I have a 4 ring burner, material for a bag, siphon, everything except my pot. I have been brewing for nigh on 30 years, mainly kits, and now I want to give AG a go and BIAB seems the way to go.
I think I have just about everything, but the pot.
I don't want to spend money on a pot that can only do single batches if I find I like the system and I want to start doing doubles (if your going to spend a few hours making the wort you may as well make a couple of fermenters full!).
I was gong to buy a 70 litre, but then I put 46 litres ( 2 x 23 litres fermenter) as the brew length and it said Approximate mash volume 82.95 litres. So does this mean I need a 90 litre pot for doubles?
Also, is it worth twice the price for a Stainless pot rather than Ally?
Cheers
Steve
Post #2 made 15 years ago
Hey SJ, welcome to the forum.
The size of pot is not determined purely on batch size. Have a read of this thread. Stux managed a triple batch in a 50 litre pot.
Aluminium is fine if your looking to save a couple of $$. Personally I prefer stainless, but there is nothing wrong with ally.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
The size of pot is not determined purely on batch size. Have a read of this thread. Stux managed a triple batch in a 50 litre pot.
Aluminium is fine if your looking to save a couple of $$. Personally I prefer stainless, but there is nothing wrong with ally.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Last edited by hashie on 03 Apr 2011, 14:42, edited 5 times in total.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."
Post #3 made 15 years ago
Ahhh....daylight is dawning!!!!!!!!!!!!
So with a 70 litre pot I can make a concentrated wort and just dilute in the cube/fermenter Though it looks like efficiency goes down as gravity goes up.
But a 70 litre pot should do a comfortable double, and even a 60 litre triple ( and could be pushed to a 60 litre quadruple - 15 litres in to the cubes diluted to 20 in the cube and 23 in the fermenter).
...and of course it cuts down on the gas usage per batch.
Hope this logic is right
Cheers
Steve
So with a 70 litre pot I can make a concentrated wort and just dilute in the cube/fermenter Though it looks like efficiency goes down as gravity goes up.
But a 70 litre pot should do a comfortable double, and even a 60 litre triple ( and could be pushed to a 60 litre quadruple - 15 litres in to the cubes diluted to 20 in the cube and 23 in the fermenter).
...and of course it cuts down on the gas usage per batch.
Hope this logic is right
Cheers
Steve
Post #4 made 15 years ago
Yes your logic is right sj. You are basically only limited to your imagination.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."
Post #5 made 15 years ago
I have been playing with the calculator
I'm working on the basis of 20 litres in to cubes but calculating 21 litre batches which with the fermenter trub allowance takes me to 22.68 litres (I'll make up the 2.68 litres missing from the cube with started yeast and water). 22.68 litres is pretty close to the 23 litres I brew at now.
If I work on the basis of having a 70 litre pot a single will be the easy stuff (I hope)
Now for a double! Is the best principal to calculate at 42 litres and adjust the water addition?
For example with the Australian Pale Ale in the calculator I would need a water addition of 69.71 litres with a final mash volume of 76.62 litres.
Should I just add 60 litres or thereabouts of water, mash, and add the rest of the water over the course of the boil ending up with 40 litres for two cubes + trub, again adding the missing volume to the fermenter.
....and a triple ( got to get one right first )
A 63 litre batch works out 99.46 litres of water added to give a final mash volume of 109.83 litres.
So if I again add 60 litres of water, mash, and then add boiling water during the boil, keeping it to 60 litres + trub allowance litres to siphon in to 3 x 20 litre cubes ( maybe due to the volume adjust the water and only add 18 litres per cube and top up with boiling water). Again make up the missing volume in the fermenter.
Logical or am I missing something?
Also as the wort will be more concentrated it be 1.054 in the cubes to give 1.048 in the fermenter.
Hope this all make sense - and if it does I'll be ordering my 70 litre pot
Cheers
Steve
I'm working on the basis of 20 litres in to cubes but calculating 21 litre batches which with the fermenter trub allowance takes me to 22.68 litres (I'll make up the 2.68 litres missing from the cube with started yeast and water). 22.68 litres is pretty close to the 23 litres I brew at now.
If I work on the basis of having a 70 litre pot a single will be the easy stuff (I hope)
Now for a double! Is the best principal to calculate at 42 litres and adjust the water addition?
