Mash Lauter Tun from Coleman Xtreme 70 Quart Cooler

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Like everybody else does, I took the lid off the hinges.

I also put a hole in the lid for a sparge/recirc line. I drilled a hole and glued in a 1/2" PVC coupler with silicone sealant. I intend to poke 1/2" silicone tube through the hole. If I can find my camera I'll post a pic.
 
My sparge water is coming through the lid. Hinges would make that a bit awkward, I want to lift the lid off rather than push it back.

If the sparge water is coming in through the side wall, different story. I did consider that option (bulkhead + loc-line) but it seemed more trouble than it was worth. I suppose if I get fed up with having a silicone hose flopping through the lid I could retrofit that.
 
You can sprinkle any which way to Sunday. If all the flow is at one end of the cooler your not going to have a very efficient sparge. I'm not saying it won't work. I haven't tried it with this cooler so I don't really know. I'm just saying this cooler is not the ideal shape for fly sparge.

Why do you say this? Is it because it has the "trough" for the drain?

Cheers.
 
Why do you say this? Is it because it has the "trough" for the drain?

Cheers.

because the cooler is long and the drain is at one end. In theory you will have more flow at the end when the drain is and less or maybe no flow at the opposite end. So you rinse the crap out of the grain near the drain and the opposite end doesn't get rinsed at all. This the theory behind a false bottom or a pipe manifold. They encourage more even flow. The ideal mash tun for fly sparge is round, has a fairly deep grain bed, has a false bottom and has the drain in the center.
 
So, to be clear, folks that unhinge the lid are fly sparging and those of us that batch sparge leave the lid hinged?
 
I have used this cooler with a copper pipe manifold for over a year and I fly sparge with the lid hinged. My average efficiency is around 75%. If the manifold is properly set up, then you won't get channeling. I think that is the whole point of a manifold, not just a drain hole at one end. Just my two cents worth.
 
I thought about going with a manifold but I decided on a stainless braid. Batch sparging I get a solid 80%+ on 1.065 beers and less. On beers in the 1.090 range I am getting 75%+.
 
because the cooler is long and the drain is at one end. In theory you will have more flow at the end when the drain is and less or maybe no flow at the opposite end. So you rinse the crap out of the grain near the drain and the opposite end doesn't get rinsed at all. This the theory behind a false bottom or a pipe manifold. They encourage more even flow. The ideal mash tun for fly sparge is round, has a fairly deep grain bed, has a false bottom and has the drain in the center.

If you have a manifold, why does it even matter what shape it is? Once the wort enters the manifold, the distance it travels inside is a moot point.
 
If you have a manifold, why does it even matter what shape it is? Once the wort enters the manifold, the distance it travels inside is a moot point.

From what I've read round coolers are better for fly sparging mainly because they are tall, so the grain bed is deeper, and because it is easier to install a false bottom.

With the good old sliding tee arrangement you could test whether it makes a any difference having the drain connected to the middle of the manifold or one end. It might make a tiny improvement. Fly sparging is a black art so who knows.
 
I have used this cooler with a copper pipe manifold for over a year and I fly sparge with the lid hinged. My average efficiency is around 75%. If the manifold is properly set up, then you won't get channeling. I think that is the whole point of a manifold, not just a drain hole at one end. Just my two cents worth.

COOL :mug:
 
I spaced the slots on the manifold every 1/2". Is there any downside to having the slots spaced more closely? I have heard that closer is better if you are recirculating, to improve flow rates.

Any thoughts on this? I have a fresh hacksaw blade but I need a little bit of motivation to go into a cold garage and cut a couple of hundred slots.
 
Yeah for a fly sparging manifold, as long as you don't have slots right along the cooler walls I think you'll be fine.

Give it a try as-is. If your flow rate sucks, go back and add more.
 
I purchased this cooler and ordered the hardware. This will be my first All Grain batch.

