PM in Bottling Bucket

[jaymack]

Hi,

Just a thought; I'm in the process of putting together all the bits & pieces to convert my cooler into a mash tun, and was wondering if I could get away with doing a Partial Mash, using my bottling bucket.

It's a 5 gallon bucket, has a spigot and I don't see any immediate problems. I figures if I wrapped the bucket with a think comforter it would help retain the heat while my grain bag holds all th grain required.

I've been extract w grain brewing for some time and really just want to move to the next step.

Any cons against this for the time being?

Cheers

 

[Yooper]

That's exactly what I did until i bought a MLT. I lined my bottling bucket with an enormous mesh bag (from the LHBS) that I used for wines. It lines the entire bottling bucket, with some hanging over. It stays secure with so much overhang. Then I just added my grains, the water, and wrapped it with my sleeping bag. After an hour, I drained and then sparged (batch spargin) by adding the 170 degree sparge water, stirred well and then drained.

The only issues- even wrapped in a sleeping bag, it lost quite a few degrees in temperature. It's ok, because I was using DME anyway and my efficiency was not good. Still, it was a marked improvement in my beer and I was very happy with that technique until I got a 10 gallon MLT.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

Make sure you clean that bucket really well (as I'm sure Yoopsie did) before using it to bottle. There are lots of ugly nasties in grain that you don't want anywhere near your finished product.

 

[Chad]

Here's a Morebeer.com tutorial on mini-mashing that goes through the steps of using your bottling bucket for doing a partial mash. I believe these are the instructions that come with their mini-mash kits, but they are equally applicable for your own ingredients.

Chad