52 qt. cooler too big for 7 lb. of grain?

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eulipion2

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Hello,
I plan on brewing a mild (assuming my crushed grain is still any good) but the only mash tun I have is a 52-qt. Coleman Xtreme. The grain bill is about 7 lb. Is my cooler too big? Will the grain bed be deep enough for a good sparge? Will I over extract or get a lot of sediment?

Thanks
 
I have a Coleman 70qt extreme and it is Awesome!!. I have used about #12 of grain in it for an hour long mash and I lose a degree or 2 max.
 
You bought a big cooler so you could make more beer. Why would you want so little beer? I would get more grain and brew a bigger batch.

I have 2 coolers and use them both at times to make 23 gallons.

You could go buy a small round cooler for small batches.
 
I like many different styles, high gravity and low. The mild was going to be my "Don't get too drunk this winter" beer. I have an oatmeal stout as my "drink up!" beer, but just for the day-to-day I was hoping for a mild. It is, however, getting close to me brewing a tripel, for which I'm sure my tun is plenty big enough!
 
I would throw some water in there, hot of course in the amount you would use to strike 7 lbs of grain, i usually go 1.25qt/pound for infusion. then check it back in an hour and see how much heat was lost, which i doubt will be more than a degree or 2
 
I think we have the same cooler. I did a 70/- with a 8 lb grain bill without any problems. I hit my temps and gravity just fine and the ale turned out really good.
 
If you are fly sparging, I would say it is too big as you need a good grain bed depth to prevent channeling.
If you are batch sparging, you may have some problems hitting temperatures, but the grain bed depth doesn't matter.

-a.
 
I have a 48 qt Ice box and routinely do 7-8 lbs. I'm careful about pre-heating, use a grain bag and batch sparge.
 
I have a 60 qt cooler that I did a 7lb grain bill in last week. I lost three degrees over the course of an hour with outside temperatures in the garage at around 45 degrees. I think I'm going to get a 5 gallon drink cooler to do my smaller batches in.
 
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