Which mash tun should I buy?

I plan on moving to all grain brewing in the near future and I want to make sure I buy the correct equipment the first time.

Currently Birdman brewing is selling has a "10 Gallon Polar Ware-Igloo Cooler MLT" on sale for $109. That seems to be just the cooler and the bulkhead though. you can buy a false bottom for $55 extra and a torepedo screen for $19.
http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/10-gallon-polar-ware-igloo-cooler-mlt/

Austinhombrew has everything below for $188
Includes:
Sparge arm
Two 3-piece stainless steel ball valves
Three 1/2" NPT to 3/8" barb stainless steel nipples
12" all stainless steel false bottom
38" of plastic tubing sliced down the side (to give the false bottom a better seal)
7 feet of 3/8" thermoplastic tubbing (for sparging and run off)
6 inches of 3/8" high temperature tubing (to connect the false bottom to the 3 piece ball valve in the mash tun)
All necessary nipples, nuts, washers, and silicone o-rings
Does not include the coolers. You can find them at most large hardware stores.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_82_449&products_id=13048


What do you all think is the better deal? Or should I make my own?

Trimmer said:

Or should I make my own?

Click to expand...

Yes, I feel you should make your own. Tons of info on this on the board. IMO cooler Mash tuns can be very simple, inexpensive and work well.

but I built my own, ala Denny style batch sparging. Obviously I don't know what type of brewing you are planning on doing, but you can build one for $30 or so with the link below.

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

Definitely ask yourself this before proceeding: what volumes do you realistically see yourself brewing?

I'm currently wishing that I had given that question just a bit more consideration. I figured 6 gallons would be fine, yet only 6 months later I find myself converting a pair of kegs to HLT and brew kettle. I've got the capacity there for 12 gallon brews, but my 10 gallon mash tun would limit such brews to mid gravity beers (which I'm finding I'm OK with - you have to decide for yourself if you are). But if I ever decide I want to do a Barleywine or RIS, or something like that, I'm going to have to stick to 6 gallons because I just can't mash to the capacity of my brew kettle.

All that said: if you decide that 10 gallons will do the trick... I got my 10 gallon round cooler at home depot for about $40. I picked up a nickel plated ball valve/bulkhead combo and a bazooka screen at my LHBS for about $35. A brass barb at home depot and silicone tubing from some online brew store (I think it was brew masters warehouse) probably ran me $10 combined. These have worked great for me when batch sparging, the AHS setup sounds like a nice rig for fly sparging, if you've got the pumps or three tier rig for it.

If you aren't too handy with that stuff, I would say buy it. Except if you purchase the kit from AHB, you are building it yourself. Its all parts except the cooler - lots of assembly required.

The Mash Tun from Birdman seems a little pricey, and all it does is get the ball valve fitted properly into the cooler.

When I built my MT, I pieced it all together from Home Depot. Built a manifold out of copper, etc etc. The only thing I had trouble with, was getting the ball valve to fit correctly where the cooler spigot was. I had to use food grade caulking to really fit it without leaks, but I found that only lasted a few brews before I needed to tear it out and re-do it.

So take that for what its worth. If I started over, I'd probably buy the cooler from Birdman, and then build out anything else I wanted.

FWIW, I just converted my Igloo Ice Cube for ~$10 using this thread here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/60qt-ice-cube-mash-tun-build-cheap-simple-144475/

It has a TON of headspace for a 5g batch but I only lost 2ºF during a 75min mash. I batch sparge but plan on experimenting with fly sparging later.

If you don't have a spare cooler, surf craigslist...you can usually find something for cheap (maybe even free)

I just bought the stuff to make my own mashtun out of a 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler.

The cooler was $50 at Lowes.
I then ordered these parts from bargainfittings.com (Who shipped it the same day)

$33.49
COOLER bulkhead kit
- Inside fitting Coupling - Standard option
- Cooler type Standard 1.5" nipple
- Valve Stainless 3 piece valve
- Hose Barb - (for valve outlet) 1/2" Male NPT x 1/2" Hose - SS Weldless Cooler bulkhead

10 feet of 1/2" Silicone tubing (I'm going to make 2 5 foot tubes. for 24.90 (2.49 a foot)

a kettle screen for $16.99

and just in case I needed it a
1/2" Washer 304 SS - Fits COOLER bulkheads (LARGE ID) 1/2" Shim LARGE ID $2.75

The total cost for my mashtun was 112.00. I'm sure it could have been cheaper if I didn't go with stainless and the 3 piece valve or 10 feet of tubing. (I wanted 5 for my kettle HLT and 5 for the mashtun).

I went with 10 gallon over 5 because the 10 gallon will support really big 5 gallon beers and allow me to play with 10 gallon beers. I can't wait for everything to get here (I also ordered a new 15 gallon kettle from morebeer.com) so I can brew my first AG batch (I'm going to try a Scottish 80 Shilling).

Stratslinger,

I am building a custom bar with chest freezer under it that holds 5 Gallon kegs. So I don't plan on brewing anything over 5 gallon batches. Would a 10 gallon cooler be enough? Is there any advantage to a water cooler over a shorter more side rectangular cooler?

