70qt or 100qt
- Graham.C
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70qt or 100qt
Hey guys,
In celebration of buying a grain mill I am also buying a cooler (MT). Is it better to go with the 100qt, or is 70 sufficient?
Forgive me if this has been answered in the past. I did a search but got lazy after the 3rd page of results.
G
In celebration of buying a grain mill I am also buying a cooler (MT). Is it better to go with the 100qt, or is 70 sufficient?
Forgive me if this has been answered in the past. I did a search but got lazy after the 3rd page of results.
G
-Graham
- jeffsmith
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
As I mentioned to you the other evening I'm planning on going with 100qt when I finally get around to picking a cooler up. I based my decision on this chart from that "other" brewing forum:
My reason for going 100qt is that I want to have the ability to do 10gallon batches of high gravity beers (barleywine, RIS, etc.). My thinking is that there can't be that much more heat loss over an hour with the 100qt even if it's not really full for every batch I brew and I don't want to put myself in the position of wishing that I had bought something larger if I go with a smaller cooler.
My reason for going 100qt is that I want to have the ability to do 10gallon batches of high gravity beers (barleywine, RIS, etc.). My thinking is that there can't be that much more heat loss over an hour with the 100qt even if it's not really full for every batch I brew and I don't want to put myself in the position of wishing that I had bought something larger if I go with a smaller cooler.
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- CorneliusAlphonse
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
according to that chart, you could do ten gallons of 1.077 beer with a 52 quart mash tun. That means your 100 quart cooler would be half full at that gravity level. I think the heat loss would be pretty significant when half of what you're keeping warm is air, which has a tendency to escape. just my opinionjeffsmith wrote:As I mentioned to you the other evening I'm planning on going with 100qt when I finally get around to picking a cooler up. I based my decision on this chart from that "other" brewing forum:
My reason for going 100qt is that I want to have the ability to do 10gallon batches of high gravity beers (barleywine, RIS, etc.). My thinking is that there can't be that much more heat loss over an hour with the 100qt even if it's not really full for every batch I brew and I don't want to put myself in the position of wishing that I had bought something larger if I go with a smaller cooler.
planning: beer for my cousin's wedding
Fermenting: black ipa
Conditioning:
Kegged: barrel barleywine from 2014 - i think i still have this somewhere
Fermenting: black ipa
Conditioning:
Kegged: barrel barleywine from 2014 - i think i still have this somewhere
- Graham.C
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
That's what I was wondering too. Especially if I do some experimental 5g batches now and then.CorneliusAlphonse wrote:according to that chart, you could do ten gallons of 1.077 beer with a 52 quart mash tun. That means your 100 quart cooler would be half full at that gravity level. I think the heat loss would be pretty significant when half of what you're keeping warm is air, which has a tendency to escape. just my opinionjeffsmith wrote:As I mentioned to you the other evening I'm planning on going with 100qt when I finally get around to picking a cooler up. I based my decision on this chart from that "other" brewing forum:
My reason for going 100qt is that I want to have the ability to do 10gallon batches of high gravity beers (barleywine, RIS, etc.). My thinking is that there can't be that much more heat loss over an hour with the 100qt even if it's not really full for every batch I brew and I don't want to put myself in the position of wishing that I had bought something larger if I go with a smaller cooler.
I wonder what sparging technique that table calculates for. I would like to experiment with no-sparge so bigger is better in that case.
-Graham
- jeffsmith
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
That's a good point as well—I had thought that maybe wrapping it in blankets during the mash would reduce the amount of heat loss. I guess the question is then what's the best cooler-based (size and shape) mash tun you can buy to accommodate both 10 gallon and 5 gallon batches?CorneliusAlphonse wrote:according to that chart, you could do ten gallons of 1.077 beer with a 52 quart mash tun. That means your 100 quart cooler would be half full at that gravity level. I think the heat loss would be pretty significant when half of what you're keeping warm is air, which has a tendency to escape. just my opinion
- LiverDance
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
FWIW I use a 70qt igloo cold max cooler for both 20 and 40 litre batches. I found that at my 70% efficeicy the cooler usually tops out at around 1.082 at 2.8l/kg on a 40 litre batch.
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.
- jeffsmith
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
Good info to have.LiverDance wrote:FWIW I use a 70qt igloo cold max cooler for both 20 and 40 litre batches. I found that at my 70% efficeicy the cooler usually tops out at around 1.082 at 2.8l/kg on a 40 litre batch.
Sounds to me like 70qt is probably a better size then, and for big beers, make a small(er) batch.
- LiverDance
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
Exactly Jeff! and you don't really have to worry about the lost of heat on the smaller batches when it's one of the cold max ones.
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.
- jeffsmith
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
I'll keep my eye out, thanks! Any advantage to the Igloo over Coleman's Xtreme 5 series?LiverDance wrote:Exactly Jeff! and you don't really have to worry about the lost of heat on the smaller batches when it's one of the cold max ones.
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
And sorry Graham, kinda hijacked your thread here. 

