Upsize

[frozengator]

Well I broke down and went from a 10 gallon boil pot to a 20. My MT is a 10gallon cooler. My problem is when I do my calculations on a spread sheet it says my MT is not large enough. Every time I did 5 gallon batches my MT was only half full. I also just thought about using my HLT as a 2nd mash tun and just do two 5 gallon batch sparges. Any thoughts on this?

 

[FunkedOut]

You can get away with a smaller MT if you batch sparge.

 

[frozengator]

My thoughts are to take my MT, add a couple gallons of sparge water slowly add and stir grains fill and stir MT with sparge water and adjust temp if needed. Drain after an hour and calculate from there.

 

[chickypad]

My thoughts are to take my MT, add a couple gallons of sparge water slowly add and stir grains fill and stir MT with sparge water and adjust temp if needed. Drain after an hour and calculate from there.

I think you are confusing the terms strike water and sparge water. Strike water you add to the grains to become the mash. Sparge water is what you rinse with (either batch or fly). How many lbs of grain are you trying to mash?

 

[frozengator]

Yep you are right

 

[frozengator]

22lbs

 

[kh54s10]

I can fit about 22 pounds of grain in my 10 gallon mash tun. That made a 5 gallon batch of 10.6 ABV Russian Imperial Stout. You should be able to do an average beer easily.

22 pounds of grain with 1.5 qts per gallon - 9 gallons of water - close but you could mash thicker.

 

[chickypad]

I'm getting a 10gal mash volume with 1.5 qt/lb (both Beersmith and Green Bay Rackers), but 1.25 qt per lb gives about 8.6 gals.