10 gallon or 5 gallon Mash tun? and type of braid?

[Zrab11]

So I am looking to move to All grain and am a DIY person. So I am looking to build a Mash tun.

Right Now I brew 5 Gallon Extract batches in a 15 gal keg. So I have room to do 10 gallon batches but haven't yet.

Also all my beers have beer IPA's or Pal ale's. No big beers

In the Article below it looks like if I plan to do 10 gallon or do a Barleywine or other big beer it would be best to get a 10 gallon cooler

http://http://www.homebrewdad.com/view_page.php?pageid=1

But in John Palmers book it looks like he says NOT to get a cooler bigger than you plan to use as the grain bed depth is too shallow and my extraction will suffer.

http://http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-3.html

I don't plan on doing a 10 gallon batch within the next year but could see my self trying a bigger beer in the next year.

I am also a person who liked to buy something I will grow into or be able to use in the future. So a 10 gallon seems logical. But I don't want to hurt the efficiency of the first few All grain 5 gallon batches I do.

So what should I go with? A 5 or 10? Or maybe bigger?


My 2nd Question is about the Braid

I am going to go with a Round cooler as I have heard there can be some pockets of warm air in the corners of square coolers. If I am wrong about this or you think I should go with a square or rectangular cooler let me know now!

If Not I will go with the Round.

I Plan on batch sparging and so it looks to me that a Braid is better than a false bottom as they have less chance to get stuck sparge. If this is false or you think I would be better off with a flase bottom Speak now!

If not I plan on making a Round Braid.

Looks like a little more work but I think it might provide alittle more efficiency than just a Braid and have less chances to get stuck.

Is this true? Or is there no advantage to making a round braid over just installing a straight braid?

Thanks for the help! Always Appreciate it!

 

[MarcusKillion]

I use a ten gallon and do 5 and 6 gallon batches and I have great extraction rates . When i am done sparging my water runs clear and tasteless . Mostly because I have a real good filter and I grind my grain quite fine as compared to the average grind of .032 mine is more like .025
I think most people use a ten .
If you want my opinion on what to use then go round and make a false bottom filter like I did and you will not have a stuck sparge no matter how fine you grind .
I ground .022 and it did slow things down quite a bit so I moved up to .025.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/my-new-mash-tun-filter-376005/

The round braid is the way to go but in my opinion you need to cover it up with a false bottom so it does not get smashed up when stirring and such . they are very soft . You can make a spring out of something like a coat hanger and slip that inside the braid to make it strong or just do what I did .
Get the braid at home depot in the dish washer parts section . 4 feet or what ever and it is very easy to remove it from the outer sleeve . Just cut off the ends and pull it on out .

 

[Docbruw]

If you ever plan on doing 10g batches a 10 gallon MT will not be big enough. I'm using a square Igloo 15qt cooler with a round braid and it works great plus its less expensive than the round 10g coolers. I brew 5g and 10g batches in the same MT and I don't see any difference in efficiency. The only bad part about the square Igloo is you have to drill and hole in the front of it for a ball valve. I did cover the the insulation with silicon when I installed the SS nipple and ball valve so it would not leak. 7 years later and it still works great. My 10g round cooler with a nice SS false bottom has been sitting on the shelf ever since.

The only other thing I did was fill the lid with spray foam.

 

[guidos858]

Ok, Lets start from the beginning. Your 15 Gal keg is ample for a 5 or 10 gal batch. You have to remember that this is your brew pot. So naturally 12 or 13 gal of beautiful wort will fit nicely in there. If you get up to 13 gal of wort, I'd be vigilant at the hot break to avoid a boil over but after that you should be golden.

Before you get to the boil, you need to convert the starch on those grains into the beautiful sweetened water that will become your wort. Here's a critical point in the process. I believe there are several questions you must ask yourself when determining the size of your mash tun. Also, keep in mind that you're going to need a smaller cooler (5 gal or so) as your Hot Liquor Tank for fly sparging. Look up fly sparging on these forums, they have lots of good info. You get much greater efficiency than batch sparging.

To begin with I agree with a previous poster. I've found that the Igloo brand round 10 gal cooler is ridiculously expensive. A rectangular cooler is way cheaper and gets the job done just as well. As to your first question, I would pick a rectangular cooler.

Now, within this category you have choices. I purchased a "super insulated arctic blast" cooler that holds temp for an obscene amount of time. I think I paid $50 or $60 for it. This is truly step one in the AG process so it's worth getting a good one.

Also, one poster complained of having to drill a hole for the valve. Most larger coolers on the market today have a drain built into them. This is simply a "weldless" fitting just like on brew pots. I won't go into detail on how to convert to a valve here. Just search on this forum for how to do it, that's how I learned.

The next question is how big. I'd like to qualify my answer with the fact that I'm an "old school" American !! I ALWAYS feel bigger is better. But in your case I have to have you ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do you want to brew a 10 gal batch? If your answer is yes then you need at least a 15 gal cooler or maybe even bigger. The amount of grain needed to brew a 10 gal batch of wort with a 1.055 OG, depending on your efficiency could be anywhere from 15 to 22 lbs. The amount of water needed to mash those grains would be substantial as well. If you were to do a single infusion, no mash out, you'd need anywhere from 6 to 7.5 gal of water. These are big numbers !! So if I were you I'd stick with 5 gal batches until you got really good. There would be nothing worse than ruining a 10 gal batch of beer !!

The next question kind of rolls off the last one. Do you want to brew any "big beers", namely those with an og of 1.060 to 1.10 ? If so then you're gonna want a 15 gal cooler more as a buffer than anything else.

I've been brewing for 2 yrs now. I did extract and extract w/specialty grains for my first 2 batches then went right into AG. You'll learn all about efficiency, that elusive shadow that's always just out of reach. Efficiency is the name of the game. Efficiency determines how much grain you need to get to the desired OG. If it's low 50 - 60%, you're gonna need lots of grain. If it's high
61 - 75% you're gonna need less grain.

As a beginner you must realize that your efficiency isn't gonna be all that great. As I said I haven't been brewing that long. My best efficiency has been 68%, my worst 50%. I watch videos and read posts and I know that it's all in the mash. I'm getting there. I've found that a single infusion w/ no mash out is when I get my highest efficiency from my system.

Hopefully you already get the point I'm trying to make. If you get a 15 gal cooler you can use lots of grain to compensate for a lower efficiency and have plenty of room left over. I'm getting to where I want to try step mashing. You need a pot with a therm on it and a second burner. I would love to go to a 15 gal brew kettle with all the bells and whistles to use as my mash tun

Lastly, the filtering system. The problem with a braid is that you need to support it somehow. Using a braid in the boil kettle is fine but remember you're gonna have 15 lbs of grain sitting on top of it. A better and cheaper way to go is 1/2" cpvc to make a manifold. Again, look it up on the forums here. You'll find you tube videos and all kinds of post on the subject.