Do yourself a favor, plan for 10 gallon batches now. I look back and wish I had gone straight to 10. I wasted a lot of time and effort on 5 gallon batches before moving up and wish I had skipped the whole 5 gallon system.
When you can brew twice as much for an extra 90 minutes its worth every moment. Pitch 2 different yeasts and make 2 different brews !
Just my 2 cents and 31 years homebrewing experience.
Cheers,
knewshound
Actually, excellent advice. Was planning on the 5 gallon route, but will look into 10 gallon batches. If/when you do it, do you also dry hop with different varieties in the batches?
I’d guess the brew kettle will be the toughest part. I’ve been range-top boiling the mash, but that might not be feasible. I’ll probably also roll my own wort chiller, right now I just brew in cold weather which is pretty limiting.