Partial Mashing with makeshift MLT

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TimSTi

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So for my next beer I'm going to do Blacklabs Orange Pale Ale converted to a partial mash recipe. What I'm wondering is I have a rectangular cooler that in the future I intend on setting up as a MLT. That won't happen until later on after I brew this next partial. I have a 24x24 grain bag that should hold the 6lb mash. Can I just heat up the water to proper temp, pour into the cooler, then secure the grainbag and add grains like I would if I was doing pure stove-top? Last time I did a partial mash I had a ***** of a time maintaining proper temps so I think kthis would help a lot. If there are any cons to this let me know. Thanks
 
It should work, but I wouldn't secure the grain bag to the cooler. I think it'd be hard to do that. I'd put the grains in the grain bag (loosely, don't pack!) and then tie up the grain bag. Then you could put it in the cooler with the strike water and stir it up, thoroughly wetting the grains. If you find that 6 pounds of grains is too much for your grain bag, use two grain bags or reduce the amount of grains and add more DME.
 
Thats exactly how I did them... I got an extra large grain bag that can hold about 10 lbs of grain (i dont remember dimensions) and just tied a knot in the top. Add strike water to cooler, add grains, and let it sit. I used a higher water to grain ratio in order to get more out of the grains.
 
I do this for small PMs. I use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag to hold the grain. I stretch it over a orange Homer bucket, mill the grain right into the bag, tie it up, and drop it in the cooler which has my mash water heated to 14*F over my target mash temp. Slap on the lid, set the timer for 60 minutes, and go do something useful. Works like a charm. When it's time to sparge I heat a gallon of water in my kettle to 175*F and drop in the grain bag, let it steep for 5 minutes, tea bag, dump the grain and pour the contents of the cooler into the kettle. I calculate my mash efficiency is 75% with this method.

This week I'll use this exact method for preparing a starter wort from grain.
 
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