Will 16lbs max out a 5 gal system?

I'm going to be AG brewing shortly and I've read that
15lbs is about the most you could have in a 5 gal. mash system.

I'm looking at a Ruination IPA clone reciepe that has 16lbs of grains.
Is this doable?

Also, for 10 gal batches, is it as simple as doubling the ingredients list?

I can't remember if it's 14 or 15 that maxed my round 5 gal cooler, but it should pend on the water to grain mash ratio. 16 might be pushing it. I have sinced moved up to a 15 gal mashtun so sorry for the shaky #'s.

I have an orange 5 gallon drinking water mashtun - I try have no more than 13 lbs grain & adjuncts - but I can squeeze in more if I need to. I usually hold off on some of the mash water to make sure there is enough room for all the grain, and "top up" my mash tun.

Efficiency will likely suffer a little if you make the mash too thick, but it will work - just don't be surprised if you don't hit your target OG.

If this is your first AG brew, I'd suggest you start with a lighter grain bill just to get the feel of it - do the 16lb recipe as your 2nd or 3rd brew.

It has been said many times before on this board, get a larger tun (10 gallons) even if you only plan on doing 5 gallon batches - the extra room comes in handy for brewing "big" beers.

Cool Airedale!

You should be able to fit just over 17lb. in a 5 gal. cooler with a .9 liter to 1lb. water to grain ratio. The most I've done is ~15.5 lb, and it seemed like a tight fit. Pay close attention to the thermal mass of the cooler and grain to make sure you get your mash temp right, you're not going to have any room to adjust.

Biggest I've done so far is 13.5#. There was some room left over, but not much. My guess is 15# max. I fly sparge, but I would hate to batch sparge in a 5g cooler with that much grain.

Just to be safe, why not scale the recipe back to say 4.5g

-a.

I brewed a Belgian Treipel which had a 13.5 grain billi in a 5 gal mash tun.It was difficult and I won't do it again until I get a 10 gal mash tun.

I just finished a 14.5 lb. batch sparge (10.060 pre-boil) in my 5 gal. w/hose braid, no troubles. If you're using a false bottom, you'll have a little less room - not sure how big the difference is though.

I will say though, that if you're trying to decide betwen a 5 and 10 gallon cooler, definitely go with the 10. I built a 5 gallon tun after reading the big thread here last year. It gets the job done for average gravity 5 gallon batches, but I'm already making plans for a 10 gallon tun. If you're shooting for an OG much more than about 1.065, in my experience you're going to need more room then the 5 gal/hose braid system provides.

I recently mashed 11.75lbs of grain to obtain an OG of 1.062, in a 5 gallon tun... it worked out OK, BUT think about this. Even if you are not doing HIGH gravity beers, what if you want to do step mashes, with multiple infusions? That extra volume with the 10 gal tun is mighty handy!

Brewpilot

I used to have a 10 gallon mashing vessel for my old 5 gallon system, and there were several times I wished I had more room.

I have a 15 gallon mash/lauter tun now, and it works great for up to 12 gallon batches. I've had more than 25 lbs of grain in the thing with no problems.

That said, a 5 gallon vessel may get a little tight eventually.

As for 10 gallon batches, it is more or less just doubling the ingredients. The way I understand it, if you wanted to go to 10 barrels, the conversion isn't so linear, but for small batches, doubling works fine. That's essentially what I do with my recipes.

Thankyou all for the input.

I'm going to make this 5gal batch in my 10gal MT/LT that I just ordered.
(AG kit from Northern)

As far as the 10gal batch goes, I'm assuming that most just convert
a rectangular cooler (I have 3 or 4, so the SO won't miss one. )
and build a sparge system into the top?