Beer Forum

What up my Ninjas-
I have always done 6 gal batches out of my 10 gal igloo mash tun. But I'm thinking about doing a 12 gal batch soon.
So what has been your experience in maximum grain poundage in a cooler. My recipe is going to be around 22lbs. Thanks

The limit for a 5 gal cooler is around 15 lbs. Hope this helps.

Based on Bobby m's chart you'll be pretty close to the limit.

10 gal mash tunn = 24 lbs of grain/1.25qt lb of water for a 10 gallon batch
@70% efficiency you would only be able to make a 1.060 beer
@ 80% efficiency you would be able to make a 1.068

I'd add to my previous comment that you can get 15 lbs into a 5 gal cooler with around 1.05 Qt/lb (4 gal water). It will be very full but certainly still workable. My efficiency is 75-78% under these conditions but of course this will depend on your crush, lautering process, etc.

This page of caculators is a nice useful thing try using the can I mash in it. http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

Awesome feedback! Thanks, yeah it looks like ill be pretty close on this one but it's doable. I average 80% effiency so busting out this pale ale should be no problem. I didn't want to mash in before asking and then realize I was fucked. Thanks!!!

I have gotten 23# in my 10g gott cooler, but that was right to the top and sparging/recirculating was tough. And my efficiency suffered greatly (obviously) so I recommend having some DME on hand to make up the difference.

So everything worked out great! I reduced my water to grain ratio to 1.15:# and I was able to fit 26lbs in my cooler. I fly sparged super slow and was still ale to get 83% efficiency. Pretty good brew day even with the freak hail storm.
http://youtu.be/0g94ibGylv4