I currently do 23l brews which go into cornies and bottles but I wanted the option to do double cornie brews so I thought it would be wise to go for a nice big 100l pot as a hlt/boiler and 60l thermos pot for mash tun.
Now that ive got them im thinking that there going to be too big for those 23l brews that i do regularly.
Whats peoples opinions on this?
100l/60l setup too big?
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BeerBarron
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100l/60l setup too big?
"The only dangerous amount of alcohol is none"
drinking: hoegaarden-ish
Conditioning: 4 shades of stout
next up: lager,pale ale
drinking: hoegaarden-ish
Conditioning: 4 shades of stout
next up: lager,pale ale
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Kev888
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Re: 100l/60l setup too big?
Hi,
Well bigger pots are not as convenient, so may be rather ungainly for the small quantity, but if done correctly I'd say it could work out okay. I have a setup that does 80L+ (4x corny) brew lengths and it also does half that with no problems; the MT is very well insulated so it doesn't lose much heat even with smaller batches - I just have to remember that it will take much more thorough pre-warming, as the smaller volume of strike liquor doesn't heat it up as much. I have considered covering the mash with an insulated tray or something just to help it retain heat after the mash is underway too, but so far I've not needed to 'if' the MT is well warmed before I seal it up.
However I tried a few quater sized (1x corny) brews from it, and it struggled. One main issue was that the element was too high in the boiler for such a small quantity of wort - the wort covered it but only by a couple of inches, meaning most of the wort was beneath it and this didn't roll as normal; if I'd been intending to do such small brews when I'd built it I'd either put the element lower down or use one of those bottom-mounting burco-type elements or somthing like that (or used gas). The HLT was similar, though not quite as critical.
An other issue you may have is if your mash is very shallow and you wanted to fly sparge; I've a false bottom made from perforated stainless so its very even and that seems to work, though I needed to lower the sparge arm so there was less plumeting and subsequent drilling of the sprays when sparging. However if you had a manifold (or similar) it won't drain as evenly towards the bottom of the grain bed; thats not much of an issue normally as it only affects the last few inches of grain, but if the mash is so shallow that 'all' of it is pretty much the last few inches then it has a much bigger effect. So I'd say go for a FB or if you wanted a manifold maybe batch sparging may be better for smaller brews.
There was a time when I'd have questioned wanting to do 23L or 1x corny, when 2x took about the same time and effort; that was the logic that took me up to 4x originally and it worked out very well initially. But that was before I started getting into cornies and wanting more concurrent styles on tap - I'm now looking at 1x and 2x corny batches again.
Cheers
kev
Well bigger pots are not as convenient, so may be rather ungainly for the small quantity, but if done correctly I'd say it could work out okay. I have a setup that does 80L+ (4x corny) brew lengths and it also does half that with no problems; the MT is very well insulated so it doesn't lose much heat even with smaller batches - I just have to remember that it will take much more thorough pre-warming, as the smaller volume of strike liquor doesn't heat it up as much. I have considered covering the mash with an insulated tray or something just to help it retain heat after the mash is underway too, but so far I've not needed to 'if' the MT is well warmed before I seal it up.
However I tried a few quater sized (1x corny) brews from it, and it struggled. One main issue was that the element was too high in the boiler for such a small quantity of wort - the wort covered it but only by a couple of inches, meaning most of the wort was beneath it and this didn't roll as normal; if I'd been intending to do such small brews when I'd built it I'd either put the element lower down or use one of those bottom-mounting burco-type elements or somthing like that (or used gas). The HLT was similar, though not quite as critical.
An other issue you may have is if your mash is very shallow and you wanted to fly sparge; I've a false bottom made from perforated stainless so its very even and that seems to work, though I needed to lower the sparge arm so there was less plumeting and subsequent drilling of the sprays when sparging. However if you had a manifold (or similar) it won't drain as evenly towards the bottom of the grain bed; thats not much of an issue normally as it only affects the last few inches of grain, but if the mash is so shallow that 'all' of it is pretty much the last few inches then it has a much bigger effect. So I'd say go for a FB or if you wanted a manifold maybe batch sparging may be better for smaller brews.
There was a time when I'd have questioned wanting to do 23L or 1x corny, when 2x took about the same time and effort; that was the logic that took me up to 4x originally and it worked out very well initially. But that was before I started getting into cornies and wanting more concurrent styles on tap - I'm now looking at 1x and 2x corny batches again.
Cheers
kev
Kev
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mrlard
Re: 100l/60l setup too big?
I got a 50litre hlt and 35 mash tun i would consider swaping if you really can't get on with it.
Drop me a pm
Drop me a pm
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GrowlingDogBeer
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Re: 100l/60l setup too big?
That is a little big.
I have a 70 litre boiler, with 50 litre Mash Tun. I can happily do a 2 corny brew length, and at a push I can squeeze 3 cornies out.
It is also just small enough to cope with a 23 litre brew, although the mash tun is half empty.
I would have a go and see how you get on, or just do bigger brews each time and drink faster.
I have a 70 litre boiler, with 50 litre Mash Tun. I can happily do a 2 corny brew length, and at a push I can squeeze 3 cornies out.
It is also just small enough to cope with a 23 litre brew, although the mash tun is half empty.
I would have a go and see how you get on, or just do bigger brews each time and drink faster.