Djehuty
Master Brewer
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2010
- Messages
- 56
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I've been searching for good advice on a setup for brewing five-gallon batches of beer, and my head is starting to swim. Between information found online and fiddling with BeerSmith, I'm finding so many different versions of the "right" equipment setup that I'm fairly well lost.
What I have now is a five gallon cylindrical Coleman cooler, and some copper pipe and assorted bits and pieces for making the drainage manifold for turning the cooler into a mash tun. I also have a five gallon brew pot. I'm prepared to purchase a wort chiller, and I could exchange the cooler for a larger one if need be. Unfortunately, I can't really afford a ten-gallon brew pot at this time. They seem to run about $100-$120 or so.
For a fairly basic recipe, BeerSmith tells me I'd need about three gallons of water for the mash, then four and a half for the sparge. This only increases if I add a mash-out. Making things more confusing, John Palmer's How to Brew tells me that a water-grain ratio of 1.5 to 2.0 quarts per pound is more common than BeerSmith's default 1.25, and that the sparge water is typically double this amount. The volume of water just keeps increasing.
So, is it possible to brew five gallons of beer using a five-gallon mash tun and a five-gallon brew pot? If so, what am I missing, and what should I do?
What I have now is a five gallon cylindrical Coleman cooler, and some copper pipe and assorted bits and pieces for making the drainage manifold for turning the cooler into a mash tun. I also have a five gallon brew pot. I'm prepared to purchase a wort chiller, and I could exchange the cooler for a larger one if need be. Unfortunately, I can't really afford a ten-gallon brew pot at this time. They seem to run about $100-$120 or so.
For a fairly basic recipe, BeerSmith tells me I'd need about three gallons of water for the mash, then four and a half for the sparge. This only increases if I add a mash-out. Making things more confusing, John Palmer's How to Brew tells me that a water-grain ratio of 1.5 to 2.0 quarts per pound is more common than BeerSmith's default 1.25, and that the sparge water is typically double this amount. The volume of water just keeps increasing.
So, is it possible to brew five gallons of beer using a five-gallon mash tun and a five-gallon brew pot? If so, what am I missing, and what should I do?