Help me choose a mashtun

[cokronk]

I'm picking up a sanke keg tonight for a brew kettle and I'd like to get a mashtun. I've seen setups on Midwest going for $250 for two coolers, but I'm figuring it can be done for cheaper. A friend of mine uses a sanke keg to mash in as well as a second for a brew kettle, but I don't have access to two of them.

Should I buy a cooler and make one? If so, what do I need so I don't spend an assload of money on this project? If I have a cooler, will I end up having to batch sparge? What will I need that's big enough to do 10-15 gallons at a time?

Other than that, I should have everything I need to brew all grain.

 

[SilverZero]

There's a sticky in the DIY section about building your own MT. I recommend a round 10-gallon screw-top cooler ($40 or so at Home Depot or similar) even though I personally use a square picnic cooler because that's what I had on hand. 10 gallons will be enough for larger batches and/or 15+ pounds of grain. The rest of the hardware is simple to get and assemble, check the sticky. It's basically just enough to get the steel screen tubing (or you can manufacture a PVC or copper pipe version) and then a valve through the body.

You could fly sparge with any setup, but that's additional equipment, time, and some risks of tannin extraction and stuck sparges for basically just a bit of a boost in efficiency (potential, and maybe not even realized). I double-batch sparge, it's quite easy. Use the calculators at Green Bay Rackers for strike temps, mash volumes, etc.

Should be able to do the whole thing for around $50. Your other option is just using the one kettle and doing a BIAB system. If you've got the cash, having a separate MLT is easier and more fun.

 

[two_hearted]

Buy one of these and build your own with this thread

 

[cokronk]

There's a sticky in the DIY section about building your own MT. I recommend a round 10-gallon screw-top cooler ($40 or so at Home Depot or similar) even though I personally use a square picnic cooler because that's what I had on hand. 10 gallons will be enough for larger batches and/or 15+ pounds of grain. The rest of the hardware is simple to get and assemble, check the sticky. It's basically just enough to get the steel screen tubing (or you can manufacture a PVC or copper pipe version) and then a valve through the body.

So I think part of the problem then is that I'm not quite wrapping my head around getting the amount or wert you need from a mashing. Say I wanted to do 15 gallons, would I do enough runs to get that much out of the mash or would I do a run and add water to the wert like in previous extract brewing that I've done?

 

[Ace_Club]

First, choose how big of an MLT you will need for your brewing. You can find a nifty chart at this link: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-123585/

Then, you can choose your cooler. I went with the 70 qt. Coleman Xtreme because it is big, cheap, and holds temperatures very well. Since I only batch sparge, I was able to get away with minimal modifications to the MLT. Here are some pics:

 

[Ace_Club]

So I think part of the problem then is that I'm not quite wrapping my head around getting the amount or wert you need from a mashing. Say I wanted to do 15 gallons, would I do enough runs to get that much out of the mash or would I do a run and add water to the wert like in previous extract brewing that I've done?

Typically you sparge (either fly or batch) with additional water after the initial mash to get up to your target volume/gravity.

 

[SilverZero]

So I think part of the problem then is that I'm not quite wrapping my head around getting the amount or wert you need from a mashing. Say I wanted to do 15 gallons, would I do enough runs to get that much out of the mash or would I do a run and add water to the wert like in previous extract brewing that I've done?

According to this calculator you'll need about 25 gallons total to get 15 gallons of wort, for a pretty standard grain bill. Your mash will need to be around 13 gallons of that, then you'd sparge with the remaining either all at once or in batches, or fly sparge. You'd be limited by the size of your MLT especially if you want a thinner mash (I shoot for 1.5 qts/pound), so if you really need to get 15 gallons at a time into fermentation, you'll probably need to get a larger picnic cooler, 60 quarts or better. You can certainly use this for smaller batches as well, just be careful to add a degree or two to the strike water to account for the heat lost into the head space and insulation of such a big vessel.

I use the calculator so I know how much water to have heated and waiting for sparging in my HLT. You probably don't want to just run sparge water until you get to your volume, as you will eventually be either extracting tannins (maybe, not much of a danger in batch sparging) or basically just running water through and not extracting anything. You will need to do a few batches to know how much you lose to your equipment and what your efficiency is, there's not really an easy way to calculate what will happen to you in the real world ahead of time, but it definitely helps to be as prepared and planned as possible, IMHO.

Bear in mind you'll need a larger pre-boil volume, ballpark figure is about 10% loss in volume per hour of boiling, plus whatever you lose to trub, hops, etc. You might be looking at up to 18 gallons of wort pre-boil. You can always top off if you're low, or boil longer if you have too much wort.

You could do 10 gallon batches with higher grain bills at a slightly thicker mash in a 10-gallon cooler.

And, of course, you'll need enough fermentation vessels to hold all that beer and account for krauesen/blow-off.

 

[cokronk]

And if I need more, I can do a 2nd batch of grains? I was reading that chart thread and someone in there mentioned a 100qt would be recommended for 15 gallon HG batches. If I were doing that much with a smaller cooler, I could always do more than one batch right? That wouldn't mess anything up, it would just add to how long the whole process is going to take?

 

[LKABrewer]

At most you can do 11-12 gallon batches in a sanke boil kettle. I shoot for 11 gallon batches, with about 13.5 gallon pre-boil volume. This leaves enough room to keep from boiling over (barely). For an 11 gallon batch, you will need about 16-17 gallons of water.