Looking to brew my first 10 gallon batch this weekend. Is there a formula for moving up for brewing a 5 gallon batch, and is it a simple as "doubling" the amount of ingredients. Any input would be GREATLY appreciated.
You can pretty much double every ingredient. Except water. Water will be increased, but not quite doubled, assuming you'll be boiling with the same kettle and heat source. That's because your boiloff rate in gallons per hour won't be affected much. (Also, some losses, like mash tun deadspace, kettle deadspace, etc. will remain constant, so you wouldn't double those losses.)
Most software programs have a feature where you scale batches up or down. iBrewmaster does for sure. That's the only one I've personally messed with.
I went to 10 gallons a couple of times for the first time this year. As above, most ingredients simply double, but water can be a bit different, depending on whether you use the same kettle for the boil. I had issues with that, brewing over 11 gallons a couple of times. You may also find yourself thinking you want a better chiller while you are waiting for the wort to chill. It's a cool time of year, so that might be less noticeable, but my July batch was definitely a bit longer getting cool enough for pitching.
Your time to get to a boil is increased by quite a bit if you're working on a turkey fryer. Get the first few gallons of runnings under the flame early and add to it until you get to your full (11 gal?) I don't have a ball value on my main kettle. That means I can pick up a 5 gal batch to pour it into a fermenter. That means I cannot pick up a 10 gal batch to pour it into 2 fermenters. Pansy, I know. That means I get my burner up onto cinder blocks so that I can use an auto siphon to get the beer into my fermenters. Just think ahead on what you may not be able to accomplish with the additional weight and volumes.
I think the big difference is sanitation, honestly. With 5 gal batches it was pretty straight forward...with 10 gal you are dealing with pumps (probably), many more hoses, and ball valves that like to suck up bacteria. My 10 gal regimen entails flushing everything immediately, running boiling water thru everything post and pre brewing and praying a lot. So far, so good
