Mash Tun Cooler size

After reading a number of threads about mash tun coolers, I have decided to make one. Size wise, I am looking for something that I can do an AG 2.5-3 gallon batch in as well as a 5gal partial mash. I was thinking a 3gal cooler would do the trick, but wanted to see if anyone thought differently.

Thanks in advance.

I'd get at least a five, and if you have the room go larger. Is there any reason you don't want to do full five-gallon batches?

With all the work that's involved in making an AG batch, I guarantee you'll be wanting to make at least 5 gallons batches. It's just as much work to make 3 as it is 5. Lots of people (myself included) start out thinking that we'll just brew twice as often, but quickly change our minds.

Here I go again like a broken record: Get a BIG cooler, at least ten gallons. I guarantee you will eventually go big so why fart around with the little stuff? Unless you like wasting money.............
And yes, the same goes for boiling pots.........

I'd get a 40-48qt cooler. I've made 3 gallon batches with a 48 qt cooler and got 74% efficiency, despite the shallow grain bed. They're all pretty cheap, so why make work later converting a bigger one if you go for 5 gallon batches?

My advise like Bernie Brewer is go as big as you can afford from the beggining if you don't you'll regret it later!!!!

I think the advise to get a big one (10 gal) is good advise shop around on the internet you can find one for about $40 If you get a smaller and eventually go to a larger one. you'll still find uses for it. Buy the best you can afford. My old boss had a saying "Buy cheap and Buy twice".

Initially the reason I wanted to do small AG batches is because I can only boil on my stovetop for the time being and couldn't boil the requisite volume for a 5gal batch. The amount of work isn't an issue for me, as I get just as much fun out of the brew day as I do in enjoying the endpoint (well, almost). Finally, like alot of people wanting to do small batches I wanted to brew often and experiment while not having tons of beer lying around.

So back to my original question. Sounds like I might be better off with a 5gal cooler (plus that's all I can find in the stores right now). I'm still planning on doing 3gal AG, and maybe 5gal if I can find a way to do it on the stove. Plus some 5gal PM. So does the 5gal cooler still sound good?

I realize that this is kinda a broken record discussion, and I apologize for that and greatly appreciate your help.

I have a 9 gallon cooler that I love - the Coleman Xtreme 36 quart. It holds mash temp perfectly over a 60 minute mash (as long as you preheat it). Plenty big for any 5 gallon batch, probably a little small for most 10 gallon batches. $30.

I "borrowed" a 2.5 gallon sports cooler from my Dad's house a few months ago and it works perfectly for partial mashes of up to 5 pounds or so. I sure wish I had a bigger one though. Don't wimp out. Go big, or go home!
-Ben

the_bird said:

I have a 9 gallon cooler that I love - the Coleman Xtreme 36 quart. It holds mash temp perfectly over a 60 minute mash (as long as you preheat it). Plenty big for any 5 gallon batch, probably a little small for most 10 gallon batches. $30.

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I am using the same cooler, but I got a deal at $21 this winter. It is fine for batch sparging with 1 sparge at 13# of grain. My sparge water is pretty close to the top at that point. I am now eyeing up the 54 quart in the basement that is sitting unused, and my 100 quart "Salmon Fishing" cooler for moving up to 10 gallon batches with batch sparging.

This time of year, you can get turkey fryers for dirt cheap. I can't see why you would want to go small. You can always make less beer in large equipment, but not more beer in small equipment.

the_bird said:

I have a 9 gallon cooler that I love - the Coleman Xtreme 36 quart. It holds mash temp perfectly over a 60 minute mash (as long as you preheat it). Plenty big for any 5 gallon batch, probably a little small for most 10 gallon batches. $30.

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Coleman XTreme 52-quarters are (or were) on sale at Wal-Mart for $21. It was a steal.

m3rkury said:

So back to my original question. Sounds like I might be better off with a 5gal cooler (plus that's all I can find in the stores right now). I'm still planning on doing 3gal AG, and maybe 5gal if I can find a way to do it on the stove. Plus some 5gal PM. So does the 5gal cooler still sound good?

.

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yes 5 gal. will work you could squeez most 5 gal. AG's in it too

ayrton said:

Coleman XTreme 52-quarters are (or were) on sale at Wal-Mart for $21. It was a steal.

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Oh, God yeah. I bought mine after the clearance sales were all over. Still, $30 isn't bad, certainly cheaper than if I had gone the round route.

ayrton said:

Coleman XTreme 52-quarters are (or were) on sale at Wal-Mart for $21. It was a steal.

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Wow !
I wish I had joined this group before I purchased mine

I think if I brew for the next 100 years I might recoup the equipt. costs

Good hobby though

Ugh, tell me about it. Still, my first AG ingredients cost me a mere $27, well below the 50+ I was spending before. If I cut out the fact that some of that money came from a large bag of corn sugar and if I pitch on top of an existing yeast cake, then the cost comes down to about $18. Not bad at all.

So as I was pondering my situation last night, I went to the basement to retrieve a beer. As I opened the top to my old picnic cooler, I had an epiphany: "Hey, wait a sec! I have an old picnic cooler!!!" [insert "you idiot" here]. It's an old rectangular Coleman cooler @ around 52qt if my calculations are right. And it has a spigot. With a little scrubbing and some TLC from Home Depot I think I have my mash tun.

