Does the shape of the mash tun matter?

[Adam]

Looking at the cooler MT setup. Options are an Igloo beverage cooler or the rectangular cooler. Does it matter what shape it's in? I'll be batch sparging. Wondering if the shape of the MT has anything to do with sparge efficiency, ie reduced channeling, etc.

[Brandon]

John has some great info here
http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-1.html

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

John has some great info here
http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-1.html

I was hoping no one had answered yet.

When I re configured my mash tun, I used that appendix to build a manifold. It did help with efficiency.

[Bugeater]

Basically the tall skinny mash tun works better for fly sparge and the shallower rectangular cooler mash tun works a little better for batch sparging. The theory is that the fast draining during batch sparge will tend to be more likely to cause a stuck sparge. A fly sparge in the same tun will tend to float the grains better and compaction won't be as much of a problem.

A tun with greater surface area, like the converted rectangular cooler, will have a shallower grain bed that can drain fast without as much compaction. Fly sparging in such a tun may be more likely to have channeling problems.

All that said, I've had stuck sparges both fly sparging and batch sparging in both types of tuns. I've also also had successful sparges both ways in both types of tuns.

Do whatever suits you. You can pick up rectangular coolers cheap at thrift stores. You will probably have to buy the round cooler new. I'm a cheap SOB so guess which one I have. If you don't ever plan to take up fly sparging on a regular basis, go the cheap route.

The Palmer chapter on manifold construction is very good. I've built a number of those. The setup I've used for years, though, is described in http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

Good luck with whichever one you use.

Wayne

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

Basically the tall skinny mash tun works better for fly sparge and the shallower rectangular cooler mash tun works a little better for batch sparging. The theory is that the fast draining during batch sparge will tend to be more likely to cause a stuck sparge. A fly sparge in the same tun will tend to float the grains better and compaction won't be as much of a problem.

A tun with greater surface area, like the converted rectangular cooler, will have a shallower grain bed that can drain fast without as much compaction. Fly sparging in such a tun may be more likely to have channeling problems.

All that said, I've had stuck sparges both fly sparging and batch sparging in both types of tuns. I've also also had successful sparges both ways in both types of tuns.

Do whatever suits you. You can pick up rectangular coolers cheap at thrift stores. You will probably have to buy the round cooler new. I'm a cheap SOB so guess which one I have. If you don't ever plan to take up fly sparging on a regular basis, go the cheap route.

The Palmer chapter on manifold construction is very good. I've built a number of those. The setup I've used for years, though, is described in http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

Good luck with whichever one you use.

Wayne

Look at the brain on Bugeater!

Remember, second rule of Brewers Code: Do whatever Bugeater says!

[Docjowles]

Just wanted to add that I've never had a stuck sparge batch sparging on my Igloo round cooler with stainless false bottom. Granted that's only like 10 batches since I went all-grain and I use rice hulls on anything potentially sticky (lots of wheat or raw grains) but knock on wood, no issues yet.

[Adam]

Thanks gentlemen. Sunday I brewed my last extract batch. Next beer will be an all grain batch.

As my signature line indicates, I brew German wheat beer. Currently trading off between hefeweizen and dunkelweizen every other batch. Read about stuck sparges with wheat, but we'll see what happens with a wheat and pilsner mash.

[Wutz]

Thanks gentlemen. Sunday I brewed my last extract batch. Next beer will be an all grain batch.

As my signature line indicates, I brew German wheat beer. Currently trading off between hefeweizen and dunkelweizen every other batch. Read about stuck sparges with wheat, but we'll see what happens with a wheat and pilsner mash.

Rice hulls are cheap, man. A stuck mash/sparge sucks some seriously annoying balls. I brewed a Belgian Wit last month: 43% Pils, 43% Wheat, 10% Oats, and 4% Munich 10. I threw eight ounces of rice hulls per five gallons in the tun and the mash was smooth sailing. I'd recommend using rice hulls on your first all-grain batch, especially on something as potentially sticky as a German wheat beer. You're probably going to have enough things to worry about when mashing the first time, dealing with a stuck mash doesn't need to be on that list if it's not necessary.

Also: http://s3.amazonaws.com/com.brewersfriend.images/brewersfriend_checklist_allgrain.pdf is the "Brewer's Friend All-Grain Checklist." Print it out and keep it handy. It might help you if your mind gets lost in the process during the day.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/ seems to be pretty good with their calculations, too. Decide on a mashing schedule in advance and write it down on the all-grain checklist.

Good luck with your first all-grain batch!