First AG in a Mash Tun

[Spartangreen]

After BIAB brewing for about a year, thought I’d try my hand in using a mash tun (10g Home Depot Cooler) with the braided water supply manifold in the bottom. I also added a sweet Bell's sticker to the front, which should help with temperature control.
Janet's Brown Ale 16lb grain bill.
I Batch Sparged using the "Sparge Pal" iphone app. Using 1.5qt/lb ratio.
I preheated the cooler by filling it with hot tap water and letting it sit for a few minutes before adding my mash water.
The mash target was 154, and I hit 156. I then doughed in until the temp dropped to 155. Put the lid on, brought the mash tun in the house and covered it with a blanket. I opened it and stirred at 15,30,45 minutes. After 60 minutes, the temperature was 154.

After mashing and sparging I hit my pre-boil volume of 7 gallons exactly. Pretty happy with app.

Brewing in the winter can be challanging. Being able to carry the cooler indoors to hold temp is a big help. As with BIAB, I couldn't carry my 15 gallon SS pot with 9.3 gallons of water and 16lbs of grain indoors. (I'm by myself)

In the end, I got a 1072 OG with 73% efficiency.
This forum has been helpful.

 

[SteveLikesBeer]

Did you make your own mash tun or did you buy a converted tun from a LHS?

 

[scottvin]

I too - did my first cooler mash tun brewing this past Sunday. I too have done about 25 BIAB batches.

 

[Spartangreen]

Made it myself. Parts from the hardware store. Pretty easy.