mash tun size... I thought 70 qts was big enough

[Todd]

I checked again and it's exactly the same as the 70 qt listed on every web site I could find - the 4 cup holders on the left if the lid and the measurements seem to match.

The brews turned out perfectly for OG and pre-boil volume so I know I wasn't miscalculating on the math, but that was a very full 17.5 gallon/70 qt cooler... hmmmm

[ApresSkiBrewer]

What were your efficiencies for those batches?

[Todd]

Not sure... still new enough at AG that I haven't calculated an average yet.

I followed the recipe from BCS exactly and scaled each one up to a 10 gallon batch. I just started using Beersmith and set the brewhouse efficiency value in there at 65% to be really safe, but didn't let that affect what amounts I brewed.

For the IPA I used 1.5 qts/pound and for the Porter I scaled it back to 1.3
I batch sparged and used a calculation of 0.13 gallons/pound of grain for my loss to absorption
I drew off the amounts of wort that Beersmith calculated for each and my pre-boil and post boil gravities and volumes were exactly what BCS said.

From those results, I have to say I did something right, and I learned a ton in the process so all in all I'd say it was a good day. Now I'm off to find additional items of equipment that I need if I want to keep doing 10 gallon batches, or big beers, or 2 batches on the same day: 1)another big kettle or keggle, 2) probably a bigger cooler/mash tun, 3) gotta rig a sculpture of some sort. Let the fun begin!

[Travisty]

I use a 50 qt cooler and just did a robust porter with just over 30 lbs of grain. At 1.2 qts/lb the cooler was pretty full, but it did fit. I bet I could have gone up to maybe 1.3 qts/lb though stirring the mash would have even more of a pain. I think I would measure the interior dimensions of that cooler just to be sure you have the 70 qt version. The Coleman website lists the 70 qt cooler as ahving interior dimensions of 24" x 9.75" x 12.75".