Few questions about BITB

[az77]

Hoping to brew a steam beer next week by BITB.

1) Going to buy a 12L stockpot with a 26cm diameter and my hob ring is 18cm diameter do you think i will get a boil going ok for about 8L. I am going to mash with 8L and then "re-mash" (sparg) with another 8L.
2) I was going to use cascade and saaz hops as i beleive these are both lager hops but also i see Hallertau hops, any recommendation which two out of these three to use.
3) I am going to make 15L and split it between 3 x 5L dj's, and was thinking of using a different steam beer yeast in each dj, i have narrowed it down to four yeast, Wyeast 2112, nottingham, WLP029 and WLP810, they all seem to be happy at about 18-21C and still give a lgaer like taste. Am i going to be successful here.
4) I just read about puttng a wet towel over the fermeneter and sitting it in a amount of water, seems like a good idea if it really does reduce the temps by 4-5 deg. I guess i would just have to change the cold water every hour of so??

[Befuddler]

1) Buy a bigger stock pot.. 12l just doesn't sound big enough. The idea with BIAB is to do everything in one batch then just lift the grain bag out. Also, with a 12l pot you won't be able to mash much more than 3.5-4kg in 8l of water, and by the time the grain has absorbed water you'll get very little out of it.
2) Cascade isn't a lager hop.. far from it! It's one of the big aggressive american hops most often used for IPAs. I think saaz and hallertauer are more appropriate.
3) Not sure on the correct yeast for this style but you definitely need to keep to the cooler end of the yeast's comfort zone if you want a clean lager flavour.
4) If you point a desk fan at the towel covered fermenter, it'll stay cool enough without changing the water.

[az77]

Good answers, will look for a 15L pot then. Hopefully it will boil ok, if not i'm kinda stumped.

[Befuddler]

Good answers, will look for a 15L pot then. Hopefully it will boil ok, if not i'm kinda stumped.

Honestly, I would go much bigger than that. You can get a 48l beast on ebay for about £40 quid, then you can do full size batches. It might take up 2 rings on your cooker but it'll be much better for the job. You shouldn't have trouble boiling a big pot, it's just a matter of how long it takes.

[az77]

Good answers, will look for a 15L pot then. Hopefully it will boil ok, if not i'm kinda stumped.

Honestly, I would go much bigger than that. You can get a 48l beast on ebay for about £40 quid, then you can do full size batches. It might take up 2 rings on your cooker but it'll be much better for the job. You shouldn't have trouble boiling a big pot, it's just a matter of how long it takes.

Yeah you are right, will have a think. Would get messy trying to do it with a 15L. I would be pouring things here and there and then back into there and here.