How many gallons of beer can I brew with this mash tun?

http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon...ash-Tun-with-False-Bottom-and-HLT_p_1318.html

Is this decent enough for 5 gallon recipes? Or is it better for 3-4 gallons with a higher OG?

Thanks for your help in advance!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

I use a 10 gallon cooler and I have no trouble with 5-gallon batches, although some of the 'bigger' beers get nearly full on the sparge water. I have no experience with a 5-gallon cooler, so best wait till someone else chimes in for a definitive answer.

But you can always sparge in 2 steps if needed.

The one thing that I do notice though is the price of that sucker. You can definitely build yourself a decent mash-tun for a lot cheaper (and a bigger one too). They're really simple to build, and you'll save yourself a good $100.

That maxes out at about 12 pounds of grain, if I remember correctly. That's an OG of about 1.060 for that set up, or thereabouts, for 5 gallons of beer.

I put this chart together a while back... seems to work out great for me.

i'd spend 40 more bucks and go for the 10 gallon setup
http://www.homebrewing.org/10-Gallo...ash-Tun-With-False-Bottom-AND-HLT_p_1313.html
i have a 10 gallon mash tun, HAD a 5, stopped using it because of beers i enjoy and i do 5 gallon batches

What Yooper said

If you want to brew higher gravity beers with that cooler you'll need to reduce batch size, otherwise a 10 gallon cooler will handle roughly 23# of grain and allow you greater flexibility on gravity and batch size.

andy6026 said:

The one thing that I do notice though is the price of that sucker. You can definitely build yourself a decent mash-tun for a lot cheaper (and a bigger one too). They're really simple to build, and you'll save yourself a good $100.

Click to expand...

I will second this... buy a 10 gallon cooler from lowes or home depot and the hardware from the plumbing section. It will cost ~$65 and will take 15 minutes to put together.

new said:

http://www.homebrewing.org/5-Gallon...ash-Tun-with-False-Bottom-and-HLT_p_1318.html



Is this decent enough for 5 gallon recipes? Or is it better for 3-4 gallons with a higher OG?



Thanks for your help in advance!





Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Click to expand...

I started brewing AG w/ a 5 gal MLT & HLT doing 3 gal batches. This set up worked fine. Then I doubled my batch size to 6 gal. I tried a 7 gal MLT but quickly realized that I was "in the edge" quite literally w/ many beers.
So, I upgraded to a 10 gal MLT. It is sufficient for almost all the beers I've brewed so far.
As mentioned above you can pick up a Rubbermaid 10 gal @ HD or Lowes and add your own ball valve and either false bottom or manifold for a much more reasonable price. Plus you'll save a lot on shipping!

jbob7171 said:

I put this chart together a while back... seems to work out great for me.

Click to expand...

That looks like an excellent chart you put together. I can't seem to zoom in on it to see it better though.

jbob7171 said:

I put this chart together a while back... seems to work out great for me.

Click to expand...

Can you accurately extrapolate this chart to higher weight grain bills?

andy6026 said:

That looks like an excellent chart you put together. I can't seem to zoom in on it to see it better though.

Click to expand...

Hmm, I'm a noob when it comes to posting on this site. Any ideas how to upload the excel file or make it so the picture isn't embedded?

EDIT: in the meantime, I resized the picture in the original post if that helps at all

govner1 said:

Can you accurately extrapolate this chart to higher weight grain bills?

Click to expand...

Although I've never tried and/or verified this, my assumption is yes you can for a couple reasons...

1. the amount of water 1 lb of grain absorbs should be a constant
2. the trend lines are linear (R^2 values = 1)

An excellent calculator here to determine how much space any given batch will take up. Look for the calculator about 2/3 down the page called 'Can I Mash It?'

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

Edit to add: As has already been mentioned, if you are going to buy a pre-converted set of MLT and HLT coolers, do yourself a favor and spend the extra $40 for the 10 gal. set.