Probably a dumb question haha.

I recently bought a cooler from Home Depot (one of the decent orange ones) to turn into a mash tun. My problem is that without thinking I bought a 5 gallon instead of a 10. Would a five gallon be useful during 5 gallon brews? If not I was thinking about using it for smaller or test brews or just returning it.

you can do 5 gallon session beers without a problem with the 5 gallon cooler.

If you can still return it, you probably want to get the 10 gallon cooler. They're not much more $$ and it offers much more flexibility.

IMHO, I think you will be too tight on head room. With 3 to 4 gal of water and 12 to 13 lbs. of grains and adjuncts it will be too tight to sparge. I use a shower head in the top of a 10 gal cooler to sparge and it works great. I think a 5 gal would be filled to the top with no room to sparge. If you try it I would use a cheap grain bill.

Good lord....

I've used my 5 gallon cooler for over 5 years, on 5 gallon batches and have never had a problem. At 1.25 it actually holds nearly 13 pounds of grain. Since most of my grainbills run between 10 and 14 pounds, I have no problem. for 14 pounds I just use about a 1.15 quarts/pound mash dillution. Or for 15pounds I go with a 1 quart/gallon.

14 pounds of 2-row in a 5 gallon batch gives you a 1.076 OG so it's not a small beer.

I rarely need a larger mash tun. If I'm making a bigger beer I'm often doing a 2.5 gallon batch instead of a 5 gallon one and those 14 pounds would then make a beer with an og of 1.151..... If I do want to make a 5 gallon batch of a big beer, or a larger than 5 gallon batch, I have a TON of homebrewing buddies, with all sorts of systems and sizes of mash tuns, and they'd let me use their geer. and if it's a barleywine or something like that, we're all brewing together then anyway, or hanging out.

I really don't have the space for a 10 gallon cooler, and like I said, in 5 years of using my 5 I've never had the need to go with a bigger one for more than a 1 shot deal. I maybe brew 1 huge beer a year anyway.

Other folks have other opinions, but in truth, you can make a lot of beer in a 5 gallon cooler.

If you wanna be realistic and practical and it not just be about the biggest toys, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions.

1) Am I ever going to brew larger than 5 gallon batches?
2) Are the majority if not all of my batches going to have an og higher than 1.076 (14 pounds of grain?)
3) Do I have the money or the storage space for a larger one?

It really comes down to those questions. In my case all three of those were no.

You could also add a fourth question- If I need to brew bigger once in awhile can I lay my hands on a bigger cooler. My Answer to that was yes.

So to me, a larger cooler was overkill, in light of living in a loft and not having much storage, nor having a realistic need for a larger one.

Revvy likes lite beer (just kidding)
Beer begins at 1.080 :rockin:

TrainSafe said:

.... They're not much more $$ and it offers much more flexibility.

Click to expand...

At my local Home Depot they are actually 2x as expensive. $40 vs. $20.

There's nothing wrong with bumping up your gravity with a little DME if you need to compensate for a small grain capacity.

But the real issue is that the 5 gallon cooler cannot contain a bucket or carboy. You need a ten for that:

I started out with a 5 and ended up replacing it with a 10. A 5 will work 99% of the time but there's always that 1% when you want to do a step mash with 14 pounds of grain.

Text walls notwithstanding, I'd take it back and get the 10...

Cheers!

My 5 has been fine for all my beers, except the belgain tripel I did. I had to take that one down to 3 gallons to make it fit.

A 10 gallon might be twice as much. But is the extra $20 going to be that painful on the wallet? I like big beers.

Revvy's on the right track as usual. If you choose to stay with the 5gal just do thicker mashes as your beer gets bigger. If you need to do a step mash, do a decoction.

There's a saying in amateur astronomy that the best telescope you can buy is the one you will use the most. The beers you will drink the most will be under 1.080.

Thanks for all of the responses. Im definitely gonna keep the 5 gallon. Especially since im just starting out and im not ready to tackle anything really complicated or doing anything over 5 gallon batches

If and when you really need a larger one, you will have moved and will buy one! The 5 gallon container will be used for iced tea or cool-aid for the kids at party times...

We're collectors ( when space allows )

ButchV12

Butchv12 said:

If and when you really need a larger one, you will have moved and will buy one! The 5 gallon container will be used for iced tea or cool-aid for the kids at party times...

We're collectors ( when space allows )

ButchV12

Click to expand...

Yep. I still use 99% of my original extract kit. The only part I don't is the curved portion of my original racking cane that I lopped off so I can use the rest when I bottle from a keg.

I went with the 10gal route because I plan on going to 10Gal batches in the future. Working on building my kit up over time. Even doing a 5gal batch in my 10gal cooler I didn't loose any temperature on the mash with the extra head space.
And the 10gal came in handy for blending and bottling the 10gals of wine I did last weekend!

I use a Keggle, 10 gallon and 5 gallon MLT (Identical to yours.). From my experiences you want the right tool for the job and here is why...

Head space, you want as little as possible because the less headspace the less your temp will drop in 60-90 minutes. Not to mention I am working on being able to use them all at the same time, My system already has been able to run 2 batches, with my new RIMS heating system I may be able to use all 3! Nothing like making a high grav 13 gallon batch a normal grav 13 gallon batch and a normal grav 6 gallon batch all at the same time!

Me, I would use the 5, then when you want to start making bigger beers or more at 1 time, get the 10.