Partial mashing with one pot and a cooler

I've been extract brewing on a propane burner outside. I would like t do some partial mash. So I have a 60 qt pot and a 5 gal igloo cooler mash tun. What I don't have is a second pot for heating sparge water. I would like to heat my sparge water and put it aside in a plastic fermenter bucket and get my boil water going to save time. I'm not sure what temps an ale pail can hold without warping. Does anyone have another technique for this kind of set up I don't want to BIAB also. Thanks for any tips

i use ale pail inside bottling bucket (Zapap) for MLT and don't have any problems with warping. it's not the greatest at retaining heat, tho... needs insulation.

Why wouldn't you consider BIAB? It's not that difficult. Get yourself a couple paint strainer bags to hold the grain. Mash in your cooler (1.5 liters water per lb. of grain) and simultaneously heat your main volume of water in your kettle to about 170 F. When the mash is done, dip/rinse the grain bag several times in the kettle water. I couldn't think of any easier way to brew partial mash with your current setup.

That's sounds easy enough. I thought it was nessesary to sparge the grains from stuff I've read. But I'm pretty new at this.

The second to last sentence I wrote above is sort of a quasi-sparge/mashout all in one. I've found that it's good enough for partial mashes. When I brew indoors via this method, I never have a problem with efficiency. And if for some reason you happen to have an issue, use more DME to correct.

I thought BIAB was a different type of all grain brewing. But I like that process for partial mash

With the equipment you have you could easily do partial mash or AG batches.

Use your kettle as your HLT. After mashing drain into your bucket. Batch sparge with water from your kettle/HLT. Then transfer your wort from your bucket back into your kettle and start your boil. Batch sparging is really quick and efficient.

I've used a similar setup for a few years now. I actually have another kettle I can use for a separate HLT but most of the time I just pull out the one on brew day.

I'd like to do all grain in the future so it's good to now I have the equipment to do it. Thanks for explaining it out

If you really want to be technical, the BIAB method can be employed to mash or steep any type of crushed or flaked grain. You don't have to brew the entire beer in a bag.

bobbrews said:

If you really want to be technical, the BIAB method can be employed to mash or steep any type of crushed or flaked grain. You don't have to brew the entire beer in a bag.

Click to expand...

^^^This is it. The difference between partial mash and all grain is that for a partial mash you are relying on malt extract for a large portion of your fermentables. Add more grain and less malt extract and you are still partial mash right up to the point that you no longer add malt extract at all and then you are all grain brewing.

WilliamWS said:

With the equipment you have you could easily do partial mash or AG batches.

Use your kettle as your HLT. After mashing drain into your bucket. Batch sparge with water from your kettle/HLT. Then transfer your wort from your bucket back into your kettle and start your boil. Batch sparging is really quick and efficient.

I've used a similar setup for a few years now. I actually have another kettle I can use for a separate HLT but most of the time I just pull out the one on brew day.

Click to expand...

^^^This, exactly how I do it. All-grain with one 7.5 gal kettle and one 10 gal cooler.

jhoyda said:

^^^This, exactly how I do it. All-grain with one 7.5 gal kettle and one 10 gal cooler.

Click to expand...

I even go without the cooler. Mash right in the kettle, pull the bag out and let it drain, sparge if I feel like I want more volume and then boil it. One less container to wash.

Wondering what kind of efficiency I should expect if I'm partial mashing in my brew pot and just letting it drain versus pouring spathe water trough it by hand? I kind of need this info so I can formulate a first recipe an try it out.

Run_RMC said:

Wondering what kind of efficiency I should expect if I'm partial mashing in my brew pot and just letting it drain versus pouring spathe water trough it by hand? I kind of need this info so I can formulate a first recipe an try it out.

Click to expand...

The efficiency depends mostly on the crush of the grains. I think you can plan on about 65% without sparging and perhaps 70 to maybe 75% with sparging with the grains already crushed for you. If you had your own mill and milled very fine, partial mashed in a bag so you didn't have to depend on the grain husks forming a filter, you would likely get near 80% without sparging and 85% with sparging.

Ok. Only have a 5gal kettle so I'll be putting the 6lb's of grain I have just in a colander above the kettle and letting drip. I may pour spathe water over the top but I assume it probably won't rinse all the grains due to the shape of the ball of grains.

