I’m looking to step up to all grain but small scale. I currently brew partial boil extract on the stove top. I have a 4 gallon kettle that I can boil 3 gallons with. My last batch 60 min post boil amount was around 2.5 gallons before topping to 5 gallons. Since you don’t top off with all grain I should be able to make 2.5 gallon batches correct? If so then would a 5 gallon cooler mash tun be enough? Seems the price for a 5 gallon beverage cooler is around $20 and I few more for parts to build a manifold.
I would have to say… it depends on your grain bill for what you’re brewing.
That said, using 1.25 quarts per pound of grain (about normal for mash thickness, IIRC), you could mash up to 12 pounds of grain in a 5-gallon mash tun (if you use Denny’s Cheap and Easy mash tun build, if you put a false bottom in it, it changes things). At that rate, you’ll take up about 4.71 gallons of space.
Now, another thing that could be done would be to mash what you can and do a late add of malt extract (add it in the last 15 minutes of the boil). By doing a partial mash like that, you could add the top-off water and make a full 5-gallon batch, reduce your reliance on extract, and produce good beer.
So in short, you would have options. Doing small batches, you’ll probably be able to mash what you’ll need, but you can also do full batches if you desire.
If a 5gal MT can hold 12lbs of grain that will be PLENTY for a 2.5gal batch. That should yeild wort of approx. 1.090. PREBOIL (at 70% effeciency).
You can also top a 2.5 gallon all grain batch up to 5 gallons.
If you don’t need the cooler right away you can scout around a bit. Last year I found a 7 gallon square one at Goodwill for $8. And a couple of months ago I found a 10 gallon square wheeled cooler at Ross for $17. The hole left after I removed the drain spout was exactly the size of the weldless spigot I bought: all I had to do was carefully screw it in. I added a kettle screen and used it two weeks ago for the first time.
Good point, I didn’t bother to run the math for what 12 lbs of grain would yield. I had other things on my mind at the time, lol.
As far as the fittings to make a mash tun work, I decided not to buy the weldless fittings and try to build it locally. I found out really quick that Home Depot and Lowes were expensive and didn’t really have what I was looking for aside from a cooler to make a hot water tank out of and the stainless braid for the sparge mechanism. The rest of the parts I ended up sourcing from a local plumbing supply warehouse, and the guys there proved to be patient and helpful. I put together a video on it too, hopefully the link works.
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Nice video and build! I’m thinking about buying the igloo cooler false bottom from AIH. Not that I can’t build my own but I’d rather not have to hunt down the parts and I like the though of stainless steel parts.
I would HIGHLY recommend a stainless braid or bazooka tube instead of a false bottom. I used one for about 6 months and it was nothing but trouble. Since switching to a bazooka tube, it’s the best purchase I’ve made yet. Never even a hint of a stuck runoff with one of these, although you have to tip the cooler a bit to get all the runnings.
I will keep that in mind before I pull the trigger. Thanks! Is this the screen you’re talking about? Bazooka
Thanks!
I would agree with porkchop, stainless braid works very well and is relatively cheap. I got the longest one I could find at Home Depot, IIRC it was a 20" long one for a toilet connection. It doesn’t fit the whole length of the cooler, but it works and from what Denny said, you can get away with even shorter than that. Plus there’s less dead space in the cooler so you have more room for grain.
I kind of wanted to go all-stainless with my build, but as things worked out, doing it the way I went about it, I had to use brass barb fittings because that was what was available and I ended up going with a lead-free brass valve because it was like $7 at the plumbing supply place as opposed to $20 or more for a stainless one. Maybe someday I’ll upgrade, but my wallet was feeling the pinch after buying all that new gear (new 15 gal ss kettle, copper CFC, mash tun, HWT and the ingredients to use them properly). I probably blew in the neighborhood of $700 on new gear and ingredients so far this year. But I’m happy with where I’m at now so I guess that’s all that really counts.
And yes, that’s what porkchop is talking about
Yep! That’s it. NB sells one as well.
Either one is probably too long for a 5 gallon cooler, but you can just bend the end over so it’ll fit. If you go with the stainless valve kit, just unscrew the nipple (hehehheh) on the inside of the cooler and thread the bazooka tube directly into the coupler. Easy peasy.
I tried the stainless braid but kept catching it on my mash paddle. The bazooka tube is rigid enough that you won’t deform and collapse it like you can with a braid. If you’re just starting, keep the set-up simple so you aren’t fighting your equipment from the start.
I haven’t had a problem with the stainless braid yet, but then again, I tend to stir fore and aft since I have a long mash tun. Plus I have a stainless carriage bolt in the end of the braid to cap it off, so that helps keep it down on the bottom too which probably helps.
My standard is 3-gallon all-grain.
I use a 7-gallon round cooler. I replaced the valve with a ball valve. No bazooka; no false bottom; instead I use a BIAB bag. It’s a regular process, the bag is just the filter.
Easy-peasy.
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A false bottom is for a mash kettle so you can add heat without burning the grain. Makes no sense in a cooler tun except to add cost.
I’ve been using a 5 gallon cooler with a SS braid for 3 years, up to 15 pounds of grain for a Plinian Legacy. Yea there’s not much room left. But it works well.
