BrewDog Inspired brew (with a 24L Mashtun)

[DC]

Hi all, After recently reading rave reviews about Brewdog beers and after sampling a few last weekend. I am looking to try and recreate or clone a Brewdog beer for my next brew day, but my problem is I only have a 24L mashtun which I currently use for my 23L brew lengths. I am just wondering if it’s possible to get a higher strength/gravity beer like a Brewdog beer of say 9% or 10% using a 24L mashtun and if so how do I go about it? Or is it time to bite the bullet and build a larger mashtun for 10 gallon brew lengths.

Cheers DC

[alix101]

It would make it easier having a big mash tun but it's not essential you could fly sparge as opposed, to batch sparge,or you could add malt extract or sugar to the boil to bring the gravity up.

[gnutz2]

Reduce your brewlength?

[micromaniac]

just do what alix said sugar last ten mins of the boil

[Scooby]

You don't give a recipe so lets assume you need 8kgs of grain for your brew, plus as it's a high ABV sugar to give some balance.
With a ratio 2:1, as thick as you would want to go, you would require just over 21l of space, so it's doable by continuous sparging
but only just.

[captain wassname]

You could mash and sparge say 4plus kgs grain to collect 15 or 16 litres of wort.Empty the spent grain from the MT and repeat the process.
Take a long time though.

Jim

[BrotherLogic]

You could always do a partial mash - depends on what kind of beer you were aiming for.

[JammyBStard]

If you're going to add sugar I'd say add it to the FV after the yeast has finished with the maltose (secondary fermentation) this has excellent results and reduces the risk of too much residual sweeness from the malt.

[smeggedup]

a double mash brew ?

[oneilldave]

You can always add sugar, as mentioned above, but I tend to use honey to bring the SG up. I know, I know, it's a bit expensive, but the results are worth it, especially if you can get a really heavily scented honey as it leaves such a wonderful flavour and aroma in the beer. I find sugar in my beers makes them a bit harsh - is that just me?

(Sigh - sorry - just fretting as I've only just finished off a barrel of red ale that I flavoured with honey and fresh ginger. It was a delight!)

Good luck with whatever you use, and don't forget to use a yeast that can cope with the high ABV.

Dave.