Brewery Expansion help

[HGJacko]

Hello everyone.

First of all, I'd like to say this is my first post and first time on a homebrew forum, so hello to everyone.

We have been brewing 1 gallon all grain batches for over a year now and are wanting to upgrade to 5 gallon batches. I am looking for some advice on the best approach to a 5 gallon setup.

I understand it will need some investment, the only problem we have is that we will not be able to use a kitchen hob, we will need to purchase a means of heating for the mash and the boil. We have researched both an electric kettle (not much option as yet) and gas burners. Does anyone have any recommendations for this? We are happy to convert a cool box for a mash tun and we have a smaller kettle for sparging too.

I have also seen the all-in-one systems, especially Klartstein, which do look impressive, but are a hefty investment.

Thanks for reading and I hope you can help out.

Cheers, H

 

[samale]

The most simple and cost effective way is to go biab. I have a burco boiler, you can mash and boiler in the one then transfer. I also don't chill. So for about 100 pounds you could be up to speed

 

[foxbat]

Electric BIAB and an immersion chiller. Job done!

 

[Session]

Hello everyone.

First of all, I'd like to say this is my first post and first time on a homebrew forum, so hello to everyone.

We have been brewing 1 gallon all grain batches for over a year now and are wanting to upgrade to 5 gallon batches. I am looking for some advice on the best approach to a 5 gallon setup.

I understand it will need some investment, the only problem we have is that we will not be able to use a kitchen hob, we will need to purchase a means of heating for the mash and the boil. We have researched both an electric kettle (not much option as yet) and gas burners. Does anyone have any recommendations for this? We are happy to convert a cool box for a mash tun and we have a smaller kettle for sparging too.

I have also seen the all-in-one systems, especially Klartstein, which do look impressive, but are a hefty investment.

Thanks for reading and I hope you can help out.

Cheers, H

Hello H!
How much do you have to spend? What are your goals with your brewery long term? Are there any techniques you would like to use or are working towards? What stuff do you have at the moment?
I used to brew 5L batches and loved the amount of experimentation it allowed me to do. I felt I learned a lot about brewing in those early days.
Depending on your budget I think something like the Robobrew or similar is a great investment.

 

[Dads_Ale]

I posted this a few years ago and it may useful. In fact even though I bought a shiny SS Brewtech mash tun I have actually gone back to using the one in the article as it is light and easy to clean and produces great results.
I also now use a Klarstein boiler and immersion chiller as is easier to clean than the counterflow unit although not as effective.
Regarding the bit on pellets I have found that the Klarstein is too narrow to get a good cone but now use a Trub-Trapper which works well.
Hopefully the link will still work.

A while ago I wrote a bit of a guide on brewing 23ltre size AG batches in your kitchen that didn't cost a fortune.

I have sent this out to couple of forum member but thought it would be good to have it a bit more available.

So hopefully the link below will work

A Day at the Compton Brewery.pdf

 

[Stephenj]

I have the same as @samale and works well for me. I know some on here and elsewhere have made their own with kettle elements and a FV with holes drilled in similar to the peco.
Klarstein have discounts on their site at the minute though.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi i use this Füllhorn Mash kettle for the money it does everything i need, you need to buy the bag think it was a tenner, you also get a tenner off if you sign up to the news letter,

 

[HGJacko]

The most simple and cost effective way is to go biab. I have a burco boiler, you can mash and boiler in the one then transfer. I also don't chill. So for about 100 pounds you could be up to speed

Cheers mate I will have a look into it! Looks like a good route to go down :)

 

[HGJacko]

I posted this a few years ago and it may useful. In fact even though I bought a shiny SS Brewtech mash tun I have actually gone back to using the one in the article as it is light and easy to clean and produces great results.
I also now use a Klarstein boiler and immersion chiller as is easier to clean than the counterflow unit although not as effective.
Regarding the bit on pellets I have found that the Klarstein is too narrow to get a good cone but now use a Trub-Trapper which works well.
Hopefully the link will still work.

A while ago I wrote a bit of a guide on brewing 23ltre size AG batches in your kitchen that didn't cost a fortune.

