Trying to go all grain ?

[HI_SALENITY]

A am about to start buying/building some equipment for a mash turn and wanted advise so I don't find out after a batch or too I should to have went another route.

so question one is Keg or cooler?

I think I'll be using a cooler but wanted to know what is the most popular size and shape ? round/square/rectangle/?

Can someone explain efficiency to me ?

 

[duffman2]

I just went AG myself and now have 4 AG batches under my belt. So I'm no expert yet, but.......

I went cooler, rectangular shape. The shape you want will be dependent on how you want to sparge. Are you looking at fly sparging or batch? I'm going batch because it seemed a little easier and also pretty efficient. I use a SS braided hose and aside from the fact that the hose is pretty frail and wants to kink up easily, it seems to work very well so far. Flyguys thread is very helpful for building your MLT whichever way you wanna go.

So research how you wanna do this, and good luck to ya! :rockin:

 

[hbomb]

Keg or cooler? -> I'd say depends on your set up. If you use a keg, will you direct fire or use an electrical heating element? If not, my opinion would be to go with a cooler for it's insulation value. Although I suppose you could insulate a keg if you wanted too...

Round or Square-> As far as I can tell, folks around here use both with equitable success. Personally I use a square cooler with a copper manifold, but you could use any variation of square/round, false bottom/stainless steel braid/manifold (cpvc/copper)
They all work great and there's no general consensus on any one set up being superior.

Efficiency-> I'd summarize this as a ratio of the potential sugars you could extract from your grain bill in a perfect world vs. the actual amount you're able to achieve in practice. Kinda like how an engine's true horsepower is less than it's indicated horsepower...you've got to account for losses due to friction.

If you want learn more about calculating efficiency I'd suggest a search, there have been lots of discussions on this issue.

 

[Lou1998]

What type of beers do you plan on making? If you need to do any step mashing, a keg is easier to heat since you can just sit it on a burner. You can do step mashing in a cooler as well by adding hot water or using an electric heating element.
I do single infusion mashes and batch sparge in a square Icecube cooler. I don't think the shape matters much for batch sparging.
Efficiency determines your original gravity. A poor efficiency needs more grain to get the same OG as a normal one. Mash temps, how well your grain is crushed and other factors contribute to efficiency.
If you have a kettle large enough for 7 gallons or so, just get a cheap cooler and try a batch sparge to see how you like all grain brewing. Its a minimal investment and you can go from there.

 

[rhutter]

I went with the 10 gallon Rubbermaid cylindrical cooler when I started AG. The 10 gallons were nice since you could do 10 gallon batches and still achieve a fairly strong OG. When I got into bigger beers I just doubled up on the coolers and split it into two HLTs and two MLTs.

I would say that the biggest point of frustration for me was stuck mashes. I bought the drilled false bottom from Northern Brewer and had 3 of my 4 first batches get stuck during sparge - not fun. I picked up the Zymco screens to replace the false bottom and it was smooth sailing for every batch since.

I wouldn't recommend the screens if you go kettle and direct fire it as you can scorch the wort, but find a good false bottom and you should be OK.

 

[ForRealBeer]

rhutter has some great advice there.

Me, I mashed in a converted 15 gallon keg and found that the temperature stability was at the whim of the weather. In summer, no real problems, but in winter, the SS of the keg was basically a heat sink transmitting heat out of the mash...which I found to be unacceptable.

I then converted a 10gallon cylindrical and used the Listerman "Phil's Phalse Bottom" based on reccs from here and the old BrewBoard forums. I also use a "mash pad" filter atop that, it utterly stops any husks from passing through. No more temperature problems.

 

[Denny]

A am about to start buying/building some equipment for a mash turn and wanted advise so I don't find out after a batch or too I should to have went another route.

so question one is Keg or cooler?

I think I'll be using a cooler but wanted to know what is the most popular size and shape ? round/square/rectangle/?

See www.dennybrew.com

 

[ibbones]

I use a cooler but...I already had it. It didn't cost anything, just the fittings. I think the keg would look better.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

It really depends on the direction you think you will take it. If you think you'll want to do 10g batches, I would say go with at least a 60qt cooler or bigger. For me, I'll never do more than a 5g batch, having any more than 5gallons of one type of beer hanging around is impractical for me. So I have a 38qt igloo rectangular cooler that I have a copper manifold in. I figure I can fit 20lbs of grain in there at 1.5qt of water per pound of grain. If you go the cooler route I would suggest buying some Great Stuff at the same time so you can insulate the lid.

 

[HI_SALENITY]

Thanks for all the replies ! As of now I have a Keggle and another Keg I could use for sparge water . I have thought about the standard 3 keg/3 burner setup but I really don't want that big of a setup taking up room in my garage.

I do brew in the garage so I can control the outside temps in the winter.

I only plan on 5 gallon batches .

I think I would like to fly sparge.

If I use a keg it would be easier to step mash but What beers need to be step mashed ? Do most step mash?