One Gallon All Grain with Mash Tun?

[jpsexton]

I've been out of the game for a few years because we sold our house scaled down to a much smaller space. I sold everything and quit brewing...

I've been reading alot about one gallon BIAB and thought I'd give it a shot. The beer turned out quite nice but two things about the process bothered me.

1. Fiddling with the burner to maintain Mash temp was aggravating.
2. The wort was pretty cloudy.

I'm thinking about building a 2 gallon Rubbermaid Cooler Mash Tun. I figure I can Mash in just like a big system, close the lid, and an hour later it's done. No fiddling with the burner! I also think the vourlof step would clear up the wort.

Anybody use a Mash Tun for small batch brewing? Thought? Opinions?

 

[myndflyte]

Yeah why not? I use a 10 gal cooler for my 5 gallon BIAB mashes and it works like a charm. If I were doing small batches, I would not want to be messing with a burner the whole time.

 

[kh54s10]

For that size, preheat your oven to about 160 degrees then turn it off. Stir in the mash, check the temperature, then put the pot in the oven. It is insulated enough that the preheat will hold your mash pretty steady. If you have an oven thermometer you can check that it is still near 150 after putting the pot inside. If it drops much start a little hotter on the oven preheat for the next batch.

 

[chickypad]

^ This. I lose zero temp that way (my oven goes down to 170* and I turn it off just as I'm getting ready to mash in). I tried a small cooler first but prefer mashing in the kettle for simplicity. Is your beer cloudy or just the wort? I get clear beer with BIAB same as with my 3 vessel system.

 

[Iceman6409]

I do 2.5 gallon batches and mash in a 4 gallon cooler. Much smaller than a normal size picnic cooler. I also use a voile bag. My process is get the water to preferred temperature pour into cooler with bag already in. Pour in grains and stir to rest temperature and close lid for an hour with a blanket wrapped around it. Once ready I simply lift the bag out and let it drain back into the cooler for as long as I can handle the heat. Then I put the bag with grains into a colander that is resting in the top of a plastic pail, or whatever is handy. Once the grain is done draining I pour the wort back into the cooler or my kettle and off I go. I personally have not done the process mentioned above with the kettle in the oven so I cannot comment on that.

 

[kh54s10]

IMO, BIAB wort is going to be cloudier than traditional 3 vessel wort no matter what vessel is used. In other words using a cooler is not going to change the cloudiness significantly.

 

[jpsexton]

^ This. I lose zero temp that way (my oven goes down to 170* and I turn it off just as I'm getting ready to mash in). I tried a small cooler first but prefer mashing in the kettle for simplicity. Is your beer cloudy or just the wort? I get clear beer with BIAB same as with my 3 vessel system.

The beer was much clearer than the wort but i feel like when I used to brew on my old 3 teir system it was clearer. I dunno, maybe selective memory too...

 

[jpsexton]

IMO, BIAB wort is going to be cloudier than traditional 3 vessel wort no matter what vessel is used. In other words using a cooler is not going to change the cloudiness significantly.

I was thinking I'd vourlof and sparge just like I used to with my big system.

I might try the oven method for another batch though, just to keep things simple and small.

 

[Kent88]

I have a three gallon cooler that I use for a mash tun, typically for three-gallon batches. It works alright. I don't see any reason why a two gallon cooler wouldn't work for one-gallon batches.

 

[Griffin495]

When I do one gallon batches, I do full volume mashes in a 2.25g kettle with one of Wilser's bags. I get my water up to my desired temp using http://www.biabcalculator.com/ , add the bag, stir in the grains and then put in a pre-heated oven as mentioned above. The only thing I do different is I preheat my oven to 200F and then shut it off when I add my kettle and wrap an old towel around it. The extra temp won't raise the temp of your wort and I think that it helps me hold my mash temp better than when I used to do 170 (which is the lowest my oven will go). I'd say I lose 1/2 a degree temp in an hour and that's probably only because I open it up and stir it every 20 minutes which it probably doesn't even need.

 

[kh54s10]

So now you are going to sparge and vorlauf? Making things more complicated.. Just my opinion.

 

[chickypad]

IMO, BIAB wort is going to be cloudier than traditional 3 vessel wort no matter what vessel is used. In other words using a cooler is not going to change the cloudiness significantly.

That was my experience using the cooler and bag. A vorlauf may eliminate a few large particles. But OP if your beer is clear, who cares about the wort?