70qt or 100qt

[sleepyjamie]

ok cool.

i wasnt sure if the mash tun was too big and didnt provide a thick enough grain bed filter

[sleepyjamie]

i've seen people use hard insulation (e.g. level wall) and wrap it in foil to remove dead space in the mash tun.

are you doing something similar or just using foil by itself? pics?

[jeffsmith]

I don't have any pics, but I'm just taking a piece of foil the length of the cooler and doubling it up, laying it on top of the mash. Seems to cut down on heat loss. During the winter I also pre-heat the cooler with boiling water and that seems to help quite a bit as well.

[sleepyjamie]

I don't have any pics, but I'm just taking a piece of foil the length of the cooler and doubling it up, laying it on top of the mash. Seems to cut down on heat loss. During the winter I also pre-heat the cooler with boiling water and that seems to help quite a bit as well.

perfect. i used to do batch sparge with mash tun but then i switch to BIAB. BIAB worked great but not very great over the winter with heat loss. so im going to try doing a hybrid BIAB + mash tun approach.

[Graham.C]

I don't have any pics, but I'm just taking a piece of foil the length of the cooler and doubling it up, laying it on top of the mash. Seems to cut down on heat loss. During the winter I also pre-heat the cooler with boiling water and that seems to help quite a bit as well.

^this, although last winter I was playing around with no sparge so I had a lot more thermal mass and didn't use the foil.

[sleepyjamie]

I don't have any pics, but I'm just taking a piece of foil the length of the cooler and doubling it up, laying it on top of the mash. Seems to cut down on heat loss. During the winter I also pre-heat the cooler with boiling water and that seems to help quite a bit as well.

^this, although last winter I was playing around with no sparge so I had a lot more thermal mass and didn't use the foil.

how was your efficiency with no sparge method?

[jeffsmith]

I hit 73% with no sparge on a 1.055 SMaSH beer. I'm normally at 78%.

[sleepyjamie]

Nice. Thnx

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[Jimmy]

How are you guys adjusting strike water for the 70qt cooler? Pre-heating, using beersmith to calculate, or over heating strike water and letting it drop to mash in temp?

[sleepyjamie]

I usually over heat and let it drop.


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[jeffsmith]

I base my temps on my grain temperature, but usually overheat by a couple degrees. In the winter I preheat the MLT with boiling water.

[Graham.C]

I base my temps on my grain temperature, but usually overheat by a couple degrees.

+1 I error on the warm side and let it cool by stirring with the lid open, which might not be the best method because you risk denaturing the B-amylase. I am still trying to refine my practice. Its way easier with no sparge to hit the right temp, I might go back to that method for winter brewing, esp if I am only doing 5gal batches (although arguably the pH sucks for B-amylase with no sparge anyways).

[Jimmy]

(although arguably the pH sucks for B-amylase with no sparge anyways).

Why is this? I don't know the science behind it, but wouldn't it be the same as BIAB?

[Graham.C]

I'm no chemist, but I thought B-amylase was best around pH ~4.5, A-amylase ~6. That would require lots of dark malts to get 5g of liquid down that far if you have a reasonable amount of bi-carbonate present. I am on the low end of the learning curve when it comes to water chemistry, so correct me if I am wrong (I'm trying to learn). As I understand it, in a thin mash you would need something that could lower the pH (dark malts, although I am not clear on what in the malt is taking up the extra H ions) and not buffer it (salts can disassociate and provide the extra H ions if they are taken up by a chemical trying to lower the pH) to hit B-amylase's optimal range. That is easier to do in a thick mash where you have more control over the amount of grains relative to the salts. If you are working from distilled water this might be easier, but I just use well water so I am stuck with what the ground gives me in terms of buffering salts (which is an unkown to me right now, so it makes it hard for me to learn).

[Jimmy]

Picked up a 70qt Coleman Xtreme 5 at Canadian Tire tonight. Now to get a bag made to fit it. I'm thinking about building some type of "harness" to hold it up out of the cooler enough that it will drain the first runnings out and into the cooler, then rinse the with sparge water while the bag is still in suspension. After the sparge is complete, transfer all wort to the boil kettle. I'm not sure how well the sparge will work, but I'll see what happens. My ultimate goal is to only use my pump for water transfers, not wort.

[sleepyjamie]

Jimmy. I have the same cooler. Would like a bag for it as well. When do u plan on brewing on this system? I'd like to maybe come over and compare notes

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[Jimmy]

Jimmy. I have the same cooler. Would like a bag for it as well. When do u plan on brewing on this system? I'd like to maybe come over and compare notes

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Hopefully the weekend after I get everything together (which could possibly be next weekend) - learn to homebrew day..so if that's the case I don't mind taking my setup with me to wherever this is happening.

[Jimmy]

When a ball valve is installed on these coolers, is it typically a little flimsy? I've got mine in but added an extra coupler to extend the ball valve out a little further..the handle was against the cooler if I didn't. I'm wondering if that extra length is what makes it seems flimsy, or if it's just part of having a ball valve installed in a cooler.

[sleepyjamie]

When a ball valve is installed on these coolers, is it typically a little flimsy? I've got mine in but added an extra coupler to extend the ball valve out a little further..the handle was against the cooler if I didn't. I'm wondering if that extra length is what makes it seems flimsy, or if it's just part of having a ball valve installed in a cooler.

Mine it nice and firm. I use stainless locknuts to keep it in place.

[jeffsmith]

When a ball valve is installed on these coolers, is it typically a little flimsy? I've got mine in but added an extra coupler to extend the ball valve out a little further..the handle was against the cooler if I didn't. I'm wondering if that extra length is what makes it seems flimsy, or if it's just part of having a ball valve installed in a cooler.

Mine it nice and firm. I use stainless locknuts to keep it in place.

I have a washer and coupler on the inside and a coupler on the outside that seems to keep it firm, though I did notice it was a bit flimsy before I added the washer on the inside.

[bluenose]

Just FYI, Wal-Mart has the 70qt coolers for a few bucks less. Every little bit helps