double mash of sorts--MLT too small

ok, i have a 5 gallon MLT cooler that i cannot seem to get the efficiency i want out of, due to my largish grain bills.

my AG clone i had to do two seperate mashes, it was like two brew days for one batch, and i do not wanna go there again! (2 mashes, 4 sparges, 3 hours of boiling...you get the idea?

anyway, my idea was to mash in with as much water as i can fit with the grain (the particular grain bill i am speaking of is 13lbs) which is gonna work out far less than 2.0qts/lb... think it will end up closer to 1.1-1.15...

anyway, my thoughts are.... do 3 batch sparges, first bing say 160 (which will drop to very slightly above my mash temp) and do a seriously slow drain to keep conversion going, 2nd raise to 175, and last to 188 or so.

boil kettle is not a concern, quite large enough for this, but is it worth while?


second option, mash for 45 mins, drain, and mash again for say 30 mins with the existing grainbed to convert whats left in the tun unconverted...



last option i dont wanna do, is swap to 4 gallon batches, or make smaller beers (All i really drink are IPA's)



any thoughts, aside for springing for a 10 gallon cooler?

Just give in and get a 10 gallon cooler. You will be much happier.

DME 10char.

bah.........


DME

i quit PM brewing cuz i was bored with it.

anyhoo, i guess the answer is, try and learn for yourself then. not a bigee, i would have done it anyway

this coming weekend seems like as good a time as any!

I don't think there are many ways around this, unfortunately. Unless I'm missing something, you have to pick at least one from this list:

* Put up with the extra work of doing double mashes
* Spring for a bigger cooler
* Make smaller beers
* Make smaller batches

something has to give somewhere, no?

I think I understand? Yes I believe you coud do a third sparge if you are "cooler limited" w/ a 5 gal/ tun. Hell, you could try and rig up a ghetto fly sparge if the tun is full from the mash. If I wanted to max out a five gallon tun, (ghetto style) I would simply attempt a fly sparge w/ alum foil perforated atop the grain bed to rinse the grain. YMMV

That being said, you can by a 48qt rectangular rubbermaid for like 18 bucks???

Honestly, you lose me when you talk of doing a slow sparge at 160 to keep conversion going??? No need for that IMO.

yeah, guess ya'll are right...
i might look for a steal on a 10 gallon cooler, i would like to stay round for storage reasons, and for the face i can just swap the stuff from my 5 gallon tun to the ten with lettle effort, and no expense other than the cooler itself.

I'd go bigger, in a bigger way. Our next tun will be 30gal, but then there are three of us to swill.

I have a 48qt that I batch sparge 10 gallon batches in and a five that I fly sparge with. I constantly get 80% with the five with about 10lbs of grain and 75% with the 48qt.

You can build a rectangle MLT cheap. All you need is a rubber stopper and a braid. You can get by without a valve.

OK....

went to home depot. they had a 10qt round cooler for 39.97... and extra 10% extra today. 40 bucks out the door.

nosmatt said:

OK....

went to home depot. they had a 10qt round cooler for 39.97... and extra 10% extra today. 40 bucks out the door.

Click to expand...

Wow, decent price for the round cooler, but I got a 50Qt for (12.5G) for 19.99. It was spare but ha;f the price and more room. Squares store pretty easily but I understand personal preferences. I'm looking to purchase the same cooler you just did for my EHLT I'm making soon. I hope soon.