What size stock pot for 10L BIAB?

[fbsf]

Hi all,

I'm planning on going BIAB soon (after doing a very successful extract brew), and am going to be brewing about 10L at a time, mainly due to me not drinking huge amounts and wanting to try different recipes.

I would like to be able to use a single stockpot for both mashing and boiling, to save equipment cost and keep things simple. What size pot am I likely to need (or more accurately, how much space in the pot would 2.5kg of grain take - I'm pretty certain that 13L of liquid (to allow for boil-off and absorption) will take 13L of space :) )?

I can get a 19L stainless pot off of the 'bay for £24 - is this likely to be big enough? I will be fermenting it in a "Better Bottle" style 19L FV (OK, a water cooler bottle borrowed from work!).

 

[Jeltz]

From what I have read it seems as though if you get a pot which is about double your brew length that will enable you to do reasonably high ABV beers with a full volume BIAB, i.e. all the water in at mash and no need for sparging or dilution.

However by using a Maxi BiAB approach you can get more from a pot. My 1st brew will be using one and by sparging and dilution I am hoping to get a brew length of about 19l from a 19l stock pot.

Technically possible but time will tell :)

 

[fbsf]

In for a penny etc...

Have just bought a 4-pan set (8L, 11L, 14L and 19L stainless steel pots with lids) for £35 inc delivery. That way I can muck about with smaller brews, or do full length brews just with a smaller boil volume and adjust the hops accordingly. I can keep the smaller pots for food cooking too.

Quite fancy starting with something like a Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby, as I seem to be getting into milds, porters and stouts at the moment...

 

[rich27500]

19l pan will easy do a full BIAB 10l batch. Make sure you can get that volume to boil. My halogen hob really struggled with my tiny 6l pan last night.

 

[fbsf]

I've got a 5-ring gas hob, and the centre ring is a large dual-burner, so I'm hoping it should be ok - when I did the extract brew I had to turn it down to mid-way to stop it going mad and bubbling over, and that was a 6L pan with 5L in it, so fingers x'd...

 

[rich27500]

Yes it will. We swapped to halogen hob electric fan oven from a disastrous experience with a Leisure Gourmet Classic all gas oven. It was the worst 600 we have ever spent. The only thing we miss is the power of the gas rings.

 

[darkonnis]

I used an old gad stove when i was doing mine. took time to get it up to temp but worked really well. If youre struggling just leave the lid on till it starts to boil then just put the lid a jar if you cant keep a boil after that. Over 60 minutes it'll work well.