mash tun size

[rick]

i am going to build a mash tun for 5 gallon batches i have a old cool box which is 24litre capacity but i am not sure if it wil be big enough
any advice please

[Jim]

Short answer is yes.

I mash in a 23l boiler and it's never anywhere near full.

[rick]

do i just sparge quite a lot to get the quantity for the boil

[norman]

I mash in a 24 litre Igloo cool box,I have upped my mash efficiency since changing from a larger cooler.

[crow_flies]

We discussed this late last year. I was mashing in a 45l coolbox, which whilst very well made, good insulation etc etc, always resulted in turbid runnings due to low grain bed depth.

I had a cheap 24l coolbox sitting in the Shed (result of a food and booze cruise to Calais) and I've successfully made a nice little tun from this.

here are some pics from that thread....

Thanks Daab,



and here is the first runnings and sparging with the non-spinny spargy thing I built into the lid.

post mash


first runnings


Sparge arrangement - with my larger tun, I'd normally just drain down and then refill, leave 1/2hr and drain down again - think I prefer that to this dribbling business.....


non-spinning spargy thingy in the lid - seems to be pretty effective!


I had no problems getting nearly 6kg of dry matter and 13l water in!


/CF

/CF

[rick]

thanks, when the spargings reach 1006 i stop, could you tell me what temperature the wort should be when the gravity is checked thank you

[Scooby]

Rick you can take a sample in a trial jar and cool to 20c under a cold tap then take a reading or use a temp conversion chart after making a note of the wort temp. The temp of my final running is about 45-50c

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html

[Scooby]

oops

Didn't notice that DaaB, just copied the first one I found.

Just had a look at my hydrometer and it has a chart inside the tube, I've never read it and to my suprise the correct way to take a reading is from the upper meniscus

[rick]

thank you very much indeed