I have sent this out to couple of forum member but thought it would be good to have it a bit more available.

So hopefully the link below will work

A Day at the Compton Brewery.pdf

That's really helpful, cheers mate! I will have a read over the guide tonight. How has the Klarstein boiler worked for you?

 

[HGJacko]

Hi i use this Füllhorn Mash kettle for the money it does everything i need, you need to buy the bag think it was a tenner, you also get a tenner off if you sign up to the news letter,

Top stuff thank you mate. Looks a top piece of kit.

 

[HGJacko]

Hello H!
How much do you have to spend? What are your goals with your brewery long term? Are there any techniques you would like to use or are working towards? What stuff do you have at the moment?
I used to brew 5L batches and loved the amount of experimentation it allowed me to do. I felt I learned a lot about brewing in those early days.
Depending on your budget I think something like the Robobrew or similar is a great investment.

Hi mate!

We would be willing to spend around £200 to upgrade in total. The long-term goal is to produce consistently good beer and have an enjoyable hobby! I think we would be comfortable with a 5 gallon batch, then potentially expand to 10 gallons if we would like to in the future. I myself am still at University so I think stepping up to a 5 gallon batch is sensible for now.

From our current system, we would potentially be able to carry over our air-lock, 3 gallon pot, hot liquor tanks and our bottling equipment. We would potentially keep the rest of our equipment (1 gallon carboy, siphon, hosing) in case.

We really like the idea of using a mash tun, sparging etc, but our problem with heating is proving a big obstacle - where buying a Robobrew or equivalent isn't too much more expensive than purchasing a new kettle/electric kettle, burner, mash tun etc!

Cheers for your help

 

[Dads_Ale]

That's really helpful, cheers mate! I will have a read over the guide tonight. How has the Klarstein boiler worked for you?

Hi. It is a Maischfest Mash Kettle 30ltre, although I now only use it as a boiler.
I found the mashing side of it didn't work for me, mainly the grain basket is quite small with a lot of dead space around it and it sits too low to fit a hop filter for the boiling side. I did just fit a bazooka filter and use it to mash like that but then still needed an interim vessel to collect the wort before cleaning out the kettle and using it as a boiler. So I went back to the FV mash tun.
As a boiler it works well, I use the 3kw element (I plug it in to the cooker socket) to get up to boil and then turn down to the 1.5kw one for the rest of the time. You to be carful relying on the temp probe though as it can read low and before you know it has boiled over (I found out the hard way).

I expanded my kit to take it up to 50 litres but have now scaled back as I found I preferred have a smaller amount of beer but a bigger variety. Also a smaller set up is easier to use in a home environment.

Oh and here is the Trub Trapper at work.

 

[Session]

Hi mate!

We would be willing to spend around £200 to upgrade in total. The long-term goal is to produce consistently good beer and have an enjoyable hobby! I think we would be comfortable with a 5 gallon batch, then potentially expand to 10 gallons if we would like to in the future. I myself am still at University so I think stepping up to a 5 gallon batch is sensible for now.

From our current system, we would potentially be able to carry over our air-lock, 3 gallon pot, hot liquor tanks and our bottling equipment. We would potentially keep the rest of our equipment (1 gallon carboy, siphon, hosing) in case.

We really like the idea of using a mash tun, sparging etc, but our problem with heating is proving a big obstacle - where buying a Robobrew or equivalent isn't too much more expensive than purchasing a new kettle/electric kettle, burner, mash tun etc!

Cheers for your help

No worries - planning virtual breweries with someone else’s cash is almost as fun as planning your own!

I agree with samale in that brew in a bag (BIAB) is the best way forward. If it’s just more volume you want however, you may not actually need to buy any extra equipment if money is tight. High gravity brewing is a technique where you brew a small quantity of a high gravity wort, then dilute with water when added to your fermenter. This allows you to make a larger quantity of beer in smaller apparatus.

A lot of what you are paying for with the more expensive systems is consistency and repeatability. You will find however that brewing larger volumes intrinsically makes things more consistent due to larger thermal mass. I speak as someone who started out doing 10L batches on my stove!

