Will what I learn from 2.5G BIAB transfer to bigger batches?

[LTownLiquorPig]

I mean as far as brewday process. Right now I'm doing 2.5 Gallon biab. The steps will be the same, I'll just need to dial in my temperatures and stats again, right? Would it be worth getting the cooler set up for mashing that I plan to use for my bigger batches down the line, or will all the space in the cooler make holding temp impossible? Just crious about which direction I should go from here.

 

[phenry]

You'll only learn half as much as you need to know for 5 gallon batches.

But really, it's the exact same thing. What size cooler were you looking to use? I've found with my 10 gallon circular Rubbermaid that if my mash is too small (around 1.5 gal strike water at 1.25 qt/lb) I have trouble getting a clear vorlauf. That could be a product of my homemade copper manifold, I don't know. The beer turned out fine in the end, getting clear runnings is just something I'm slightly anal about.

As far as holding constant temperature, I've had no problem with that when doing a half size batch. Just make sure you pre-heat your tun beforehand. But as far as translating everything from 2.5 to 5 gallons, just double everything and keep the temps the same, assuming you're using the same grain/water ratio between the two.

 

[RM-MN]

If you have a large enough pot to hold the full volume of water plus the grain the process it the same. The bag of wet grains will weigh twice as much so take that into account as it can be hard to hold while draining. You also may not boil off twice as much so be prepared to boil longer if necessary. Twice the volume of wort also means it has twice the energy (heat) to remove while chilling so having a wort chiller would be nice. Chilling in the sink will take a long time but if you don't have a chiller you can get pretty good results by putting the pot of hot wort into a tub that is deep enough to hold water to about the level of the wort in the pot and making is so you can overflow it to maintain this level as you add cold water. I like to brew in the winter and use snow to add to the tub because I know that as long as I keep snow mixed with the water it will be chilling fast.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

Thanks folks. I'm getting a immersion chiller set up as my next big purchase (I try to limit beer spending to $50/month, ingredoents included). The way I see it, I can brew twice as often on my budget staying with the small batch set up which would help me dial in my system. But all these small batches would be a waste of time if I would have to make big changes to my process when I go bigger.

 

[phenry]

If you have a large enough pot to hold the full volume of water plus the grain the process it the same. The bag of wet grains will weigh twice as much so take that into account as it can be hard to hold while draining. You also may not boil off twice as much so be prepared to boil longer if necessary. Twice the volume of wort also means it has twice the energy (heat) to remove while chilling so having a wort chiller would be nice. Chilling in the sink will take a long time but if you don't have a chiller you can get pretty good results by putting the pot of hot wort into a tub that is deep enough to hold water to about the level of the wort in the pot and making is so you can overflow it to maintain this level as you add cold water. I like to brew in the winter and use snow to add to the tub because I know that as long as I keep snow mixed with the water it will be chilling fast.

Forgot about this part. I get about 1 gal/hr boil off rate regardless of batch size, so your hop utilization will be slightly different between 3.5 to 2.5 gallons as opposed to 6 to 5 gallons. Not enough to really worry about anything in my eyes, but if you feel the need to adjust up or down, Brewtarget is a free brewing software that will easily calculate the difference.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

Hop utilization/amounts seems to be the trickiest part of scaling a recipe, eh?