5 Gallon cooler?

[FedoraDave]

For what it's worth, I have a mash tun made from a 5 gallon cooler. I regularly do 5 gallon AG batches using ten or eleven pounds of grain with no problem.

I usually do a ratio of 1 1/4 quarts per pound of grain for the mash and dividing the difference between two sparges to make a pre-boil volume of between 6 and 6.5 gallons.

This has worked for me for a couple of years, now. I'm getting an efficiency of at least 75%.

Direct from The Hat

That being said, I wouldn't do any more that ten or eleven pounds of grain in this thing. Most of my AG beers are between 5 and 7% (and the higher grav beers are pretty rare; usually I'm around 5.5% - 6.5%). But with 9 or 10 pounds of grain, and 1.25 quarts/lb, there's usually a good bit of head space after mashing in.

[yankfan9]

I do 5 gallons batches so the 25 lbs of grain would be for a 5 gal batch of my imperial stout not 2.5 gal, sorry for the confusion. I would never see any reason to use that much grain for 2.5 gallons of beer, I can't imagine the abv that would result! Also thanks for the link to the Can you Mash it? It says it would take up 9.81 gallons of space so I guess it could work. Might lower the grains by a little just in case

[jimjohson]

I do 5 gallons batches so the 25 lbs of grain would be for a 5 gal batch of my imperial stout not 2.5 gal, sorry for the confusion. I would never see any reason to use that much grain for 2.5 gallons of beer, I can't imagine the abv that would result! Also thanks for the link to the Can you Mash it? It says it would take up 9.81 gallons of space so I guess it could work. Might lower the grains by a little just in case

I saw that, gonna be tight! you will have to be very careful when stirring the grains in. it's a mess just waitin' to happen.

[BradyFumbled]

I currently use a 5 gallon cooler for 5 gallon batches, works fine for up to 6-6.5% abv.

If you're starting from scratch I'd definately go bigger. If you already have a 5 gallon cooler, I say go for it.

I used an 8 gallon cooler with a braided manifold for years, recently found a Craigslist score for a mess of stuff... Including three 5 gallon coolers with domed false bottoms. I use two of them simultaneously with great results, two batches at once, multitasking! The third has been reposted on Craigslist for weeks without so much as a nibble, lol

[haerbob3]

@yankfan9 what kind of false bottom?? what kind of sparge?? Are you doing a mash out?? My Hopslam clone has 20 pounds of grain and it pretty much fills the 10 gallon cooler. There is a little space left but not much. I did a decoction mash in order to do a mash out. Just curious.

[yankfan9]

I have a SS Braid in the bottom hooked up to my ball valve, no false bottom. I planned on doing a simple batch sparge as well. And I don't do mash outs, I normally just vorlauf, drain the first runnings, add the sparge water and stir it in for about 5 minutes, then vorlauf, and drain again