Beer Forum

So I decide to go all grain..... walk in the brew shop to go partial mash but some how I walked out all grain.

I was wondering if my 5gal cooler was big enough to do a 10lbs of grain mash? (the person working there is new and not sure how much they know)

I also got a 30qt SSpot coming in from ebay. is that big enough or should i plan on doing part of the boil in another pot at the same time?

Thanks

With a 1.5:1 ratio 10 lbs of grain will fit but it will be close to full. You'll be at about 4.5Gal mash volume, so you could probably fit in a few more ounces of grain but you couldn't quite hit 11lbs without changing your water to grist ratio.

A 30qt pot will be pretty close but you can do it all in there. You will have to watch your boil like a hawk at first. Buy a spray bottle, fill it full of water, and keep it close by. As you near your boiling point start adjusting the heat down a little. The spray bottle will help with the foam and crap that rises and will want to boil over. Optionally, you can skim the hot break off as you near your boil, which should help some too. (regardless of whether you plan on skimming or not, get a spray bottle)

HTH

You can also drop that water/Grain ratio down to 1.25qt/lb with no trouble. That would give you room for 12.8lbs and the necessary H2O for a single infusion with NO room. You may want to top out at 12lbs to be safe...

I don't want to start any shit, but if you have to you can cut that ratio pretty low, 1 to 1 or lower if need be. As long as you can stir the mash you'll be OK. You'll just need to give it time to convert. That said, your probably better off getting as much base malt as possible and all the specialty malts into the mash tun and then making up for any additional sugar desired with extract or sugar, etc. in the boil.

Rob

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This is a calculator site telling you if you have enough volume.

Sean

Speyedr wrote:You can also drop that water/Grain ratio down to 1.25qt/lb with no trouble. That would give you room for 12.8lbs and the necessary H2O for a single infusion with NO room. You may want to top out at 12lbs to be safe...

I don't want to start any shit, but if you have to you can cut that ratio pretty low, 1 to 1 or lower if need be. As long as you can stir the mash you'll be OK. You'll just need to give it time to convert. That said, your probably better off getting as much base malt as possible and all the specialty malts into the mash tun and then making up for any additional sugar desired with extract or sugar, etc. in the boil.

Rob

Actually, I agree. I just didn't mention it. I hadn't finished my coffee and I don't fire on all cylinders until I do. Not sure I fire on all cylinders regardless.

I think you'll find that you can brew quite a few styles with the 5 gallon cooler just fine. And for the bigger beers, just add some extract. After all, you did say you went in for partial mash and came out all grain. Well, the 5 gallon cooler will work fine for both.

I can say from expierence that what you have will totally work. I have both a 5 gallon cooler mash tun and a 30 qt pot. I do agree that you have to be really careful watching for a boilover though. I have mashed 10lbs in it. I used a 1.15 or so ratio and was able to hit my numbers fine. I'm going to say that I still use the mash tun, but I do use the boil kettles and I do have boilovers. It's just something that I'm learning to handle.

thanks that helps alot but a new development has came up. I got the pot today it looks like it might have some rust spots on the bottom of the pot. Should I worry about this affecting my beer

The rust shouldn't be a prob if you clean it out right. Is it from the pot or just something that was left in it? I had to clean out a SS pot and it's fine. I scrubbed it out with a green scrubby and then let it soak with BKF.