Mash HLT size

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rollinred

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I have searched an believe I know the answer but need clarification before spending my money.

Is a 70 Qt cooler too big for 5 gallon batches. I am not going to do 10 gallon batches yet but wouldn't mind having one in case I do. Am I going to loose too much heat to the dead space in the cooler? Otherwise a smaller one would work and I can upgrade later.

The other question is in regards to spare water and HLT. I know most people use a different cooler to hold the water. If I was doing a 5 gallon batch couldn't I use my boil kettle as the HLT and just sparge in to a bucket. Once the water gets to the boil amount stop there and pour bucket in to empty boil kettle and begin boil? Or is a dedicated HLT much easier. Would I also need 10 gallon HLT to have enough sparge water?

Thanks guys. I know answering the same thing over and over is frustrating but bear with me please.
 
So going by BobbyM's little chart in the equipment subforum, with a 70 qt mash tun you could get a wort north of 1.2. Assuming you aren't going to make many beers that big :))), you could go smaller. But if you are thinking about stepping up to 10gal batches at some point anyways, it wouldn't hurt too much to have a little dead space so long as you keep en eye on your temps. You will probably lose some temp to the air, but if your cooler is well preheated and you've got some emergency boiling water on hand in case it gets too low, you should be fine. FWIW, I like BobbyM's theory on the 50-60qt being about right for big 5 gal batches and medium 10gal batches, but that's just me.

As far as the HLT goes, I don't see any problem with using your boil kettle to heat water and draining to another bucket so long as you don't mind lifting and dumping it. Your BK just needs to be able to hold enough water to mash in (~3-4 gal), and then enough water to sparge with (~4-5 gal), so if you are doing 6gal boils you should be fine. Of course you'll also need your bucket to be able to hold however much you generally collect (~6gal) before transferring it to the BK. I think most people just prefer the convenience of not having to lift and dump that much water, especially if you can set up a few tiers, but there's no reason it can't be done your way!
 
erikpete18 said:
So going by BobbyM's little chart in the equipment subforum, with a 70 qt mash tun you could get a wort north of 1.2. Assuming you aren't going to make many beers that big :))), you could go smaller. But if you are thinking about stepping up to 10gal batches at some point anyways, it wouldn't hurt too much to have a little dead space so long as you keep en eye on your temps. You will probably lose some temp to the air, but if your cooler is well preheated and you've got some emergency boiling water on hand in case it gets too low, you should be fine. FWIW, I like BobbyM's theory on the 50-60qt being about right for big 5 gal batches and medium 10gal batches, but that's just me.

As far as the HLT goes, I don't see any problem with using your boil kettle to heat water and draining to another bucket so long as you don't mind lifting and dumping it. Your BK just needs to be able to hold enough water to mash in (~3-4 gal), and then enough water to sparge with (~4-5 gal), so if you are doing 6gal boils you should be fine. Of course you'll also need your bucket to be able to hold however much you generally collect (~6gal) before transferring it to the BK. I think most people just prefer the convenience of not having to lift and dump that much water, especially if you can set up a few tiers, but there's no reason it can't be done your way!
Click to expand...

If a 50-60 qt will do medium gravity beer in 10 gallon batch then that would be perfect size for me. Most of my high gravity will be 5 gallon batches anyway.

I have a Blichmann 10 gallon boil kettle so I like the idea of using it as the HLT anyway for the thermometer and included valve. I also have a couple of 8 gallon buckets with graduated marks making collection of runnings easy.

I am still young enough that lifting doesn't bother me. I am just on a limited budget, quit chewing tobacco a bit ago and wife is letting me buy myself a gift for doing so.

After getting a cooler and fittings I will be near the upper limit.

One more question if you guys don't mind. Stainless braided manifold vs copper tube. Both will be just as easy for me to build just don't know if one is beneficial over the other.
 
The geometry of your grain bed should be such that the depth is no less than half its width and no more than twice its length. If the bed is too shallow, it is a poor filter. If it is too deep, it can become compacted.
 
I have the 10 gal cylindrical Rubbermaid cooler, and my typical 5 gal. batch (10-13 lbs fermentables) only fills it up about halfway when I mash. I use a pretty thin (1.5 - 1.75 qts / lb of grain) mash, and have no troubles at all holding a good mash temperatures, and the cooler lauters fine. A mash like mine would only fill a 70 qt. cooler about a third of the way, which would leave a lot of headspace, but it sounds like the bigger issue might be the action of the grain bed.
 
