What type Of MLT

[ddrayne10]

I have been doing all grain brewing for about 4 batches and have enjoyed the longer brew day (and more beer I drink while brewing) but still have a few questions. I made a oatmeal stout but the problem I had was the stuck sparge. I have made two but the first one I dropped on the floor so the following week I made the same beer again. The first time I brewed the stout I got a stuck sparge so instead of mixing up the grain bed I washed my mouth out with whiskey and sucking the wort through. This worked well. The next week the same thing happened and I stopped the flow washed my mouth again and then tried to suck it through. This failed to work as the wort would come through and then came to a trickle after a few seconds. The only way I got the wort to start flowing was picking the manifold of the bottom of the cooler with my spoon and moving it around. This seemed not to work too well but got the job done. It took me over 45 minutes to get all the wort out of the mash turn. Would this be a problem with my manifold. It is about 8in by 5in copper with slits ever .5in.
Question 2
I have a 54qt? cooler that I use but I put a slight crack in the wall. What I did to fix it was drill a inch hole half way through the cooler and place a rubber stopper to plug it. Does this work or should I buy a new cooler?
Question 3
If I need to buy a new cooler is then I would like to know the pros/cons of making a MLT out of a keg. I have an extra keg and I have made my own keggle for both boil and HLT. I have looked around this site but not seen too many kegs used as MLT. Any info would be great. Oh also I have access to a very nice outside propane burner that would distribute the heat very evenly over the bottom of the keg.

 

[malkore]

1. first you don't need to sanitize your mouth pre-boil. it all gets boiled and thus sanitized. it might work better to blow into the manifold rather than sucking back out.

I'd say the manifold is just getting plugged up due to how the slits are made. I use a stainless steel braid on my MLT and have yet to come close to a stuck sparge.

2. as long as its not leaking its fine. you don't want wort to leak inside the cooler though cuz that'll get funky FAST

3. a keg MLT won't hold heat unless you insulate it, but of course you can direct fire it.

since kegs are hard to come by legally, most people don't mess with them aside from using as 15 gallon boiling kettles first, MLT's second.

nothing wrong with doing it, just cost prohibitive for a lot of us.

 

[jagg]

Go to Lowes and get a stainless braid, I use the 36" one, that will solve the stuck mash issue. Good luck on your next brew.

 

[ddrayne10]

Thanks for the advice oh and sorry I did blow back in and then sucked out. But was still having many problems. I will try the SS braid idea before I cut up a keg. And if you are wondering I think i get the keg legally because i work at a bar and i ask the different beer reps for stuff that I could use. I got 2 ss taps and handles. Also got a ss 10 pound aluminum co2 tank and first fill included for 90 bucks and refills cost 15. So I have access to the kegs and have been gathering them for some time. The first one I used for my brew kettle was a old guinness keg that was used for decoration. But even with consistent heat that is extremely well spread evenly throughout the bottom of the keg is it not as functional as a cooler?