This is how big your Mash Tun needs to be

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Great chart. One question.

I use a 10g HD cooler for my tun, and it works awesome. I have an autosparge installed at about the 9.5gallon mark. I have only done one 10g batch (Ed's Haus Pale Ale, about a 1.05x beer) and during mash, I had the sparge covered. Once vorlauf occurred, I let the grain bed settle down a bit and then sparged at about the 8 gallon mark. I was definitely NOT keeping an inch of water, as I feared the loose grain would gunk up the autosparge..

If I want to consistently do 10g batches, should I just plan to go to a sanke for mashing?
 
Great chart. One question.

I use a 10g HD cooler for my tun, and it works awesome. I have an autosparge installed at about the 9.5gallon mark. I have only done one 10g batch (Ed's Haus Pale Ale, about a 1.05x beer) and during mash, I had the sparge covered. Once vorlauf occurred, I let the grain bed settle down a bit and then sparged at about the 8 gallon mark. I was definitely NOT keeping an inch of water, as I feared the loose grain would gunk up the autosparge..

If I want to consistently do 10g batches, should I just plan to go to a sanke for mashing?

I use a 70 quart rectangular cooler for 10 gallon batches. But I batch sparge. For batch sparging the large rectangles work great. I don't think you'd have enough bed depth for a good fly sparge. A tall cylinder like a sanke keg would be a much better shape. But then you need to think about how to maintain temps. Stainless will not provide the same level of insulation that a cooler does.
 
I have been using a converted cooler that I purchased from a brewer for my mashing of 5 gal batches with no problem. I now want to do a partigyle that requires about 30 lbs of grains and I do not know if my mash tun can handle that amount. I do not know the size of the cooler and have not noticed it the cooler itself. Is there a chart that identifies capacity based on dimensions?

Thanks
 
If the shape is relatively symetrical, you can measure each side and the height and figure out its capacity. If all else fails, fill it up and then drain it into a vessel with known gallon graduations.
 
I have been using a converted cooler that I purchased from a brewer for my mashing of 5 gal batches with no problem. I now want to do a partigyle that requires about 30 lbs of grains and I do not know if my mash tun can handle that amount. I do not know the size of the cooler and have not noticed it the cooler itself. Is there a chart that identifies capacity based on dimensions?

Thanks

Grab an empty milk jug and start pouring. That's my only advice and it's probably the simplest method for determining a rough estimate of your MT capacity if you don't have a graduated container like Bobby_M mentioned using. It's also probably quicker because you're not limited by the flow of the cooler's spigot and milk jugs empty pretty quick. I just hope you stick to classic plastic milk jugs and you're not an oberweis delivery subscriber or something like that.
 
Grab an empty milk jug and start pouring.

You know in my experience the off the shelf milk jug is 1 Gallon only when filled 100% of the way. I was kinda torqued off when I found this out that you are not really getting a full gallon.

Prob over anal about it but measured one out as I was designing a sight glass on a 30gal vessel.
 
I have a 15 gallon brewing system from synergy brewing systems that has 15 gallon kettles and I can usually fit @45 # of grain in the mash, while keeping water over the grain bed.I have also used almost 50#s with no stuck mash. One thing that needs to be kept in mind is that the finer the crush of the grain the more #'s you will be able to fit in the tun.
 
Thanks Bobby for getting a great discussion going.

I found this thread very useful for a NOOB (me) when first gettting into AG a while ago. I think there are still some variables to factor in though, but at the very least it gets ones "head in the game" before picking a mash tun size.

One question is nagging me though. Are the formulas in this thread only applicable for single infusion single rest mashes?

As best I can tell you're factoring a 1.25qt/lb liquor to grain ratio across the board. Based on that ratio, I assume that's only for a single infusion mash with only a saccrification rest. I'm pretty sure the total volume numbers would look quite different if one was planning on doing a protein rest and a mash out in a cooler.

I just did a 5g AG Kolsch the other day and my BTP calculations had about .5qt/lb for a 123° F protein rest then another 1.5qt/lb to step up to a 150° F saccrification rest and then another 1.5qt/lb to step up to a 168° F mashout. That total of 3.5qt/lb will certainly (and did) take up a lot more volume than any of the calculation I see here. It took up about 3/4 of my 50qt square cooler mash tun before I started to run off. Right before starting to run off was the high water mark. The settled grain bed was quite a bit lower. Just eyeballing the liquid level, it looked like fly sparging the remaing the 2.5g I needed look like it took up about the volume calculated using the formulas in here.

