Mash Tun Cooler or 2nd Pot for mashing?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Dionysos911

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
134
Reaction score
3
So I am about to make the jump into partial mashing/AG having been inspired by DB's thread on easy stove partial mash.

So my dilemma.. I am pretty much restricted to brewing in a fairly small kitchen in my apartment. I currently have a 24qt aluminum stock pot that I have been using. I plan to continue using that for sparging and boiling. What I am wondering is if I should get a 12qt or so stock pot for stovetop mashing or get a cooler of some sort. Looking for something easy to use/clean/store that will still be effective and help me move into more advanced brewing.

I plan to stick to brewing in a bag for a while and hope that one day I'll have a deck or someplace I can use a turkey fryer..

Thanks :tank:
 
A 12qt pot isn't very much to work with, plus a cooler has other uses. I've got a 48 qt IceCube, which can easily hold all of the small stuff I have for brewing for storage.
 
I have a 34 qt graniteware pot that I boil in, and a 12qt graniteware pot (that i inherited from someone selling off all of their brewing equipment on CL). I have used the 12qt now for partial mashing twice. It seems to have worked well. Definately a step up from steeping crystal grains.. I am just using a simple single temp infusion. I bring one quart per pound of grain up to 170 then add the grain. This drops the temp to 150-155 which I then maintain for an hour by just adding heatr slowly and cutting it when it gets to temp. (FYI cut the heat a few degrees below your goal, ie 150-155. The temp will continue to climb up to 5 degrees when you kill the heat.) I would use a grain bag unless you engineer some grand way to strain and sparge. with the grain bag, once it is done, I lift it out with a spoon and slowly run between a gallon or two of 170 degree water over the bag until it runs mostly clear. The whole process is pretty easy and at the end of an hour your liquid looks like extract syrup. that is how you can be relatively assured that it worked. cheers
 
I used to do partial mashing in a 12 qt SS pot with a glass lid. After heating the water I would fold a towel and put it on the floor. Set the pot of hot water on the towel. Put in the grains and stir, check temp. Wrap a blanket around the pot kind of like a big nest. Fold another thick towel and put on top of the pot with the lid on it. This worked really well and would hold the mash temp within a couple of degrees in an hour(as long as you don't keep opening it to look).

beer_049.jpg



PS. I did use a grain bag for this as well similar to deathbrewers BIAB. Works really well. Just make sure you are really strong or have something to help you hold the bag there for a bit to let it drain a bit after mashing.
 
there's an idea.. i don't insulate mine. usually over the course of an hour I only have to turn on the burner two or three times.
 
The only issue with cycled reheating in non insulated tuns is that you lower your repeatability. I'm a big fan of coolers for that reason.

I've only been doing partial for a relatively short time now... what do you mean by repeatability?
 
I've only been doing partial for a relatively short time now... what do you mean by repeatability?

If you really like the beer and want to repeat it, you'll be less likely to do so with more variables. A large variable in this case is your mash tun having to be heated once or twice during the mashing. The benefit of the cooler is that, once you get your strike temperature accurate, you can repeat that same mash over and over. This standardizes one of the most important variables (mashing).
 
I have actually moved to mashing in my 30qt kettle using direct heat on the stovetop. I have been able to repeat the fermrentability of worts within 1% of attenuation limit. I heat to the desired temp and wrap the pot in blankets during the rests. Thin mashes help stabilize the temp since the volume is larger. I find it easier to hit the targeted mash temps when I can heat to it rather than doughing in at a precisely determined temp.

But you still need a way to lauter unless you brew in a bag. I'm using my cooler MLT for that.

Kai
 
I think I will be picking up a 5 gallon beverage cooler from Lowes I think. Sounds like that's the better long term option. For this batch I will probably just brew in a bag since I don't think I'll have time to build a false bottom.

Lookin forward to trying out mashing this weekend.. :rockin:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top