Coleman 48-Quart Cooler Mash Tun - Detailed Parts List with Receipt

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I have a 5 gallon right now, but I am looking at making a 10 gallon (round) .. I think I'll use your tutorial to make that, so I can turn the 5 gallon into a sparge system.

I'll post up pics when it's done.
 
sboyajian said:
I have a 5 gallon right now, but I am looking at making a 10 gallon (round) .. I think I'll use your tutorial to make that, so I can turn the 5 gallon into a sparge system.

I'll post up pics when it's done.
Click to expand...

Yea. The issue with the rectangular cooler, and mainly not using a false bottom, is the required batch sparge which lowers your efficiency. On lower ABV beers (<6%) i'd say I hit about 65%. Once you get up in the 7, 8, 9, 10%s you'll want to adjust your grain bill to compensate. 55 - 64% efficiency.

It's weak efficiency, but base grain is cheap. It's only a couple bucks to make up for the loss.
 
davidg410 said:
Yea. The issue with the rectangular cooler, and mainly not using a false bottom, is the required batch sparge which lowers your efficiency. On lower ABV beers (<6%) i'd say I hit about 65%. Once you get up in the 7, 8, 9, 10%s you'll want to adjust your grain bill to compensate. 55 - 64% efficiency.

It's weak efficiency, but base grain is cheap. It's only a couple bucks to make up for the loss.
Click to expand...

I fly sparge now with the 5 gallon igloo. I have to run it very, very slow though. Sparge takes about 2 hours. I usually get 75% on the dot, but I've gotten over 80-85 before.

I'm hoping to be able to put a sparge nozzle through the top of the 10.
 
DurtyChemist said:
Do you really only get 65-70% efficiency with this cooler?
Click to expand...

Yea, and that's not that unheard of.

I've only done really fast sparging, but I've read that doing a slower sparge drain could yield +10%.

I'll be trying a different approach on my next batch. I'll update if I see better results. However, my next 2 batches are big beers so I may not see a difference.
 
I use a 48qt rectangular with a 5 pipe slotted copper manifold and consistently get above 70-75% efficiency.

Perhaps if you used a 60" washing machine hose, you could coil it up in the bottom and perhaps raise efficiency.
 
Mike_kever_kombi said:
I use a 48qt rectangular with a 5 pipe slotted copper manifold and consistently get above 70-75% efficiency.

Perhaps if you used a 60" washing machine hose, you could coil it up in the bottom and perhaps raise efficiency.
Click to expand...

Do you drain mash and sparge fairly slowly, or just open her up and let her rip?

I've been doing the latter...
 
davidg410 said:
Yea. The issue with the rectangular cooler, and mainly not using a false bottom, is the required batch sparge which lowers your efficiency. On lower ABV beers (<6%) i'd say I hit about 65%. Once you get up in the 7, 8, 9, 10%s you'll want to adjust your grain bill to compensate. 55 - 64% efficiency.

It's weak efficiency, but base grain is cheap. It's only a couple bucks to make up for the loss.
Click to expand...

Strange you get such low efficiency. It's not your cooler mash tun.
I get 80-85% efficiency with a cpvc manifold and 2 batch sparges of equal volume. 48qt Coleman Extreme.

For anyone having efficiency issues, take a look at your grain first. Probably milled too coarsely by your LHBS. Yes, I go pretty fine at 0.034" gap or less for smaller grain size.
 
Last edited:
IslandLizard said:
I get 80-85% efficiency with a cpvc manifold and 2 batch sparges of equal volume. 48qt Coleman Extreme.

For anyone having efficiency issues, take a look at your grain first. Probably milled too coarsely by your LHBS. Yes, I go pretty fine at 0.034" gap or less for smaller grain size.
Click to expand...

So the sparges are pretty small then? Like less than 1.5 gallons each time?

I've thought about trying this but have yet to do so.
 
davidg410 said:
So the sparges are pretty small then? Like less than 1.5 gallons each time?

I've thought about trying this but have yet to do so.
Click to expand...

No no, much larger.
I mash in at 1.33 quarts of water per pound of grain, typically around 4-4.5 gallons of water. I use the mash calculator at 365. I like that medium thick mash consistency, and have very little dough balls to break up.

After vorlauf and lautering, I sparge with 2 equal volumes of around 2.5 gallons each. That calculator is pretty much spot on. Stir well, let sit for a few minutes, vorlauf, and lauter.

