Is this 70 QT-cooler okay for 5 and 10 gallon mashing

I'd like to brew 5 and 10 gallon batches and mash in this cooler:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000G64I1A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Do you guys thing that it is of good quality and of good size for what I intend to use it for?

If you guys think a 70 qt cooler is big for 5-10 gallon batches...then I might go for this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000SSFCES/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It is smaller....36qts. I guess this would be enough to for 5-10 gallon batches and I would reduce the dead space.

Thanks in advance for the information.

I just converted the same cooler and I do 5 gal batches. It works great. I picked my up at WalMart for $35.

mlinc said:

I just converted the same cooler and I do 5 gal batches. It works great. I picked my up at WalMart for $35.

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Which one do you mean? The 36 or the 70 qt cooler?

I am also planning to do 10 gallon batches...so I guess for me the 70 qt-cooler would be better.

By the way...lucky you. I live in Spain....I will order it from the UK and unfortunately I will pay about 120 dollars for it. Europe sucks when it comes to buying brewing equipment.

Used a Coleman Xtreme 70qt cooler for my first all-grain a few weeks back (almost 20 lbs of grain though). I made it a mash tun with parts from here and am very pleased. I recommend getting the 1.5" nipple since the 2" one requires a lot of additional washers.

funnycreature said:

Used a Coleman Xtreme 70qt cooler for my first all-grain a few weeks back (almost 20 lbs of grain though). I made it a mash tun with parts from here and am very pleased. I recommend getting the 1.5" nipple since the 2" one requires a lot of additional washers.

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I'd buy them...but I am in Spain. Dont think they ship here.

By the way...how big was your batch that came out of that brewing? 10 gallons?

Do you think I could even brew 5-gallon batches in 70 qt-cooler?

If the largest you will be brewing for a LONG time is 5 gallon batches, then just go with a 10 gallon Igloo or 40 - 50 quart coleman xtreme cooler. If you think you will be upping that to 10 gallon in the future, then get the 50 - 70 quart coleman xtreme.

Elysium said:

I'd buy them...but I am in Spain. Dont think they ship here.

By the way...how big was your batch that came out of that brewing? 10 gallons?

Do you think I could even brew 5-gallon batches in 70 qt-cooler?

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Yes, it was a 5 gallon batch. But please remember that that's the FINAL volume not considering the grain bed and additional liquids or the space needed for stirring. You will have to consider a few other things like deadspace etc but there are most likely tons of discussions around here. I'll be doing a lighter beer hopefully soon and then I'll see how good it is

I just converted the 50 quart Coleman Xtreme and did a big IPA 14 lb grain brew with it, and was VERY pleased. Did a 60 minute mash in my garage, it was about 45 degrees outside, and still only lost about 3 degrees. You can see my youtube channel for the conversion if you want.

jflongo said:

I just converted the 50 quart Coleman Xtreme and did a big IPA 14 lb grain brew with it, and was VERY pleased. Did a 60 minute mash in my garage, it was about 45 degrees outside, and still only lost about 3 degrees. You can see my youtube channel for the conversion if you want.

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Cool....I like brewing videos on youtube. I am just listening to the intro you have there.

How many gallons did you get out of those 14 lbs of grain?

Thanks for the answer.

P.S. great one ----------->

Elysium said:

Cool....I like brewing videos on youtube. I am just listening to the intro you have there.

How many gallons did you get out of those 14 lbs of grain?

Thanks for the answer.

P.S. great one -----------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDo43B4ud2E

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Thanks

I ended up with about 5 gallons in the fermenter. But that was my fault, for not using hop bags on a Big IPA Had TONS of hops that blocked my drain a little in my brew kettle. I probably would have ended up with closer to 5.5 gallons if I used hop bags, which I will next time.

I have the eXtreme 52 quart Coleman. I've been really happy doing 6 gallon batches and there is plenty of room if I wanted to move up to 11 gallon batches (wife wouldn't like that I would have to buy a larger kettle then the 44 quart I bought 2 months ago though!).

I get very little heat loss doing 5.5/6 gallon batches and the only thing I would be concerned with the 70 quart eXtreme would be a shallow grain bed.

Mouse

i use the 70 qt for 5 gallon batches and I love it. i like having the potential to brew a big batch of big beer

first time i used it, i lost like 4 or 5°, so now I just cover the grainbed with a sheet of aluminum foil. last time I only lost 1 degree over the mash

GrogNerd said:

i use the 70 qt for 5 gallon batches and I love it. i like having the potential to brew a big batch of big beer

first time i used it, i lost like 4 or 5°, so now I just cover the grainbed with a sheet of aluminum foil. last time I only lost 1 degree over the mash

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Cool. How about the grain-bed one of the people earlier talked about? All good? Filters well and settles nicely?

