Would a cooler like this work?

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1987714

It's ~ 27 gallons. I'm wondering if it would work for any part of the AG process.

It would be great for large batches, like 15-20 gallon batches, as a mash tun. I would worry that with that size, it would create too shallow a filter bed. BUT, I would think that for large batches, it would be splendid.

Brewpilot

This weekend brewing BIG Honey Wheat.

That's a great party cooler for keeping cornies cold too! You can fit 3 in there and the ice lasts a long time. At $59 it is a steal if it comes with the wheels.

I've heard of at least one pro brewer who is going the way of shallow filterbeds for sparging. He said he likes it because he can move the sparge along more quickly since there is a ton more filtering surface area. Maybe worth a shot.

I am just now getting to the AG point, but if the bed is shallower, doesn't that mean that the wort would pass through less "filter", regardless of total surface area? with a large thin grainbed, more wort would flow concurrently through a thinner filter, while a smaller, thicker grain bed would filter less wort concurrently, but the wort would pass through more grain??

Am i missing something? I am finally building my MLT this weekend, and I have been dwelling a lot on cooler size.

I thought for batch sparging, the depth of the grain bed didn't make much of a difference. Isn't it just fly sparging where you have to be really concerned?

My concern would be heat loss, if you are only using a fraction of the cooler's total volume. Seems that it would be harder to maintain a constant temp.

Looks like it would be good to hold a 6.5 gallon carboy for fermentation

Yeah I agree with the heat issue, bird, the cooler would have a ton of thermal mass compared to the grain. Once you got it dialed-in I would think it would work ok though. As far as filtering goes, I expect you would need to vorlauf quite a bit more to get bright runnings, but I think the bed would still set.

Umm.... Yeah it would work. Pretty big.... thats 109 quarts! Just picked up an Ice Cube at Walmart for $21.... 60 quarts. Want to brew an IPA.... needs something like 20 pounds of grain so this will work beutifully.

Will it work? You bet, especillay if your brewing around 30 gallon batches It is a monster cooler, and if you have room to ferment that much go for it

Someone on brewboard used one of those and said it lost a lot of heat over an hour. Something like 13 degrees IIRC. YMMV.