MLT too big?

[impur]

Hi there, i'm going to be doing my 1st AG this weekend. Its a 5gal batch of Red Hood ESB from midwestsupplies.com. My first actual brew was a partial mash and its currently in bottles at week 2 :fro: So i build my MLT this week out of a nice cooler i found on sale. Its a 70qt cooler. I've got the manifold in it and the valve on the outside and all. Now i'm thinking its too big after reading the sticky about how large the MTL should be. What kind of problems might this present on brew day?

 

[kevmoron]

It's not really the volume that matters as much as what your grain bed depth ends up being. And even here, there is some flexibility. If it is too deep, you will have good efficiency but will risk slow runoff or a stuck sparge. If it is too shallow, you will have an extremely smooth runoff but possibly poor efficiency since it will be easier for it to channel. This can be especially problematic if your manifold design leaves large dead spots.

If you are batch sparging, however, the latter is not an issue - only if you fly sparge.

 

[impur]

Thanks for the quick response!

My manifold has 4 cross members so i really think i have covered a lot of area for the drainage. I am indeed batch sparging so i'm gonna give it a go!