Boil size & equipment

[Fore]

I'm looking into the kit necessary for AG, trying to keep it good value (call it mid-ranged). I plan to go the 2 vessel cooler mash tun route. The new Electrim digital boiler seems to have overcome the previous model thermostat problems, and also increased to 33 litres. I see many who like the Buffalo 40l, but I'm not sure I can justify the extra cost for that.

Sorry if this sounds daft, but I'm unsure how the boil volume relates to the target final gravity, and this of course might influence my boiler decision. I do have preference for Belgian ales of 8 or 9 percent. So, do you have more wort to boil if you aim for a 9% beer than a 5% beer, assuming I would always want to aim for a 23l final target volume, i.e. do you boil off to reach the higher gravity, or do you sparge higher gravity runnings and end up with roughly the same pre-boil volume?

So is a 33l plastic boiler OK in your opinion or am I just delaying the inevitable?

I also fall towards the Deluxe 45l mash tun, partly due to the extra grain needed for bigger beers, but also as I plan to batch sparge. Again, is this a good choice or overkill?

 

[nobyipa]

i had a 33 litre boiler
worked fine for up to 20 litre brews
but yes it did delay the inevitable
i now have a 50 litre boiler
so you can get away with it but the bigger the boiler the more comfortable it is to brew
i have a 28 litre mash tun that produces for me constant 27 to 30 litre brews I FLY Sparge
I don't know about batch sparging
:drink:
how you get different strengths put simply is higher grain mash to water ratio

on average i use 5 to 7 kilos of grain to get 5 to 6.5 7% abv
mashing with the same amount of liquore if that makes sense
getting 35 to 40 litres into the boiler gets me about 27 to 30 litres of beer out
loosing to hops boil etc

 

[LeithR]

There are a few things you need to know about your set up, you need to know what rate your boiler boils off the wart i.e. how much of the wart goes up in steam during the boiling stage. You also need to know how grain absorption occurs in your set up. In my recent brewing of Robinsons Old Tom grain absorption for about 8 kilos of grain was 6.5L of liquor.

Lastly you need to decide how you are going to handle the dead space between the tap inlet in the boiler and the bottom of your boiler, mine is about 1.8L but I always tip my boiler into the FV once I have siphoned off what I can. So, to tip or not to tip is something you will have to decide.

Also I sparge my grains as the boil starts, sorry should have said I BIAB, I use anything between 3 and 7 Litres of water for this operation and this is returned to the boiler during the boil phase.

So you need to account for these issues, I have managed to get hold of an 8Litre small boiler which I use on brew days to address this issue. Usually my target brew length is 23L

Hope this helps.

 

[Fore]

Hmmm. So I'm possibly under engineering my boiler and over engineering my mash tun. A rethink necessary.

 

[LeithR]

If you go BIAB you only need a single boiler, and a bucket to put your grain into so it can continue to seep the juices out. If you can put something like an upturned colander in the bottom of your bucket to keep the grain out of the accumulated liquor so much the better. This way you limit your expenditure and it is real AG brewing.

 

[Fore]

Thanks for the insight, but I've read up quite a bit and I'm quite fixed on going down the cooler route. It's not really the TOTAL price that is my concern, more that I get good bang for my buck. I'd buy the Braumeister, but I'm quite sure I can do very much the same for a lot lot less! You guessed it, I'm from Yorkshire :party:.

So I find what looks like a good 28l cooler from Hop & Grape. Even better is that it can come with an integrated rotating sparge arm. There would be little reason however to go for a rotating sparge arm that didn't rotate if the flow rate was turned down to achieve a 45 minute sparge, but if it did rotate, then I'd be more than happy to go for it for the simplicity. So, does anyone know if such sparge arms just sits stationary, in which case better to build a simple copper manifold or lay on a silicone tube? My question is purely about the ability of these sparge arms to rotate for say a 45 minute 5 gallon sparge, and not about the wider discussion concerning rotating vs manifold. Thanks for your comments.

 

[beerlover1983]

I would check out dennybrew.com and see how little equipment your need or even fly sparge .This chaps used the same set up for years hes a legend .You dont need alot to make good beer or spend alot .

 

[Fil]

a sparge arm is tinsel on the tree, and batch sparging is easier quicker and well worth doing for the first few brews at least till u have everything else sussed so u can concentrate on balancing a fly sparge, me ive never bothered batch sparging all the time..

boiler volume size.. as big as u can go imo,skimping on 10l or so headroom will impact every brew, with 30+l of preboil liquor to boil down perhaps more for a higher gravity beer needing more boiling to concentrate a comfortable few inches headroom in the boiler stops u chassing foam and worrying about splash or boil overs,

many use electrim boilers to brew grand beers but i bet they all mop up splash overs every brew and have to watch the initial foaming spraying back with a trigger bottle of water..

 

[Fore]

Thanks everyone. It's great fun this stage of a new hobby, so much to read and learn.

I plugged some numbers into some calculators and find that at least a 35l mash tun would be needed for my plans, so although the 45l Deluxe is a bit more than needed, I again start to lean towards it. I guess the only downside would be the extra dead space; I can deal and live with that I think. As a positive, it would offer the capacity to allow batch upsizing if wanted in future.

You have persuaded me that the Electrim will just frustrate, so a Buffalo 40l is in focus. A bit more than I wanted to spend, but money well spent as far as can tell from reviews. But I would need one with a Euro plug and can't find the prices that many quote (more like 165 pounds at my end); any advice welcome.

On a slant, am I wrong to exclude gas as a boiler option?

And on another complete slant, are there any restriction on transporting grain overseas, in the back of my car, on a Dover Calais ferry?