21lb mash in a 10 gallon MLT?

[neb_brewer]

I'm working on a Barley Wine parti-gyle recipe that will have around 21lbs of grain. The most I've done in my MLT thus far is 13.5lbs. My last two brews I've done a water-to-grain ratio of 1.3. So with 21lbs of grain I would have almost 7 gallons of strike water.

Would 21lbs of grain and 7 gallons of water fit in a 10 gallon rectangular cooler MLT?

 

[Hammy71]

Yeah, it will fit...Calculator says 8.51 gallons needed @ 1.3

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

 

[PVH]

Few words of caution - I found myself in a really crappy situation trying to mash too close to the capacity of my 10gal Igloo mash tun. First, my tun really is 10gal; there is not a little bit of extra room. Next, the inner wall had begun to warp, reducing capacity way more than I thought. Now, I do not try to cut it close.

 

[bryanjints]

Come on I can do 12lbs in my 5 gallon without too many problems. Sometimes it requires and extra sparge but I would think 21lbs would be no problem.

 

[Tom]

Here is a great calculator for no-sparge batches.
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Batch_Sparge_and_Party_Gyle_Simulator

 

[WilliamWS]

I think you'll be fine. I, too, do 12 lbs in my five gallon cooler all the time and average 90% efficiency doing a batch sparge (thanks Brewmasters Warehouse for the great grind).

 

[TANSTAAFB]

Here is the original post from Bobby
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-123585/

 

[JLW]

I brewed a double chocolate stout with 21lbs of grain and used a 10 gal mash tun with no problem. Well, actually there was one problem with moving that amount of weight around. 21 lbs of grain plus 8 gallons of water can get heavy.

 

[BendBrewer]

I can do 26 pound grain bills. I use 1 to 1 ratio.

 

[Yooper]

I max out at 23 pounds of grain in my 10 gallon round Igloo cooler MLT. It's right at the top, but it works!

 

[KozHops]

I did 22 lbs this weekend but only hit 64% efficiency...although that's not unusual.

 

[neb_brewer]

Sounds like I'll be ok then!

Barley Wine here I come

 

[LVBen]

I'm going to do a barleywine with 22 pounds. Currently, I am considering splitting it into two mashes, because I use my bottling bucket with a paint strainer as my lautering tun and it can only hold 7 gallons. Plus, the paint strainer seem to have a pretty hard time staying together with just 15 pounds, so 22 pounds might be a disaster.

 

[LVBen]

I'm going to do a barleywine with 22 pounds. Currently, I am considering splitting it into two mashes, because I use my bottling bucket with a paint strainer as my lautering tun and it can only hold 7 gallons. Plus, the paint strainer seem to have a pretty hard time staying together with just 15 pounds, so 22 pounds might be a disaster.

Or maybe it is time for me to finally put something together with a false bottom.

 

[jyda]

I did 17# last week and barely had enough room for the boiling water to mash out at 170. If I went higher, how would I mashout at 170? Any suggestions? (Not sure if I should start a new thread or not)

 

[kylec_2003]

I have done 17.5 pounds in my 5 gal. It was a super thick mash and I collected extra wort and boiled down to make up for my lower efficency. It was a pain but it worked, and was also my longest brew day ever.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

I did 17# last week and barely had enough room for the boiling water to mash out at 170. If I went higher, how would I mashout at 170? Any suggestions? (Not sure if I should start a new thread or not)

Don't worry about the mashout if you don't have room. I never mash out...the enzymes will be denatured when you start the boil.

 

[AmandaK]

Two options:
Have a heat stick and heat your mash that way.

OR

Drain off part of your mash, boil that, and add it into the mash tun.

I just did 21 lbs in my 10 gallon MLT last Friday, used the heat stick approach. Worked great!

 

[neb_brewer]

Any other tips & tricks for working with this much grain?

 

[kylec_2003]

If you are wanting to mash out, you could always drain some wort heat it up to boiling and put it back in to raise the temp to 170.

 

[LVBen]

I've decided that I'm going to split MY barleywine into two 3-gallon mashes. I'm going to mash one in my brew pot and one in an old 5-gallon cooler that I have. 3 gallons of water with 11 pounds of grain should fit into the cooler. Then I'll lauter the brew pot's mash 1st and then the cooler's mash 2nd and combine them together for the boil.

If I do it right, it should only take about the same amount of time as if I did the entire thing with a sparge.