5 pounds of grain in 10 gal Rubbermaid MLT

[gritmaster]

Just switched to all grain recently and have my system dialed in.

I have an older partial mash kit with 5 pounds of grain sill sitting around.

Before I made my 10 gal MLT with 12" false bottom, I used a large grain bag in a bottling bucket as my mash tun, and then basically fly spared.

Can I use my new MLT with such a "little" amount of grain?

I still fly sparge.

 

[bwomp313]

one problem you'll likely encounter is a lot of heat loss from so much head space in the MLT

 

[Brulosopher]

one problem you'll likely encounter is a lot of heat loss from so much head space in the MLT

As long as you effectively preheat you tun you'll be fine.

 

[gritmaster]

OK - Im no so much concerned with efficiency - I wanted to make sure that the likelihood of a stuck sparge was unaffected or if there were other caveats associated with having a false bottom but a "short" grain bed height??

 

[mjohnson]

One other thing you could do is mash in a stock pot (I put it in a warm oven to keep temp - or your can direct fire while stirring to bump temps up if they fall) and use your cooler as a sparge/lauter tun.

Just another idea! Let us know how it goes.

 

[gkal1964]

Yes, use the 10 gallon MLT. I've had no issues at all with heat loss due to large head space. Make sure to pre-heat mash tun and your good to go. I make 5 gallon session beers in mine all the time and lose less than 1 degree in 60 minutes.