Fianally doing it!!!

[hoppheadIPA]

Well after 1 1/2 years of extract brewing, I'm leaping into all grain. I wanna get one of those cooler systems but I'm stuck on one thing. Do I get 5 gallon or 10 gallon???? I'm stuck on this. I've been going back and forth for a week or 2 and I can't decide. is bigger always better?

 

[BargainFittings]

10 gallons. So you can make 5 gallons of IIPA

 

[hoppheadIPA]

Yeah, that's what I figured. Is there a negative for low gravity beers being mashed in a 10 gallon tun. Will all that head space effect anything?

 

[GoldMiner]

Bigger is definitely better.

Why limit yourself on styles on can make?

 

[BargainFittings]

The extra head space will leach some of the heat from your mash. You can mitigate that by adding it into your calculation for the strike temp.

 

[Brew-boy]

Go big or go home I always say...lol

 

[Yooper]

I had the same question when I started AG. I thought a 5 gallon would be big enough. These guys talked me into a 10 gallon, and I'm so glad they did! Even for 5 gallon batches, a 10 gallon MLT is better. There are some "small" beers I could do with a 5 gallon, but I think any beer above about 1.060 or so wouldn't fit. Check out the "can I mash it" calculator here: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml 10 pounds of grain and a ratio of 1.50 quarts of water per pound of grain would barely fit.

 

[andythomas34]

i just started doing all grain and 2 under my belt.i already want a 10 gallon

 

[sambogi76]

The extra head space will leach some of the heat from your mash. You can mitigate that by adding it into your calculation for the strike temp.

This can be fixed by a piece of 1.5 to 2 inch styrofoam insulation cut to the inside diameter of the cooler and placed on top of the mash. Just remember to have a way to get it out (a small hole in the middle or something).

 

[PT Ray]

If I were to have just one mash tun then a 10 gallon it is. I have two 5's and a 12 gallon and hardly ever use the 12. I had to dust it off when I did my dopplebock this January.