Mash volume for 40 & 50 litre 1.060 brew lengths?

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Kev888
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Mash volume for 40 & 50 litre 1.060 brew lengths?

Post by Kev888 » Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:16 pm

I've been using three-vessels for many years, but now I'm going to have a go at BIAB - a bit out of my comfort zone, so wanted to make sure I'm getting this right:

I was thinking of brew lengths of 2x cornies or 1x 9 gallon cask = 40L give or take, although possibly 1x keg = 50L, at max OGs of around 1.065 or so, and I would like to do full-volume mashes. Reading around, it seems like the mash volume would be around 70L.

So I had been thinking I could get away with a 70L boiler, but now I'm having doubts - I don't know what my efficiency or losses will be as yet, so I'm thinking that may be a bit tight. I already have both 70L and 100L vessels that I could use, so maybe a 100L one may be safer.

Would 100L seem okay, or could that be too big for some reason?

Cheers
Kev
Kev

killer
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Re: Mash volume for 40 & 50 litre 1.060 brew lengths?

Post by killer » Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:08 pm

70L would just about do it all right. You need about a 34L boiler to hit 22L in the fermentor without liquoring back, so doubling up would get you to 44L of beer. The start of the boil might be touch and go but you should be ok. I don't see why a 100L vessel wouldn't work better.

Is it to be a fancy recirculating system or just a standard pot ? I seem to recall some nice designs you had quite some time ago (unless I'm confusing you with someone else).

What are your plans for a bag ? Unless you are like my personal trainer brother I can't imagine you holding 11+kg wet grain over the pot while it drains !

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Kev888
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Re: Mash volume for 40 & 50 litre 1.060 brew lengths?

Post by Kev888 » Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:53 pm

Great, thanks, thats most helpful. So basically 70l would be okay, 100L would be comfortable, really. I guess then I'll just go with whichever fits the design better, but all else being equal try to go for 100L.

Its just going to be a simple pot now. You remembered correctly, and I got a certain way towards making the recirculating design but unfortunately life interfered before I completed it. I'll soon be losing the luxury of spacious garages with electricity, and so now I'm needing a simple/compact gas powered system instead. TBH in some ways I'm quite looking forward to going back to basics so it may work out okay [-o<

Yeah the grain bill will be lower than my 3v system, but I still wouldn't want to lift it out by hand; I did a test with wet spent grain and whilst I can lift it out its awkward, especially if the boiler is reasonably high up, and it also seemed to be stressing the nylon bag I had. I haven't really decided yet how I'm going to deal with that, but it'll be something low-tech like two half sized bags/baskets and/or some sort of pulley or something; I did buy a manual winch in preparation for my previous build so I could still use that, though I think a simple pulley would be enough for a 40/50L brew length.

Cheers
kev
Kev

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