from propane due to the eye watering cost of a big bottle nowadays!

Getting it from powell brewing. It will be a gas setup with burners included. I know the cost of gas isn't cheap but after issues with elements previously bombing out mid-brew, I'm going to give it a go. As you get a regulator with the setup, it seems I'll be able to control the heat better too.

Getting excited about kitting out the garage in preparation for it now. Front of the garage is going to be the brewery, back of the garage separated and converted to a bar. :party: :party: :party:

 

[Fil]

Sounds like a solid plan - u will need some 'Rocky' Glasses for the grand opening :

 

[The Goatreich]

Not heard of Powell Brewing before. Looks like great stuff, might consider them for my upgrade, albeit not sold on being powered by gas.

 

[kev]

Don't know what the big deal is with gas. I've heard a few folk saying that recently. The whole US craft/home brewing explosion is powered by propane so it can't be bad.

Cost-wise it's peanuts. I get a big cylinder (9kg I think) from my local caravan store for £28 and that'll last me about 10-15 brews depending on a few factors.

Worst case it's £2.80 in gas for a brew which I assume is nowt compared to the spiralling household fuel bills.

Lastly I have ultimate control over my boil and can control it with the regulator. If I was electric I'd have on or off. That's it.

K

PS: My Powell brewing kit arrives today......will post a wee review later on.