Hmm

Maybe its the gonzo spirit of the homebrewer im starting to develope..we all know that spirit to DIY work around whatever we have to make tastey beverages...
My next thing i think due to budget constraints...i have a 5 gallon ss boil kettle for extract/partial mash brewing. And i just snagged a 5 gallon igloo cooler..
I was wondering .could i use the cooler for biab? put in the liner..10 lbs of grain..3.38 gallons of water and mash...heat sparge water in kettle to 170..pull bag and batch sparge..add wort from cooler and boil as usual?

 

Interesting... you're basically straddling biab and a full on mash. I personally would just fully convert the cooler to a mash tun, since the idea of biab is to do your mashing in the kettle. Doing it in the cooler is basically mashing in a mash tun with a straining bag instead of a manifold. Trying to think of the ramifications of that...

 

Yes this can be done. Basically you are mashing in the cooler, and sparging in the kettle, combine all runnings in the kettle, and well Bobs your uncle cheers!

 

Sure you can do this. But as FirstAid said, might as well go with a cooler with a manifold, bazooka screen (what I use), a braid, or a false bottom. This way you can just do your sparging in the cooler like usual.

Rev.

 

I use a bag on top of a false bottom in my cooler - makes cleanup much easier!!

 

this does seem easier. You are basically going all grain, with a cheap manifold (the BIAB bag) Just go to home depot and get stuff for a manifold. I built mine out of copper tubing and brass fittings/valves. Cost me around 20$

 

Really? I just dump the grain in the compost and spray it out with chiller water. That's easy.

 

You're right, and I find sometimes people don't think of the whole picture - in this instance... well now you have a large grain bag to turn inside out, rinse all the remaining grains out of, then wash and rinse. Still have to clean the inside of the cooler too, so it's actually more work, not less


Rev.

 

Verify your mash tun is big enough to hold your grain bill plus the strike water using the "Can I Mash It?" tool.

Here: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

 

Have you figured out how you are going to fit the 6 or more gallons of wort into the 5 gallon boiling pot so you can boil it for 60 minutes and still have 5.25 gallons to put into the fermenter?

 

He said in his first post he was doing extract/partial mash.

*EDIT - scratch that, just noticed he listed 10lbs of grain + 3.38G of mash water. Guess I totally misread the intent of the thread.


Rev.

 

Might be more work when you're brewing outside, I'm brewing inside... all electric

 

Yeah..im outside with my beginner turkey fryer rig..i got a free 5 gallon igloo cooler..and a 20 qt ss pot..so im looking to experiment a little....ive looked into a bazooka manifold..my lhbs sells the ball valve and screen for around 30 bucks...but i dont want to buy it till i have a 10 gallon igloo