Just thought I'd bring up multistep mashing in this thread to see how that would affect mash tun size calculations.
 
You're assumption is correct. The total volume in the tun is based solely on a 1.25qt/lb single infusion with no mash out. I went that way because by far it's the most common process followed and even moreso by the newer all grain brewers who this chart was made for ;-)
 
I have been using a converted cooler that I purchased from a brewer for my mashing of 5 gal batches with no problem. I now want to do a partigyle that requires about 30 lbs of grains and I do not know if my mash tun can handle that amount. I do not know the size of the cooler and have not noticed it the cooler itself. Is there a chart that identifies capacity based on dimensions?

Thanks

Measure the internal dimensions (in inches) then use this formula:

(L x W x H)/231 = Volume in gallons

Brian
 
I'm planning out my future all grain set up, and of course one of the items on the list is the mash tun. I have a question regarding almost the exact opposite of what the chart shows.

I want to get a cooler on the bigger side (probably 12-15 gallon) so I can do big batches and high gravity beers. However, how will this affect me if I want to brew 5 gallons of a small beer? Let's say I want to do a 1.035 Ordinary Bitter...there won't be an awful lot of grain and it will get more spread out in the large area of the tun. Will this cause any problems?
 
I'm planning out my future all grain set up, and of course one of the items on the list is the mash tun. I have a question regarding almost the exact opposite of what the chart shows.

I want to get a cooler on the bigger side (probably 12-15 gallon) so I can do big batches and high gravity beers. However, how will this affect me if I want to brew 5 gallons of a small beer? Let's say I want to do a 1.035 Ordinary Bitter...there won't be an awful lot of grain and it will get more spread out in the large area of the tun. Will this cause any problems?

It can cause problems with heat loss. To keep your desired mash temp, it's best to use up most all of the area within the mash tun.
Of course, I have seen guys cut styrofoam to fit exactly within their tun and hoover over the grain bed to help keep the heat where the grain is.... but I have never done this and can't attest to how well it works. :rockin:
 
It can cause problems with heat loss. To keep your desired mash temp, it's best to use up most all of the area within the mash tun.
Of course, I have seen guys cut styrofoam to fit exactly within their tun and hoover over the grain bed to help keep the heat where the grain is.... but I have never done this and can't attest to how well it works. :rockin:

Thanks for the info. Anyone else have something to add?
 
Make 10gal of the small beer if you have the kettle space. Just split it into two fermentors. The lowest gravity beer I've brewed was 8.5lbs of grain it worked just fine. I don't brew beers of that gravity often I tend to hit in the 7% range usually so my 52qt MLT is pretty much perfect for what I brew. The Coleman Extreme coolers have great insulation and doing a small 8lb grain bill keeps a consistent temp. Even at 5gal of 1.035 you're only 2lbs short of what I've done a few times in my cooler so you should be okay. If it doesn't work you'll have to do a 10gal batch of that beer, terrible I know.
 
If I am understanding the chart correctly. My 36q/9g cooler is good up to almost 24lbs of malt and 7.5g of strike water.
I am looking at doing 5g brews so my cooler is good to go right ???
 
It should be more than adequate. Lotsa people use the 10 gallon gatorade coolers and they work just fine and with room to spare.
 
so someone tell me if my math was off. going by this i can fit 32lb of grain at a 1.25 ratio into my 60 qt tun. or am i way off?


duh the answer was on the 1st page.
 
I'm looking at building a small mash tun in the near future. I'm mainly going to be doing partial mashes. I don't have the means to do full AG batches but I can do 2-2.5 gallon AG batches with the equipment I have. I'm looking at converting a 3 gallon rubbermaid cooler. Based on some numbers I saw towards the beginning of the thread it looks like my max grain bill would be about 7 lbs and that leaves enough room for about 2.25 gallons of strike water. That leaves no room for a mash out. Does that sound about right? I now it will be plenty big enough for PM, just trying to get a feel for how much grain I could use for an AG.