How did you measure the temperature under the grain-bed with the aluminium foil on it? Do you use a digital thermometer?

Thanks for the reply.

grain bed sets up, settles and filters great.

$20 from Bed Bath & Beyond, but I'm sure there are other similar models out there

I had read that the probe can short out when submerged, so I spread a thin layer of silicone around where the probe is connected to the wire and then added some heat-shrink tubing. used on 5 batches and has held up so far

holy crap. just finishing up a brew day. wort is chilling at the moment.

brewed a Devil's Backbone 8 Point IPA clone, my own recipe based on DB's website info.

a new personal best, 82.4% efficiency. a little low on gravity, but over on volume.

jflongo said:

If the largest you will be brewing for a LONG time is 5 gallon batches, then just go with a 10 gallon Igloo or 40 - 50 quart coleman xtreme cooler. If you think you will be upping that to 10 gallon in the future, then get the 50 - 70 quart coleman xtreme.

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Do you think a 36-qt coleman cooler will do the job? Using about 12-14 lbs of grains with 18 qts of water (plus 12 qts of water for sparging).

Thanks.

according to Can You Mash It

14 lbs in 1.5 qts/lb would need a 6.37 gallon tun.

the 12 quarts for sparge wouldn't need to be take into account for the size of the tun; the strike water is run off first, then the sparge is added.

plenty of room

Elysium said:

Do you think a 36-qt coleman cooler will do the job? Using about 12-14 lbs of grains with 18 qts of water (plus 12 qts of water for sparging).

Thanks.

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Yes plenty of room. A 5 gallon mash tun(20 quart), can handle about 12 lbs max with 1.25 qts / lb.

So I'm sure you could probably go all the way to 18 - 20 lbs if you ever wanted to with that.

jflongo said:

Yes plenty of room. A 5 gallon mash tun(20 quart), can handle about 12 lbs max with 1.25 qts / lb.

So I'm sure you could probably go all the way to 18 - 20 lbs if you ever wanted to with that.

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thanks for the reply. there is still one thing I am trying to understand and that's the lb /qt relationship. So . . . on average 1,5 qt of water added to 1 lb of malt and I see people moving, every now and then, to 1,25. What's the difference? simply the more water, the weaker the beer gets? Nothing else?

By the way, in the 36 qt cooler. . . . . can I also do a 5 gallon batch using 1,5 qt water/lb and about 12 lbs of malt? if my calculation is correct, then yes.

it's called the water to grist (or grain) ratio. a lot depends on the style, but I've seen recipes with anywhere from .9 to 2 qts per pound of strike water. 1.25 to 1.5 qts/lb is typical

the SCIENCE! guys can explain it better, but it has to do with keeping the pH of the mash within acceptable limits.

As a rule of thumb, I always use 1.25lb / quart, that's just me though. And yes you can do 5 gallons in that just fine. I just did a 5.5 gallon batch in my 52 quart cooler, and it worked great. ~14 lbs of grain. It was much easier than my 5 gallon igloo that I used to use.

Elysium said:

I'd like to brew 5 and 10 gallon batches and mash in this cooler:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000G64I1A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Do you guys thing that it is of good quality and of good size for what I intend to use it for?

If you guys think a 70 qt cooler is big for 5-10 gallon batches...then I might go for this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000SSFCES/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It is smaller....36qts. I guess this would be enough to for 5-10 gallon batches and I would reduce the dead space.

Thanks in advance for the information.

Click to expand...

I split the difference. I used the 52 quart (13 gallon). It allows me to very big 5.5/6 gallon batches with no issues.

Mouse

jflongo said:

As a rule of thumb, I always use 1.25lb / quart, that's just me though. And yes you can do 5 gallons in that just fine. I just did a 5.5 gallon batch in my 52 quart cooler, and it worked great. ~14 lbs of grain. It was much easier than my 5 gallon igloo that I used to use.

Click to expand...

I routinely run between 12lbs and 16lbs in my 52 quart. I estimate that I could go as high as 21lbs to 24lbs before I'd run into real space issues.

Mouse

jflongo said:

I just converted the 50 quart Coleman Xtreme and did a big IPA 14 lb grain brew with it, and was VERY pleased. Did a 60 minute mash in my garage, it was about 45 degrees outside, and still only lost about 3 degrees. You can see my youtube channel for the conversion if you want.

Click to expand...

Sorry to bother you again...but the 50 qt coleman xtreme cooler is this one:

http://www.coleman.eu/popup.aspx?src=images/product/large/25734_2_.jpg

It has the spigot at the bottom.....I thought it should be on the side to make things easier. How do you drain the wort?

Or is it this one (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006Z97832/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) you have?


P.S. I think I have just found your video You have the 50-qt cooler with wheels that has the spigot at the bottom.

Correct, watch my video, and you'll see how I did the outside.