It is amazing how much people are willing to help on this website. Thank you all for your responses.

That bring me to another questions. Is it better to Fly sparge or batch sparge? It sounds like a fly sparge is more complicated since you have to get a pump involved, but what is the payoff of fly sparging? Does it result in better quality beer?

A 10 gallon cooler should be large enough to brew just about anything in a 5 gallon batch. With a 10 gallon cooler you can get a OG of 1.118. I don't think the shape really matters all that much, I went with a round cooler because it already had a spout built into it so I didn't have to drill it to put in my ball valve.

With a square cooler you might need to build a manifold instead of just using a braid, which is another consideration.

In terms of sparging, my research seems to point to both methods being fairly equal. You 'might' get a slightly lower efficiency when using batch sparging which can be made up by adding a little more grain (and the software out there will account for this). Most people fly sparge for the higher efficiency that it claims to get. Personally, I don't feel it's worth the added effort and equipment. There are pro's and con's to all methods of all grain brewing. It really depends on your funding, and how complex you want the process to be.

You could go with BIAB and get just as good of a product when compared to building a $3000 brewing rig with pumps and controllers. I chose batch sparging because I couldn't afford to buy two kettles right now.

I'm currently going to use 1 15 gallon kettle for a boil kettle and HLT. I will heat water, use it to prime my cooler, then heat strike water. Put the strike water into the cooler and then use the kettle to heat my HTL water. I'll then do my first runnings to a 6.5 gallon bucket and add my sparge water. Depending on how many sparges I plan on doing (1-2) I'll either run to the bucket or straight to the kettle (which will be heating the wort).

In a few months when I get an extra hundred or so I'll buy something to use as a dedicated HLT. The quality of your beer is not really as dependent on which sparge technique you pick as your overall process and consistency. I brewed really enjoyable beer with extract and partial mash with just a bucket and a 5 gallon kettle. I'm pretty confident that I will be brewing really enjoyable beer as a all grain brewer.

So I say, pick what sounds most interesting to you and give it a try. Look at your results and use a critical eye to see areas you can improve. If you buy the stuff for batch and it doesn't work out, there is very little difference to move to fly sparging, you just need to change that braid out for a false bottom and get a HLT.

I use a 65 quart square cooler and use a stainless steel braid looped into a oval.

I batch sparge because I don't have a dedicated HLT, sparge arm, pump, etc. However, I've seen people fly sparge using nothing but pitcher and a colander, so that isn't completely it.

The main reason I batch sparge is so I don't have to worry about the pH levels of the run-off. I compute my water volume ahead of time, and there's no more worries.

Agreed with DonMagee - 10 gallons should do just fine for 5 or 6 gallon brews.

In choosing Fly vs Batch sparging, you're trading Efficiency for ease and simplicity. Fly sparging takes a little more equipment (either some kind of gravity feed setup or a pump) and more time, but you can get measurably greater efficiency, while batch sparging is a smaller up front investment and provides a quicker brew day.

A buddy and I have done side by side comparisons - his 10 gallon round cooler w/ false bottom and fly sparge vs my 10 gallon round w/ bazooka screen and batch sparge, and he hits low 80's for efficiency while I hit low 70's. I also happen to be waiting on him to finish the last 20-30 minutes of his sparge.

luke2080 said:

If you aren't too handy with that stuff, I would say buy it.

Click to expand...

I am probably the least handy person in the world, but even I can do this...

www.dennybrew.com

I say get the coleman extreme. I just got one and while it is a little deep for doing a small 5 gallon beer it still works fine for that. You can go 10 gallons or do really big 5 gallon beers.

Trimmer said:

That bring me to another questions. Is it better to Fly sparge or batch sparge? It sounds like a fly sparge is more complicated since you have to get a pump involved, but what is the payoff of fly sparging? Does it result in better quality beer?

Click to expand...

The sparge method you use really has no bearing on the quality of the beer, providing that you do it correctly. It's a bit easier to screw up fly sparging since you have to keep an eye on the sparge pH. Batch sparging takes less equipment. But either method can make award winning beer.

I just used my Coleman Extreme 52qt MLT for the first time last weekend. I have a SS braid, bulk head, and brass ball valve from Lowe's. I think it cost me a total of about $75.00.. I batch sparged as per Denny's method (Thanks Denny!!) and I got 79% efficiency. Not too bad for my first run on this equipment. I have a keg MLT as well, but I always got bad efficiency with it. I'll be sticking with the Coleman now!

My Coleman Xtreme 70qt cooler arrived yesterday, that's what I'll be using for a tun. It was $38 shipped at Amazon and then I need to add the hardware.

I was taught to fly sparge a long time before I'd ever heard about batch sparging.
with the right equipment and procedures, fly sparging can get you very slightly better efficiency than batch sparging, but it takes a lot longer. With the wrong equipment or procedures, fly sparging can give you very much worse efficiency than batch sparging. It's easy to screw up a fly sparge, whereas batch sparging is hard to screw up.
I fly sparge because that's what I'm used to, and I find it easier. If I were starting from scratch, and knowing what I know now, I would definitely go with a batch sparge.

-a.