beer smith & 2bbl

[JandKBoucher]

Does any one have a generic equipment profile setup for a 2bbl brew house? i need to scale up my 5 gallon batches to 2bbl...

[Kevin58]

I see a couple of larger scale equipment profiles from Blichmann in the add-on section but none of them 2 bbl. I think you are just going to have to run some water tests and take the measurements and weights to make a custom profile. Something everyone should do with a new system anyway.

[brewfun]

You're a bit vague. Are you going pro or doing pro-am or just really an enthusiastic home brewer? 

While there are a lot of variables between systems, I start with just a few basic questions.
1) Whats the typical boil volume?
2) What's the typical fermenter volume?
3) How much grain do you use for a typical 13 or 14 plato batch?

From these three parameters, you can get mash efficiency, brewhouse efficiency, boiloff and trub loss estimates that are pretty close.

If you're setting up a new system, you can go with some typical numbers like 8% each for boiloff and trub loss, then 88% minimum mash efficiency. Of course, how the system is manufactured will have a huge impact. In that size, there are endless variations and results.

Go ahead and write recipes at 5 gallons on the system you're comfortable with. Only scale up one recipe that has a wide target range and not a lot of hops, like an American Wheat or Pale Ale. Brew it and use the measured gravity and volume(s) to nail down the system parameters. Then you can scale up the rest of the recipes with a lot more confidence.

If you're worried about ordering, you can just get a full pallet. You're going to have to order full bags of your specialty malts so just count those up from your homebrew sized recipes and order one bag of each. (Pro Tip: Standardize your specialty malts across your recipes to save money and prevent overstocking) Then, finish the pallet with the base malt, up to 40 bags per pallet. Since shipping is usually per pallet instead of weight, it doesn't make sense to order partial pallets.

With hops, wherever possible, get 11# increments. You'll have fresher hops, overall. You might want to sub out some varieties for ones you'll use more often. For instance, I have some standards I use for foundation bittering (60 - 90 min).

[JandKBoucher]

I am in the process of opening a nano brewery. I am looking at a 2bbl system next week. I will run a 1bbl (31gal) test run to evaluate and build my custom equipment profile. However, I have a recipe I would like to use for the test- so I need a generic equip profile to give me a start.

Right now I am only brewing on a 5gal scale. That being said only 5.50gal goes into the fermentor. for a typical 16* plato batch (1.064 [approx 5%ABV]), I Mash In with 5.32gallon of treated water, Sparge with 2.88gal of untreated water. Use 13lbs of grain. I lose 1.45gal in the grain, and lose 1gallon during 60 min boil off. Usually use a 1/2gal trub loss during fermentation. Just a hair over 5 left, and 5 goes into the keg.

I will do a test run, but was hoping for generic numbers for the test equipment profile I build. I don't want to essentially take my 5gal numbers and multiply by 6.1 in order to do a 31gal/1bbl run. I do not believe this is how scaling up works...

And I was worried about the first order. I need to get the equip in place, order grains, and test.

[BOB357]

Once you put together an equipment profile that represents your system, just use the scaling tool in BeerSmith and check the box to Match original gravity, color and bitterness. This does a great job of scaling IMO.

[dtapke]

I am in the process of opening a nano brewery. I am looking at a 2bbl system next week. I will run a 1bbl (31gal) test run to evaluate and build my custom equipment profile. However, I have a recipe I would like to use for the test- so I need a generic equip profile to give me a start.

doing a test run that isn't the volume that you'll be brewing, while not pointless, isn't as helpful as doing a test run that IS the volume you'll be brewing

Right now I am only brewing on a 5gal scale. That being said only 5.50gal goes into the fermentor. for a typical 16* plato batch (1.064 [approx 5%ABV]), I Mash In with 5.32gallon of treated water, Sparge with 2.88gal of untreated water. Use 13lbs of grain. I lose 1.45gal in the grain, and lose 1gallon during 60 min boil off. Usually use a 1/2gal trub loss during fermentation. Just a hair over 5 left, and 5 goes into the keg.

I will do a test run, but was hoping for generic numbers for the test equipment profile I build. I don't want to essentially take my 5gal numbers and multiply by 6.1 in order to do a 31gal/1bbl run. I do not believe this is how scaling up works...

Your absolute best bet is to run water to get some basic measurements, boil off, liquid capacity, etc. from this you can easily make a test recipe, scaled to what you're planning on brewing, from that you can make any needed tweaks to the equipment profile.

And I was worried about the first order. I need to get the equip in place, order grains, and test.

as an "enthusiastic homebrewer" as brewfun put it, I buy my grains direct from a wholesaler via a local brewshop, maybe your local brewshop would be willing to help you out on your startup... regardless, for your "test" batch, you could easily just spend the $80 on a couple bags of 2-row and call it good enough to get a run in before committing to a pallet.