Pot size for cooler mash tun

[royco]

Sorry, my heading is misleading. Pot is to feed the Coleman.
Hi, I'm about to try all grain brewing after a couple successful batches of Lager using a Coopers DIY kit. The mash tun is a +/- 45qt Coleman cooler. I can buy a 45~50 liter aluminum pot, but just realized this could be a handful weighing in at around 80lbs of boiling water! Should I use a smaller pot, or two, and use the large pot for final boil? Excuse the typical newbie question.

 

[govner1]

A couple of questions you need to consider-
1- what size batches do you plan to routinely brew. I'd presume 5-6 gallons as your tun won't accommodate 10
2-why are you thinking of moving a full BK, particularly if its full of hot wort?
3- if the answer to #1 is 5-6 gallons I'd get at least a 9-10 gal pot. Also, give strong consideration to good SS pot.

 

[royco]

Thank you govner1.
1. Thusfar only Coopers diy 23 liter (around 25 qt) batches. Just checked, proposed tun is a Coleman 48qt chest cooler. Here in South Africa we use Liters, so it is 45L. I would like to optimize this. Supposedly you can do any size batch if you do the math?
2. My question was not really clear. I meant the water boiling pot on my propane burner. Some folk seem to use a plastic pitcher to transfer until the pot is light enough to handle, unless I plumb in a valve and gravity feed line?
3. The other pot will be the BK and this size would be self-explanatory, once I know the optimum batch size in the tun. BTW, until we have some more experience we will probably use dry yeast and therefore not need to boil the BK.

If some of my points are nonsensical, it is because I have not done this before. After reading many how-to articles I' still a bit confused about the finer details! However, this forum is awesome and I'm sure with a little help we will soon be brewing all-grain.

 

[govner1]

Ok so here's my input-
1- since you're essentially doing 6 gal batches the 48qt cooler/mash tun should be fine. You'll need to equip it w/ some sort of manifold(my preference) or bazooka tube for draining your wort after mashing and sparging into you BK.
2- Your HLT needs to be at least 8 gal. since you'll be using almost 10 gal of water for mashing & sparging. You can heat the water for your mash step, probably avg of 5 gal then refill and heat the water for your sparge, around 8 gal. Don't forget the grains will absorb quite a bit of water! Using a large pitcher for both theses operations is fine.
3- the BK needs to be about 10 gal since you'll be boiling around 8 gal of wort to reach your final volume. Using dry yeast does not negate the need to boil your wort. Remember, boiling not only evaporates many unwanted compounds from your wort but also acts to isomerize the compounds in your hops as they are added.
4- you'll need to consider a way to chill your wort as quickly as possible to prevent oxidation and infection and so you can pitch your yeast at the proper temp.

I hope this helps.

 

[royco]

That's the clearest explanation I've seen. Can't wait to get started.
1 Will start with a ss braided filter for ease, but will probably upgrade to copper manifold soon.
4 Will make a copper coil immersion chiller.

Thanks again govner1, you have been a great help.

 

[govner1]

You are more than welcome. Let me know how your first AG brew goes!

 

[govner1]

That's the clearest explanation I've seen. Can't wait to get started.
1 Will start with a ss braided filter for ease, but will probably upgrade to copper manifold soon.
4 Will make a copper coil immersion chiller.

Thanks again govner1, you have been a great help.

One last thought on using the braided tubing in the bottom of your mash/tun - I've not used one but others have used an insert w/holes to prevent the weight of the grain, particularly when wet from collapsing the tube & giving you a stuck sparge.
I think you'll want to investigate this first.

 

[Jay55]

Save yourself a lot of frustration and enjoy this hobby a whole lot more and get yourself a copy of John Palmers book, How To Brew. I've t only been brewing 18 mos myself and my copy is already pretty beat up. I started all grain after my third batch and am having a great time. ( no, I've never met the man). He has a website with the same name with much of the same content for free. The book is better but will give you some good info.

I tried the braid and had problems with stuck sparges. (Just me) The copper manifold is awesome and very easy to build. It leaves very little wort behind and I've never had problems with it.

I made the mistake of getting a too small boil kettle- 8 gal. Ended up replacing pt with a 15 gal. Now I use it for heating water.

The cooler will work just fine. Mine is 48 QTS.- 54 liters. If you make bigger beers, it can get really full, but that's minor.

Sorry if I'm rambling, but if I knew some of this stuff, it would've shortened the learning curve. There's lots to learn, and its great.

Good luck

 

[dmashl]

as far as the manifold...If you are using the SS Braid(from a water supply line), I use 16 gauge SS wire. Wrap the wire around a pencil and put it inside the braid. That will keep it from collapsing.

 

[royco]

Thanks everyone for the great input. I have a circular saw blade with .023" (half mm) kerf from when I built electric guitars. That should be good for cutting slots in the copper pipe. That seems like the right way to go. Also, will definitely buy the book. I have looked at the digital version and the info looks really comprehensive.

 

[LovesIPA]

+1 on the Palmer book.

I use a copper manifold and I just drilled 1/8" holes every 3/4" or so. I've never used a braid or a bazooka, but I LOVE the manifold. It just works great every time.