dmcman73
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2013
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Currently I am using a 10 gallon round cooler as my MT. I was never comfortable with using the plastic and have heard quite a few people state that the liners in their coolers have cracked from the heat of the water over time.
I currently brew 5 gallon batches but I plan on brewing some 10 gallon batches "when needed" so I was thinking of getting a 15 Gallon Stainless steel kettle for the new MT. My plan is to make a bottom drain MT and one that would tip to make dumping the grains easier. I will be wrapping the kettle with the "standard" reflective wrap everyone uses here and then topping it off with wood slats similar to this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/wooden-mash-tun-452994/ to make it look nice.
Since the majority of the time I will be brewing 5 gallon batches and on occasion brew 10 gallons, would a 15 gallon MT be "too big" for 5 gallon batches? I've read that some say because there will be to much dead space and cause more heat loss than a smaller MT for a 5 gallon batch. Has anyone built a second lid that can go further down into the kettle to minimize the dead space or is that not needed?
Right now my BK is a 10 gallon kettle that I will be upgrading to a 15 gallon in a few months so I can do 10 gallon batches and I've purchased an additional 7.5 gallon spiediel fermentor so that I can split the 10 gallon batch between the two. Would I need to also upgrade my HLT from the current 10 gallon to a 15 gallon as well? I mainly fly sparge when I mash so would the current 10 gallon suffice for 10 gallon batches?
Thnaks!
I currently brew 5 gallon batches but I plan on brewing some 10 gallon batches "when needed" so I was thinking of getting a 15 Gallon Stainless steel kettle for the new MT. My plan is to make a bottom drain MT and one that would tip to make dumping the grains easier. I will be wrapping the kettle with the "standard" reflective wrap everyone uses here and then topping it off with wood slats similar to this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/wooden-mash-tun-452994/ to make it look nice.
Since the majority of the time I will be brewing 5 gallon batches and on occasion brew 10 gallons, would a 15 gallon MT be "too big" for 5 gallon batches? I've read that some say because there will be to much dead space and cause more heat loss than a smaller MT for a 5 gallon batch. Has anyone built a second lid that can go further down into the kettle to minimize the dead space or is that not needed?
Right now my BK is a 10 gallon kettle that I will be upgrading to a 15 gallon in a few months so I can do 10 gallon batches and I've purchased an additional 7.5 gallon spiediel fermentor so that I can split the 10 gallon batch between the two. Would I need to also upgrade my HLT from the current 10 gallon to a 15 gallon as well? I mainly fly sparge when I mash so would the current 10 gallon suffice for 10 gallon batches?
Thnaks!