VikeMan - thanks much. I didn't know that the calculators / spreadsheets would do that for you. Great recommendation.I have a 52 Qt (13 Gallon) Coleman Xtreme that has been pretty close to being maxed out on some very high gravity 5 gallon batches.
If you know how much grain a batch needs and your mash thickness, the "Can I Mash It?" calculator is handy to help figure out if your tun is big enough.
https://web.archive.org/web/20201111195637/https://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml
Also, if you're looking for a general purpose (integrated) brewing spreadheet, BrewCipher will warn you if your recipe will exceed your tun's capacity.
I also have a Coleman Extreme, about that same size. The beauty is, the drain is slightly recessed (in the bottom), so you can drain the tun completely, which I find very important.I have a 52 Qt (13 Gallon) Coleman Xtreme that has been pretty close to being maxed out on some very high gravity 5 gallon batches.
@IslandLizard - Nice! I assume you handmade the manifold? If so, how did you make the cuts / slots in the PVC pipe?I also have a Coleman Extreme, about that same size. The beauty is, the drain is slightly recessed (in the bottom), so you can drain the tun completely, which I find very important.
The CPVC manifold is shown upside down, for illustration:
View attachment 828863
View attachment 828864
Nice setup. Is that a SS threaded bulkhead fitting? Dry-fit CPVC? And did you use a bag too?I also have a Coleman Extreme, about that same size. The beauty is, the drain is slightly recessed (in the bottom), so you can drain the tun completely, which I find very important.
The CPVC manifold is shown upside down, for illustration:
View attachment 828863
View attachment 828864
Yeah I did, back in 2013.@IslandLizard - Nice! I assume you handmade the manifold? If so, how did you make the cuts / slots in the PVC pipe?
Yes, it is, threaded all the way.Is that a SS threaded bulkhead fitting? Dry-fit CPVC? And did you use a bag too?
I've seen some copper and stainless "manifolds," even round ones (!), with slots or many small holes drilled in the bottom.previously used the 10 Gal HD cooler. After a couple stuck mashes I said "F" this. Much happier with the manifold design. Of course, you could do a manifold in the 10 Gal, but much smaller footprint to use.
For sparging, the water temp is not all that critical. You can sparge at low temps or high ones, with very small, or no differences to the outcome.Funny I should see this thread. I have had a 10 gallon rectangular cooler that I bought used for about 20 bucks for almost a year now. I keep meaning to try it out as I bought tubing and a valve for it, but never did. Well, I used it as a sparge tank this last brew. It worked really well, but not sure how it would do as a mash tun as it went from about 180 degrees when I started the sparge, to about 170 after it hit the grain, then about 15 mins later is was down to about 150 or so. For a sparge setup it worked awesome, but I need to figure out how to keep the temp better for a 60 min mash. But, it was cool and easy has heck to clean up
A decent brewing software should be able to let you set some critical mash tun parameters (such as its specific heat) to get very close to predicting your strike water temp needed for hitting your ultimate mash temp spot on, once mixed.
That said, I've not found one that will easily calculate needed strike water temps when underletting your grist.
@Island Lizard - thanks much for the reply. Looks fairly straight forward.Yeah I did, back in 2013.
I got the "plans" from someone who posted that manifold design for a 70-some qt rectangular cooler. Not sure where I saw it, could have been elsewhere than here on HBT. I just scaled it down.
I used a thin kerf plywood/veneer circular saw blade in a circular saw. I then mounted the saw upside down to cut the slits while seeing what I was doing.
Yes, it is, threaded all the way.
I ended up having to use some silicone between the inside cooler wall and the rubber o-ring to make a better seal.
The biggest issue is that the cooler walls compress when tightening the bulkhead nut. I stuck a short piece of plastic conduit in the hole to be able to tighten the nut quite a bit more. The bulkhead assembly still tends to rotate a bit when I'm not careful.
Yup, dry fit CPVC. Sometimes it comes apart when emptying the tun.
No, I don't use a bag, it's not needed.
I do vorlauf the first gallon or so of each of the runnings to catch any bits and cloudiness, and start lautering slowly. Once the wort runs clear, I can open the valve pretty much all the way.
Occasionally I still do step-mashes, cereal mashes, and even decoctions in the kettle, under direct heat (induction plate). The tun is the lautering/sparge and holding vessel in those situations.
Earlier this week I did a 10 pound cereal mash (including the final boil) using 50% flaked wheat, 50% Pilsner, in the kettle. When the entire mash was completed, did a mashout, and transferred everything to the tun, scooping with a long handled gallon kitchen pot, for lautering and sparging. It was a little sticky, but ended up not having to use rice hulls. Drained like a charm!
