Mash Tun Shape?

Dumb question?? Does it make any difference what the dimensions are on a MT? IOW, might it be better to have a tun that is taller than it is wide (turkey fryer pot) or one that is wider than it is tall?

As per some of my other questions.. it will be for batches that are 5 G in size. And... really.. I'm not going to brew more than 5 G of any one beer at a time.. Really.. honest injun... for the doubters.

Not a dump question. If you use a taller MLT like many, your BH efficiency might be slightly better due to less area for your wort to pool on the bottom. That said, I still use a Coleman cooler as my MLT. The difference is negligible, especially when I tilt my cooler. As long as your MLT is well insulated and your Lauder manifold does the job.

I have an irrational preference for round coolers ability to hold heat better, less surface area and air space.

If you fly sparge, you need a good grain bed depth during the sparge, so for fly sparging a cylindrical cooler is the way to go.
If you batch sparge, I don't think it makes any meaningful difference providing it doesn't lose too much temp during the mash.

-a.

As a previous poster said, the important factor really comes down the grain bed depth. If your tun is too big, the grain bed will be too thin and you may run into difficulty filtering and you may lose heat during the mash. If tun is too small, the depth may be too deep and make you more prone to stuck sparges. I use a 10gallon cylindrical cooler and love it for 5 gallon batches- lets you do big beers (1.100 OG or more) and still allows enough depth for small grain bills. Palmers book has some good info about the fluid dynamics of lautering with different coolers/manifolds if you want the detail/scientific explanations.

amandabab said:

I have an irrational preference for round coolers ability to hold heat better, less surface area and air space.

Click to expand...

The shape doesn't influence the air space or ability to hold heat...size (relative to the mash) and wall thickness/insulation do. If the vessels have the same internal volume and filled with the same mash, the internal air space will be the same.