Just ground 33 1/2 pounds of grain for a RIS / Small Stout partigyle based off of HB42's RIS on the old forum. I'm pushing the limits of my tun tomorrow morning, and for those of you who hand grind I have a newfound respect for you crazy, crazy people. My finger, wrist and hand are quite tired just from holding the drill.
I maxed mine out with about 33#. You could do less than a 60qt tun, but you'd have to dough in very carefully. You'll be surprised that you'll get at least 23 liters, (for you Canadians), out of your first runnings. Just be ready to add your next runnings for your second beer. It only adds a little over an hour to brewday if you do it right. I hope it all goes well for you.
Good luck with the brew! I squeezed 40lb of grain at a 1 quart of water per pound of grain ratio into a 15 gallon mash kettle a short while ago (way over the manufacturers recommended 27 pounds max at 1.5 quart per pound ratio) and it was a nightmare because I found out half way through my crush that my grain mill gap spacing had shifted and was only 22mm apart! So pair too little water with too much grain (half of which was practically flour) and you get one of the slowest sparges ever!!!! Got through it though and produced 10 gallons of RIS by the end of the day
Damn that's a lot of malt. The most I've ever done is 24 pounds of grain for 5 gallons of barleywine. I forget whether I mashed in at 1.25 or 1.5 qts/lb, but my 52 quart cooler was pretty much filled to the brim. I'll probably use around the same amount for the KBS clone I want to take a crack at this fall.
12 gallons. Mash-in at 1 qt/# and it should barely fit (thank you Green Bay Rackers for "Can You Mash It?" )
I hand grind, and it sucks (my drill doesn't have the necessary HP, and can't really justify buying a new one just for grinding grain.) Biggest batch yet was 17# for a weizenbock. And wheat is waaaay harder to grind. The old lady wants to do a barleywine, but I told her only if she buys a 3gal carboy for bulk aging, no way I'm gonna grind enough grain for a 5gal batch.
I did a triple 4 weeks ago ( 18 gal ) that used 56 lbs of grain ( some for starters ) its fits nice in my 150 qt. cooler. I think I could push 75 lbs easy in that thing.
I'm a big fan of just bottling beers after a month or 5 weeks. You can use your typical sized fermenter this way too.
I am presently heating my sparge water. I had to convert my mash tun to a steel braid yesterday due to a lost piece of my manifold. I determined that as I was heating the sparge water, how I hope I can actually make this beer that has been on my to do list for months.
Yup I did. Love the braided hose. SO much clearer runnings so quickly. 5 gallons of 1.090 wort from the first runnings.
For future reference, I just put a twist tie on my drill trigger to keep the mill going. No hand fatigue.
So far so good. 5.5 gallons of 1.125 and 5.75 gallons of 1.038. Counterflow chiller didn't get it down to pitching temp (74F instead of 65F) so I am waiting for that to chill in the fermentation chamber. RIS is getting 1028, Dry Stout US-05 (it's what I have :-/ ). Felt like a long brew day. Biggest screw-up: Too much pressure on the O2 popped the stone out! I bubbled it for a while, then shook and repeated it. I hope this will get the O2 ppm to where they need to be!
