Mash tun size

[JustBrewinAround]

:AG Newb:
Is my 10 Gal Gott cooler mash tun gonna be too big for a 12.25# grain bill? I do have a 5 gallon Gott cooler with a valve as well that I plan to use for the liquid tank. Im thinking I should maybe switch and mash in the 5 gal instead to have a higher column of grain for sparging.. This is my first AG batch so be easy on me..

 

[RMS]

I am thinking that you will be using 3.8 gallons of water for that 12.25# so to me and if that is the case then the 5 gallon tun sounds good to me, but I have only read about all grain so I could be wrong.

 

[Gixxer]

This might help...
----EDIT--- So essentially you can fit 12.25lb of grain in a 5gl tun but you will have to use a thicker mash ratio than 1.250... Maybe closer to 1.100 just guessing without calculating. Also your sparge might get split up to two or three additions depending on your boil volume. Both of those issues not necessarily a problem

 

[ajf]

I use a 10 gallon Gott cooler for a mash tun and regularly brew with just 10 lbs grain. It works fine
If you're fly sparging (which is the only case you need to consider the grain bed depth), I get 85% mash/lauter efficiency with a 10 lb of grain.

-a.

 

[JustBrewinAround]

Thanks for the info! I think I'll stick with the 10 gal as I have it set up. I am using a single Kettle Screen from Brewer's Edge and I was just thinking that there would be too much grain along the side of the screen. Like I said, this is my first AG and I just want to avoid any hang ups as much as possible.

Also your sparge might get split up to two or three additions depending on your boil volume./QUOTE]

This was another thing I was worried about since my boil volume is barely 6 gal. (turkey fryer pot) and from what I calculate, I need 3.8 gal of strike and 6.125 gal. of sparge which will put me way over boil capacity. Can you just stop sparging and let the wort rest in the mash tun while the boil is going on, and then add more wort as it boils down?