Going all grain but how big?

[MadMarble]

I have quickly come to the conclusion that kit brewing is much better than when I used to do it 18 years ago. I started brewing again late last year after a long spell away from it. However my years of dedicated sampling in good pubs tells me there is more to beer than a kit. So I am planning my all grain setup and saving up some funds at the same time.

My plan is to set aside a day a month as a brew day. Over and above this I will keg and bottle but I only plan on brewing one day a month due to family stuff.

So my question is do I go straight in for a 10 gallon set up? The cost of the MT and Boilers I have been looking at aren't that much more than the 5 gallon ones considering the increased size. I will be setting up in the shed and gravity feeding a 3 pot set up and using gas to heat the boiler. Ventilation is in the plan too.

What do you thing 5 or 10 gallon?

[Kyle_T]

Depends on how much beer you want to drink or having lying about, I do between 5 gallons and 6.6 gallons, do a brew or two at least every fortnight for a couple of months and I'll have enough beer to last the summer (in theory) I tend to stick to session ales and can afford to keep the smaller gear.

[MadMarble]

We tend to have regular BBQ's and a 19l corney only tends to last a night as everyone seems to enjoy the kits I've been brewing. So that is why I was considering the upscaling side of things. Given the time taken to do a brew day I only expect to be able to get one in a month so at present I never seem to be able to build up a stock to have one conditioning while another is fermenting.

I suppose I could keep doing the kits for the parties and do 5 gallon all grain brews for me

[Kyle_T]

If you get round to saving enough, the 30L EcoKegs are worth a shout. I'm a little funny when it comes to people drinking my beer, only those who I know will actually appreciated it get to drink the AG stuff lol. Otherwise it's shop bought. Stagger your brews and do a long condition followed by a couple of short condition beers, by the time they are gone the long condition beer is ready and repeat the process.

[MTW]

It's a good question and one that I ponder for when I get a better AG system. My humble twin small pots and coolbox just about work, but 'ease' will be a consideration when I upgrade: the current hotchpotch was really just to get me off the ground. I am likely to brew more frequently with smoother equipment and a shorter brew day and would probably stay at 5 Gallons. The only reason I can think of going bigger would be if I was sure I was going to have very limited opportunities to brew and just wanted to keep some sort of stock. I wouldn't want 10 gallons of the same thing very often.

At the moment, for my own future plans, I'm leaning slightly towards an all in one automated 5 Gallon system with a reduced brew day and clean up. I know I wouldn't want to go BIAB, personally. I brew about once a month, and even that takes enough of a chunk out of family time. But it keeps me in beer with enough for the odd social. I also bottle everything at the moment, which is extra time, though I get this done in the evenings usually.

[boingy]

I went for 8 gallons as that is two cornies and the pot size vs price seemed to be pretty good.

Bear in mind that once you go over about 5 gallons the full pots are too heavy to move easily so you need to give more thought to how and where you use them. My mash tun is at about head height and I can *just* lift it down with the wet grain in it after it has drained. Any bigger and I'd have to "dig it out" a bit before moving it. Also if you are fermenting in a fridge then that will dictate your upper limit (allow for plenty of yeast head).

I don't have much time to brew and I tend to brew very similar beers (because I like them!) so larger batches were a no-brainer for me.

[Wonkydonkey]

I went for a 70lt Thermopot so I could do any lenght of brew 30lt min 60 max, the reason was more beer and more to put aside for a later date, as the 25lt brews were gone just as it was getting better. So by doing a bigger brew and fermenting in two vessels I can dry hop differently, use different yeasts, even drop in some candi to poke up the Abv.

That said, the equipment is bigger, heavier, but my brew day is a bit longer but less often. Which fits in better for me

But if you mess up, you could be loosing more. I was lucky, I lost 1/2 a brew (25lt) to an infection, even thou I still drunk a few Lts to be sure it was off and getting more sour etc.

[MadMarble]

Thanks guys. Lots to think about there.

Like I say I'm still saving up so I have plenty of time to mull it over. I'm not too concerned about the length of the brew day as I would set aside the whole day just for brewing and clean up. No matter what brew length I go for I plan on putting a timer on the HLT to start the day off early.

I would probably do the odd kit still no matter what as my friends seem to like the results and it would leave more of the good stuff for me

[robbarwell]

Mine is 80 litres..18gallons.

the reasons being:-

1) I can brew "test" recipes on this as it is a tenth of the size of my big kit (ideal for stepping up yeasts)
2) it will fill a cask and a keg for test purposes
3) I don't now buy beer for home, its homebrewed all the way.
4) We have a lot of friends around at least once a month..On more than one occasion a full 9 gallon cask has gone in the night

[IPA]

Go for a max brew length of 57 litres of 4.5 percent beer that way you can brew 3 cornies of session beer and have a mash tun big enough to brew a smaller amount of strong beer. Always remember that you can decrease the brew length with a big mash tun but you cannot increase it with a small one.

[keith1664]

Definitely a mash tun big enough for a 10 gallon batch. You can still use it for 5G batches and if your electrics can run 2 elements you could even do a 10G mash then split it into 2 boilers for 2 different beers.