Is this cooler too big for 5 gallon batches?

[Gunshowgreg]

120 quart Coleman cooler

Hey everyone. Gonna be taking off to the all grain side and I was wanting to know if this was too big of a msg tun for 5 gallons. Or does it matter. I wanna get a bigger one for several reasons

1. Cost isn't that bad compared to a smaller one. Just a few bucks more

2. If I wanted to upgrade to larger batch sizes it's covered

3. If I decide to do recipes even for 5 gallon that call for a lot of grains I have some space.

It's a 120 quart Coleman cooler on Amazon for 40$ I tried providing a link but it's not working.

Greg Sagram

 

[Nokt]

It sounds pretty big for 5 gallon batches. I bought a 52 quart and I think it's more that enough. Here's a link to read if you haven't read it already:
https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1919.htm

Also:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/this-is-how-big-your-mash-tun-needs-to-be.123585/


*Edited to add link

 

[hottpeper13]

I have the 60 qt(15 gal, to match my kettles). It's to big for 1.050 and smaller beers so I use the BIAB method for those brews and the tun for high gravity or 10 gal batches. I use a bag in the tun also and can do 50% wheat with no rice hulls and ~86% efficiency. I love my Coleman extreme as it has no dead space.

 

[00Seven]

I have the 60 qt(15 gal, to match my kettles). It's to big for 1.050 and smaller beers so I use the BIAB method for those brews and the tun for high gravity or 10 gal batches. I use a bag in the tun also and can do 50% wheat with no rice hulls and ~86% efficiency. I love my Coleman extreme as it has no dead space.

What kind of bag do you use?

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

I use a 60qt cube cooler. Works fine for 5 gallon batches. Cost me $25 off amazon years ago.

 

[ProblemChild]

Two problems going that big

1) a lot of air (head-space) to keep warm, making temperature stability harder simply too much open air for the heat to escape into

2) draining the mash tun. in a beverage cooler, it all stacks up and its own weight assists in squeezing the grain. When you are spread out flat and thin, it takes longer to drain, adding extra handling to the process to get all that malty goodness out.

I would not go quiet so big - 52 quart is plenty. Even at that size, I would probably cut out a piece of Styrofoam to rest on top of the grist to hold in heat for 5-gallon batches.

 

[DownstairsBrewing]

Two problems going that big

1) a lot of air (head-space) to keep warm, making temperature stability harder simply too much open air for the heat to escape into

2) draining the mash tun. in a beverage cooler, it all stacks up and its own weight assists in squeezing the grain. When you are spread out flat and thin, it takes longer to drain, adding extra handling to the process to get all that malty goodness out.

I would not go quiet so big - 52 quart is plenty. Even at that size, I would probably cut out a piece of Styrofoam to rest on top of the grist to hold in heat for 5-gallon batches.

I have a mash tun built with that model, or very similar. It is not really viable for 5 gallon for exactly those reasons. The only thing I would add is that the volume below the outlet is going to be fairly significant. It will move around depending on the grain bill, but poured into an empty tun, there must be close to a full gallon.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Alright, im glad I asked. Nice to have .a a community like this i can ask and get good advice. If I wanted to make something like a barley wine later when I dabble deeper into this hobby will 52 qts be sufficient? Just trying to spend money the smart way but im.probanly gonna go with a 52 quart anyway based of of everyone's personal experience.

 

[wilserbrewer]

52 qt is plenty large and will mash 30 lbs of grain at 1.25 qt / lb allowing very heavy 5 gal batches and even mid heavy 10 gallon batches.

Will also allow full volume mashing for probably almost all batches but you can easily batch sparge as well.

A 120 qt cooler is ridiculously large for 5 gallon batches, your 5 gallon grain bill would appear like residue on the bottom lol

Helpful link here, “can I mash it” volume calculator

https://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

36 lbs of grain at 1.0 qt/lb is still only 11.88 gal, so that cooler will mash a lot of grain for sure...that’s 1/2 barrel or 15.5 gallon batch territory...more than big enough for your first cooler unless you have grand plans lol

A bag or braid will work well in a cooler.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

52 qt is plenty large and will mash 30 lbs of grain at 1.25 qt / lb allowing very heavy 5 gal batches and even mid heavy 10 gallon batches.

Will also allow full volume mashing for probably almost all batches but you can easily batch sparge as well.

A 120 qt cooler is ridiculously large for 5 gallon batches, your 5 gallon grain bill would appear like residue on the bottom lol

Helpful link here, “can I mash it” volume calculator

https://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

36 lbs of grain at 1.0 qt/lb is still only 11.88 gal, so that cooler will mash a lot of grain for sure...that’s 1/2 barrel or 15.5 gallon batch territory...more than big enough for your first cooler unless you have grand plans lol

A bag or braid will work well in a cooler.

Thank you so much![emoji2] going with the 52 quart, for sure! Glad I asked before buying a cooler that I was only gonna use for drinks and not making beer. Not that it would be a bad thing. Just not my goal now. Cheers. I'll be back for something else soon.

 

[Sparkncode]

I have an eherms setup with a 50L/ 52.8qt pot as a mash tun. Its way bigger than needed for 5g batches. Even my 9.5% belgian tripel was pretty low in it. I could definitly do a 10g batch of my tripel in it with room to spare
The size isn't an issue for me as herms maintains the heat but like others have mentioned too big with a cooler might make heat managment harder.

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

I do party-gyle some days and mash in @2qts a lb. I wouldn't be able to fit that in a 52qt. The 60qt cube is perfect IMHO. That is 22lbs of grain and 11 gallons of water in there now.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

View attachment 572211
I do party-gyle some days and mash in @2qts a lb. I wouldn't be able to fit that in a 52qt. The 60qt cube is perfect IMHO. That is 22lbs of grain and 11 gallons of water in there now.

Well I learned something new. Never heard if parti gyle. I had to Google it perhaps too advanced for me right now. But you are an example of my desire to experiment later on in my brewing adventures. Thanks for sharing. [emoji482] What are you making exactly?

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

The first runnings will be a dopplebock. Not really sure what the second runnings will be yet ha.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

The first runnings will be a dopplebock. Not really sure what the second runnings will be yet ha.

If like to know how it comes out. Keep us posted