Thanks for convincing me to think big. The moral of the story is: if you have a problem, go grab a beer and see what it can show you.

Bernie Brewer said:

Here I go again like a broken record: Get a BIG cooler, at least ten gallons. I guarantee you will eventually go big so why fart around with the little stuff? Unless you like wasting money.............
And yes, the same goes for boiling pots.........

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agree - you will go bigger despite what you think now. it's inevitable

m3rkury said:

Initially the reason I wanted to do small AG batches is because I can only boil on my stovetop for the time being and couldn't boil the requisite volume for a 5gal batch. The amount of work isn't an issue for me, as I get just as much fun out of the brew day as I do in enjoying the endpoint (well, almost). Finally, like alot of people wanting to do small batches I wanted to brew often and experiment while not having tons of beer lying around.

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Yeah. Uh-huh. Hear the same thing from everyone. Couple months later they're whining cuz their tun isn't big enough. Get the big one anyway. You can still make your little batches in it, and it'll be around when you need it for your big beers.

Think of it like this, even with a small beer, the large tun is awesome, you can do three step mashes in there, with infusions!! How nice is that!? I am tossing together a new 10 gallon tun with a therm. through the wall and ball valve. It will be ready when I am ready to brew again... I have 2 brews, a stout and a Fat Tire clone completed now, need to drink them up!

Brewpilot

Just for the sake of argument, why does everyone assume bigger is better? Or that bigger is inevitable? I drink most of what I brew, and even with giving some away a 5gal batch of beer lasts me about 2months. If I went to 10gal it would last me 4mo roughly. Given that I would like to brew about once per month (or more), big batches would leave me with tons of beer and it would just snowball from there. Thus, my reason for wanting to do small batches is to brew often but not have a huge surplus of beer. While I appreciate everyone's input, the "bigger is better" argument doesn't fit for me.

m3rkury said:

Just for the sake of argument, why does everyone assume bigger is better? Or that bigger is inevitable? I drink most of what I brew, and even with giving some away a 5gal batch of beer lasts me about 2months. If I went to 10gal it would last me 4mo roughly. Given that I would like to brew about once per month (or more), big batches would leave me with tons of beer and it would just snowball from there. Thus, my reason for wanting to do small batches is to brew often but not have a huge surplus of beer. While I appreciate everyone's input, the "bigger is better" argument doesn't fit for me.

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uh i wouldn't call you a beer drinker by my standards then

but i give you the latitude to do as you wish dude

m3rkury said:

Just for the sake of argument, why does everyone assume bigger is better? Or that bigger is inevitable? I drink most of what I brew, and even with giving some away a 5gal batch of beer lasts me about 2months. If I went to 10gal it would last me 4mo roughly. Given that I would like to brew about once per month (or more), big batches would leave me with tons of beer and it would just snowball from there. Thus, my reason for wanting to do small batches is to brew often but not have a huge surplus of beer. While I appreciate everyone's input, the "bigger is better" argument doesn't fit for me.

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A "big" beer doesn't necessarily mean bigger than 5 gallons. It also means a very high gravity beer (1.070 or more) that would require a much larger volume of grain, and therefore, a larger tun.

I just brewed a 5 gallon stout... I really could have used a 10 gallon mash tun... also, keep in mind that you CAN DO several mash steps then, in one tun... it makes step mashes SO easy... I will probably never do anything larger than a 5 gallon batch, BUT I am building a 10 gallon mash tun, because in alot of cases it is needed for a 5 gallon batch.

Brewpilot

Brewhead: I really wish I could go through the beer faster, but I can't due to work/school schedules (and it's gonna get a lot worse come July with an 80+ hr work week). I try to average at least a beer a day for "health" reasons , but I can't always do that.

BernieBrewer: I completely understand your point about "big beers". It was something I never really thought of in my original plans and I'm glad you brought it up. My previous post about "bigger is better" was aimed more at the people talking about expanding my brewing volume, which is no where on my radar at the moment (although I enjoy drooling over all of the monster rigs people have created and dreaming up my own setup).

Anyway. I've got that 52qt cooler which will be plenty big. I'm hoping to have it converted and ready for a brew day this weekend.

here's another reason for a larger mash tun. Say you like New Castle and want to make a clone the first of the 2 brews you combine calls for ( if I remember correctly) about 12 lbs. + of grain and 8 gal. of water mash for 90 min then you boil it for 2 hours down to 5 gal. Can't do that in a 5 gal mash tun unless you want to split it and do it twice.

m3rkury said:

Just for the sake of argument, why does everyone assume bigger is better? Or that bigger is inevitable? I drink most of what I brew, and even with giving some away a 5gal batch of beer lasts me about 2months. If I went to 10gal it would last me 4mo roughly. Given that I would like to brew about once per month (or more), big batches would leave me with tons of beer and it would just snowball from there. Thus, my reason for wanting to do small batches is to brew often but not have a huge surplus of beer. While I appreciate everyone's input, the "bigger is better" argument doesn't fit for me.

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It's not just for larger batches. It also is good for 5-gallon batches that are higher in alcohol content. More alcohol = more grain = more space.