abracadabra said:also you can look for good deals on coolers at yard sales.
abracadabra said:Get the biggest best cooler you can afford but get one that's at least 10 Gal.
The rectangular coolers work just as well as the round ones plus you can get something like an Extreme or Max Cold the ones that says it'll keep ice for 5 days they hold heat better too.
This is probably only a concern if you are fly sparging and/or using a long, rectangular cooler.janzik said:I'm afraid of getting something too big that won't allow me have a deep enough grain bed for 5 gallon batches.
janzik said:Affording the cooler isn't really the issue for me. I'm afraid of getting something too big that won't allow me have a deep enough grain bed for 5 gallon batches.
I'm almost certain that I would like to go to 10 gallon batches as my standard, but maybe lack of in-house-in-stock ingredients, lack of a second empty carboy, or making something I'm not sure I want 10 gallons of would drive me to do a 5 gallon batch.
So I need to find the happy medium for being able to do 5 gallon batches (normal or big) and being able to do standard 10 gallon batches. I think getting something big enough to handle big 10 gallon batches may hinder the ability to do regular 5 gallon batches. Unless there are cooler sizes that keep a similar footprint between capacities.
janzik said:Affording the cooler isn't really the issue for me. I'm afraid of getting something too big that won't allow me have a deep enough grain bed for 5 gallon batches.
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abracadabra said:Just like Guy I too think that grain bed depth is pretty much a non issue for batch sparging. Unless you went to say a 120 qt. cooler and did a very small grain bill. And even then I think the main problem would be just trying to drain it.