My plan is 5.5lb of Marris Otter and 1/2lb crystal 60. BYO from 2 month back says to spathe until I get 3.6 gal so I'll do that just not sure how much I'll actually extract. I'm going to boil this and then add 1lb of dme at end of boil. Making a bitter at around 1.037.

Not to high jack your thread but i just started using a 5 gal igloo cooler to mash in. After spargeing what do you do to the bag? Should you squeeze it to get all liquid out?

Kmart0104 said:

Not to high jack your thread but i just started using a 5 gal igloo cooler to mash in. After spargeing what do you do to the bag? Should you squeeze it to get all liquid out?

Click to expand...

You should squeeze it as much as you can. Any liquid left in the bag with the grains is filled with sugars that you want for your yeast to turn into alcohol.:rockin:

I've used a Zapap lauter tun for several years but find I like it less and less. It works great, but there are a couple problems. 1) It can be deceiving on volumes. Often it looks like there is plenty of volume for a bigger/heavier batch but the volume is actually the lower bucket, not the upper one. Any higher than that and the wort will flow out and all over. 2) Separating the buckets afterwards is almost impossible sometimes, so making sure they are properly cleaned can be a problem. I think the sugars from the wort are actually gluing them together when they cool.

cluckk said:

the volume is actually the lower bucket, not the upper one. Any higher than that and the wort will flow out and all over

Click to expand...

doesn't even have to be overflowing. I lost a lot of wort while stirring the mash; it would splash out from between the 2 buckets.

hopefully, santa is bringing a turkey fryer and cooler MLT, so my Zapap can be retired.

Kmart0104 said:

Not to high jack your thread but i just started using a 5 gal igloo cooler to mash in. After spargeing what do you do to the bag? Should you squeeze it to get all liquid out?

Click to expand...

Just curious: If you're using a cooler as a mash tun then why BIAB, why not just drain and batch sparge?
I don't do BIAB but my understanding is the only real advantage is that it is a one vessel system, it allows you to do all AG without a separate mash tun.

Also, while it may recover a little more sugar I'd be wary of some tannin extraction with a lot of squeezing. Again though, I don't do BIAB so I have no experience with squeezing.

WilliamWS said:

Just curious: If you're using a cooler as a mash tun then why BIAB, why not just drain and batch sparge?
I don't do BIAB but my understanding is the only real advantage is that it is a one vessel system, it allows you to do all AG without a separate mash tun.

Click to expand...

When I BIAB indoors, I usually do it via Partial Mash with 2 kettles, no cooler. Some people use a cooler and a kettle. Others just use one of these vessels. But it doesn't have to be a one vessel system. It saves time to heat up your main volume of water to the appropriate temp. while you're mashing the other volume. That way your mashed wort and main volume of water are premeasured and at the appropriate temps exactly when you need them to be... So you're good to go with the next step instead of waiting for the main volume of water to heat up after the mash.

Example:

Your mash & mash volume = 5 lbs. grain mashed in 7.5 liters of water
Your total boil volume = 20 liters of water

So, an additional 12.5 liters of water will be required for the full boil... which you don't want to be cold. So you can heat it up in a separate vessel.

Also, some people who brew BIAB (whether Partial Mash or All Grain) will batch sparge; others will no sparge; others will dunk the grain bag several times in the 170 F-ish main kettle volume of plain water to sort of combine the idea of a sparge and mashout together as one. In summation, there are many more than one ways to skin a cat.

bobbrews said:

In summation, there are many more than one ways to skin a cat.

Click to expand...

+1 to that!

I am intrigued with the idea of batch sparging in a cooler using BIAB, it seems to me that there would be less worries with equipment, stuck sparges, etc.... I have not done it yet, but that is just the feeling I am getting reading through the forums.

Hey, I'm all for whatever system works for you and I'm definitely not going to discourage anyone from using a system that they've had success with but I still don't see an advantage to BIAB if you've got the cooler MT and a kettle. I just always thought of it as a way to get by with less equipment.

Using the system I described earlier in the thread your water is at the appropriate temp when you need it using the same equipment (minus the bag), I've never had a stuck sparge (though I do use rice hulls for brews with lots of wheat/oats/pumpkin), and I can't imagine it being faster.
Just an observation, no judgement. Do whatever makes good beer for you.

BIAB in a cooler if the cooler doesn't have a drain spout, or if it doubles as an actual cooler and you don't have it converted

William, clean-up is a helluva lot easier too since your mashing grains and boil hops are bagged. Less trub on average as well.