PM in a 10 gallon MLT?

[shmevinator]

After a few months of extract brewing I'm feeling like I need to move on to PM and then AG, so I'm going to build an MLT (good god, when did I start talking like this?).

At any rate, I'm going to get a round cooler for the MLT. I will be making 5 gallon batches, and very likely some of my PM batches (especially at the beginning) will only consist of 3-4 lbs of grain.

I've looked through the forums and I couldn't find a direct answer if there are drawbacks to doing a PM in a 10 gallon MLT. So, well, are there? I'd much rather get the cost out of the way, instead of buying a 3-5 gallon MLT now, and then a 10 gallon in the next couple of months. But if there are serious drawbacks, such as problems with maintaining temperature or grain bed depth, or anything else, I'll reconsider.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[mward]

Don't go PM then AG, just go AG. Why waste the time? It's not like it's a required step, plus you're going to have a hard time keeping the heat steady in a 10 gallon mash tun with that small of a batch.

 

[Brew-boy]

I started off like you and did 1 PM and said screw this I jumped in with both feet to all grain. Make the full leap you will be much happier.

 

[rohanski]

Just take the training wheels off. That's what I'm planning on doing.

 

[Yooper]

You can do small batch PM in a round 10 gallon cooler if you batch sparge since grain bed depth isn't an issue. Still if you're using only 3-4 pounds of grain, it's a bit overkill. You'll have probably .5 gallon dead space or so under your false bottom so you won't get out what you'd like. For that small amount of grain, I'd just mash in my bottling bucket with a grain bag, or in the kettle with a grain bag.

So, you could start building your MLT and do PMs somehow else until you're ready to come over to the darkside!

 

[GrundleCruncher]

I'd go for the 10 gal if I were you. I built a 5 gal. MLT not too long ago and its great but I'm already stretching its limits. If you want to jump into AG, a chest cooler is the direction you want to go in; you get a good grain bed thickness and it drains better.

If you going to go with the picnic cooler my advice would be to start with PM of 5-7lbs grain, its weird process at first; preheating the mash tun, getting your temps right, sparging. With PMs you get the experience of mashing on a more manageable scale.
AG is great, but I just don't have the capacity to boil the amount of wort it yields(big city brewing), but I still make some damn good beer with a 7lb PM.

 

[shmevinator]

AG is great, but I just don't have the capacity to boil the amount of wort it yields(big city brewing), but I still make some damn good beer with a 7lb PM.

Yup, this is exactly my problem. I can't go AG because I just don't have the capacity to boil the wort, nor the means to heat it up right now.

Also PM is a good start for me, because I tend to really screw things up the first time I try them...So I'm hoping a little extract will make up for my mess. :cross:

So it's just a matter of making the transition the most economical way. But I like Yooper Chick's idea of using the bottling bucket. I may try that.