Do you guys pre-heat this cooler with hot water, then dump it out before mashing in? If so do you then heat your strike water to your desired mash temp? The recipe I'm trying first calls for a mash temp of 154. I'm wondering if I should pre-heat this cooler or if I should just heat the water to 164 or something like that and not pre-heat the cooler.

Also, this recipe has 12 pounds of grain. I'm going to keep doing 5 gallon batches for a while until I have my process dialed on this new system. It calls for a "mash thickness" of 1.5. I assume that is inches?? Do I need to worry about this? I'm batch sparging, and since this cooler is pretty large for 5 gallon batches, I don't know how I would go about this.

Thanks!!
 
Just heat up your strike water, dump it in, close the cooler for 5 minutes, that will pre-heat it just fine, while you are grabbing your grains. Then open it up and mash in.
 
Just heat up your strike water, dump it in, close the cooler for 5 minutes, that will pre-heat it just fine, while you are grabbing your grains. Then open it up and mash in.

this. why waste the water plus the time to heat it just to throw it out? use it for strike

I scoop some out of the heating water prior to it actually reaching strike temp, the add the rest to strike
 
Thanks!! Should I heat the strike water to 164 if my desired mash temp is 154?? Is that a good place to start at least? I will have a gallon of 190 degree water and a gallon of cold water in the fridge to adjust with. (This is what I've done on my partial mashes and it seems to work pretty well)

Also, how long should I mash at 154?

Thanks again!
 
Thanks!! Should I heat the strike water to 164 if my desired mash temp is 154?? Is that a good place to start at least? I will have a gallon of 190 degree water and a gallon of cold water in the fridge to adjust with. (This is what I've done on my partial mashes and it seems to work pretty well)

Also, how long should I mash at 154?

Thanks again!

164 should be good place to start

how long to mash? most of the conversion is done in 30 minutes, but 60 minutes are the norm

you had a question also about "mash thickness" is the "grist ratio" means how many quarts of water per pound of grain to use for strike water.

12 pounds of grain at 1.25 quarts/lb = 15 quarts, or 3.75 gallons of strike water for your mash
 
this. why waste the water plus the time to heat it just to throw it out? use it for strike

I scoop some out of the heating water prior to it actually reaching strike temp, the add the rest to strike

I never said throw it out.
 
Just heat up your strike water, dump it in, close the cooler for 5 minutes, that will pre-heat it just fine, while you are grabbing your grains. Then open it up and mash in.

this. why waste the water plus the time to heat it just to throw it out? use it for strike

I scoop some out of the heating water prior to it actually reaching strike temp, the add the rest to strike

I never said throw it out.

sorry if I didn't make it clear, I was saying that you had it exactly right, use the water to heat the tun AND for strike.
 
Gotcha. Thanks! That makes sense. I thought they meant that the water / grain combination in the water should be 1.5 inches thick or something, and I was just wondering how I was going to pull that off.

Thanks again!!
 
I don't preheat. I use BeerSmith, so I set my Light, Medium and Heavy bodied Single Infusion mash profiles to reflect 68F mash tun and grain temp. Then set the Thermal Mass in your equipment profile. I selected 22# of 0.3 ratio because cooler and manifold Iis 18# plus losses to steam when dumping it in. Lastly, build a recipe, select your equipment and mash profiles, then on the Mash tab of the recipe check "Adjust Water Temperatures for Profile" (or somesuch, I'm on my phone).

Usually it tells me around 166-168 for most brews so far. With 22# of 0.3 and 68F set, it gets me within half a degree every time. Just remember to close the lid when walking back to the stove for the second bucket of water or over to pick up the grain to keep the heat in.

Smallest batch so far was 12# 2-row, 4# flaked corn, 1# minute rice for 10 gals of cream ale. Biggest was 41# of grain for 10 gals of double IPA.

Ignore grain bed depth. It only applies to batch sparging as long as you account for tun deadspace.
 
I use beer alchemy, assume it is similar to beersmith but Thad's numbers make me wonder. Anyway I add 1 gal hot tap water while the strike water heats and set my thermal mass for the tun at 2 pounds even. I dump the tap water before adding strike water. Add water, hen grain. Stir like crazy. Checking temp about 15 min later I'm hitting target just about perfect.
 
