Denny said:
Seen one at Sam's Club today for $70. What's the smallest batch you've mashed in it?
This is how big your Mash Tun needs to be
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Seen one at Sam's Club today for $70. What's the smallest batch you've mashed in it?
IIRC, we've only used it for 10 gal. of 1.100 BW. 70-75 lb. of grain. I have no idea what the minimum size would be.
Denny said:
I was just about to buy one the other day (150qt cooler). I may go back and get it. I'll have to brew a 10 or 15 gallon batch in it just to see if it holds temp fine for smaller batches!! I'd like to get away with one mash tun
cheers
jschumacher
Member
Great Chart! Very helpful.
HoppyMcHopster
Well-Known Member
I'm planning to get into all grain and I was wondering what would make sense if I like to brew 5 gallon higher gravity beers.? 6% will probably be the lowest I would ever go. The chart shows that a 10 gallon MLT can handle up to around ~11 percent but is that super tight?
How do different brewing strategies affect the amount a MLT can hold? For example does a BIAB strategy require more or less space? Batch? Fly?
Cheers
How do different brewing strategies affect the amount a MLT can hold? For example does a BIAB strategy require more or less space? Batch? Fly?
Cheers
Pie_Man
Well-Known Member
Hey Hoppy. It depends on the level of efficiency the brewing strategy obtains per mash tun volume. The greater efficiency a method gets per volume of mash tun, the greater the abv potential for that size mash tun. In my experience, I've had good results with BIAB, but that method requires a higher water to grain ratio than the other methods which reduces the abv potential (assuming equal batch sizes).HoppyMcHopster said:
All that aside, I'm pleased with my 10 gallon round cooler and I currently use a 7.5 gal. brew kettle for BIAB. If I want to brew a really high gravity beer. I'll simply reduce my batch size to fit my equipment which is real easy to do using brewing software. The software also tells you if your recipe will fit in your equipment and this calculation becomes more accurate once you have your setup and software dialed in.
HoppyMcHopster
Well-Known Member
Which software do you currently use? I've been playing around with BeerAlchemy but I can't seem to find anything about equipment size.
Pie_Man
Well-Known Member
BrewTarget and beersmith. BrewTarget is free and beersmith has a free trail. These tools help me with water volume calculation and recipe formulation as well.
I'd recommend a 70 qt. rectangular cooler and batch sparging.
HoppyMcHopster
Well-Known Member
Say for 5 gallon batches I want something near 6.5 gallons of wort to compensate for boil off. How does this change any of the calculations or is it all the same because the extra water boils off leaving the sugar?
I know you posted this 2 weeks ago, but I figured I'd answer as I was wondering the same thing when I first built my mash tun. I actually have that exact same cooler and do 5 gallon batches and I love it. If you're really worried about the head space, you can cut out a chunk of foam that will fit snugly inside of the cooler, but I haven't had any trouble even on a low gravity blonde ale.
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HoppyMcHopster
Well-Known Member
70qts seems excessive no? I'm only looking to do 5 gallons of max 10%ABV
70 qt. is right on the money for what you want to do. 10% translates roughly to 1.100 OG. I use a 48 qt. cooler, and because efficiency drops at really high OG, it takes me at least 28 lb. of grain to get 5 gal. of 1.100. I can only use a mash thickness of 1 qt./lb. in my cooler. It's full right to the top and is a PITA to stir. Take my experience of 417 batches in that cooler and get the 70 qt. If I ever build another one, that's what I'll do.
150qt Extreme cooler at WalMart for $64!
Made it home
SpottedDogBrewing said:<img src="https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=55353"/>
150qt Extreme cooler at WalMart for $64!
<img src="https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=55354"/>
Made it home
How big of batches are you making? I have a similar cooler; but it's used to transport two cornies and plenty of ice to parties.
joety said:
I brew 30 gallons most of the time
when I do 10-15 gallons I use a 48qt cooler
SpottedDogBrewing said:I brew 30 gallons most of the time
Good God, man, do you throw a lot of parties?
joety said:
Brew with a few buddies, we split!
fish2night
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SpottedDogBrewing said:
I have a similar question. New to brewing, have done 4 extract kits. Now interested in all grain. Just purchased a Coleman Extreme 70 quart cooler. Is that over kill? I only have a 5 gallon set up. But just did an imperial and love it!
fish2night
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Ok, thanks I think I will keep it. Any suggestions for a first time all grain?
fish2night said:
Give it a try with 5 gallons.
I'm going to mash 10 gallons in the 150qt and see what it does. I'd like to just get one mash tun that will do 10-30 gallons
Testing out the 150qt cooler Saturday on 30 gallon batch of Cream of Three Crops- BierMuncher!!
So just to clarify, from the Bobby's very first post, real quick before i make a purchase, a 10gallon round cooler would probably be the best option for me as I personally don't drink huge bears like barleywine all the time, so will probably rarely (if ever) brew them, and I will be brewing 5 gallon batches 80% of the time. the LARGEST 10 gallon batch i can brew is a 1.060 beer.
is this noob understanding correctly?
is this noob understanding correctly?
Just for example, a 10 gallon mash tun can do 5 gallons of 1.118 barleywine (~11% ABV) and 10 gallon batches of 1.060 IPA (~6% ABV). I personally think something in the 50-60qt range is most flexible in that regard if you don't mind a square/rectangular cooler./QUOTE]
I think rectangular coolers are much easier to use, but it's your choice.
reason being?
also, does this chart/information factor in the volume dispersion of a false bottom or a manifold? i really would prefer a round cooler because i think it will hold temps better just based on the physics of it, BUT....a false bottom in a 10 gallon cooler will take up some room......is that accounted for in this chart?
Larger opening. Easier to stir and clean.
I use a 48 qt. rectangular cooler. I make 5 gal. batches, usually with 12-17 lb. of grain. I lose maybe 1-2 F over an hour mash, so I don't think you need to wrry about losing heat.
Trade off is a higher amount of dead space though that can effect efficiency.
You're gonna have to explain that one to me. I've used a rectangular cooler for 426 batches now. I have no dead space and on yesterday's brew got 86% efficiency onto the fermenter.
i use a 36 qt cooler to split 10 gallon batches with a friend. The other day i did my first 5 gallon in it. Terrible efficiency, in the 60s! Could be due to dead space AND/OR the fact that I was using Mesquite pods as some of the grains so my grain bed wasn't much of a sponge. It floated up with water as I was sparging. We'll see what a 5 gallon of only grains looks like
fish2night
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70 Quart Cooler... going to probably just brew-up a 5 gallon batch... Is the cooler too big? Will I have a problem with the grain bed?
I fit 85.5lbs of grain with almost 30 gallons of water in a 150qt cooler! The only problem with that is moving it and dumping it
No problem if you batch sparge.
So when batch sparging, all the stuff you read about the grain bed being at least so many inches and no more than so many inches does not matter?
I'm asking because I have a 48 qt rectangular cooler that is very clean that I could use to build a lauter tun, but I am afraid that it will be too large since I am only planning on 5 gallon batches with OGs in the 40s to 50s.
Pie_Man
Well-Known Member
najel said:
You shouldn't have an issue, many on this forum use that exact setup.
