Now that I am making the transition to all grain, I had thought about BIAB since I did not want to buy a mash tun but remembered today that I had an unused Lynx stainless steel drop-in cooler at work and thought I could convert it into my mash tun. Now for the questions.
The cooler is rectangle. Stainless steel inside and out with insulation between and a hinged lid. Its interior dimensions are 13.5" W x19.5" L x 10" H which if I did my calculations right it should hold roughly 11 gal. Is that large enough for a 5 gal. batch?
Will the rectangle shape effect the mashing process since it seems most mash tuns are round?
The cooler also has a bottom drain so using a pre-fab round false bottom will not work since they have the outflow at the top for a side bulkhead fitting. I thought I would make a simple stand so I could use the bottom drain provided. Would using a brew bag work since it would filter out the grains but allow the wort to flow out the bottom? I could plug up the bottom drain and drill a hole in the side or maybe modify a bazooka screen to drain downward. Looked at making my own stainless steel false bottom but that stuff is expensive. Anyone have any thoughts on the best solution to get the best efficiency or have used a mash tun with a bottom drain?
Before I jump in with buying fittings, etc, would putting in 5 gal of water say at 150-degrees and checking my temp after an hour work to see if it will hold temps? Do soaked grains hold temperatures better that just plain water? Would hate to go thru all the trouble of custom fitting / setting it up and finding that I can hold a consistent temperature for mashing.
Any ideas, solutions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I could provide a picture if needed.
Those Lync coolers are so expensive it would be hard for me to justify using one of them as a mash tun. You can get an igloo or a coleman xtreme for $25-$50 I can’t imagine why you would want to use a several hundred dollar drop in cooler even if it’s “free.”
No way I would spend that kind of money either. I’m on the cheap side when it comes to homebrewing and wouldn’t even spend money on a cooler mash tun either at this point. That’s why I had originally planned to do BIAB but the stainless steel cooler was free and looks good so why not use it.
I will check out Dennybrew.com. Thanks for the suggestion.
[quote=“EchoMarine225”]No way I would spend that kind of money either. I’m on the cheap side when it comes to homebrewing and wouldn’t even spend money on a cooler mash tun either at this point. That’s why I had originally planned to do BIAB but the stainless steel cooler was free and looks good so why not use it.
I will check out Dennybrew.com. Thanks for the suggestion.[/quote]
mashing for a 5gal batch will fit in a 5 gal container, even for high gravity… I mash with 8.5# grains and 10.5 qt water for a 5gal 1.058 SG brew and it fits (mash) easily in a 5gal stockpot.
Yeah, round is more efficient - flow patterns are good with a central bottom drain and no corners… but you have a nice SS insulated box! Embrace your good fortune!
Bottom drain is perfect! If you have this available - why not??? Where does water flow by gravity???
So many ways to skin a cat…
I mash with a cheap 5 gal SS pot set into an inuslated box.
I use the “Lauter Tun” as an extraction filter for sparging. It is durable, not plastic, and wicked efficient; and pretty cheap… It drains from the bottom (where would be better???).
You just need to make a false bottom for your Lynx drop-in cooler and you have pretty much the same thing, but can mash in it as well!
I get great results with my Lauter Tun. The fines wash through and, in recycling the cloudy liquid (vorlaf), the fines become distributed and trapped in the grain bed. Lauter Tuns that use fine screens on the drain get all the fines jammed onto the relatively small area of the screens so the flow will be less efficient (frequently plugged). Think about it…
[quote=“EchoMarine225”]Now that I am making the transition to all grain, I had thought about BIAB since I did not want to buy a mash tun but remembered today that I had an unused Lynx stainless steel drop-in cooler at work and thought I could convert it into my mash tun. Now for the questions.
The cooler is rectangle. Stainless steel inside and out with insulation between and a hinged lid. Its interior dimensions are 13.5" W x19.5" L x 10" H which if I did my calculations right it should hold roughly 11 gal. Is that large enough for a 5 gal. batch?
Will the rectangle shape effect the mashing process since it seems most mash tuns are round?
The cooler also has a bottom drain so using a pre-fab round false bottom will not work since they have the outflow at the top for a side bulkhead fitting. I thought I would make a simple stand so I could use the bottom drain provided. Would using a brew bag work since it would filter out the grains but allow the wort to flow out the bottom? I could plug up the bottom drain and drill a hole in the side or maybe modify a bazooka screen to drain downward. Looked at making my own stainless steel false bottom but that stuff is expensive. Anyone have any thoughts on the best solution to get the best efficiency or have used a mash tun with a bottom drain?
Before I jump in with buying fittings, etc, would putting in 5 gal of water say at 150-degrees and checking my temp after an hour work to see if it will hold temps? Do soaked grains hold temperatures better that just plain water? Would hate to go thru all the trouble of custom fitting / setting it up and finding that I can hold a consistent temperature for mashing.
Any ideas, solutions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I could provide a picture if needed.
Thanks all and Brew on![/quote]
I too got about 11 gallons of volume when I did the calculations. I use a 38 quart rectangular cooler for my 5 gallon batches (yours would be about 45 quarts), so yes, you will have plenty of room to do a 5 gallon batch. I can get up to 15lbs of grain in mine and make beers up to 8% ABV. Read Palmer’s book about the comparison between the different shaped mash tuns. The book is actually online. Just do a google search. I just felt the efficiency difference wasn’t really a problem, and I could get a bigger rectangular cooler for the money than I could a round one. So I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with your approach.
[quote=“toadhall”]1) mashing for a 5gal batch will fit in a 5 gal container, even for high gravity… I mash with 8.5# grains and 10.5 qt water for a 5gal 1.058 SG brew and it fits (mash) easily in a 5gal stockpot.
Yeah, round is more efficient - flow patterns are good with a central bottom drain and no corners… but you have a nice SS insulated box! Embrace your good fortune!
Bottom drain is perfect! If you have this available - why not??? Where does water flow by gravity???
So many ways to skin a cat…
I mash with a cheap 5 gal SS pot set into an inuslated box.
I use the “Lauter Tun” as an extraction filter for sparging. It is durable, not plastic, and wicked efficient; and pretty cheap… It drains from the bottom (where would be better???).
You just need to make a false bottom for your Lynx drop-in cooler and you have pretty much the same thing, but can mash in it as well!
I get great results with my Lauter Tun. The fines wash through and, in recycling the cloudy liquid (vorlaf), the fines become distributed and trapped in the grain bed. Lauter Tuns that use fine screens on the drain get all the fines jammed onto the relatively small area of the screens so the flow will be less efficient (frequently plugged). Think about it…
Cheers![/quote]
If you batch sparge, “flow pattern” makes no difference.
Thanks for all the info everyone. Much appreciated. I will be doing my first all-grain batch this weekend and will be doing it batch sparge style. Thanks Denny for the link your website.
I’m excited but a little nervous since I have been doing extract for two years now and I know what my end result will be but with this first attempt, it could good or OK but would prefer great though.
[quote=“EchoMarine225”]Thanks for all the info everyone. Much appreciated. I will be doing my first all-grain batch this weekend and will be doing it batch sparge style. Thanks Denny for the link your website.
I’m excited but a little nervous since I have been doing extract for two years now and I know what my end result will be but with this first attempt, it could good or OK but would prefer great though.[/quote]
Every single time I’ve taught someone to brew all grain using that method, the session ends up with them saying “Is that all there is to it?”. It’s so easy you won’t believe you did it!
