2 free kegs!! What to do

I am migrating to all grain and started looking into equipment and wow what luck, 2 free kegs in the course of a week!!

I know I will take one and make into a boil pot, cut top off, have a drain valve welded to bottom and done?

What should I do with the second? Am I better off using a cooler for a mash tun, or is the keg a better option? I'm fine buying a cooler. Generally want to try and keep the process as simple as possible as I am just getting into all grain and I'm a bit intimidated....

Thanks

Do the same as with your brew kettle, except add a sight glass and thermometer and use it as you HLT.

Don't be intimidated by all grain. Just keep your recipes simple at first to get the hang of it. There's a lot of eqpt to get, but that was the hardest thing for me.

LOL what is "HLT"???

Is it better to mash in a keg than a cooler? My partials I do now I really like the cooler, I hit temp close it and forget about it, if I mash in the keg I have to keep temp with a burner, right? Not sure I want to do that but if you experts think its better I'll learn

Mash in a cooler, 10 gallon round Rubbermaid or Igloo work great, the cubes and rectangles also work. HLT -- Hot Liqueur Tank or a water heating vessel to heat strike water for the mash and to heat sparge water for sparging.. I use one and makes it easy to heat the sparge water while the mash is going.

BrewerinBR said:

Mash in a cooler, 10 gallon round Rubbermaid or Igloo work great, the cubes and rectangles also work. HLT -- Hot Liqueur Tank or a water heating vessel to heat strike water for the mash and to heat sparge water for sparging.. I use one and makes it easy to heat the sparge water while the mash is going.

Click to expand...

What he said, because you will need extra hot water to sparge.

I brew with a three keggle system. I would agree with the priority: first keg becomes brew kettle, second keg becomes HLT. The reason the mash tun is the lowest priority to make out of a keg is because the cooler is just fine and has the advantage of staying at temp better. I did a lot of batches with a 72qt Coleman Extreme MLT that was, in some ways, easier to use than the keggle MLT I'm using now. I generally have to hit my keggle mash tun with a bit of heat mid-way through the mash, more in the winter, less in the summer. Also the cooler MLT vorlaufed clear in no time flat and the keggle with the false bottom sometimes takes two gallons to clear.

I didn't get to design my system because I bought it from a guy who was getting out of the hobby. If I did, I would have made the MLT keggle "upside down". That is cut the bottom of the keg off and get the fittings required to hook the outflow up to the original sanke opening.

Convert one to a boil kettle and pass the other along to another aspiring all grain brewer.....Share the wealth of home brewing.