Can We Make Mash Tun Larger Than Brew Kettle

According to our standard configuration, the capacity of the wort tank and the kettle tank are the same. However, it is often asked if there are situations where the wort tank has to be larger than the kettle tank in order to brew the right alcoholic beer?

We think it is OK to design the wort tank larger than the kettle tank. This would allow us to brew a high alcohol beer. For example, a 10bbl system.

If the malt and distillation tanks, kettle and whirlpool tanks have a capacity of 10bbl and the ratio of malt to water is 1:3.

Then about 2.5 barrels of malt and 7.5 barrels of water are used for brewing high-alcohol beer. However, during the refilling process, some water enters the brewhouse and the total volume will be more than 10bbl of wort for boiling. We ended up with 10bbl of wort.

However, if the volume of the wort tank is 12bbl and the kettle tank is 10bbl, the malt will be 3bbl and the water will be 9bbl. If there is no sparge and we boil the wort directly, we can also get 10bbl wort. But the alcohol content would be higher.

Do you have any other ideas?