5 Gallon mash tun for 5gl batches

i am getting into all grain brewing and am going to be purchasing a cooler to turn into a mash tun. I only have 5gal carboys so would a 5 gal cooler work fine for a mash tun? Or should i get a 10 gal?

Thank you for all your help in advance.

 

I'd be safe and get a 10 gal mash tun. At least that way you'll be able to do bigger beers without the stress of trying to fit all the grain and water in there.

 

Hi, and welcome!

It will work, but you won't be able to do full 5 gal batches, more like 4 gallons batches at best. You're limited because of the carboys anyway, you need to leave some head space if you want to avoid blowoffs. However, if you think you'll buy larger carboys or buckets someday to brew larger batches, your mash tun will severely limit you. Given the price difference, I'd go for a 10 gal mash tun right off and not worry about brewing 3-4 gal batches forever.

 

And would there be any opinions into the difference between a round stand up cooler vs and rectangular cooler? I can get a inexpensive 11 gal Coleman cooler from walmart for $30. It being a rectangular cooler.

 

As a guy who now has a 10-gallon mash tun and a 5-gallon paperweight... get the bigger tun on the first go.

One other thing you're gonna want to consider is, you want something that's already got a spigot, so you don't have to worry about drilling and waterproofing the hole for your weldless fitting.

 

I bought a cheap 5 gal round ($10 at Menards) to do smaller batches (3-ish gal), and converted a bigger rectangular for bigger batches. I still use both, but if you don't plan on getting bigger carboys, no real need for a bigger cooler.
If you do buy a rectangular, make sure the spigot is low and level, I had to return 2 different types after fighting to get them to work for me.....finally just used an old one I had.

 

Get the bigger one. I spilled a **** load of water and grain on my floor thinking I could put 14 lbs of grain and 3 gallons of water in the 5 gallon tun I have. It sucked so you don't want to do that

 

x2!

 

10-gallon will let you make virtually any 5-gallon brew. With a 5-gallon mash tun you are limited to about 10 lbs of grain if you use a 1.5:1 grain to water ratio (which I think is about average). Source - Can I Mash It section. For AG, only 10 pounds of grain won't work for "big" beers that require 12, 14 or even more pounds of total grain.

 

X3 - When I used a 5 gallon cooler.. 13 pounds was the max amount I could do without making a mess. If I had only known then what I know now....

 

Yeah and w/ a 10G tun doing 11G batches I now top out around 24lbs if I wanna keep a min of 1.25qts/lb.