Dumb question about PM

If I'm using the 2 gallon beverage cooler method to pm 4 lb of grain with 5.5 qt of water.......why can't I just dump the water and grain in to the cooler and after the mash, put a strainer over my brew pot and just dump the whole thing in and then pour the sparge water over the grain in the strainer?

I think you could, but I may be wrong.

No problem, I used to do soething similar. But you will rinse a lot more of the sugars out if you dump the grain back into th cooler, stir in th sparge water for a few minutes, let sit for a few more, then dump the whole thing back through the strainer.

good luck.

It might be easier if you went to Walmart/Target/Whatever and bought a cheap plastic colander. Cut it to fit the inside of your cooler and stuff it down to just above the spigot. Voila ! Instant MLT!

if the collander has bigger holes, buy a piece of cheesecloth and line the collander to further filter the grain husks out.

be aware that pouring hot wort causes hot side aeration, and many feel this affects long term stability of the beer.

I did my first few pms in my bottling bucket. I just lined it with a big mesh bag (I have them for making wine, but I'm sure you could find something similar for in your cooler). Worked great- mash, drain, add the sparge water, drain. Then dump the grains out of the big grain bag. Sure would be easier than trying to strain and keep the husks out, IMHO.

I got a $2.99 plastic colander, cut it to fit my cooler and I'll put it inside a grain bag, then push it to the bottom of the cooler. Should work.

I have a similar question... after reading BYO's Countertop Partial Mashing article, they say to just put the grains you're mashing into a grain bag and poke it a bit to make sure all the grains get wet. This seems easier than converting the cooler I just bought... are there any downsides to doing it this way?

I just did this the other night, and I think someone above mentioned similar....

I have a 5 gallon cooler. I put 3.5 lbs in a mesh grain bag that I purchased from AHS, got the correct strike temp in my cooler, and placed the bag containing the grains in the hot water. After 45 minutes, I pulled the grain bag out, placed it in a collander over a secondary pot, sparged, and left alone for a few minutes. In the meantime, I took the wort from the cooler and simply dumped it into the boil pot, later combining the drippings from the collander. Couldn't have been easier!