5 gallon hlt with 10 gal tun?

[lefty96]

I was at lowes today and they have a sale on their igloo coolers. They had one 10 gal and multiple 5's. My plan had always been to get a pair of 10 gallon but I got to thinking; for 5 gallon batches, would you ever need more than 5 gallons of sparge water? Thoughts?

 

[daksin]

What's the price difference? You'll never regret buying extra capacity.

 

[lefty96]

It is about $25 cheaper. It isn't a huge break. I do wonder if they are working on clearing them out. I was planning to go all grain when it got cool enough to ferment again but I wonder if by then the coolers will be out of stock

 

[jekeane]

are they not on sale online at lowes.com as well? Im pretty sure they ship to store for free and to home for free over $50.

 

[Paps]

I was at lowes today and they have a sale on their igloo coolers. They had one 10 gal and multiple 5's. My plan had always been to get a pair of 10 gallon but I got to thinking; for 5 gallon batches, would you ever need more than 5 gallons of sparge water? Thoughts?

I use a home depot orange 10-gal cooler as a mash tun for 5-gal batches.
Grain bill is usually 10-12 lbs of grain.
Strike with 4 gal of water,strain/vaurloft it off,sparge with 4 more gallons water.
The grain takes up more than 1 gallon of volume.
So the only way it would be feasable is if you did low gravity beers and could ONLY do low gravity beers. Get the 10-gallon cooler and be done with it.

 

[Johnny_5]

I use a 10 gallon cooler for a mash tun, and a 5 for the HLT, I've never had a batch where I've needed more than 5 gallons of sparge water.

I usually start with all my water in the kettle, mash in with whatever I need, then keep heating the water, possibly adding more if I need to. Fill the HLT when the temp is right for sparge water.

A 10 and a 5 work just fine for me. I brew 5 gallon batches.

 

[ChelisHubby]

I am like Jonny 5 a 10 and a 5 does the jobs≥

 

[storytyme]

I was at lowes today and they have a sale on their igloo coolers. They had one 10 gal and multiple 5's. My plan had always been to get a pair of 10 gallon but I got to thinking; for 5 gallon batches, would you ever need more than 5 gallons of sparge water? Thoughts?

I looked at the notes of my last 5.5 gal batch and I sparged with 5.9 gal based on my equipment set-up, so yes you could very possibly need more than 5 gal of sparge water.

The 5 gal tun would work fine, but it may increase the length of your brew day because you may have to sparge multiple times to get your correct pre-boil volume. Also you may be limited in the size of your grain bill as well. I would go for a 10 gal+. Although you save a bit of money now in the long run a larger tun will give you more options and hopefully peace of mind!

 

[bssexton1949]

I prefer the 10 gal but that is just me. I normally only make 5 gal batches!!