5 gallon Mash Tun??

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SCARYLARRY

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
102
Reaction score
0
Location
Louisville
Now that I have a 5 gallon Mash Tun. What are my limits as far as pounds of grains? I plan on a 10 gallon soon, but have to work with what I have. (Babies are costly:confused:) Could I get away with a recipe like this?

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Nottingham
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 22.7
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 16.3 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14

If you like nut browns, you'll love this one!

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.6 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.5 %
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 8.5 %
0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.3 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.1 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (15 min) Hops 8.1 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

Mash Profile
Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Mash Grain Weight: 11.75 lb
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 4.21 gal

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 14.69 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min
 
Also??? I have a 6 gallon pot and a 4 gallon pot. Could I do 5.5 in one with hops and the rest for top off? (Stove Top) Can it be done????/
 
5 gallon mash tun is just fine for up to 14# of grain. You could get away with more with a thicker mash, but your efficiency would probably suffer. I had a 5g for a while and it worked great for gravities up to about 1.060. For any higher, you have to drop the batch size.
 
Do you think I could do a 13.75lb grain stout recipe (OG Est: 1.071) in a 5gal Mash tun using the Hybrid Fly Sparging technique?
 
Mash Calculator

I think the most I ever fit into a 5 gallon mash tun was 13.xx pounds, maybe 14 pounds. I did notice a drop in efficiency the 2 times I tried to cram as much grain as could into the tun. It wasn't a big difference but I didn't hit my OG both times.
 
I have never been able to fit more than 12lbs 4oz of grain in my 5gal tun with 1.25qt/lb.

How are you fitting 14lbs in there? .75qt/lb??

They have to be mashing thick. I can just squeak 12.5 lbs in my 5 gal. at 1.25 qts/lb.
 
They have to be mashing thick. I can just squeak 12.5 lbs in my 5 gal. at 1.25 qts/lb.

Exactly, with 1/4" of room at the top right? Makes stirring quite a balancing act. You guys claiming 14+lbs of grain in a 5gal tun may want to check the actual volume of your tun I'd bet its closer to 5.5 or 5.75 actual volume. I know mine is 5gal, and I know that I cannot fit 13lbs of grain in mine and 1.25qt/lb let alone 14+.

ScaryLarry, that recipe is right at the limit of your equipment before you will have to start mashing closer to 1.1qt/lb of grain.

EDIT: The calculator posted in here confirms.
 
I have never been able to fit more than 12lbs 4oz of grain in my 5gal tun with 1.25qt/lb.

How are you fitting 14lbs in there? .75qt/lb??

1 qt. per lb on anything above 12# of grain. Thicker mash, but seems to work just as well you just have to stir for a long time.
 
If I understand this correctly, couldn't I just continuous/fly sparge at 1.1 qt/lb which would avoid stirring? Think that would be ok? I plan to get a 10gal cooler soon, but I want to brew this by this weekend to be ready by a certain time. My buddy already had a 5gal so we used that, then I made a FES recipe.
 
Yep, no problem there. I would mash for maybe 75 minutes just to ensure complete conversion, and then fly sparge. One problem with really thick mashes is low fermentability and/or incomplete conversion. Extending the length of the mash should help out with that.
 
Yea I was planning on doing a longer mash because of the lower fermentability of thicker mashes, thanks for the heads up!
 
I have used 13# grain in a 5g cooler several times.
I always use 1 qt water per lb, and this fits in fine. There is room for more probably another lb grain, but I've never tried it.
I also do a mashout and fly sparge. The only problem I had was that there wasn't quite enough room for the mashout infusion with 13 lbs grain (I could only get the grain bed up to the low 160's), but I still got 85% efficiency with a 90 minute sparge.

-a.
 
Thanks for your support guys. Gonna do my first AG this weekend. Wish me luck. I think if the one on Saturday goes good I'm going to do another on Sunday.
 
Also??? I have a 6 gallon pot and a 4 gallon pot. Could I do 5.5 in one with hops and the rest for top off? (Stove Top) Can it be done????/

I was wondering this as well, but I have a 7.5 gallon pot and 4 gal pot. I just don't think I am going to be able to get 6 to 6.5 gallons of wort to a boil on my stove, even with the pot insulated. And I'd like to keep it as simple as possible.

:confused:
 
Yeah I couldn't see be able to get that much water to boil on a stove. I'm doing my batch this weekend and report back on how I did things and if things worked out or not. Lets hope.:)
 
Thanks, everybody esp RedIrocZ-28. Great thread. I adjusted my recipe to fit my 5 gal mash tun and I'll do a longer sparge. Also got my eye on a 10 gallon mash tun.
 
Back
Top