Brand New Brewer!

TommyBoy0329 · Feb 18, 2018

I have a veritable library of recommended books that I am slowly cracking open one at a time, but I have some questions that can probably be answered faster, lol

I have an Anvil 7.5 galon kettle...what is considered TOO MUCH grains? I am playing with recipes and the one I am thinking of putting together has 10lbs of American Pale 2-row...is that too much? Not enough? I mean the calculator says everything matches up for the style...I am just curious for future reference...is there a set amount for a 7.4 gallon kettle, where is the line drawn?

I've also been recommended to make a Single Mash, Single Hop beer for starters...so I am keeping it simple...Pale 2-Row, Citra and some fruit like a Pineapple at the fermenting stage with Wyeast American Ale 1056.

jmcnamara · Feb 18, 2018

The amount you can mash is dependent on how thick the mash is. My 5 gallon kettle maxes out at about 11 lbs of grain with 1.25 qts per lb of water. But that makes it very hard to stir and lift the bag without spilling something.
You should have plenty of room in your kettle for 10lbs
And great idea for doing smash beers, good way to learn the ingredients and still make some beer

J A · Feb 18, 2018

Your batch size and efficiency will determine the proper amount of grist. Your mash tun, not your boil kettle will determine whether you have the capacity to mash the amount you want. Your boil-off rate will determine your volumes. If you're doing BIAB you can probably do at least 10 lbs and pull the bag for a dunk sparge in a bucket to get your desired pre-boil volume.
My advice would be to skip building recipes until you've got a few brews under your belt. There are any number of easy, proven recipes listed here that would give you exactly what you want and allow you to dial in your system. The recipe is really not the important part at first, it's the process.
If you'll describe your system in detail, you can get specific advice on every aspect of the process to start.

Michael_biab · Feb 27, 2018

I would second the information above. 10 lbs of grain is pretty manageable when wet, but as you get to bigger beers (perhaps some IPAs and definitely into the barleywine territory), you may find that the bag is extremely heavy and hard to lift and move. I just did a 5 gallon batch of BIAB barleywine and it was a monster! It just barely missed the top of my 15 lb kettle with an inch to spare (it was something like 9.5 gallons of water and 24 lbs of grain total). It ran all over my feet and killed my back when I lifted it out. It makes for a funny story and maybe good to try once in a lifetime but ... for now I'd stick to the manageable size batches until you get your process down.

BOB357 · Feb 27, 2018

A pulley setup is the way to go for lifting the bag if you brew somewhere under a place to hang it. I even use the pulley setup, along with a carboy hauler, to lift and dump 5 gallon water jugs into the kettle. When you get old everything gets too heavy.