11 replies to this topic

[nitroglycerin11]

Hey Blue Boarders,It's been a while since I have been on here, but I am looking at producing some very big beers in the next month or so. At any rate, one in particular I am concerned about is barley wine with 26lbs of grain. If mashing at 1qt/lb, do you think this amount of grain will hold in the 52qt coleman xtreme? Does anyone have experience using this as a mash tun? Also, if I drop to say 0.75 qt/lb what kind of a drop in efficiency could I expect? Thanks for the help, fellas.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Hey Blue Boarders,It's been a while since I have been on here, but I am looking at producing some very big beers in the next month or so. At any rate, one in particular I am concerned about is barley wine with 26lbs of grain. If mashing at 1qt/lb, do you think this amount of grain will hold in the 52qt coleman xtreme? Does anyone have experience using this as a mash tun? Also, if I drop to say 0.75 qt/lb what kind of a drop in efficiency could I expect? Thanks for the help, fellas.

I think you could pull it off. I don't think I'm over half full when I've made 13+ lb beers. I believe I'm mashing at 1.25qt/lb.

[cavman]

I use the same MT, I recently made an Imperial Hoppy red that used around 18# at 1.5/1 and had plenty of space. The most grain I've ever used in it was 23# and it fit fine I believe the ratio was 1.2/1 on that one. Beertools calculates you should be able to fit up to 1.6/1 with 26# of grain. You should be fine.

[consumptionjunction]

I found this Mash Calculator yesterday that might help. There's a "Can I Mash it?" section where you enter a certain water to grain ratio and grain amount, and it tells you how much mash tun volume you need. I don't think, however, that it takes into account dead space from a false bottom or manifold. I just typed in a past brew (22.15 lbs with .9 qt/lb), and it was short .25 gallons from what I observed.

Edited by consumptionjunction, 09 November 2009 - 08:45 AM.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I found this Mash Calculator yesterday that might help. There's a "Can I Mash it?" section where you enter a certain water to grain ratio and grain amount, and it tells you how much mash tun volume you need.

I'll have to remember to favorite this when I get home - it would be handy :-)

[ChefLamont]

I dont think it should be a problem. I have a 60qt and have mashed 40# in there. It was TIGHT but finctional. If you interpolate that, a 52 qt at the same water to grist ratio should hold around 34# of grain.

[jayb151]

You shouldn't have a problem. I used that mash calculator and managed to mash 33# @ 1qt/lbs in a 50qt cooler. It was tight, but made an excellent beer. I would recommend doing a fly sparge though, with all that grain, you're going to be dumping a bunch of water in, and there's not much room for that water to fill!

[zymot]

You have to be careful, part of the 52 qt space quoted is the space in the lid.Using rackers.org calculator, 26 lbs of grain at 1.25 qts/lbs = 10.21 gallons or 41 Qts. With a 20% safety margin, you should be good to go.Warning. I seem to get lower efficiency with larger grain bills. If you are looking to hit a specific OG, I suggest you have some DME as a backup to make up for any mis-calcualtions.zymot

[3rd party JKor]

I have the Igloo 50-qt Marine Ice Cube. I keep my mashes to less than 10 gallons using ProMash's Mash Calculator. I mashed 26# at 1.25, which is just over 10 gallons. There was just enough room for me to stir it gently without the mash spilling over.You should be able to do it at 1.25qt/lb, but it'll be tight. If you want a little more space for stirring, knock the ratio down to 1.10-1.15. You shouldn't have to go all the way down to 1.00.

[Kremer]

I've had 34# of grain in my 48qt ice cube. It was full and a little thick, but worked just fine.

[nitroglycerin11]

Thanks for all of the votes of confidence. I will push ahead as planned and mash at my normal ratio of 1.25. I was getting a bit nervous because of what zymot pointed out -- the lid. Now, I just need to make a huge starter and it's on!

[zymot]

Thanks for all of the votes of confidence. I will push ahead as planned and mash at my normal ratio of 1.25. I was getting a bit nervous because of what zymot pointed out -- the lid. Now, I just need to make a huge starter and it's on!

You can do the dynamic test. Fill up your cooler to the point you are comfortable. Allow for some sloshing space. Empty the cooler and measure how much water you put in it. Use the racker.org or other trustworthy mash volume calculator and see how much water you need to add to your 26 lbs of grain to get to your comfortable volume. You will probably have to use the mash calculator trial and error. Or put 41 qts of water into you cooler and see where it comes to.Brew on,zymot