[gmac]

I'm running through my good brews a bit too quickly and I'm going to go to 10 gals for the ones I drink most so that I can brew a bit less frequently or catch up quicker if I fall behind.  Just wondering, is it as simple as just doubling everything?  Are there any changes in mashing schedule or anything or is it just doubling the grist and water and doubling the hops and yeast? 
Please let me know if there are any watchouts that I should be aware of.
Thanks

[ccarlson]

When I went from 5 to 10 doubling was about all there was to it. If you mash in a cooler, don't expect your temperature to drop a fast. If this is something you counted on before, a slight adjustment might be necessary.Of course, cooling the wort will take longer and if you use ice to assist in that, you'll definitely need more.

All in all, you'll appreciate getting twice the beer for just a little more effort.

[maxieboy]

 Double and go. If using an IC, you'll probably need to build a bigger one. 1 watchout: your liver... 

[Malticulous]

The only difference in the mash is a little less hot liquor. The boil off stays close to the same.

[weazletoe]

When I went to 10 gallon batches, I was using a much bigger pot, with a much bigger diameter, so my boil off was actually much greater. The boil off will be the same, provided you are using a pot with close to the same diameter. And +1 for a bigger chiller.

[richardt]

IME, wheat beers and high gravity brews (SG>1.080) tend to experience lautering difficulties initially when using a 10 gallon round Rubbermaid cooler.  It is fine for the 100% barley and sub-SG 1.080 (non-wheat) beers, but the mash tends to get a little too thick as you run out of "container space".  This really limits

Example:  I just did a weizenbock (55%+ wheat, 33 lbs grain total, calc SG 1.091) today in the 10 gallon round rubbermaid cooler.  Had a pound of rice hulls as insurance, as well.  Before I even added water, the dry grist was filling up the cooler to the 8.5+ gallon mark.   There wasn't much extra room to add water if I had undershot my strike temps (which, thanks to beersmith, I didn't).  But it was just impossible to stir all the way down to the bottom.  I mashed for 70+ minutes.  And it still was a long lauter--2.5 hours).  I was kicking myself for not switching out to the rectangular coleman cooler for the mash tun.

Bottom line:  using a rectangular mash tun keeps things simple and easy regardless of grist and gravity.  It avoids grain bed compaction (as width exceeds height), thereby improving lautering.  It also allows extra "container space" which makes hot or cold water addition (mash temp adjusting) and stirring much easier.

20 gallon SS Kettle w/ tri-clad bottom is the way to go--buy weldless thermometer and SS spigot and install them using a step drill bit.  Use FermCap-S to prevent boilovers.

[tom]

If you are using the same boil kettle and the same burner, your boil-off volume will be the same volume, not the same percentage.

Otherwise everything is double.

[gmac]

I'll be using a 55 gal Coleman Extreme.  15 gal boil kettle which will be pretty full. I normally mash in at 2 L/lb but I'll probably drop it down to 1.75 or a bit less depending on volume.  Grist will be about 20 lbs.  Far as I can tell, as long as I can get the lid closed, I should be good.

[thomasbarnes]

Doubling volume means that it takes proportionately longer to heat and chill your wort, and to heat mash/sparge liquor. You might need to scale up your burner or otherwise come up with methods of getting the speed and intensity of boil you used to get with 5 gallon batches. Likewise, you might need to take additional steps to get the same cooling speed as you did before.

Another problem is that it's just about impossible to safely move a full 10 gallon kettle full of hot liquor/wort. You'll need to get a pump, siphon tube or other equipment which can handle high temperature liquid. Note that most tubing sold for ice makers isn't rated as being food-safe for hot liquids. Look for plastic tubing designed to handle hot liquid.

[Malticulous]

I don't use a pump. I don't even have a ball valve on my 60 qt kettle.

I use the Bayou Classic burner that came with my turkey fryer. I changed the 5psi regulator to a 50 psi. It's more powerful than I need to bring 13 gallons to a boil.

[cheba420]

Been looking to make this move myself. Good info here. Looking forward to splitting the batches and pitching different yeasts!!