How do you sparge now?
 
IslandLizard said:
No no, much larger.
I mash in at 1.33 quarts of water per pound of grain, typically around 4-4.5 gallons of water. I use the mash calculator at 365. I like that medium thick mash consistency, and have very little dough balls to break up.

After vorlauf and lautering, I sparge with 2 equal volumes of around 2.5 gallons each. That calculator is pretty much spot on. Stir well, let sit for a few minutes, vorlauf, and lauter.

How do you sparge now?
Click to expand...

I mash in 1.25 - 1.33 qts/pound. I dough in slowly to avoid dough balls.

Vorlauf and lauter, then add usually close to 3 gallons. Stir. Let it sit for 10 and then drain.

I'm doing 5 gallon batches and my pre-boil volume is 5.75 gallons. My boil off rate is low.

What size pre-boil are you doing? That seems like a ton of sparge water. You're using around 2 gallons more water than me.
 
IslandLizard said:
No no, much larger.
I mash in at 1.33 quarts of water per pound of grain, typically around 4-4.5 gallons of water. I use the mash calculator at 365. I like that medium thick mash consistency, and have very little dough balls to break up.

After vorlauf and lautering, I sparge with 2 equal volumes of around 2.5 gallons each. That calculator is pretty much spot on. Stir well, let sit for a few minutes, vorlauf, and lauter.

How do you sparge now?
Click to expand...

So that was driving me nuts and had to research further. My equipment loss and trub loss is basically zero. I use a hop spider and have super clean wort. I used 365 with those adjustments and they match what I've been doing. Maybe I should try 2 1.5 gallon sparges...
 
I always calculate my recipes for 5.5 gallon batches PLUS about 1 gallon of loss to trub, equipment, and samples during the process. I want 5 gallons going into my kegs, for all the work it takes.

My boil off is a bit over a gallon per hour. So that's 7-7.5 gallons in the pot, pre-boil for a 60' boil.

You have some trub and equipment losses (racking, samples, etc.) and even with a low .5 gallon of boil off, 5.75 gallons is too skimpy to end up with 5 gallons to bottle or keg. I estimate you end up with 4.5 gallons in the end, if that.

Doing 2 sparges of equal volume really helps in efficiency, and as I said earlier, your crush even more so.

Lauter a bit slower, like 10-15 minutes. Really let it drain well. I start heating the runnings after the first and by the time I add my last gallon, the kettle is nearly to a boil. I use induction.
 
davidg410 said:
Do you drain mash and sparge fairly slowly, or just open her up and let her rip?

I've been doing the latter...
Click to expand...

Open full bore till empty, refill with batch sparge water, stir like crazy, let grains settle a bit, vorlauf, then full bore till empty again.
 
davidg410 said:
Yea, and that's not that unheard of.

I've only done really fast sparging, but I've read that doing a slower sparge drain could yield +10%.

I'll be trying a different approach on my next batch. I'll update if I see better results. However, my next 2 batches are big beers so I may not see a difference.
Click to expand...

Okay. I thought coolers were supposed to be much better for extraction efficiency. I might make the switch from BIAB to cooler since I have a spare but at least I know this going in.
 
DurtyChemist said:
Okay. I thought coolers were supposed to be much better for extraction efficiency. I might make the switch from BIAB to cooler since I have a spare but at least I know this going in.
Click to expand...

As long as you start at the right mash temp inside the cooler they work well. You can cover it with a sleeping bag or towels. But it is difficult to reheat the mash if it drops low. Scoop a few gallons out, heat it up then dump it back in and stir. But each time you open the lid and stir you lose heat at the same time.

Covering the mash with aluminum foil helps too. Stick your thermometer through the foil in a few places to measure, then shut it and don't open it up again.

I strike 4°F higher than calculated to compensate for heat loss during mashing in. Mash temp is now spot on.
 
davidg410 said:
Yea, and that's not that unheard of.

I've only done really fast sparging, but I've read that doing a slower sparge drain could yield +10%.

I'll be trying a different approach on my next batch. I'll update if I see better results. However, my next 2 batches are big beers so I may not see a difference.
Click to expand...

Update here...

I increased my grain to water ration from 1.25 qts/lb to 1.35 and I do a single batch sparge. I drain the first and second runnings very slowly.

Doing this, I have increased my efficiency to an average of ~75% (71 - 81%)
 

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