Info on Partial mash..

I ran into the byo article about doing partial mashes with a 2-gallon cooler and i am going to give that a shot before i get into all-grain (full boils, turkey fryer, 6 gallon pot, etc..). I already picked up some base grains and specialty grains for a chocolate/oatmeal stout. My question is do i have to mash all grain (base, and specialty) in the cooler, since it is limited in size. I am thinking if I don't have to, then i could increase the base grain, and either steep the specialty in the wort before i add the extracts and start the boil, or could i steep the specialty grains in the one-gallon of water that i will be pouring my runnings into from the cooler?

any suggestions would be great, thanks!

You will be fine just mashing the base malt and steeping the specialty grains. You're mostly concerned with color and flavor from those grains which steeping will give you.

Another option is to use a stock pot and put it in the oven to maintain the ~150* mash temp, this way you can put all the grains in the mash.

Well, with a 2 gallon cooler, you can mash just about 5 pounds of grain, according to the "can I mash it?" calculator. There is a nice website that helps you calculate mash temp, conversions, etc.

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml
And go about 1/2 way down to "can I mash it?".

So, if you have more than 5 pounds of grain, you can steep the specialty grains if you have to, or do two mini mashes.