I’ve added a couple of links about high gravity brewing for you to give you a bit more info in case you fancy reading up a bit more on things, but I would advise spending a little more now if you can on something like an eBIAB system and then going from there.

You could also no-chill, and store up cubes of high-gravity wort to be diluted and brewed at a later date, without the need to buy an expensive chiller.

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/brewing_high_gravity_beers

 

[HGJacko]

Hi. It is a Maischfest Mash Kettle 30ltre, although I now only use it as a boiler.
I found the mashing side of it didn't work for me, mainly the grain basket is quite small with a lot of dead space around it and it sits too low to fit a hop filter for the boiling side. I did just fit a bazooka filter and use it to mash like that but then still needed an interim vessel to collect the wort before cleaning out the kettle and using it as a boiler. So I went back to the FV mash tun.
As a boiler it works well, I use the 3kw element (I plug it in to the cooker socket) to get up to boil and then turn down to the 1.5kw one for the rest of the time. You to be carful relying on the temp probe though as it can read low and before you know it has boiled over (I found out the hard way).

I expanded my kit to take it up to 50 litres but have now scaled back as I found I preferred have a smaller amount of beer but a bigger variety. Also a smaller set up is easier to use in a home environment.

Oh and here is the Trub Trapper at work.

View attachment 24314

That looks great. I can see what you mean about the grain basket being too small, I have read/watched a lot of others' experience with mash kettles in general which say the same thing. Haha, a boil over is something none of us want! Will make sure to invest in a couple of thermometers.

Do you use chiller in there too after boiling?

 

[HGJacko]

No worries - planning virtual breweries with someone else’s cash is almost as fun as planning your own!

I agree with samale in that brew in a bag (BIAB) is the best way forward. If it’s just more volume you want however, you may not actually need to buy any extra equipment if money is tight. High gravity brewing is a technique where you brew a small quantity of a high gravity wort, then dilute with water when added to your fermenter. This allows you to make a larger quantity of beer in smaller apparatus.

A lot of what you are paying for with the more expensive systems is consistency and repeatability. You will find however that brewing larger volumes intrinsically makes things more consistent due to larger thermal mass. I speak as someone who started out doing 10L batches on my stove!

I’ve added a couple of links about high gravity brewing for you to give you a bit more info in case you fancy reading up a bit more on things, but I would advise spending a little more now if you can on something like an eBIAB system and then going from there.

You could also no-chill, and store up cubes of high-gravity wort to be diluted and brewed at a later date, without the need to buy an expensive chiller.

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/brewing_high_gravity_beers

Cheers for that. This isn't something I even knew existed so I'll get on with reading up on it. Definitely seems a good way of brewing good size batches with minimal cost!

Like you say, its a good idea to invest a little more now as it will be better in the long run.

Do you have any links for electric kettles/urns? I can find a couple on klarstein and HifiTower, but struggling to find any other options.

Cheers for you all your help, is appreciated :)

 

[HGJacko]

Hi i use this Füllhorn Mash kettle for the money it does everything i need, you need to buy the bag think it was a tenner, you also get a tenner off if you sign up to the news letter,

Cheers for that mate, the mash kettle looks good. Have you had any issues with it or has it been all good?

 

[Dads_Ale]

That looks great. I can see what you mean about the grain basket being too small, I have read/watched a lot of others' experience with mash kettles in general which say the same thing. Haha, a boil over is something none of us want! Will make sure to invest in a couple of thermometers.

Do you use chiller in there too after boiling?

I do use the chiller that came with it, whilst it is just about ok I reckon one with more coils would be a wise investment.
The trouble is although the initial outlay isn't too bad this can rise quite a bit if you have to start replacing stuff that really isn't up to the job in the first place.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Cheers for that mate, the mash kettle looks good. Have you had any issues with it or has it been all good?

No not had any problems with it apart from those i created, i bought a chiller its not the best but it does what i want i also bought a single extention my old one couldn't handle the power, the only advice i can give is think about what you want from brewing and go with that