5 Gallon Igloo Mash Tun

I'm sure everyone here has seen this thread a million times but as much as I search I'm still not confident.
I just converted a 5 gallon Igloo cooler over and I'd love to use it for my all grain batches. I'm not one who requires a lot of end product and I'm not kegging at this point but I would like to brew some higher abv beers. Is it possible to do that with a five gallon mash tun? Is it feasible for me to brew all grain beers and come out with a good product with a 5 gallon mash tun? I'd really prefer to stay with smaller batches.

Thanks!

Just for referrence; my Igloo cooler mash tun is 13 gallons and the biggest 10 gal AG batch I can brew is about 1.070 OG with a standard 60-75min boil down. So that means I would need a 6.5 gallon mash tun to brew a 5 gallon batch at 1.070.

If you are making 5 gallon batches you really need a larger mash tun than 5 gal. 7 gallon would be minimal but why go so small? I got my Igloo 13 gal (52qt) rectangular cooler for $25 on sale...has worked flawlessly for 15 batches. I can easily mash for 5 gal batches or 10-11 gallon batches of session ale.

Yeah a 5 gallon MLT is fine for lower-normal gravity 5 gallon batches or smaller batches of higher gravity beers.

I'm really looking to brew an occasional 6-8% ABV IPA...can I make that happen?

CemeteryCellarsBC said:

I'm really looking to brew an occasional 6-8% ABV IPA...can I make that happen?

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Are you making 5 gal batches or smaller? You could always sub some light DME or LME for your base malt to boost the gravity if you can't mash enough base grain to hit your target OG. 20-25% extract won't really effect the flavor much at all, especially in a hop-dominant IPA style.

This comes up every now and then....Best answer I've ever heard,

JonM said:

No rule that says you have to do a 5-gallon batch. You can always run it through Beersmith and reduce the batch size to something that will fit in your 5-Fallon cooler. Green Bay Rackers says you can get 15-ish pounds in there at 1 qt/lb, so maybe do a 3.5 gal batch?

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I do A TON of high gravity batches with my 5 gallon cooler. I just do them as a 2.5 gallon batch.

If I'm making a bigger beer I'm often doing a 2.5 gallon batch instead of a 5 gallon one the 14 pounds of grain that can be held in a 5 gallon makes a beer with an og of 1.151. That's a pretty big beer if you ask me.

I find that one case of big beers is often more than enough.

In fact my first partigyle pumpkin ale was 2 2.5 gallon beers from the same grainbed. A strong ale and a regular amber ale. They were 2 stove top beers from my lowly 5 gallon mash tun.

Here.

I've been using my 5 gallon cooler for years, and I've rarely needed larger for most of my beers. If I'm doing something special or really big and want 5 gallons, I have plenty of brew buddies that have larger coolers I can borrow.

You can always add a second, larger cooler mash tun to your equipment at a later date if you wish to go bigger on your batch size. For me I am married, have a house and a full time job that takes a lot of my time. I only have the opportunity to brew about once a month....so I always make 10-11 gallon batches. If you can brew weekly and really enjoy the process, then smaller batches would be a lot easier, especially since you can brew in your kitchen which is nice in the winter months.

I mashed 13 lbs. in my 5 gallon Igloo MaxCold without a problem at 1.25 quarts per pound. It was pretty full but held the temperature great. The recipe was EdWorts Bee Cave Brewery IPA with an OG of 1.065 and came out great!

On a side note, I also just bought a Igloo 10 gallon commercial grade beverage cooler since I'd like to be able to brew bigger beers without capacity issues.

kifkroker said:

I mashed 13 lbs. in my 5 gallon Igloo MaxCold without a problem at 1.25 quarts per pound. It was pretty full but held the temperature great. The recipe was EdWorts Bee Cave Brewery IPA with an OG of 1.065 and came out great!

On a side note, I also just bought a Igloo 10 gallon commercial grade beverage cooler since I'd like to be able to brew bigger beers without capacity issues.

