How do I make a big beer in a small cooler?

[heckels]

I currently use a 5 gallon rubbermaid round cooler as my MLT. Due to the size, if I were to make something like an IPA that would require more grain than I have room for, could I:
1. Mash half the grain
2. Batch Sparge
3. Mash the other half using the sparge water from the first batch to hit my 1.5 qts/lb?
4. Batch sparge the remaining.

The goal is to hit about 6.5 gallons and still hit the desired OG.

 

[ThePearsonFam]

How about supplementing with DME/LME/Sugar?

 

[Shooter]

How about supplementing with DME/LME/Sugar?

Agreed, I'd probably go for as much grain as I could in the tun and just add extract.

 

[Pappers_]

Or a smaller volume batch.

 

[carrotmalt]

I split a grainbill and did two separate mash schedules once back when I only had a 5 gallon mash capacity. It worked, but after a loooooong brew day, I headed over to Academy and picked me up a 10 gallon cooler soon thereafter!

 

[cclloyd]

What gravity are you shooting for? I use the same set up and can mash 12-13 lbs of grain at 1.1-1.25 quarts per pound batch draining three times (initial mash and two sparges) to gather a starting boil volume of 7.5 gallons. I have found that mashing about 151F it'll max out about 1.060 - 1.065 o.g. on a 6 gallon post boil volume. When requiring a higher gravity I will add LME or dextrose dependent on what the style is.

 

[Golddiggie]

I currently use a 5 gallon rubbermaid round cooler as my MLT. Due to the size, if I were to make something like an IPA that would require more grain than I have room for, could I:
1. Mash half the grain
2. Batch Sparge
3. Mash the other half using the sparge water from the first batch to hit my 1.5 qts/lb?
4. Batch sparge the remaining.

The goal is to hit about 6.5 gallons and still hit the desired OG.

How much grain are you looking to use? Are you looking to ferment 6.5 gallons or just want that for the pre-boil volume?

 

[ayoungrad]

I agree with the above.

I just did a recipe with an OG 0f 1.098. I do BIAB and only have two 5 gallon pots.

I mashed as much as I could at 1.25 q/pound. Then I did 2 batch sparges, mixed everything and then split the mixed wort into two 3.5 gallon boils and boiled one right after the other, adding 2.5 pounds of DME into each pot at flameout.

It does add 60 minutes to brew day but it has worked so far.

This will be highest OG batch I've done this way but I did a 1.080 and it turned out really, really well.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Cut the recipe (the mash part) into two. Mash twice, then add the runnings together and boil it all at once. Gonna make for a long brew day. Then, when you are done, go out and get the ten gallon cooler that you should have gotten in the first place.

 

[ThePearsonFam]

I've found that, even with larger tuns, there's a limit to how much you can physically get out of the grains without having to boil HUGE volumes for a LONG time to get back to the gravity you've targeted. Boiling sugar and adding it to your fermenter after fermentation has almost stopped is a great way to boost ABV without adversly affecting the taste (as long as you stay <= 10% sugar).

 

[lostboysbrew]

I split a grainbill and did two separate mash schedules once back when I only had a 5 gallon mash capacity. It worked, but after a loooooong brew day, I headed over to Academy and picked me up a 10 gallon cooler soon thereafter!

+1 here.......the wort isnt going to go bad if it waits for another mash. Just split the grainbill. If you use to much sugar or extract, you arent going to get the beer you want. Missed on an IPA (efficiency) a little while ago and added DME and sugar to get the OG up. It ended up being a very dry (not so bad) but thin beer because there wasnt enough malt backbone.

Good luck

 

[mkling]

Agreed, I'd probably go for as much grain as I could in the tun and just add extract.

This is the correct answer -- just go with a partial mash (as much as possible).

By my calculations, if you mash at a low water ratio, you should be able to mash close to 15 lbs. of grain (1 qt water/lb). That should give you plenty of grain for a regular IPA even without extract.

 

[PaulTheGhost]

The easiest way I could think is plan your AG recipe, then plug it into software.
Then start replacing your base malt with pale (or extra pale) DME until you reach your equilibrium of OG and max grain you can fit in your cooler.

 

[broadbill]

+1 here.......the wort isnt going to go bad if it waits for another mash.

I disagree, if the appropriate steps aren't taken the wort will continue to convert and you might end up with an over-attenuated beer. This may be acceptable for an IPA, but could be trouble if you are shooting for a maltier style of beer.

Just split the grainbill. If you use to much sugar or extract, you arent going to get the beer you want.

Really, why not? There are plenty of people who use nothing BUT extract and can brew beers to style.

