Scaling up

[Krimbos]

Ok, so if you saw my earlier post about my recent 15gal windfall, I am now in a position to jump to larger batches.

What are the unforeseen problems/challenges of scaling up? The home brew world is tailored to the 5 gal batch. The largest economical fermentor I can find is 30l from Midwest (it's great).

I assume you split batches into 5gal fermenters?

I can also see how a plate chiller becomes more necessary.

And let's not even talk about kegging!

Any other learnings or insights?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

if you normally end up with 5.5 just scale to 11, I would recommend 11.5 though with a bigger pot means more evaporation and yes just use 2 buckets I fill mine up to the bottom of the vertical rib which is close to 5.5 Gallon...you will need twice the yeast of course

you will have to adjust your loss settings in your equipment profile and pick that pot size for a 10 gallon batch and you might have to tweak the hops because the conversion doesn't just scale up 1 to 1

 

[MrBIP]

Will be interesting to see what you come up with Krimbos ... been sitting on a sanke myself for some time that was given to me and have done nothing with it yet. Same idea, moving to bigger batches. Found some good stuff about converting it to a boil kettle, but then start questioning the mash tun and the fermenters. ... and then I think about bottling 100 bottles instead of 50 .. uggh.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

on the plus side, you don't have to brew as often, you don't get that "crap that was my last beer" so fast and now I have to buy beer eeek

and I waited until I was set up for kegs and had everything bought so its much easier to store, I also bought a bottler from the keg just for family and friends to take home

 

[GernBlanston]

you don't get that "crap that was my last beer" so fast

??

Are you saying that your last beer was crap?


Anyway, I would agree with the kegging set up first. I couldn't imagine bottling 10 gallons.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Krimbos
I don't see a big issue with it at all but that is if you already have a big burner and an immersion chiller.
Bottling twice as much doesn't take twice as long, and the brew day may be as little as 1 hour longer for twice the yield.
My biggest problem is the keg itself. I've had those and using them as Keggles and was disappointed in them overall. They're heavy, difficult to cut(do you have an angle grinder and a variable speed drill with a step bit?) , deeper than a standard pot with a more narrow opening( harder to clean)and most of all, they don't heat up as quickly as a flat bottom pot so they require more gas per session.
All that being said, it's the cheapest 15 gallon SS pot you can get.
What I'd suggest is to find someone locally who has a Keggle and brew with them prior to cutting yours up. See if you like using it. You may find it's just wiser to return yours for the $40 deposit and apply that to a pot.
This is only my opinion and I'd like others to chime in as well.
Brian

 

[SwampWater]

I am electric with my Sanke kegs. One 1500 watt element in mash tun and sparge keg and twin 3000 watt elements in my kettle.

 

[Krimbos]

That's why they call him the Brew Mentor!

Terrific insight Brian.

Since I found it, not sure I can return it. But maybe I can sell it to subsidize a real pot.

Yeah, I have an angle grinder, but not really looking forward to the hassle. Looking for a local metalworking shop for help.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Thanks Krimbos,
The one exception I've found with the heating is going electric, but that'll require a significant upgrade in the panel and the cost of the wire etc.
Anyone else using Keggles?
Brian

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I use all electric and have built many control panels and wired everything including the box on the wall, there is a very specific wire, breakers and amp rating you have to follow to do it right and a ground fault circuit interrupter is not cheap, I don't have one but I should

 

[StinkyVp]

I recently started brewing triple batches of my lower gravity beer. I start with as much as I can get in my 20 gal kettle and still boil. I've done 19 gals but 18 is much easier. Then I split between 2 of the 7.9 gal buckets and one 6.5 gallon bucket. I end up with 6 plus cases and have a good bottling system so I don't mind bottling 6 cases at a time. I also got a 20 gallon fermentor like this one: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/20-gallon-plastic-fermentor-with-lid.html but since I use swamp coolers and have no way to control the temps in the summer I can't use it as often. My mash tun isn't large enough to do a triple high gravity batch but it's easy to do a double.

 

[Krimbos]

I end up with 6 plus cases and have a good bottling system so I don't mind bottling 6 cases at a time

Must be one helluva system!