Mashtun Overkill?

[Kuhndog]

I'm only going to be doing 5 gal batches and it'll be mostly English Ales, Hefes, as well as some lagers and Belgians...almost everythign will be under 1.060. I have a Coleman Xtreme 52 qt....will I have a problem?

Most of my grain bills are 11-12 lbs at most...the deal on the 52 qt cooler was too hard to pass up....what's ironic is that that 36 qt was $15 more. Go figure...smaller but more expensive.

Anyhow - does anyone think I might have a temperature sustaining issue since I'll only be using like 25-50% of the cooler capacity?

Thanks

 

[iowabrew]

I've used my 10 gallon round cooler with as little as 6lbs of grain before. No problems at all. Just make sure you preheat that thing well. I usually add close to a gallon of boiling water 15min before my strike water. I normally lose around 1-2 degrees while mashing smaller grain bills in that large cooler.

 

[Bennywisest]

I use the the same cooler (Coleman Xtreme 52 qt) and it works great for any 5 gal batch. Big or small beers they will all fit. You can even do some lower gravity 10 gallon batches in it. I batch sparge with a SS braid in the setup and on Sunday temperature was high 60s, only lost about 1 degree over an hour long mash.

Edits in bold.

 

[Bennywisest]

This thread / chart contain alot of very good mashtun info.

 

[Kuhndog]

I use the the same cooler (Coleman Xtreme 52 qt) and it works great for any 5 gal batch. Big or small beers they will all fit. You can even do some lower gravity 10 gallon batches in it. I batch sparge with a SS braid in the setup and on Sunday temperature was high 60s, only lost about 1 degree over an hour long mash.

Edits in bold.

I'll be using a SS braid as well. BTW - what did you use to connect the braid to the outlet? I was thinking since real estate is tight...to use a couple quick disconnects or is that overkill? I'm using a 12 inch SS braid - I think it's 1/2 inch or 3/8" in diameter.

I've used that link but it deals more with capactity on what can fit....not so much if a particular size is overkill or in some cases a disadvantage (if it's not well insulated and not utilized in capacity)....since there is a smaller thermal mass.

Also thinking of a 3 piece SS ball valve coming out with a cooler kit from Bargain Fittings in between the braid and the ball valve.

 

[Bennywisest]

I have heard some people use a foam cutout to fill in empty space in the mash tun, but honestly the Coleman Xtreme keep a pretty consistent temperature in my experience.

I am working off memeory but my hardware is a 12 inch SS braid (1/2" diameter), that I put a pipe cap in one end and hose clamped down. The pipe cap adds weight to keep the braid down when stirring. I then hose clamped the other end of the braid onto a reducer. The reducer was attached to a nipple (sorry I forget the size) that went through the drain plug, I may have needed an adapter for this. I put a large washer inside after the reducer and left the seal ring from the orginal drain plug. On the outside I added another O ring seal and then a ball valve with a reducer on the end. Make sure to use teflon tape to give a nice seal.

I may take it apart and add a larger washer on the outside too, just to give it a little more stability. But as it stands now it holds up with no leaks.

It went in order:

SS braid -> Clamped to reducer -> Nipple (which goes through wall/drain plug. Has a larger washer for support and original seal ring in place) -> O-ring -> Ball Valve -> Reducer (for hose hook ups)

 

[Bennywisest]

THIS build is similar to what I did for hardware. Works out really well.