Is 70 quart coleman extreme too large for most 5 gallon batches?

I found a great deal on ebay for a used 70 quart coleman extreme ($15). I enjoy makine high gravity beers with extract methods but would like to move to all grain. I would also like to use this cooler to brew some low gravity styles. Is this cooler too large for low gravity 5 gallon batches? I have read that you should always go with a larger cooler than you expect to use as a mash tun.

I'm guessing that's going to be too big. You want at least 4" in your grain bed. I'm not sure you'll get that with this cooler.

Sounds a bit large to me as well. I get by with a 60 qt cooler when doing 15 gallon batches. I think you run the risk of too thin a grain bed that will likely heat unevenly and will be hard to sparge.

For $15 what have you got to lose? You can always use it to wash and soak your equipment. That's what I do with my big cooler. It keeps my wash water warm on cold days while I clean up. And if and when the time comes to go really big you have a great starting point.

Say you wanted to make a real New Castle clone of 20 gal. The first brew requires 16 gal of mash water + grain then boil that down to 10 gal.

You might not ever do that but you could. But then again I just love a bargain.

One of the most interesting things about homebrewing to me is experimenting to see what works and what doesn't. If you are on a tight budget that's different.

you can also use it for a hlt.... it's better to have more sparge water, than not enough!

kenpone said:

I found a great deal on ebay for a used 70 quart coleman extreme ($15). I enjoy makine high gravity beers with extract methods but would like to move to all grain. I would also like to use this cooler to brew some low gravity styles. Is this cooler too large for low gravity 5 gallon batches? I have read that you should always go with a larger cooler than you expect to use as a mash tun.

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this is what I use for my 5 G batches and it works just fine.

Todd said:

this is what I use for my 5 G batches and it works just fine.

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I'm curious. How deep is your mash with say 10 lbs of grain and 2.5-3 gallons of water?

For what it's worth, I filled my 50 qt cube cooler to the very brim last brew session with 25.5lbs of grain and 10 gallons of water (dough in + mash out). This was for a 10 gallon batch in the 1.060 range.

If you batch sparge the smaller batches or just add all of the sparge water when the mash is done, it would work. Bed depth doesn't matter for batch sparging.

This is what I have just purchased and you will be happy with. It works well with 5gal or 10gal batches if you are batch sparging.

My 55qt works just right for me. I have taxed it now twice after last nights 1.135 Imperial Stout. 28# of grain. Could only fit enough water in at a time to get 4g per batch sparge though.
75 sounds big to me as well, but if that is what you had, should be fine.

beer4breakfast said:

Someone else on this forum bought one of these 70 quart extremes a while back, so you might search the forum and see if he's given any updates since then on his experience.

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I don't really know my depth, I'd say 4-6 inches probably, I'm doing batch sparge and it works great.

BUMP....

I found a woman on CL who will sell me two identical Coleman Extreme 36 quart coolers. They're only 9 gallons. 10$ for both of them.

Will they work for Mash Tun & HLT?

They're a little smaller than what I was going for. I wanted the 50 quart Ice Cube. But hell if they'll work then I may consider it.

Keep in mind I would like to have to potential to do 10 gallon batches in the future.

You could always prop up the back end if you are worried about grain depth. I love my coleman xtreme. I use a bazooka screen and a stainless steel ball lock on mine. I have less then a 1/4 cup of waste when I batch sparge.

talleymonster said:

BUMP....

I found a woman on CL who will sell me two identical Coleman Extreme 36 quart coolers. They're only 9 gallons. 10$ for both of them.

Will they work for Mash Tun & HLT?

They're a little smaller than what I was going for. I wanted the 50 quart Ice Cube. But hell if they'll work then I may consider it.

Keep in mind I would like to have to potential to do 10 gallon batches in the future.

Click to expand...

It may be a little tight for 10 gallon batches. Otherwise you should be fine. If you were doing maybe a 10 gal batch of a mild or bitter or something below maybe 1.050ish you would probably be okay.

Anyone know how much and what temp water to preheat this cooler with? Im trying to get the cooler temp to 100 degrees.

Use beer smith it will tell you

Sumo said:

Use beer smith it will tell you

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By what command? In my recipe i have my mash tun set to 100 degrees but i dont know how it can be heated to that temp exactly.

talleymonster said:

BUMP....

I found a woman on CL who will sell me two identical Coleman Extreme 36 quart coolers. They're only 9 gallons. 10$ for both of them.

Will they work for Mash Tun & HLT?

They're a little smaller than what I was going for. I wanted the 50 quart Ice Cube. But hell if they'll work then I may consider it.

Keep in mind I would like to have to potential to do 10 gallon batches in the future.

Click to expand...

Convert 'em both. You can always do two mashes. 2 5 gallons, 1 10 gallon batch split across both, 1 big 5 gallon split across both.

I like the Colemans because they are insulated really well and they don't have a lot of dead space like the Igloos. My 70 is pretty big for smaller batches so I converted my 5 gallon cooler for small batches. If I find a 36qt coleman I'll pick it up and put my old CPVC manifold in it.