Edit: Scratch that. The cooler I was looking at is 2 gallons and not 3. That's barely big enough to do the PM kit I have that has 4.25 lbs of grain.
 
helpful for me too. I have 3 five gallon mash tuns, is it a big deal if I just split up the mash between them?
 
Great post. I wish I would have found this a year ago when I started doing AG batches. Already understanding the constraints of the 5gal mash tun.
 
How big of a cooler to do 30 gallons of beer with 60lbs of grain?

152 qt. cooler, 68b lb. of grain at 1.5 qt./lb., room for more


main.php
 
if I'm unsure about tun size (i want to share 10 gallon batches with a buddy) can we both build a 5 gallon mash tun? I don't want to make a 10 gallon only to want to make 5 gallon batches later and not be able to get the gravity high enough
 
mendozer said:
if I'm unsure about tun size (i want to share 10 gallon batches with a buddy) can we both build a 5 gallon mash tun? I don't want to make a 10 gallon only to want to make 5 gallon batches later and not be able to get the gravity high enough

Short answer is yes. However, I use a 10gal tun for 5 gal batches every time I brew & have no problems with gravity.
 
how did you get around that since the beginning table said the highest gravity for a 10 gallon was lie 1.0118 or something.

To me, the size shouldn't matter because the water to grain ratio matters more. I was just doubting the table
 
mendozer said:
how did you get around that since the beginning table said the highest gravity for a 10 gallon was lie 1.0118 or something.

To me, the size shouldn't matter because the water to grain ratio matters more. I was just doubting the table

Did you read the info above and below the pic or did u just look at the pic! Bobby_M explains it in his first post
 
i did read it but it was confusing. if i get a 52 qt and divide by 5 for a max OG. I get 176.8. does that mean 1.176?
 
i did read it but it was confusing. if i get a 52 qt and divide by 5 for a max OG. I get 176.8. does that mean 1.176?

All the chart shows is the amount of grain that can be fit into a certain size mash tun. (How big your mash tun needs to be) Are you figuring out what your mash tun size needs to be? or do you already have a mash tun at 52 quarts.
If you already have a 52 quart mash tun the grid shows at 70%-80% those gravity numbers are possible, but that depends solely on how you mash the grain, how your grain was milled, how accurate your mash temp is, etc.
With a 52 quart mash tun and 31.2lbs of grain it is possible to reach those efficiencies, its not saying if you have a 52qt mash tun with 31.2lbs of grain you will either get 70-80% efficiency.
If someone would like to brew a 10 gallon batch of beer (with 52qt mash tun) with a gravity of 1.105 gravity reading because they know that there system of brewing brings 80% efficiency out of the grain. Then there tun would require more grain, which in fact the 52 quart would not be big enough.

What is your batch size?
What is your desired OG?

Taken from post #9 (Desired OG x Batch Size)/17 = mash tun size

For my size mash tun I took my desired OG 1.060 x batch size 30 gallons / 17
(60 x 30) /17 = 105 qt mash tun. Roughly a ~6% beer

If I want Higher gravity beer then lets say desired OG is 1.080
(80 x 30) /17 = 141 qt mash tun. Roughly a ~8.9% beer

No Worries, I just figured out the grid after I posted about How Big My Mash Tun Should Be :)
 
ok. I just picked up a 10 gallon (40 qt) cooler tonight so that's what I'm working with. I'll do 5 gallon or 10 gallon batches in that I guess.

So for a 1.050 OG for example, that's a requirement of 14 qt and 29 qt for 5 and 10 gallon respectively. Ok got it. I didn't realize you were dropping the 1.0 from the OG so my numbers were way off
 
Looking to make my first mash tun and take the AG plunge, I did a partial mash last weekend and now I'm hooked!

I see a lot of people on this thread concerned with buying a cooler that it too small for their needs; I have the opposite problem. There is currently a great deal on Amazon for a 70qt Coleman Xtreme for $36.86 and free shipping. I'm considering this because it is actually a little cheaper that a 10 gallon round Igloo cooler and would allow me to do larger batches.

I currently do 5 gallon batches, but I'm sure I'll want to do 10gal or larger in the future. I also have never done anything with an OG of over 1.080. My question is, if I buy the 70qt rectangular Coleman, will it just be too big for 5 gallon AG brewing?

Thanks!

(link to the 70qt: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000G64I1A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20)
 
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