MLT Size - Advice

I am planning on making my first AG batch this weekend and i am going to make an MLT. I plan on buying one of the Round Orangle Coolers. I normally make 5 gallon batches. Should i get a 5 gal or 10 gal cooler?

Go with the ten. Then if you decide to make bigger batches you dont have to buy another one.

10 gallon will also allow you to make bigger beers. There's no way you're getting 22 pounds of grain for something big in a 5 gallon cooler.

+1 on the 10. Check your HomeDepot or Lowe's. I bought mine about a year ago when they went on clearance at HD.

I made a high gravity beer a couple months ago that filled the 10-gallon one all the way to the top. A 5-gal will limit your options. Square coolers are a good option too - they can be cheaper than the rounds.

Thank a lot for the info, i wanted to be cheap but in the long run i knew the 10gal would be better. Thanks for the input guys

+1 on the Ten. I bought a 5, used it once. Then went to a 10.

I've been brewing 5g batches for many years, usually fly sparging with a 5g Rubbermaid cooler and it's always worked very well although it's a little small for the stronger brews that I brew once or twice a year. Recently, Home Depot actually had some of the 10g Rubbermaid coolers on sale and in stock so I bought one, converted it, and made a couple brews in it (one batch sparge, and one fly sparge). In both cases, my efficiency dropped by 10% compared to the same sparging method with the 5g MLT. To be fair, the batch sparge brew (OG 1.065) was stronger than anything I'd batch sparged in the 5g MLT, and I overestimated the amount of sparge water by about 2 qts. The fly sparge was a disaster as the extra air space and increased thermal mass of the larger cooler reduced my sparge temperature by nearly 30 degrees. I'm going back to 5g for everything except the biggest beers (or getting a keggle and stepping up to 10g batches).

-a.

P.S. The 10g one warped the first time I used it. The 5g has not warped after about 5 years.

+ 10 for a 10 gallon. You can brew so much more

+1 for 10.

Last weekend I mashed 20lbs of grain and made two 5 gallon batches, partigyle style.

I stick my fermenting bucket in my 10 gallon round cooler to control temp.

944play said:

+1 for 10.

Last weekend I mashed 20lbs of grain and made two 5 gallon batches, partigyle style.

I stick my fermenting bucket in my 10 gallon round cooler to control temp.

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I feel like this would trap the heat created by fermentation rather than help keep it cool, unless you are just changing/monitoring the water temperature a lot...any input?

TerapinChef said:

I feel like this would trap the heat created by fermentation rather than help keep it cool, unless you are just changing/monitoring the water temperature a lot...any input?

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The bucket doesn't rest at the bottom of the cooler. There's room at the bottom for several frozen soda bottles (I use 12oz Coke Zero bottles, but that's just me) because the bucket floats. I'll be changing five or six bottles a day during really active fermentation, two or three once it slows down.

I kept my Belhaven right around 62-65 doing this, and it's clean enough for me.

I just got one of the Rubbermaid 10 Gallon coolers.

Best price I found was at Ace Hardware for 49.99. If they don't have it locally, you can get it off their website and they ship to you local store no shipping charge and you can then pick it up..

Good luck.