I'm going to do a 10 gallon batch with my new AG equipment, but have yet to procure a bigger kettle or propane burner. So I'm going to split the boil into two 7.5g kettles to try it. Anyone tried this technique? Gonna transfer pre-boil wort back and forth until I get the same garvities and add equal amounts of hops and spices to each. Good idea?
This method works fine. As long as everything is split evenly (or proportionally), you're good to go. Edit: just make sure each stove element can boil 7 gallons (or whatever). A tall order for most stoves.
used to use three pots, worked fine till i had to do dishes. boils may start at different times so keep track of that too
I have the mash set up as 1 and my original 5g recipe for the boil additions. the stove.... we...SHALL... SEE!!! Haha!
Good luck. I thought I had to wait a long time getting a 10 gallon batch to boil with a propane burner outside in August!
I do this with my set up. I'm still stove top but I do AG full boils split between two 5 gal kettles. Works great for me. The first time I did it, I vigorously mixed pre boil worts back and forth to get them to have same gravities. I know people say hot side aeration is a myth, but the resulting batch tasted like my previous post-fermentation oxidized batch! Now I take it easy, trade off my run off tube from the MT, and siphon back and forth. This is also a really great method for making 2 different beers from the same wort. You can steep specialty malts and add to respective boils, add diff hops and yeast.
What is the value of worrying about having the same gravities and hops and spices for each batch? I can see why would wouldn't want to be too far off, but unless you are trying to replicate an existing beer, I wouldn't spend too much effort at that.
Turkey fryers will handle a 10 gal boil, usually. Outside temp and kettle may vary. Test it with 12 gal of water?
I figure 6 gallons per pot should give me roughly a hair over 5 gal a piece. Because I want 10 gal of the same beer, not two 5gal of two different beers. Plus the original beer was my favorite I've made!
Breaking your premise, but why the emphasis on matching? Could be a very cool opportunity to experiment. Same base wort, but different additions and perhaps different yeast. ***Disregard, I see above post***
That makes sense. I assumed that the double-boils would be combined into a single fermentation vessel.
I have 2 buckets and 3 carboys, and 2 beers already going. Gonna be tight in my closet! If I had a Bigger vessel then yes, alas 2 vessels it is.
I've done this. A trick I used before getting my bigger kettle was to use a 15 gallon Rubbermaid storage tub and fill it with all the wort from the run off, mix thoroughly, then split. Also, consider for more consistency, once the boils are done, transfer half from each kettle into each fermenter so your spices, hops, OG, and IBUs will be homogeneous. Then after fermenting, do the same at packaging, half from each fermenter per bottling bucket run or per keg, making the FG, fermentation character, ABV, IBUs, spicing, etc., uniform.