- LiverDance
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
Actually that's my bad, I have the coleman xtreme 5, not the igloo brand. I had 2 70qt and gave one to KMck and still have the other. We also have a 95L coleman extreme but that is for our 60l batches.
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.
- Graham.C
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
No worries, I asked because you and I were talking about it the other night and it got me thinking.jeffsmith wrote:And sorry Graham, kinda hijacked your thread here.

-Graham
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. It's looking like I'm going to shoot for the 70qt one now after all this. The majority of the batches I brew with my brother in law (10 gallons) are going to be relatively moderate in gravity anyway, so 70qt should suffice. If we're brewing a really big beer, we'll just have to deal with a smaller volume. Thanks for saving me some cash! (and possibly headaches with heat retention)LiverDance wrote:Actually that's my bad, I have the coleman xtreme 5, not the igloo brand. I had 2 70qt and gave one to KMck and still have the other. We also have a 95L coleman extreme but that is for our 60l batches.

- Graham.C
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
You can always borrow mine in the rare case that you will want to brew something you can't handle in one.jeffsmith wrote:Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. It's looking like I'm going to shoot for the 70qt one now after all this. The majority of the batches I brew with my brother in law (10 gallons) are going to be relatively moderate in gravity anyway, so 70qt should suffice. If we're brewing a really big beer, we'll just have to deal with a smaller volume. Thanks for saving me some cash! (and possibly headaches with heat retention)LiverDance wrote:Actually that's my bad, I have the coleman xtreme 5, not the igloo brand. I had 2 70qt and gave one to KMck and still have the other. We also have a 95L coleman extreme but that is for our 60l batches.
-Graham
- LiverDance
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
When ever I brew a really big beer I use about 25% extract so I don't have to take the hit on efficiency and it's alot easier to manage.
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.
- akr71
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
LiverDance wrote:Actually that's my bad, I have the coleman xtreme 5, not the igloo brand. I had 2 70qt and gave one to KMck and still have the other. We also have a 95L coleman extreme but that is for our 60l batches.
That's exactly what I plan on buying when I figure its time to build a new MT. Besides the capacity & insulation, I like the drainage channel at the bottom which should reduce my dead space a bit.
Andy
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- mr x
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
Somebody here says conversion is pretty much done after 5 minutes (for fully modified grains), so heat loss won't be a big issue. Nailing the mash temp is a bigger priority than heat loss.
At Alexander Keith's we follow the recipes first developed by the great brewmaster to the absolute letter. 

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Re: 70qt or 100qt
That's what I was going to say, but with a bunch of f-bombs.mr x wrote:Somebody here says conversion is pretty much done after 5 minutes (for fully modified grains), so heat loss won't be a big issue. Nailing the mash temp is a bigger priority than heat loss.

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Re: 70qt or 100qt
So where did you guys find your 70qt coolers?
- jeffsmith
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
Canadian TireJimmy wrote:So where did you guys find your 70qt coolers?
- Graham.C
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
+1jeffsmith wrote:Canadian TireJimmy wrote:So where did you guys find your 70qt coolers?
-Graham
- Graham.C
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
+ a big piece of foil for Jeffs trick of keeping in the energy when you don't have it full.
-Graham
- sleepyjamie
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
do u guys use the 70qt for 5 gallon batches?
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Monde Souterrain (Dark Saison)
- Graham.C
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Re: 70qt or 100qt
^ This.Graham.C wrote:Yes, even for small beers. It works fine with the foil trick.
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