Mashing 20-30 Gal Batches with multiple Igloo Coolers?

[HermannWeihs]

I am currently in the process of upgrading equipment, I got a 30 Gal brew kettle (120 L). But since the cost of upgrading the rest of my 5 gal equipment is really high, I was wondering if I could pull off an infusion mash and sparge using 4 10 gal igloo coolers for a 20 gal batch until I get enough cash for a bigger mash tun.

Or would it be better to mash in 2 igloo and just sparge until I get the desired volume and gravity?

I plan on doing a pilot batch to test both, but I wanted to get some comments before wasting grains and hops. We're brewing Red Ale, Stouts and IPAs.

 

[Jwin]

I am currently in the process of upgrading equipment, I got a 30 Gal brew kettle (120 L). But since the cost of upgrading the rest of my 5 gal equipment is really high, I was wondering if I could pull off an infusion mash and sparge using 4 10 gal igloo coolers for a 20 gal batch until I get enough cash for a bigger mash tun.

Or would it be better to mash in 2 igloo and just sparge until I get the desired volume and gravity?

I plan on doing a pilot batch to test both, but I wanted to get some comments before wasting grains and hops. We're brewing Red Ale, Stouts and IPAs.

Have you checked Craigslist?

I picked up a 40-gallon Coleman Xtreme for 30 bucks a couple years back off Craigslist...

Another option that would probably yield you better efficiency would be to empty one mash into the next, starting a new Mash. Then sparge from one cooler to the next.
The enzymatic activity from Ash one will make mash to convert fairly quickly, adding maybe an extra 30 or 40 minutes to your Brew Day.
John blichmann did this in a couple of podcast I listen to. His goal was to determine if you could create high gravity wort in a small cooler by doing so.

 

[RM-MN]

Why could you not mash, sparge, clean and repeat with only a single cooler? It will take longer time but less money. Figure out the trade off and decide from there what makes the most sense. Once the first batch wort is in the kettle heat it to 160F to make sure it is pasteurized and cover it to keep bacteria out. Repeat for each mash until the last where you bring the entire batch to boil.

Mash time and brewhouse efficiency are affected by the crush or the grain. Line your cooler with a fine mesh bag (Swiss Voille curtain material) and you can crush very fine without getting a stuck mash or sparge. With the grain crushed well you may be able to do a 30 minute mash. Batch sparging then will only take a few minutes and you can remove the grain, dump them from the bag, and start the next mash.

 

[John Eberly]

My brew kettle outclasses my mash tun too - I have a 100 liter brew kettle and have been using a 10 gallon Igloo m.t.

I have made batches approaching 20 gallons by mashing in 30 pounds of grain with a minimum of water. This requires fly sparging as there is not enough space in the tun for batch sparging.

I have bought a keggle tun but am happier with the cooler, it holds temp much better. I will be doing HERMS next year and will probably get away from the cooler then.

I regularly do 10 gallon batches using my single 10 gallon Igloo, seems like it would be feasible to use 2 of them for 20 gallons.

 

[doug293cz]

No reason you can't mash in multiple coolers simultaneously. To yield 21 gal to the fermenter of a 1.060 wort, using single batch sparge at 100% conversion efficiency, will require about 44 lbs of grain. A conversion efficiency of 82% would yield about a 1.050 wort. The total mash volume would be a little over 20 gal, so you could split it across three coolers.

Or you could do a double batch sparge. This would require about 41 lbs of grain @ 100% conversion efficiency (would yield 1.050 @ 82% conversion efficiency.) Total mash volume in this case would be about 16 gal, so you would only need to use two 10 gal coolers, but one more total sparge step.

Brew on

 

[HermannWeihs]

Thanks to all for your answers!
I found a 40 gal cooler at a really good price, so I will try that and see our results.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Ok excellent!

My suggestion previous to you getting a large cooler was to just make a mash tun out of a large hdpe drum. I have found that as batch size increases, especially to the 20-30 gallon level, insulation of the mash tun becomes irrelevant due the the huge mass of the mash.