It sounds like I am going to stick with a smaller cooler. If I do larger batches I will just buy another cooler. Those batches wouldn't be for several years down the road anyway.

Now it is about getting this done under $100... hmm.
 
Oh, sure.....I didn't realize we were just talking about the MLT build here. I paid around $40 for the cooler, and about $30 delivered for the Bargain Fittings conversion kit. The only other thing I had to do was to inject that "Great Stuff" insulation in the lid (which is hollow), so another $4, and you're done for around $75 (I don't use tubing; I assume this is to drain the wort, and I belong to the religion that doesn't believe in hot-side æration.J)
 
rico567 said:
Oh, sure.....I didn't realize we were just talking about the MLT build here. I paid around $40 for the cooler, and about $30 delivered for the Bargain Fittings conversion kit. The only other thing I had to do was to inject that "Great Stuff" insulation in the lid (which is hollow), so another $4, and you're done for around $75 (I don't use tubing; I assume this is to drain the wort, and I belong to the religion that doesn't believe in hot-side æration.J)
Click to expand...

Are you using a manifold, stainless braid, or false bottom? That is going to add to the price. For some reason I don't like the idea of the stainless braid thing. I don't know why it just doesn't appeal much to me. I do like the copper manifold idea because you can make it to be easily removable to clean thoroughly if needed.

Well I know I will be able to get it done for under 100, just depends what route I want to go for a cooler. Is there really any benefit or drawback to the different coolers... round vs rectangular. I have been looking at all rectangular because they seem easier to work with but hell, I have never done all grain so I don't know jack.
 
rollinred said:
Are you using a manifold, stainless braid, or false bottom? That is going to add to the price. For some reason I don't like the idea of the stainless braid thing. I don't know why it just doesn't appeal much to me. I do like the copper manifold idea because you can make it to be easily removable to clean thoroughly if needed.

Well I know I will be able to get it done for under 100, just depends what route I want to go for a cooler. Is there really any benefit or drawback to the different coolers... round vs rectangular. I have been looking at all rectangular because they seem easier to work with but hell, I have never done all grain so I don't know jack.
Click to expand...

The Bargain Fittings kit uses all 1/2" fittings, and about 9" of large-diameter braid. There are adherents on the forums for all methods of wort extraction that you mention. The only reason I chose braid was that it was simple, cheap, and there were so many people using it on the forums that it had to be workable. I figured if I didn't like it, I'd try something else. But....so far, so good!
 
The other thing you could do with the sparge water is heat it in the BK, then dump into a bucket before you start sparging. Then run the mash into the kettle. It's much less nerve wracking to dump hot sparge water than hot wort... one mistake with hot wort and your brewday is over.
 
kanzimonson said:
The other thing you could do with the sparge water is heat it in the BK, then dump into a bucket before you start sparging. Then run the mash into the kettle. It's much less nerve wracking to dump hot sparge water than hot wort... one mistake with hot wort and your brewday is over.
Click to expand...

I could do that but would have to put a valve on a bucket. I guess I have several. What I think I am going to do it use a cooler I already have for the HLT and just remove the valve if we need to use it for a boating day. Or just leave it on and not worry if it gets broke off.

I need my mash tun first so I can brew a batch to see what would be my best option. After doing it a few times I will see what needs improvement rather than jumping in to buying stuff that I end up not liking.

On to deciding what cooler for the mash...
 
I just picked up a 52 qt. coleman xtreme at Kmart for 31.99. There is def. plenty of room for 5 gal. batches in there. I only lost 2 degrees in an hour and only had 10lbs. of grain. Probably would have lost less if I had less dead space.
 
BWN said:
Probably would have lost less if I had less dead space.
Click to expand...

Would a sanitised sheet of bubble wrap floating on top of your mash help?
 
BWN said:
I just picked up a 52 qt. coleman xtreme at Kmart for 31.99. There is def. plenty of room for 5 gal. batches in there. I only lost 2 degrees in an hour and only had 10lbs. of grain. Probably would have lost less if I had less dead space.
Click to expand...

Kmart huh...The 52 qt is what I am now looking for. Problem is that our Kmart is a joke. I am going to go tomorrow and look though.

BWN- Did you preheat the cooler or not?
 
I did preheat it. It is a 5 day cooler and the lid is insulated. I think if i had a few more pounds of grain and more water it wouldn't be an issue. The biggest reason I got it is because the drain is in a channel at the bottom and I have about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup leftover after it is drained.
 

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