Looking for advice on cost effective 10 - 15 gal setups

There is no reason to go with a pre-made set-up unless you want it and can afford it. One thing I will say is when dealing with larger batches you pretty much will need a pump. Gravity feeds are doable but a bit more difficult. Also a plate chiller will come in handy for cooling.

 

Find a local guy who does welding service out of his garage and work out a beer for welding exchange. This is what I did and I ended up with a sweet two tier brew stand made out of 2" angle iron and all I paid any cash for was the burners.

you can also find large aluminum pots suitable for your HLT and kettle for pretty cheap at a used restaurant equipment dealer (look in your yellow pages, I guarantee there is one near you if you live anywhere near a major metropolitan area)

For your tun I would modify a large cooler, at least 48qts. for 10 gal. batches.

Chilling would be a larger expence as you would need either a counterflow, plate, or large immersion chiller and none of those are cheap.

also +1 to what cracker said about a pump. Owning a march pump means never having to say " Help me lift this"

 

My suggestion would be to look around for local clubs. Our club passes gear around like that hooker at prom. Other brewers may have equipment that is just gathering dust that they may let you borrow to figure out what is right for you and they may have used stuff at great prices. Nor Cal is full of homebrewers so it should be rather easy to hook up with some locals.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47961647@N02/6600292945/

150 qt cooler, on sale for about $50, 40 gallon stock pot on ebay for $125 delivered. we normally brew 18 gallon batches, but you can push it up to 24. You will need a pump , and a plate chiller helps a lot too.

 

That's pretty sweet! How long does it take to get 20+ gallons up to a boil? Do you run two burners under that pot at the same time? If so, do you have a problem with wort scorching on the sides?

 

It takes about 30 min, I do run 2 burners but don't have a problem with scorching. My burners are 170,000 BTU's each. A friend of mine copied my setup and uses only one burner to bring an 18 gallon batch to a boil. I think he has a 210,000 btu burner. I don't think it takes him too much longer to boil.

 

Wow, thanks for the heads up on coolers. They are super cheap right now!

 

1. I use a 20 gallon pot to heat my mash water etc. It sits right next to the 40 gal. I do pump both strike and sparge water up to it.

2. For 15 gallon finished batches I would still use my 40 gallon pot. You should consider brewing 18 gallon batches so you'll end up with 15 gallons. Brew one 18 gallon batch in the 40 and you'll see what I mean.

3. I would have to guess at this one. I believe those kegs are around 16 gallons, I wouldn't go any higher than 12 gallons.

4. Its easy to clean aluminum. Just don't scrub it too too hard, you want to leave that nice coating on it, the one it gets after the first water only boil.

 

If you buy and an aluminum pot, be careful connecting steel sight gauges, ball valves, thermometers, etc. to it. You could run into galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals.

There are less expensive stock pots on eBay if you look for uncommon sizes. e.g. instead of looking for a 60 qt pot, look for a 62 or 70 qt. You will notice they are quite a bit cheaper because most people are looking for a 60 qt (15 gal) It sounds like you will be looking in the 180 qt range though.

 

Hope this doesn't come off as highjacking the thread, but I'm also looking to increase production and am comparing the differences between counterflow chillers and plate chillers. My main concern with plate chillers is getting trub stuck in them. Is this a common problem or not really something to worry about?

 

I would say it would be too small. If you brew an 18 gallon batch you'll collect about 22 gallons pre boil, you want to give it some room. I've brewed many 18 gallon batches and wouldn't want to go any lower than a 40 gallon pot.

I'm no expert on mash tuns, but I've had good luck with the coleman xtreme marine coolers, everything I've read on this site about ( cooler mash tuns ) them in general seems OK.

cheers

 

Plate chillers work great if you keep them clean. It is something to keep up with, you have to back flush them after every use, just follow the cleaning info real close and you'll be fine.