Mash Tun: keggle vs cooler?

I know I could heat a keggle to maintain temps, but cost of a false bottom is a bit prohibitive. Any suggestions on how to convert a keggle into a MT w/o a false bottom? Manifold? Braided tube?

I would assume that a braided tube would be just fine... but you would need something that is okay getting a direct heat blast from your heater. I have to say... I am very impressed by the cooler... there is a lot less fussing about with it and I don't spend gas on it to heat. just my 2c.

Depends on what you brew. If you brew single temp infusions , go with the cooler. If you do multistep infusions often, or decoctions, go with the keggle. I use a cooler w/copper manifold myself, works great.

My 52qt coleman extreme mash tun was easy to convert and holds temps like a rock star. All for a lot less than the converted keg.

Either one will work with a braid or manifold. Personally I like the round cooler and a manifold. Check this section from How To Brew, http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD.html, there's a lot of good info on manifold design and how fluid flows out of your tun

bigirishape said:

I know I could heat a keggle to maintain temps, but cost of a false bottom is a bit prohibitive. Any suggestions on how to convert a keggle into a MT w/o a false bottom? Manifold? Braided tube?

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O.T. Are you a Gabe Brown fan? Avatar says so. Love his music!

i have both a keggle mt and a cooler mt. i almost always use the cooler, for some reason...

+1 vote for cooler. Batch sparging makes great beer. Temperatures don't vary more than a degree in mine over an hour. If you buy a beverage cooler instead of rectangular, you can convert to fly sparging any time. And finally, the thing is energy efficient. What's not to like?

It's easy to get caught up in all the bling(big, shiny things!). But the objective is to brew good beer. Sometimes the bling can make things easier; sometimes harder. But it usually does nothing for the quality of the beer.....

I would only direct fire a metal tun with large false bottom. If you don't go that way, you might as well use a cooler.

Kinda partial to my cooler. Easier to handle, easier to clean, doubles as a 'sink' when working in the basement...

C-Rider said:

O.T. Are you a Gabe Brown fan? Avatar says so. Love his music!

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If you mean Zac Brown, yeah, I do like his stuff. But the Avatar is me. I've been stopped fairly often to ask if I was Zac Brown, or Opie from Sons of Anarchy.

Thanks for all of the good info folks. Now I need to hunt down a good cooler... I may go with the keggle MT at some point down the road since I already have the kegs, but for now it seems like cooler is the way to go.

Thanks!

Some of us are paranoid and get uncomfortable about the (real or imagined) risks of mashing in plastic. I use a keggle with a manifold, cover with a turkey fryer pot lid and an old blanket, and do not direct fire. I lose about 2 degrees per half hour, so I end up making one or two little infusions over a 60- or 90-minute mash. My MLT is the highest vessel in my system and I pump near-boiling water up to it as needed. No big deal.

You're uncomfortable about mashing in plastic coolers even though there's a huge contingent of AG brewers who do just that and produce amazing beers?

i built a 3 keggle system because i found all 3 kegs cheap. i thought it was great until i couldn't hold my mash temps. i envy my brew buddy down the street with his cooler mash tun, he can hold temps for hours.

ultimately i ended up moving to a HERMS system to keep my mash at temp, and i'm really excited about the gizmos and gadgets i get to play with as a result of that... but the cooler really would have been simple and easy.

Can't you just insulate your keggle MT? Or are y'all losing 2 degrees per half hour with your mash tun already insulated? Im just curious because i plan on using a keggle for a MT in the near future.

I'm on second all grain. Used bottle bucket and sparging bag with some aluminum screen over spigot to move bag away. Worked great with maybe 1 degree of temp change in an hour.plus its not any extra equipment and super easy clean!

i am losing a couple of degrees an hour in my uninsulated keggle MLT. i built a reflectix cover thing, but it was hard to secure, i had to remove it to clean the MLT, and it still didn't perform like a cooler does. now with my HERMS system i get perfect temps all the time, so i don't really need a cooler... but a cooler would be much easier to setup, esp for a beginning brewer.

Depends on what you brew. If you brew single temp infusions , go with the cooler. If you do multistep infusions often, or decoctions, go with the keggle. I use a cooler w/copper manifold myself, works great.

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Why? I do decoction mashing with my cooler converted MLT all the time. Step mashing would be better with the keggie assuming that you want to bring your mash up to a specific temp without adding water but decoction mashing would work just fine with the cooler converted. Also you need the MLT to be different from your kettle as you can't boil the whole mash with the decoction as you kill all of the enzymes. You actually need something that can handle constant temps without too much work. Also that would require two burners and a lot of propane.

I'm newer to ag. I've been using a bottling bucket and a sparging bag. Also some screen over the spigot to move bag away from spigot. I've found my temp changes 1 degree in an hour. And clean up is a breeze!

You're uncomfortable about mashing in plastic coolers even though there's a huge contingent of AG brewers who do just that and produce amazing beers?

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I'm not uncomfortable about making amazing beers, I am uncomfortable about what might be leaching out of that liner into my wort. I drink a lot of it, and, crazy or not, I feel better about mashing in stainless. I did not bring it up to bind anyone's conscience, though. I wouldn't turn down a homebrew mashed in the shadiest of Chinese-made coolers and I wouldn't think less of the brewer. I am just managing my own psychosis.

By the way "slothorentropy" is the best handle ever. EVER.

Or are y'all losing 2 degrees per half hour with your mash tun already insulated?

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I lose about 2 degrees (F, of course) per half hour with the old blanket over the MLT. Plus I live in South Carolina. To me that is ok, and about the same as I used to get with my old MLT (made from the afore-mentioned shady cheap cooler) with the old blanket over it. Granted, it was half as big as the keggle.

corncob said:

I'm not uncomfortable about making amazing beers, I am uncomfortable about what might be leaching out of that liner into my wort. I drink a lot of it, and, crazy or not, I feel better about mashing in stainless. I did not bring it up to bind anyone's conscience, though. I wouldn't turn down a homebrew mashed in the shadiest of Chinese-made coolers and I wouldn't think less of the brewer. I am just managing my own psychosis.

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Word, just wondered. All things being equal I'd rather be doing direct-fired stainless (more for the sake of flexibility), but it's apartment life for me for at least another 10 months.

corncob said:

By the way "slothorentropy" is the best handle ever. EVER.

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Thanks!