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Author Topic: your experiences in moving to 10g?  (Read 14141 times)

Offline majorvices

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #15 on: September 18, 2012, 07:46:20 pm »
Re: Starter. I just went with two flasks and two stir plates and just ordered two vials.

That's what I would do if I brewed a 10g batch.  I already have the flasks and stir plates and couldn't pass up the opportunity to ferment with two different yeasts in this situation.

Absolutely. I still do a lot of side by side batches this way. I have a "festweizen" going right now with 2 different weizen yeasts.

Offline gmac

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #16 on: September 18, 2012, 08:43:39 pm »
I wrote this really long and brilliant reply that would have revolutionized your homebrewing but apparently it didn't get uploaded properly which is too bad cause it was really brilliant.

Since I'm lazy, I'll skip all the gems of wisdom and just say:  Regarding starters - do a 5 gal batch first and then use the yeast for 10 gal batches.

Offline davidgzach

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #17 on: September 19, 2012, 07:04:24 am »
Re: Starter. I just went with two flasks and two stir plates and just ordered two vials.

That's what I would do if I brewed a 10g batch.  I already have the flasks and stir plates and couldn't pass up the opportunity to ferment with two different yeasts in this situation.

Absolutely. I still do a lot of side by side batches this way. I have a "festweizen" going right now with 2 different weizen yeasts.

I'm on board here as well, except I use saved slurry whenever possible.  Always have 5-6 saved to compare in the fridge which has really increased my understanding of what each adds to a particular brew.  However, if no slurry, then 2 starters.....

Dave
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Offline jmcamerlengo

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #18 on: September 19, 2012, 09:15:19 am »
split batches are great for understanding yeast in a brew. Also can lend itself to dry hopping or fruiting or something like that.
Jason
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Offline nateo

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #19 on: September 19, 2012, 02:49:23 pm »
I made the jump to 10 gallons about 18 months ago. I made the jump back to 5 gallons about 6 months ago. Even with split batches or partigyles, I just wasn't that thrilled to have that much beer on hand all at once.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #20 on: September 19, 2012, 02:53:12 pm »
I do 10 gallon batches some times. If I have a recipe that everyone in the house likes 5 gallons just doesn't last very long and while I love to brew I don't always have time. but I still brew 5 gallon batches alot. new recipes always start out as 5 gallon batches.

my 72 qt coleman extreme can just barely handle a no-sparge 10 gallon batch of around 1.050ish. and the 50 litre kettle can just barely handle the boil. I have to watch it like a hawk till the break subsides and I suspect a 10 gallon wheat beer would boil over for sure (nope, not gonna use anti-foam. Maybe being paranoid or a ludite but just not goign to do it)
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Offline richardt

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #21 on: September 20, 2012, 06:54:17 pm »
The old adage is a good one:  vessels should be twice the size of your batch.

60 qt (15 gal) BK = 7.5 gal batches.
80 qt (20 gal) BK = 10 gal batches.

I also use a 20.5 gallon (82 qt) Coleman cooler for mashing and batch sparging.  Realistically, when mashing in, I never try to fill the cooler with more than half+1 gallon of the total water needed.

Offline Upstate Dan

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #22 on: September 20, 2012, 08:28:23 pm »
I also have a 60 qt kettle and 10 gal cooler tun and found 8 gal batches to be a good compromise to deal with mash capacity, boil overs, lifting, etc.

Offline weazletoe

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #23 on: September 21, 2012, 11:25:22 pm »
Don't think a 15.5 gallon demi-jon is the way to go for fermenting. ITS SUCKS! Don't ask how I found out.  :-\
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Offline BrewArk

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #24 on: September 22, 2012, 11:31:21 am »
Fermenting was my problem too.  I can only fit one fermenter in my kegerator at a time (unless I unhook my taps).  So I have the constant experiment - one fermenter at controlled temperature and one ambient.

So I end up with one fine bohemian pilsner, and one triple decocted pale ale.

I still can't convince SWMBO that we need a third fridge.  8)
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Offline ibru

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #25 on: September 24, 2012, 09:31:32 am »
I've been brewing at least 10 gallons most of the time for 15+ years. I do 5 gallon batches of some beers like BVIP, Oktoberfest and other "seasonal" beers. I like to maximize my brew time (usually once every 6-8 weeks) and I enjoy having that extra cornie after the first one is gone of a beer that I really like.

Bruce

Offline PeckerWood

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #26 on: October 03, 2012, 05:03:38 pm »
GET A PLATE CHILLER!!!

It is going to take you much longer, especially in summer months, to chill your wort with an ice bath or a decent immersion chiller.  The Blichmann Therminator along with the Thrumometer is great! It saves me so much time and water vs. using an immersion chiller.  I actually use my immersion chiller inside a bucket of ice water hooked up to the Therminator to chill 11 gallons of wort in about 5-10 minutes which is the amount of time it takes to drain my wort in the fermenter since the counterflow water chilling the beer is now colder than the ground water. Drain at full speed.
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Offline majorvices

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #27 on: October 03, 2012, 05:12:04 pm »
I honestly didn't care for my plate chiller. Too hard to sanitize and clean. And the plate chiller won't chill your wort cooler than your summer ground water temp.

IC is my suggestion. Stress free sanitization. Hose off, drop in boil last 20 minutes. WP  with a spoon or pump and you can get down to 80-90 degrees pretty quickly during hot summer month. Drop in temp controlled fridge or freezer or give ice water bath to drop  to pitching temps.

Offline PeckerWood

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Re: your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #28 on: October 03, 2012, 08:31:30 pm »
I honestly didn't care for my plate chiller. Too hard to sanitize and clean. And the plate chiller won't chill your wort cooler than your summer ground water temp.

IC is my suggestion. Stress free sanitization. Hose off, drop in boil last 20 minutes. WP  with a spoon or pump and you can get down to 80-90 degrees pretty quickly during hot summer month. Drop in temp controlled fridge or freezer or give ice water bath to drop  to pitching temps.

It's easy to clean.  Just hook up the backflow adapter to flush out the inside, stick in a pot and bring to a boil to sanitize.  Drain upside down and you're done.  The addition of using my immersion chiller inside a bucket of ice water in conjuction with the plate chiller brings the temperature of the water-in down very rapidly.  And the Thrumometer in addition verifies the wort out temperature going directly into the fermenter while aerating as it falls in at 67 degrees.  It's definitely a little more money having both, but in my opinion, time is money and this saves a lot of time.  An immersion chiller alone is a good option, absolutely, I've used it, but it used so much more water and took a lot more time.  But a plate chiller is just so much faster in my opinion, and the 2 together are Wow!!
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Offline majorvices

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your experiences in moving to 10g?
« Reply #29 on: October 04, 2012, 05:34:51 am »
Now where near as easy to clean as an IC (rinse and drop in boil last 20 minutes). And it clogs way too easy as well. That said, the plate chiller I have for my 10 bbl brewery hooked up to my glycol unit works far better than my old IC. ;) But my plate chiller is completely "disassemable"  (I don't really know if that's a word) and you get some pretty nasty build up in the things that doesn't come out no matter how long you back flush.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2012, 05:57:52 am by majorvices »