I recently upgraded my boil/fermentation equipment to be able to do 10 gallon batches. Brewed up a nice ESB to test the system out, and even with the modest amount of grain, I was pushing my old 10 gallon cooler mash tun to overflow levels with the batch sparge. I have an LME barrel I'm not doing anything with, and was thinking of hacking off the top, and throwing a ball valve on the bottom, and moving my false bottom over... Was just debating if I want to insulate, or make a lid... Anywho, I figured I would ask all the 10 gallon batch brewers here what they use for a mash tun, and how they like it? Cheers friends.
If you're looking for incremental gain with flexibility for making smaller batches, just pick up a five gallon beverage cooler and a large grain bag...split the grain and water between your 10 and the 5 and mix the worts in the brewpot. No worry about sparge overflow.
What is your liquid to grain ratio that you are overflowing a 10 gallon with an esb? That doesn't compute. I have a 10 gallon set up and I have yet to overflow it with any of my 10 gallon recipes; regardless the starting gravity, nor grain bill. It definitely sounds like something is off.
I use a 12 gallon rectangle shape cooler with braided hose and i can do 10 gallons of 1.070 ish wort without overflowing. I use a keggle as my brew kettle. I am hoping to upgrade to a 20 gallon kettle and I'll convert my 15 gallon keggle to my mash tun. I would imagine you could do 1.090-1.100 OG worts with a 15 gallon mash tun before maxing it out.
Grain ratio was 1lb/1.45qt. with approx. 15lbs of grain. Strike water 5.3 Gallons Sparge was 8.4 Gallons.
Something really sounds off. I regularly do 10 gallon batches in a 10 gallon cooler, with 19 pounds of grain. Mash infusion is about 6 gallons, and I do two batch sparges - one at about 3 gallons and the other at about 6 gallons. Try using 2 batch sparges rather than one. I never have it flow over.
Another vote for the Coleman Extreme. Best bang for the buck, and can handle the occasional 15-20 gallon batch if its not crazy strong. For most 10 gallon batches you will have a fairly shallow grain bed that allows for a pretty quick sparge without sacrificing much efficiency - and you will never have a stuck sparge.
Not really off, just had to split the sparge.... same as you. I'm just trying to avoid the extra step, or having to top off the sparge.
