MLT or IC

I can't decide which I need next, a mash lauter tun or an immersion cooler.

Some things to consider.
- I do 2.5 gallon partial boils for 5 gallon batches, usually.
- Water for cooling is expensive at my house.
- I have a bag with 7 or 8 lbs of grain that I need to mash and I'm not sure I have a big enough pot to support a BIAB with this much grain. 3 gallons is my largest pot.
- I have a home depot gift card burning a hole in my pocket.
- I was originally leaning towards the IC, but realized my immediate need might be the MLT due to the grains I need to mash.

Any first hand advise?

 

Buy a MT...I have heard of "no chill" brewing, but never "no mash".

 

I'd go for a larger pot.

 

Mt

 

Find a clean but used cooler and make a cheap MLT; go to HD and build your own IC from parts; get a larger pot from the food bank/church/Winners. You might be able to do everything for very few bucks.

B

 

+2 there...

Get some 32-40 quart pots for brewing with... How you chill it is up to you, but having the larger pots means you can continue to BIAB with larger grain bills... I typically have 11-14# of grain in my bag for a typical 5 gallon batch. My mash/boil pot is 32 quarts. Which handles the grain bill just fine. I have (for now) a 20 quart pot for sparging... It gets a wee tight sometimes with my grail bills. Of course, I now have a 60 quart pot to use, so I can either mash in that, or use it to hold the mash runnings while I sparge in the 32 quart pot..

If you're going to do full boils, if your stove cannot handle getting ~7 gallons up to a solid boil, get a propane burner. Makes things much easier. Mine is slated to arrive tomorrow.

With the home depot card, depending on how much it has on it, you could get one of their 10 gallon round coolers, install a ball valve in it, and use the grain bag in that, as an easy MLT... I would still get a large pot to do the full boils in though.

For reference, I'm using professional grade aluminum pots (from a restaurant supplier)... They're 4mm thick and built like a tank. I've installed ball valves into both of them (1/2") so I can easily transfer from one to the other, and then into the carboy to ferment in. Once conditioned, they work great... Plus you can get high grade aluminum pots for less money than you usually find low grade SS pots... Just shop around a little... :rockin:

I did build my current IC with tubing, and fittings, from Lowe's... Pretty easy if you're handy. Hardest part was making the fitting to go from the 3/8 ID tubing to the hose adapter for the kitchen faucet. I opted for higher strength tubing for mine, so it has no issue with the heat from the pot. I'm thinking of making another one, using 50' of tubing now (first one was 20')... I can reuse the tubing from my first one, so that's easy... Plus, I could use the current one as a pre-chiller if needed during the summer time... Kind of doubt I'll need to do that, but it will be good to have on hand in case I do.