Equipment Question

Will a round 5 gallon igloo cooler be big enough for a Hot liquor tank or Malt liqour tank?

NorthernBrewer09 said:

Will a round 5 gallon igloo cooler be big enough for a Hot liquor tank or Malt liqour tank?

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I think you mean Mash Lauter Tun (MLT). No, it will not...think 10 gallons plus. A 5 gallon cooler will not hold 10+ pounds of grain and 3+ gallons of water (well it may, but any more than that and you are going to have an issue). A hot liquor tank would make no sense unless it is a pot over a heating element (burner). There is no sense in heating up liquid in a pot and transferring it to a cooler only to transfer it again to the mash tun.

Ok then ive just got a bunch of all grain lingo mixed up and my ideas mixed up haha, well to throw the 5 gallon cooler out of the mix I am setup for basic extract brewing, ive got a 5 gallon pot a regular turkey cooker burner and thats about it... What would i need to start all grain? I know i need at least two kettles bigger than 5 gallons and another burner cause once i switch to all grain I dont want to have to continue upgrading my equipment cause I tried to go on the cheap side while switching over. I appriciate your help and listening to me ramble

NorthernBrewer09 said:

Ok then ive just got a bunch of all grain lingo mixed up and my ideas mixed up haha, well to throw the 5 gallon cooler out of the mix I am setup for basic extract brewing, ive got a 5 gallon pot a regular turkey cooker burner and thats about it... What would i need to start all grain? I know i need at least two kettles bigger than 5 gallons and another burner cause once i switch to all grain I dont want to have to continue upgrading my equipment cause I tried to go on the cheap side while switching over. I appriciate your help and listening to me ramble

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Your burner should be fine. For 5 gallon batches, your 5 gallon pot isn't going to work. A 30qt. kettle (7.5g) will work. I got mine for $80, but they can be found cheaper. I just upgraded to a 15 gallon kettle because I want to do 10 gallon batches and my 5 gallon batches, taking into account boil off, trub loss, etc were getting REALLY close to the lip...I would start with about 7g in a 7.5g pot.

I use an Igloo Ice Cube for my mash tun. It is lightweight and holds heat incredibly well. It is 12.5 gallons and can be purchased at Target for $19.99. You will need to fit it with a bulkhead fitting, bazooka screen (or the like), and a ball valve.



Really, with those two upgrades, you can make it work nicely. If you plan on doing 10 gallon batches ever, I would go with a bigger cooler. I am going to upgrade mine, but you can get ones that work great in the $40 range that are WAY bigger.

Ok thank you for clearing that up haha So, if I find a 10 gallon pot(to have plenty of room) and This cooler you speak of im ready to do all grain?

A 5 gallon igloo will work great for small beers (1.050 ish) but if you want to make a belgian monster or a 120 ibu pale ale you'll need the 10 gallon.

For a pot you might wanna take a look at thisTarget Tamale Steamer

It says out of stock on the website, but I picked one up at my local store for 20 bucks, not bad for an 8 gallon stock pot.

The step after that for cost savings on your beer is going to be a mill so you can group buy your grain.

OK Guys so I now have a 15 gallon rectangular igloo cooler to work with here i know it will help some way im just REALLY new to the all grain world so would this be good for a MLT or a HLT i could use another pot for an HLT cause all an HLT is for hot water correct?

Doc Robinson said:

I think you mean Mash Lauter Tun (MLT). No, it will not...think 10 gallons plus. A 5 gallon cooler will not hold 10+ pounds of grain and 3+ gallons of water (well it may, but any more than that and you are going to have an issue). A hot liquor tank would make no sense unless it is a pot over a heating element (burner). There is no sense in heating up liquid in a pot and transferring it to a cooler only to transfer it again to the mash tun.

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actually the two cooler and a kettle is a pretty popular way of doing all grain. You heat up the water in the kettle pump/poar it into the hlt, and let gravity move it down to the mlt at a lower level to heat your grain to mash temp. you then heat more water and move it up to the hlt for sparging, and empty the kettle to take the wort from the mlt as you sparge.

buffalobrewer said:

actually the two cooler and a kettle is a pretty popular way of doing all grain. You heat up the water in the kettle pump/poar it into the hlt, and let gravity move it down to the mlt at a lower level to heat your grain to mash temp. you then heat more water and move it up to the hlt for sparging, and empty the kettle to take the wort from the mlt as you sparge.

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Cool beans. Maybe I'll do that myself.

here's a picture of what it could look like.

I think 5 gallons of Malt liquor would be overkill.