70l,70l & 50l or 100l, 100l & 70l

[JontyR]

Bit of advice please,

I'm upgrading to some SS kit and have pretty much decided that 70l HLT & copper and 50l mash tun would be spot on. I think I could do 2 cornies or 2 pins worth comfortably. However, I'm getting those last minute purchase second thoughts and am wondering if having the extra spare capacity of 100l & 70l vessels would make sense. The thought of being able to do the odd 3 cornie brew appeals to me but only if the 70l mash tun would be suitable to do regular 50l brew length 8kg-10kg grain mashes (fly sparging) as this would be my regular batch. I'd be grateful to hear from anyone who has either of the two sized tuns. If the 70l will do slightly smaller mashes without losing too much heat in the dead space then happy days...

[GrowlingDogBeer]

I have 70 70 50 set up. I do the odd 3 cornie brew in that. It does require topping up the HLT between Mash In and sparge, and also topping up the boiler, but it can be done.
The Mash Tun has plenty of room for Fly Sparging.
I think if a 2 cornie batch is your primary goal then this the perfect size.

[JontyR]

Thanks Steve,

is it possible to end up with 50l of wort in the boiler without topping up?

Cheers

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Yes, ending up with 50 Litre of wort is quite easy, I do only boil for 60 minutes though so this may be a factor.

My normal batch is 45 Litres for 2 cornies plus a few bottles, I push it up to 60 litre if I want to fill 3 cornies. Of course this means finishing with about 65 Litres in the boiler to allow for hop absorption so It is obviously a very tight fit.

If I was shopping again I think I would stick with the 50 Litre Mash Tun, but maybe get a 100 Litre boiler just to give me that bit more headroom. The 70 Litre HLT is big enough as it's easy enough to top that up while the Mash is on, but you need to think about heating the water in the HLT. If you are doing a big brew you may need to add 30 Litres to the HLT while the Mash is on, dependant on your heating power this may not get up to sparging temp in time. I don't have an issue as I fill my HLT with hot water out of the Combi boiler so there isn't much heating to do, but if you are filling with cold water there could be an issue, in that case I may well go for 100 Litre HLT as well.

I think the 50 Litre Mash Tun is fine as you can mash 16Kg of grain in it at with 32 Litres of water, thats plenty for a decent 60 Litre brew. My big batches tend to be weaker supping beers, rather than speciality ones as well.

[JontyR]

Thanks Steve, that's a big help - much appreciated.

[kebabman]

I decided to err on the large side, to avoid topping up the HLT, being able to brew 1060+ og beers and to allow fly sparging. The extra cost for the larger sizes is a very small percentage when postage was included and I knew that I would always regret not going large.

[Skiptonian]

Hi,

I have found that 70L HLT, 60Lt Mash Tun and 100L Boiler works perfectly with a 3 cornie run. Other combinations will no doubt also work well.

I like a bit of head space in the boiler (it's hot in there!) At 60L the Mash Tun seems spot on (and there is just that bit more room to do a high gravity / lots of malt brew) The 70L HLT can be topped up easily whilst the rest is mashing (before the sparge) and is up to temp very quickly on Gas.

What I had not grasped (before I watched Beermonster do a brew) was that whilst the Mash Tun holds only 60L, you can then sparge it from the (easily) topped up HLT getting the full brew length for the boil. I had a fair bit of head scratching as to how it was possible to get 70L+ from a 60L Mash Tun.

cheers
Skiptonian

[JontyR]

Thanks all,

I've opted for 100l HLT and boiler ad a 50l thermo pot. for the size difference of 50mm between the 70l and 100l it seemed daft not to.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

We expect to see lots of piccies of shininess soon then.

[JontyR]

We expect to see lots of piccies of shininess soon then.

No worries mate, just got to re-rack the garage first so I can make a permenant set up in there for the brewery. I've got a load of unistrut to build the shelving so the pending new arrivals will be the impoteus to get it done.

[beermonsta]

Been swayed by the shineyness of Skiptonians brewery have you Jonty

Let me know if you need any help, advice, tools etc when you come to build it.

[JontyR]

Been swayed by the shineyness of Skiptonians brewery have you Jonty

I know Barry (Skiptonian) won't take this the wrong way, but no. After discovering how less complicated AG is than I'd expected, I've really enjoyed making my basic kit, and had even more fun brewing with it. I'm happy that I feel I've served a small part of my apprenticeship now and I'm prepared to shell out a few more quid on more gear safe in the knowledge that it'll get used - I'm a big believer in walking before running, other wise I jump in with both feet and end up withh more stuff in the garage that I dont use.

Must admit though - I will find it useful having such a well made set up down the road to erm, observe....

Let me know if you need any help, advice, tools etc when you come to build it.

Thank you, I will be taking you up on that

[Skiptonian]

"Must admit though - I will find it useful having such a well made set up down the road to erm, observe...."

Never mind observing, how are you at mashing in?

Skiptonian

[JontyR]

"Must admit though - I will find it useful having such a well made set up down the road to erm, observe...."

Never mind observing, how are you at mashing in?

Skiptonian

Great!! but I'm not cheap

[JontyR]

Pots arrived this morning, very pleased with the delivery turnaround and they look great too.

Now get prepared for lots of questions........