Help: 1st time brewing with a kegle setup

[jimbohlia]

Hey everybody - I recently acquired a 3 kegle set up with HLT , Mashtun and boil pot from a friend. There are some definite differences from my igloo cooler mash tun and boil pot setup. I am attempting to brew an orange kolsch 11 gallon batch that has a 21 lb grain bill. The problems stared surfacing immediately when I tried to brew today.

At 1.5 quarts per pound of grain I need 7.88 gallons of water for making but when I put that in the tun it doesn't look like there is nearly enough water above the false bottom to saturate the grain.

SOO with the above problem I decided to put all the water in a once (15.22 gallons) and manually recirculate because I don't have a pump - once I did this it didn't look like there wasn't enough room for all the grain and water in the tun to fit.

I have all my grain crushed and would really like to brew today so anybody with this setup that can help me out at all I would really, REALLY appreciate it!

 

[helterscelter]

How much dead space is there under your false bottom? You have to account for that when you calculate your strike water.

You definitely can't put 15gal and 21lb of grain in a keggle at once.

 

[Monkey-BB]

I did 12 lbs of grain and 4 gallons of strike water in my keggle mash tun today. Maybe try a little water at a time.
Good luck buddy.

 

[jimbohlia]

I ended up starting with 9 of the 15 gallons of water and fly sparged the other 6 gallons. I only have one burner so it was a little tricky and I couldn't tell the temp oh the sparge of water once the water level dropped below the temp probes level. Even though I have plenty of batches under my belt I feel like I've never brewed before. That was a PIA! Oh well, it's in the boil kettle now.

 

[helterscelter]

That was a PIA! Oh well, it's in the boil kettle now.

Glad to hear you got it figured out.

Not sure what you brewed, but maybe could call it "PIA IPA"

 

[maierhof]

I couldn't tell the temp oh the sparge of water once the water level dropped below the temp probes level. .

try buying a smaller temp probe then using a 4 way ss attach it to out of your keggle - cap the end of the open (under the temp probe) port - then attach your ball valve back on the to outlet of it. viola - you have a temp on all water leaving your HLT. Just a little more money but worth it due to the location of your first temp probe...

 

[PLOVE]

try buying a smaller temp probe then using a 4 way ss attach it to out of your keggle - cap the end of the open (under the temp probe) port - then attach your ball valve back on the to outlet of it. viola - you have a temp on all water leaving your HLT. Just a little more money but worth it due to the location of your first temp probe...

Minor issue though. Assuming your sparge water started at 168-170 it won't have gotten any warmer. You're fine on this front.

You might start by figuring out just how much volume is beneath your false bottom and then consider moving up to 2.0 qts per pound. 21 lbs grain in a keggle is small potatoes. You should be able to mash upwards of 35 lbs with adequate water/grain ratio.

A pump isn't a must, but would help. If you made an error, it was in jumping the gun to the full 15 gal of water. Take a deep breath and just remember what you are trying to accomplish. a keggle system is not any different from your igloo setup - only a bit bigger. Strike temps, volumes, etc., are all easily calculated and your mash is no different. However, if you don't head towards a HERMS/RIMS system with a pump, you may find that a stainless keggle doesn't hold heat very well during the mash.

Call it a learning experience. Take a step back and reevaluate. I think you'll see that your system - while bigger, blingier, and more intimidating - is just a bigger version of your former system. Pumps are awesome, but in large part for maintaining temps (herms/rims) and moving much larger volumes of water/wort than you can lift.

Good luck!!
P