Do I Need A HLT?

[mrgrimm101]

My current AG setup is basically a 15.5 gallon keggle, 12 gallon rectangle cooler MLT, and a 5 gallon kettle. I use the 5 gallon kettle primarily for heating up strike and sparge water. I was considering getting a separate 5-10 gallon cooler to act as a HLT and then maybe feed it in during the sparge and keep on handy to raise mash temp. However, I seem to be getting along fine without one. I'm sure I'm over thinking this..

Can anyone think of any benefits to a separate HLT in my setup? TIA!

 

[unviewtiful]

In short, no, you don't need an additional HLT. You said yourself that you're able to brew just fine without it. And I would argue that your 5 gallon kettle is technically the HLT.

Now that being said, an additional cooler might make things easier allow you to shuffle around your process to be more efficient. But that's dependent on your rig and how you want to brew. But if you're able to safely brew with your current equipment, you don't NEED anything extra.

 

[kh54s10]

I went with a 10 gallon kettle for my HLT. It is on a propane burner and gravity feeds a 10 gallon water cooler mash tun. That gravity feeds a 10 gallon BK sitting on another propane burner. It is easy to heat the strike, then sparge water without moving any hot water by hand.

I didn't like the idea of a cooler for a HLT since you would have to heat water then put it into the cooler. I preferred to skip the moving of pots of hot water.

 

[LarMoeCur]

In theory yes you will always have an HLT. Whether it's a two vessel system or three. One vessel will be duel purposed but as long as it's holding hot water to sparge with...it's a HLT. Like you most people use three vessels. The third vessel could be another cooler, a kettle, a plastic bucket, even a trash can will work.

Unviewiful, has it correct. Your 5 gallon pot is a HLT.

 

[wilserbrewer]

A cooler HLT is too much moving water around imo.

Unless you have a fancy pump and are fully piped, I think a cooler HLT is silly and adds work.

If you have the room, try a full volume mash, you may sacrifice a little efficiency and $0.50 worth of grain but it may be $5 easier....ymmv