Missed on an IPA (efficiency) a little while ago and added DME and sugar to get the OG up. It ended up being a very dry (not so bad) but thin beer because there wasnt enough malt backbone.

How do you know this was b/c of the DME and not because of the efficiency issues you had? Kind of hard to determine when you have a wort made from the mixture of the sugar sources (mashed grains, simple sugar, DME).

To the OP, I would also suggest that you use DME to make up the gravity can get out of your smaller mashtun.

 

[Golddiggie]

I really depends on how much grain you're looking to mash... If you go with 12# you can mash at 1.25qt/#. If you're looking to mash more, you could get 15# in there with 1qt/#... I wouldn't go with more grain than that though. Even there could be pushing it... You also might need to do more than one sparge in order to get the most from the grain.

I would plan to have some extra light DME on hand, just in case you need it to get closer to your target OG... You might not need it, depending on what you're looking to make... You could, also, make a batch that's less than 5 gallons in the fermenter, so that you get your OG at volume, without adding DME...

You have options, which you take is really up to you.

BTW, I added 3# of DME to my only partial mash and it didn't go too dry... If you mash at the right temp, some DME won't make it thin... I wouldn't use something like corn sugar, but dememera or turbinado sugar could be a nice addition... Just be aware of what it will do to/for the brew before you add it...

 

[lostboysbrew]

How do you know this was b/c of the DME and not because of the efficiency issues you had? Kind of hard to determine when you have a wort made from the mixture of the sugar sources (mashed grains, simple sugar, DME).

We missed our preboil gravity so we added DME and Sugar because our grain wasn't cracked well enough. Our efficiency was way low. Fixed it the next batch.

As for add ons not giving you the beer you want, I was referring more to the sugar added. If you add to much sugar it can create a thin, warm(alcohol) beer, not always what you are shooting for.

 

[TheMan]

You can comfortably fit 14# of grain in your tun with 1 qt/lb. 15 is possible, but like Golddiggie said, no further than that.

With 14# you should get a 1.055 brew at 70% eff. This is assuming the 6.5 gals you mentioned was postboil.

The other option I see is as said before, adding dme. I'd do this before doing two mashes, that just sounds no fun at all.

Go get a bigger tun.

 

[Golddiggie]

You can comfortably fit 14# of grain in your tun with 1 qt/lb. 15 is possible, but like Golddiggie said, no further than that.

With 14# you should get a 1.055 brew at 70% eff. This is assuming the 6.5 gals you mentioned was postboil.

The other option I see is as said before, adding dme. I'd do this before doing two mashes, that just sounds no fun at all.

Go get a bigger tun.

Amen brother... One of the reasons I like my 70qt mash tun... I won't run into this issue for a loooooong time... Probably not before I've gone beyond 10 gallon batches (I'm still on 5 gallon batches for the most part)...

Once I do need a bigger mash tun, I'll probably end up using my current one to hold sparge water. Or the mash runnings while I transfer the sparge water into the mash tun... With ball valves, you have so many different options on how to move things around.

 

[heckels]

You can comfortably fit 14# of grain in your tun with 1 qt/lb. 15 is possible, but like Golddiggie said, no further than that.

With 14# you should get a 1.055 brew at 70% eff. This is assuming the 6.5 gals you mentioned was postboil.

The other option I see is as said before, adding dme. I'd do this before doing two mashes, that just sounds no fun at all.

Go get a bigger tun.

Hey guys, thanks for all of the input. So I converted my extract recipe to AG using brewTarget. I came up with about 16.25# of grain to hit my 5 gal OG of 1.071 (6.5 gal boil volume @ SG of 1.066 @70% efficiency). I think I'll probably either do a 3 gal batch or use some dme to fill in the gaps.

Believe me, I'd rather use a 10 gallon mlt but I was able to build this one last summer new for about $35. I've also dropped a significant amount of money in the last few months switching over to AG and building my kegerator so buying another cooler isn't so cool with the wife. I am actively looking for one to come up on CL.

 

[PaulTheGhost]

Once I do need a bigger mash tun, I'll probably end up using my current one to hold sparge water.

This is why I don't feel so bad that I accidentally bought a 5 gal cooler.
Once I upgrade to a 10 gal I already have a pre-built 5 gal HLT for a 3 tier!

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I just brewed a 1 gallon batch of I don&#8217;t know what. But it should be around 15%, I collected about 2.5 gallons of wort and boiled it off for almost 3 hours. Pretty crazy beer, I used a small 2.5 gallons cooler with a nylon bag.

Details here

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/what-beer-but-strong-236421/