For example with the Australian Pale Ale in the calculator I would need a water addition of 69.71 litres with a final mash volume of 76.62 litres.
Should I just add 60 litres or thereabouts of water, mash, and add the rest of the water over the course of the boil ending up with 40 litres for two cubes + trub, again adding the missing volume to the fermenter.
....and a triple ( got to get one right first
)A 63 litre batch works out 99.46 litres of water added to give a final mash volume of 109.83 litres.
So if I again add 60 litres of water, mash, and then add boiling water during the boil, keeping it to 60 litres + trub allowance litres to siphon in to 3 x 20 litre cubes ( maybe due to the volume adjust the water and only add 18 litres per cube and top up with boiling water). Again make up the missing volume in the fermenter.
Logical or am I missing something?
Also as the wort will be more concentrated it be 1.054 in the cubes to give 1.048 in the fermenter.
Hope this all make sense - and if it does I'll be ordering my 70 litre pot
Cheers
Steve
Post #6 made 15 years ago
Well, it turned out to about 53Lhashie wrote:Hey SJ, welcome to the forum.
The size of pot is not determined purely on batch size. Have a read of this thread. Stux managed a triple batch in a 50 litre pot.
I would suggest a 70L pot. You should be able to do a double batch with virtually no mucking about... just a little pre-boil water addition, which is as easy as pouring cold/hot water into your pot up to your start of boil volume.
The true limit is your end of boil volume. You can never have more than your pot's volume
So, allowing a 4cm for your whirlpool, and a few litres of trub... you end with about 60L of standard gravity wort with a 70L pot. So you *could* do a triple without even doing post-boil dilution.
Anyway, with a 50L pot, I've settled down on producing 34L of collected concentrated wort, which fills two 17L cubes to produce 40L of beer, which packages into 2 19L kegs
Last edited by stux on 04 Apr 2011, 15:19, edited 5 times in total.
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III
5/7/12
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III
5/7/12
Post #7 made 15 years ago
Have a play with the Maxi-BIAB calculatorsjcampbell wrote:I have been playing with the calculator
I'm working on the basis of 20 litres in to cubes but calculating 21 litre batches which with the fermenter trub allowance takes me to 22.68 litres (I'll make up the 2.68 litres missing from the cube with started yeast and water). 22.68 litres is pretty close to the 23 litres I brew at now.
If I work on the basis of having a 70 litre pot a single will be the easy stuff (I hope)
Now for a double! Is the best principal to calculate at 42 litres and adjust the water addition?
For example with the Australian Pale Ale in the calculator I would need a water addition of 69.71 litres with a final mash volume of 76.62 litres.
Should I just add 60 litres or thereabouts of water, mash, and add the rest of the water over the course of the boil ending up with 40 litres for two cubes + trub, again adding the missing volume to the fermenter.
....and a triple ( got to get one right first
A 63 litre batch works out 99.46 litres of water added to give a final mash volume of 109.83 litres.
So if I again add 60 litres of water, mash, and then add boiling water during the boil, keeping it to 60 litres + trub allowance litres to siphon in to 3 x 20 litre cubes ( maybe due to the volume adjust the water and only add 18 litres per cube and top up with boiling water). Again make up the missing volume in the fermenter.
Logical or am I missing something?
Also as the wort will be more concentrated it be 1.054 in the cubes to give 1.048 in the fermenter.
Hope this all make sense - and if it does I'll be ordering my 70 litre pot
Cheers
Steve
http://biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=595" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It will actually calculate all these additions and volumes based on your actual kettle diameter/height.
To do you double batch, you would just drop your initial water by about 10L or so, then top up after mash out to your start of boil volume, which should be less than 70L
...
With the maxi calculator it will tell you how much water to start with, and it will also provide up dated start of boil volumes based on your actual achieved efficiency
It will also allow you to limit your "production" to your cubes volume
Last edited by stux on 04 Apr 2011, 15:26, edited 5 times in total.
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III
5/7/12
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III
5/7/12
Post #9 made 15 years ago
Thanks for jumping in here stux, I've never done anything bigger than a single batch in a 50l kettle. So I was feeling a little out of my depth.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."
Post #10 made 14 years ago
Steve how did you go with your brews in your 70 litre pot? I've just bought one myself and can't wait to get started. I still need to purchase a burner what are you using in your set up or if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.
Cheers paul
Cheers paul
