Two Lauter Tuns

Mashing
1

Folks,
I recently came into two five gallon cylindrical coolers. Menards has them on sale for like ten bucks each and I had a ten dollar coupon so I couldn’t resist.

At any rate, I’ve read a lot about how the five gallon cylindrical coolers are generally disfavored for anything above an o.g. of about 1.05 or so. My question generally relates to whether or not, if I made each of them into a lauter tun, could higher o.g. batches with a larger grain bill be accommodated by splitting it into two separate five gallon later tuns?

Thanks for your thoughts.

2

Probably, but it sounds like a PITA.

3

That should work. I agree with Denny it would be a pain to manage two MLT’s. But if you only brew bigger beers occasionally, it shouldn’t be too bad.

A couple of additional options that would allow you to use one of those coolers for a “bigger” beer:

  • Mash thinner (lower water to grain ratio, like 1 quart per pound of grain)
  • Make a smaller batch. It is perfectly acceptable to brew batches smaller than 5 gallons.
4

You bet. I do it all the time with my 15 gallon mashtuns. It’s really not that complicated. Each mash is identical, so no extra math. : ) And, if you batch sparge, you do batch sparge don’t you, the sparge is identical, and then just run off into the kettle. And you could split one stainless hose cover for both.

Batch sparge rules, despite what Denny says. ; )

Brew on

5

[quote=“TG”]You bet. I do it all the time with my 15 gallon mashtuns. It’s really not that complicated. Each mash is identical, so no extra math. : ) And, if you batch sparge, you do batch sparge don’t you, the sparge is identical, and then just run off into the kettle. And you could split one stainless hose cover for both.

Batch sparge rules, despite what Denny says. ; )

Brew on[/quote]

You been drinkin’’, Tom? :slight_smile:

6

[quote=“Denny”][quote=“TG”]You bet. I do it all the time with my 15 gallon mashtuns. It’s really not that complicated. Each mash is identical, so no extra math. : ) And, if you batch sparge, you do batch sparge don’t you, the sparge is identical, and then just run off into the kettle. And you could split one stainless hose cover for both.

Batch sparge rules, despite what Denny says. ; )

Brew on[/quote]
You been drinkin’, Tom? :slight_smile: [/quote]
I wish! Giving the old liver a break. Just kidding of course!

7

Absolutely. I use a 5 gallon cooler and can get about 1.060 without over-doing it. Anything over that either gets a sugar or some sort of DME, or I just brew less than 5 gallons.

8

I have one of those coolers but it’s bright orange (guess from where). I have mine marked on the inside in 1/4 Gal. increnments for measuring not only my mash & sparge water but also to hold/measure my mash runnings and then the sparge.

9

Once a year we brew a larger than normal high gravity beer. We place my 48qt cooler on top of the Sabco 15g keg and drain from the cooler to the keg.

You could do the same with the 2 5g coolers.