Equipment upgrade. Need help

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ChrisA

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I got a new kettle but it's substantially larger than my current (old) one. The old one is 12L and the new one is 95L. The wife told me to get it...

I was brewing about 5L batches, using a demijohn to ferment in and then filling 8 or so bottles or a party keg.

What do I do with this new beast? I feel like I need to re-buy everything else now to make real use of it and I'm not sure what I should pair up with it.
It's got a tap, thermometer and two elements.

Any ideas welcomed, I'm at a loss :(
 
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95L Jeez the world is your oyster, I would get a large mash tun or make one a pump about 6 corny kegs a large freezer a fridge some gas at least 4 or 5 fv's, it's endless what you could do, im sure some of the more knowledgeable one's on here will guide you, good luck and keep us informed acheers.
 
95l! Wow! What’s the diameter on that new kettle? I imagine it must be quite wide. One thing I noticed when moving up from doing stovetop 5l batches (in a 12l kettle) to regular length brews (just 23l in a 32l kettle for me though!) is that your boil off rate will increase due to increased surface area of the boiling wort, which will be particularly noticeable if you ever brew short. I wouldn’t recommend doing a 5l batch in that kettle, for example.

ETA: also cooling. You’ll going to have to think long and hard about how you’re going to cool down your wort post-boil.

And, don’t be shy - share a pic of your shiny new kit!
 
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I got a new kettle but it's substantially larger than my current (old) one. The old one is 12L and the new one is 95L. The wife told me to get it...

I was brewing about 5L batches, using a demijohn to ferment in and then filling 8 or so bottles or a party keg.

What do I do with this new beast? I feel like I need to re-buy everything else now to make real use of it and I'm not sure what I should pair up with it.
It's got a tap, thermometer and two elements.

Any ideas welcomed, I'm at a loss :(
I think I would have forfeited 25 litres and gone for the all in one 70 litre Brew Devil for 350 GBP, far easier using a SVB. Can't you return it?
 
@Rodcx500z I suspect the wife blundered when she told me to get it, I'm going to end up with a home bar now rather than a shelf in the fridge :).
I think all of the things you mention are on the cards now I just need to figure out sizes. I know the kettle says it's 95L but I won't get that out of it, I'm guessing 70 maybe. I've got lots to think about now with sizes, process and space cos this thing feels like it's huge right now

@mclaughlinj It's in the region of 50cm. I think the deadspace is about 6L. I hadn't thought about increased boil off but it makes sense, it feels like I didn't think about much now. I'm very much not prepared for the scale of this and where it leads to. I must try to not be so trigger happy in the future.
I was thinking counterflow before it arrived now I'm not sure. I chill mine in an ice bath in the sink right now so chillers are a little alien to me.
I'll see if I can edit one in somewhere for you :)

@foxy I'll admit that I didn't intend to get this to start with, I've been eyeing up the brewzilla 30L for months because of it's similarities to how I'm currently brewing and it appears to be easy to use, youtube certainly makes it look like it. I think the costs will be very similar once I've got this working and it will come down to ease of use, the new kettle and other equipment I'll have to buy to go with it will become easy once I get used to them just the same as a single vessel would so I'm going to keep it and learn it.
 
@Rodcx500z I suspect the wife blundered when she told me to get it

@mclaughlinj I must try to not be so trigger happy in the future.
I chill mine in an ice bath in the sink right now so chillers are a little alien to me.
I'll see if I can edit one in somewhere for you :)

@foxy up think the costs will be very similar once I've got this working and it will come down to ease of use, the new kettle and other equipment I'll have to buy to go with it will become easy once I get used to them just the same as a single vessel would so I'm going to keep it and learn it.

I like the blame the wife bit, I often try that but don't get away with it.

Chilling 70 litres of wort. Get a rainwater tank 2 to 3,000 litres will chill it in no time, forget the ice bath in the sink.

Hot liquor tank , mash tun, pumps to transfer, think of rods , backs, making.
 
95 litre is a monster I would probably go biab with no sparge. With a final volume off 55 litres in the fermentor or 60 litres spilt between two fermentors. Splitting would give you a chance to use different hops to create two different beers
 
@samale For the price of the bag I could give it a go I suppose, could be a tad heavy though. Full volume would make things easier and I do have two buckets that aren't doing much right now, maybe do a split smash or something.

@foxy This time its true, there was a 50L for the same price but she said get this one because it makes sense. I'm sure she didn't think about the rest of the process or equipment either.
 
Would it be possible to split the grain bill into two bags and make the lifting process easier? Can you rig a hoist to the roof above? I have just acquired a ceiling plaster board lifter. Going to use that to save me straining my back!
 
A hoist is a good idea, I've got wooden beams above my planned brew area so will look into that.
 
@HarryFlatters which one did you go for? Theres a few on there that look useful.

This system could take some time to build out, with Christmas coming up and January usually being a crappy month it could be March before I'm running three vessels methinks.
I do have some overtime monies coming at some point so maybe January, I'll put up something when I start adding bits to it
 
I bought these ones, not that I've set anything up yet so I can't report on how they all work.

I've also decided to ditch the bar that you're supposed to use to pull the grain basket and see if I can get these D links and a chain to work instead.
 

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