2 pounds sounds really, really low. Unless it has no material factor, maybe?

My cooler weighs 16# alone on my postal scale, plus 2# more in copper manifold. Copper has a different specific heat than plastic (0.3 vs 0.092 in BeerSmith), so I added a little bit to be sure to compensate for the steam losses from pouring in the strike water.

If you're stirring like crazy, you not be using a panel or coming in a little hot and try to cool it back down a degree or two?
 
thadius856 said:
2 pounds sounds really, really low. Unless it has no material factor, maybe?

My cooler weighs 16# alone on my postal scale, plus 2# more in copper manifold. Copper has a different specific heat than plastic (0.3 vs 0.092 in BeerSmith), so I added a little bit to be sure to compensate for the steam losses from pouring in the strike water.

If you're stirring like crazy, you not be using a panel or coming in a little hot and try to cool it back down a degree or two?

I think it must be difference in software. Googling I find beer alchemy users in my range and lower, about #1 while beersmith users have numbers as high as #40 to get it dialed in.

Best practice appears to be to actually measure your own thermal mass by adding a full charge of strike water without grain, letting temp settle, and measuring that number. Then you run your calculator without grain, known strike temp, adjusting thermal mass to "solve for" actual strike temp. I am going to go ahead and do this on my next few batches since I always add the strike water to the cooler before the grain anyway. Just will let the strike water settle temp wise before adding the grain.
 
I think it must be difference in software. Googling I find beer alchemy users in my range and lower, about #1 while beersmith users have numbers as high as #40 to get it dialed in.

Best practice appears to be to actually measure your own thermal mass by adding a full charge of strike water without grain, letting temp settle, and measuring that number. Then you run your calculator without grain, known strike temp, adjusting thermal mass to "solve for" actual strike temp. I am going to go ahead and do this on my next few batches since I always add the strike water to the cooler before the grain anyway. Just will let the strike water settle temp wise before adding the grain.

Be sure to simulate mashing in for a realistic result.

Have fun stirring in and breaking up imaginary dough balls. :ban:
 
thadius856 said:
Be sure to simulate mashing in for a realistic result.

Have fun stirring in and breaking up imaginary dough balls. :ban:

Hmmm first thought you were messing with me. But actually a good stir is important to get right number.
 
What's all this talk of filing? I didn't have to do any of that with my copper T's, and even in the same cooler. Just picked up plain solder T's from Lowe's.



It breaks down and rinses in under 5 minutes. Assembles in less than 5 minutes. No solder, no welds, no putty. 85%+ mash efficiency each time so far (single infusion).

Thad - I like the design of your manifold, very clean and professional looking. I think I'm going to use the same setup once I pick up my cooler sometime this week.

One quick question, what are the two fittings you used to connect the silicone tubing inside of the MLT? It looks like you have some sort of plastic fitting connecting to a 1/2"x1/2" Copper Threaded Adapter Fitting (Lowes: http://www.lowes.com/pd_22627-137-CL603-2_4294822005__?productId=3505168&Ns=p_product_avg_rating|1). and then it looks like you are using something other than the standard cooler bulk head fitting on the other end. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Thats a nylon barb and a copper theaded thing... yeah...

Lowe's had them both on the pegboards in plumbing.

The bulkhead is the standard one from Bargain Fittings.
 
I'm sure the nylon fitting is absolutely fine but generally nylon stuff is rated for cold water only. You probably want polyethylene or polypropylene for preference.
 
It's not that the stuff melts. It is susceptible to hydrolysis. Especially in the presence of dilute acids. :(

At least, that is true for nylon-6,6 which is the most common type. There are other grades of nylon that resist hot water better.

I mean, it's not like nylon stocking immediately go into holes when you wash them, but there is a gradual degradation which means that nylon parts are not used in hot water plumbing for example.
 
Back
Top