Need advice for an Imperial Stout

[KavDaven]

I finally went out and secured a 10G cooler to make bigger beers.

Now I'm concerned, I don't have a large enough kettle. I have 5, 8 and 10G aluminum stock pots. I can control my waters to keep to the 10G kettle but should I?

I'm using ProMash's water needed calculator. I never thought I had any issues in water calculation on 1.060 beers or lower. Now that I'm shooting for a 1.086 imperial stout, I'm thinking the water calculator will keep me from a boil over on a 10G kettle but I won't make my OG.

If I did go out and get a bigger kettle, how would I calculate my water to get my OG target?

 

[blizz81]

How much pre-boil and post-boil volume do you want? It's up to you. "Making your OG" is a function of efficiency, too - you can always use more grain and stop sparging when you get to your volume. I would say about 8 gallons pre-boil is about as far as I'd go on a 10gal boil kettle.

 

[afr0byte]

I finally went out and secured a 10G cooler to make bigger beers.

Now I'm concerned, I don't have a large enough kettle. I have 5, 8 and 10G aluminum stock pots. I can control my waters to keep to the 10G kettle but should I?

I'm using ProMash's water needed calculator. I never thought I had any issues in water calculation on 1.060 beers or lower. Now that I'm shooting for a 1.086 imperial stout, I'm thinking the water calculator will keep me from a boil over on a 10G kettle but I won't make my OG.

If I did go out and get a bigger kettle, how would I calculate my water to get my OG target?

You should have no problem making 6 gallons (let alone 5) of 1.086 wort with a 10 gallon kettle. What are you expecting for a preboil volume?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

If you are making a 5 gal brew, the 8 gallon is perfect.
I have been using a MegaPot 8 gal for sometime now. As long as you are attentive when your wort is reaching boil temp., watching out for hot break and when adding hops, you will be fine.
I usually sparge out about 6.5 gallons and stop.

 

[KavDaven]

Ok, next weekend, 27SEP14, is my brew day.

Here's my plan. 5.3G into the mash. 5G to sparge. Should leave me with 7.75G of wort going into my 10G pot. I bought some fermcap and hope that will somehow reduce/prevent boil over. I intend a 90 min boil. Should leave me with 6G at the end of the boil. Minus trub and chill, I should have just over 5G of wort. I'll use my newly purchased refractometer throughout to see if I'm anywhere near my target gravity.

The only other issue, I went from a 2" burner to a 10" burner. I've completed only one previous brew with it. This 10" burner is amazing! After a few years with a 2", wow, heats faster, stronger boil, sit further away, and now I watch the brew more closely. I couldn't stop messing with the regulator and air control, trying to figure where the flame should be.

To recap:
7.75G preboil
fermcap
90min boil
10" burner

I would think that there would still be residual sugars in the grain. Another beer?

 

[blizz81]

Possibly enough for another brew. Sounds like a good plan. 8gal in our 10gal kettle gets a tad bit dicey at the beginning of the boil, but nothing unreasonable, so should be fine.