Building a Mash Tun

[brbecker87]

First of all, I'm sure that the information is all available somewhere on this forum, but I've spent over an hour searching and couldn't get all of my questions answered.

I am planning on jumping up to AG soon. The first piece of equipment I want to get/make is the Mash Tun, but I have a few questions first. First of all, I searched all over the place for a half decent answer to the chest cooler vs. water jug debate. Currently, I make 5 gallon (final) batches and would like to continue doing that, but wouldn't mind the flexibility to brew larger batches of lower gravity beers. I need to be able to brew 5 gallon batches at gravities up to about 1.080, which according to Bobby M's sweet chart, means I need a larger than 5 gallon tun. My concern (after reading Palmer's book and a few things online) is that getting a chest cooler has a larger bottom and therefore shallower grain bed. I also read that you shouldn't go too large in your cooler if you don't plan on brewing too much, as it will make shallow grain bed. How big of a deal is this, and what size should I look for? I am looking to build this on a budget (as much as possible), and the 10 gallon upright coolers tend to run more expensive. Which was why I'm leaning towards a chest cooler.

On a side note, if the cooler does not come with a spout, is it still possible to just drill a hole and fit a spigot to it? Or will this cause structural problems or leaks?

Thanks in advance

Prost!

 

[Nanobru]

I used the 10 gallon gott coolers before going to RIMs. They worked very well, especially when you use prefabricated false botoms. But the problem is that the grain bed is very deep. With a chest type cooler, the bed is shallow, thus more efficient at rinsing the grains come sparge time. you definately want the width/diameter to be larger than the height, and that will not happen with gott/rubbermaid type coolers. Its basically brewhouse efficiency which you can calculate after the course of several brews. Youd be starting a heated debate if you asked which style is more efficient, use which ever you like. Even is one is less efficient than the other, itll only be ny a hand full or two of grains, no big deal. I liked that the gott/rubbermaid coolers already had a port for the spigot (not that all chest type do not), and great false bottoms are readily available. If your on a budget, buy the cheapest you see. Cant hit your high gravity required? Add sugar.

 

[Crogers]

I hit 75% with smaller beers, and 70% with beers up to 1.100 using my 10 gal round rubbermaid cooler with copper manifold and batch sparging. Good enough for me.

Colin

 

[arturo7]

Cant hit your high gravity required? Add sugar.

While this may be the technique used for certain Belgians, it's not the best practice for most other styles. If you need a gravity boost use extract.

 

[GreenMonti]

On a side note, if the cooler does not come with a spout, is it still possible to just drill a hole and fit a spigot to it? Or will this cause structural problems or leaks?

Thanks in advance

Prost!

I am currently using a rectangular cooler for my MLT. Although a spigot or a drain on the bottom is nice and makes things a bit easier, you don't have to have the output on the bottom. For what ever reason, I decided and built my MLT with the manifold drain up at the top of my cooler. My rectangular cooler has a drain in the bottom, I just went out the top.