@Yesfan - very interesting idea.I still have my HD cooler too. I shoe-horned an 11 gallon Bayou Classic kettle in it a couple of years later after seeing another member do it. Same with the etched volume markings. I added Adventures In Homebrewing's false bottom. I like it because of the stainless tubing instead of silicone. Pics are from about 10 years ago. Yep, it continues to serve me well.View attachment 828916
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I built the same mash tun cooler but from a 120 quart Coleman extreme. The same manifold using 1/2" CPVC pipe and fittings, also dry fitted. I used a hack saw to cut the slots. It took some time but it worked fine.@Island Lizard - thanks much for the reply. Looks fairly straight forward.
If that was for me, I don't understand what you mean by underletting? I read up that some will put a layer of insulation foam on the lid to make up for the dead space between the mash and the lid to help keep the heat in. I might try that.Sounds like a heat loss issue during a top fill (open tun) vs. underletting (covered tun). Are you covering the tun while underletting? If so, I'm curious...how much difference are you seeing between the two?
It does seem like the tun's specific heat parameter (or whatever it's called in Beersmith) or the "Mash Tun Initial Heat Absorption Value" in BrewCipher would be the best available way to compensate. Ideally, there would be an "Open Tun Fill Heat Escape" parameter that applies when not underletting, but I'm not sure the juice would be worth the squeeze, thus my curiosity.
If that was for me, it is 10 gallons.How big is your boil kettle?
Or maybe put the brew bag in a cooler. Ease of BIAB and temp stability of a cooler mash tun.While you wait to gather all the parts you need (want?) for your cooler mash tun, consider doing a batch BIAB. Paint strainer bags are readily available and cheap. You might decide that this is an easier route than the cooler once you try it.
Underletting is when you fill your mash tun from the bottom up, like through the drain valve rather than just pouring the heated water in from the top.I don't understand what you mean by underletting?
While you wait to gather all the parts you need (want?) for your cooler mash tun, consider doing a batch BIAB. Paint strainer bags are readily available and cheap. You might decide that this is an easier route than the cooler once you try it.
Or maybe put the brew bag in a cooler. Ease of BIAB and temp stability of a cooler mash tun.
I should have asked @BrianB specifically. I was going to suggest just doing BIAB if the boil kettle is big enough. Skip the cooler.How big is your boil kettle?
@Bobby_M - I recently acquired a 6.5 gal cooler from a family member who no longer wanted it. Wasn't sure if a 5 gal all grain bill would be OK in that size cooler of if it would be too small.I should have asked @BrianB specifically. I was going to suggest just doing BIAB if the boil kettle is big enough. Skip the cooler.
Using @VikeMan's link to the Can I Mash It calculator:@Bobby_M - I recently acquired a 6.5 gal cooler from a family member who no longer wanted it. Wasn't sure if a 5 gal all grain bill would be OK in that size cooler of if it would be too small.
You can mash 13 lbs of grist at a thickness of 1.5 qts (of water) / pound (of grist) in that tun, taking up almost 6 gallons of space. That leaves half a gallon of room (headspace) to stir (very carefully).Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators
Speak for yourself.The majority of beers are under 1.065.
Or as Denny would say: Life starts at 66. 1.066 that is!Speak for yourself.
Is that a round cooler?I recently acquired a 6.5 gal cooler from a family member who no longer wanted it. Wasn't sure if a 5 gal all grain bill would be OK in that size cooler of if it would be too small.
@Lizard Island - thanks much. This is very helpful. I didn't know there was a Mash Calulator - that's great! I'm interested in trying all-grain. I've been watching videos and have seen a lot of home brewers using coolers for mashing and sparging and since I got this cooler for free, I wanted to try that approach for my next brew. I've been looking on line at the options and equipment needed to conver it and it looks pretty simple. Thanks again.Using @VikeMan's link to the Can I Mash It calculator:
You can mash 13 lbs of grist at a thickness of 1.5 qts (of water) / pound (of grist) in that tun, taking up almost 6 gallons of space. That leaves half a gallon of room (headspace) to stir (very carefully).
At 1.25 qts/lb mash thickness it would be 15 lbs. That's about as thick as you'd wanna mash.
Batch sparging (2x) is paramount to get a decent mash/lauter efficiency at those mash thicknesses.
13lbs of grist in a 5 gallon batch should yield an OG of 1.070, after an hour boil.
15 lbs for an OG of 1.080.
The majority of beers are under 1.065.
@OakIslandBrewery - absolutely not. I am a newbie, just recently brewed my first homebrew after my son bought me a started kit for Father's Day. It turned out really well - a Hazy IPA with Mango and Vanilla extract. Everyone in the family liked it. I'd like to try it again with an all-grain kit instead of LME. I really like the idea of the all-in-one electric brew systems like the Brewvilla Gen 4, but that's pretty expensive, so while I'm learning, thought I'd try the cheaper path using coolers. I like the idea of the coolers as it seems to keep the mash temp pretty stable. I had trouble keeping the temp on my kettle stable on my gas burner so am thinking this might be a better approach for mashing.I hope after all these ideas we didn't scare Brian away from brewing . . .
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