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I too have pushed my 5 gallon to the max with 12+ pounds of grain and as much water as would fit. I now have a Gatorade 10 gallon water cooler waiting on conversion.

jeepinjeepin said:

I too have pushed my 5 gallon to the max with 12+ pounds of grain and as much water as would fit. I now have a Gatorade 10 gallon water cooler waiting on conversion.

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I haven't used my 10 gallon Igloo yet... Debating on whether or not to go with one of those awesome NorCal Jaybird False Bottoms or just do a SS water heater hose that my 5 gallon has in it (which has performed flawlessly so far).

If anyone has used both, please comment on which you prefer for batch sparging.

Thanks!

HERE are some pic's of my MT. It's and Igloo 25 qt.. which is a bit more than 5 gallon.. I'd go with the 25 qt if I had to do it over. I'm only doing 2.5-3 gallon batches now.. and it's perfect. This particular marine cooler didn't have a spigot.. so I had to drill it out using a ruler to get the height I wanted above the bottom. I used CPVC fittings to make the manifold but had to grind material off both ends of the 45* elbow to make everything lie flat on the bottom.

14 lbs is the most I have crammed into my Rubbermaid 5 gal MT. The mash was like oatmeal - pretty thick, not great for effiency. I got a bigger MT for anything over 13 lbs and use both, but hey - with my setup a typical 13 lb mash gets me an OG around 1.065 or about 7% abv with an FG of .012.

If a 5 gallon MLT doesn't look like this, you are doing it wrong.

That's why I went with the 25 qt vs the 5g size.

jeepinjeepin said:

If a 5 gallon MLT doesn't look like this, you are doing it wrong.

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What, no FWH?

I typically max my grainbill at 11#. I usually get around 1.055 SG. I am going to build a rig sometime soon so a larger cooler is not in the plan. If I had it to do over, I would have bought a 10gal so as to prevent over sparging. If it is a higher ABV you want, do as others suggested and add some DME or sugar towards the end of your boil.

Best way to go when I made mine... Except my local grocer had them for $17!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/16437961?adid=22222222227000771925&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=13737428590&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem

Especially when the Igloo 5 gals are way over priced!

HbgBill said:

That's why I went with the 25 qt vs the 5g size.

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I have a 10 gallon waiting on me to buy some parts.

maddad said:

What, no FWH?

I typically max my grainbill at 11#. I usually get around 1.055 SG. I am going to build a rig sometime soon so a larger cooler is not in the plan. If I had it to do over, I would have bought a 10gal so as to prevent over sparging. If it is a higher ABV you want, do as others suggested and add some DME or sugar towards the end of your boil.

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I have first wort hopped in the kettle but never mash hopped. I have added sugar and honey at the end of primary, but normally don't keep much dme on hand. I need to change that.

I used to use a 5g Rubbermaid MLT with false bottom. Biggest beer I ever made in it was 13.5 lbs grain, mashed at 1 qt / lb, and it still left some head room for a mash out (enough to increase my efficiency, but not enough to raise the temperature up to 170).
I fly sparge, and it used to take about 90 minutes to sparge enough for a 5g batch with an OG of 1.075.
I never found it necessary to reduce the batch size because I never wanted to brew a bigger beer, but that would certainly work.

-a.

Brewcrew02 said:

Best way to go when I made mine... Except my local grocer had them for $17!
http://www.walmart.com/ip/16437961?adid=22222222227000771925&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=13737428590&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem

Especially when the Igloo 5 gals are way over priced!

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Got my 5 gallon Igloo Maxcold for $4 at a garage sale. That's why I didn't mind spending another $42 for a 10 gallon Igloo commercial beverage cooler and converting it. If I brew a small to medium beer, I'll still use the 5 gallon.

jeepinjeepin said:

I have a 10 gallon waiting on me to buy some parts.

I have first wort hopped in the kettle but never mash hopped. I have added sugar and honey at the end of primary, but normally don't keep much dme on hand. I need to change that.

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I usually use a hop schedule that includes FWH. Helps to keep some hop matter out of the wort. I just opened a bottle of my Xmas honey brown. The honey really helped boost the the abv.

I have the exact same cooler for a mash ton. When I wanna do higher gravity il either use malt extract for part of it or make slightly smaller batches