[wilypig]

I have the following for 10 gallon batches:
15 gallon converted keg kettle with a hop stopper and valve
60qt cube cooler with slotted copper manifold for mashing
I fly sparge with a pitcher
Turkey fryer burner for outside and combat brewing (Propane)
Italian sauce burner for indoor brewing (Natural Gas)
I ferment in corny kegs with foam controlling agents

My brew partner does 20-25 gallon batches:
30 gallon kettle with hop stopper and valve
two 60qt cube coolers with slotted copper manifold
Fly sparge with a cooler for HLT and sprinkler heads
Turkey fryer burner
multiple Better Bottle fermenters

I have successfully made a 25 gallon batch on my brew partners system. I have also made 2 10 gallon batches in a day on my system.

[astrivian]

My batch size is 10 gallons.  Often I keg 5 and bottle 5 for competitions and gifts to friends.

I have a mill with a drill motor to crush the grain, as that saves my arm on a high OG batch.  The system is 3 converted kegs with 2 false bottoms, 3 burners, a pump, chillers, etc.  The chilled wort usually goes into a conical, but sometimes 2 6.5 gallon carboys for primaries.

The mash is done in one of the converted kegs with a false bottom.  I have mashed up to 40 lbs of grain in that.  You can start with up to 14 gallons of wort in the kettle.  You get the fell for avoiding boilovers.  The false bottom in the kettle keeps the hops out of the pump, and recirculating  while chilling will filter a good part of the break material through the bed of hops.

Hmm. Thanks!

What do you use to heat a 40 quart boiler? I imagine a turkey fryer is not enough.

Oh, and i so wish i could get a connection for natural gas outside! That would be sweet!

[tygo]

Fred posted earlier in the thread that he does use a turkey fryer and I've seen others say the same thing.

I use one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-High-Pressure-Outdoor/dp/B000291GBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1276310879&sr=8-1

[bmilford]

I have done 15 gal. batches with a laundry bag from Wal-Mart (to mash in Australian style) and a 20 gal aluminum pot from a discount store, with a propane "Wok" burner on a homemade brew stand, fermented in multiple buckets. Indoors I use two 2000w heatsticks ( best thing yet).

[astrivian]

Hmm. so maybe i could try my hand at a 10 gallon batch. I have three 6 gallon carboys already and i almost never use all of them at once. All i think i would need is the boiler and another primary so i can split the batch. I guess i would need a wort chiller as well, my ice bath would just not work with a pot so huge!

Of course, bottling will suck. I hate bottling.

Question though: I notice the big boilers have a ball valve on them. What do you connect them to? Copper pipe?

[tubercle]

10 gallons with ease.

[tygo]

Question though: I notice the big boilers have a ball valve on them. What do you connect them to? Copper pipe?

I use a hose barb and regular plastic tubing to run the cooled wort from the pot into the fermenter.

[hamiltont]

Question though: I notice the big boilers have a ball valve on them. What do you connect them to? Copper pipe?

I use a hose barb and regular plastic tubing to run the cooled wort from the pot into the fermenter.

... and some will hook it up to a pump & recirculate while using an immersion chiller & others will add a counterflow chiller to the pump.  All sorts of uses. Just depends on your setup.

[bearcat]

Brew stand is a self welded  3 tier stand using 3 converted kegs w/ 3 propane burners.
grind my grain on a barley crusher with a drill
make my starters on a stir plate
chill with a plate chiller from DudaDiesel
use pure 02 with stone

Ferment in carboys, sanke keg, and plastic containers that Mullerbrau uses on occasion in a temp controlled enviroment

I welded up the handle holes in my MT and BK to go 15 gallon batches and more grain capacity.

[weazletoe]

  I do 12 gallon batches. I mash in a 70qt Coleman, boil in a 16.25 gallon SS kettle that I got off Amazon for near free, and I heat my water in 7.5 turkey fryers. I have 2 burners. For fermentation, use a combination of 6.5 gal buckets, carboys, and a 15.5 gal demijon.

[realbeerguy]

15 gal converted Keggle, 10 gal ROUND Igloo w/ Phil's False Bottom, 48 qt Coleman cooler for HLT.  boil on a Bayou fryer, tier system is on a Werner scaffold.  Fermented in 2 6.5 gal glass carboys until I got the B3 temp conical 12.5 gal.

[sutorbrew]

I generally do 16.5 gallon batches in my 25 gallon Megapot with a 100qt cooler for a mashtun. I was doing primary and secondary in 6 carboys but recently upgraded to a 27 gallon Fermenator and was able to push my no boil Berliner up to a batch size of 22 gals which seems to be the safe limit for the Fermenator. We were having some issues with larger grain bills and wheats with runoff so we decided to mod the mashtun in the pics below. At this batch size pumps and a Therminator are a must to speed up the brew day. I am now on the hunt for an upright freezer to give the Fermenator a home and do precise temp control and lager fermenting.

Edit. The image link didn't take so you can check out the pics on my website. http://www.igotdrunk.com/gallery/homebrew

[kylekohlmorgen]

I brew 5 gal batches with a turkey freyer and a round 10 gal igloo and have no desire to upsize
Fred

+1

5 gallons seems to be the perfect size. All of it fits in the kegs, and I can split into 2-3gal carboys if I want to experiment...


...or maybe I just need more friends?

[euge]

I generally do 12 gallon batches.

Found an aluminum 80qt (heavy duty) on Instawares for less than $100.
Mash in a 70qt Coleman Extreme
Natural gas fired on ring-burners

Heavy-duty 1/2" Cu immersion chiller with an ice-water recirc.
Currently wort is transferred with a gallon pitcher and filtered through a China-cap or sieve. Modifications underway to install kettle-valve for my March-pump to transfer instead.

Ferment in 7.9 gallon buckets inside 40 gallon plastic totes chilled with frozen soda-bottles.

It's easy to step down to 6 gallon batches since it's hard to drink 12 gallons of an experimental brew gone awry...

Here's my ghetto setup:

[astrivian]

What pumps do you all use for the recirculation?