Home made Lauter tun question

Do you really mean a Lauter Tun? Or do you mean a combination Mash/Lauter Tun?

 

Not a waste of money at all to make your own. I use the 10 gallon Rubbermaid round cooler (model 1610), if you get it from Lowe's or HD it'll be under 50 bucks. Tons of aftermarket kits to convert this to a mash tun (false bottom, valve, hose) and it is considered a good 'un. Just search Google for "convert rubbermaid cooler to mash tun" and you'll get lots of details.

 

will a 10 gallon cooler be big enough for a mash tun to brew in a keggle?

 

What size batches would you boil in your keggle? And what would be the highest OG? And what's your typical mash efficiency? IOW, it depends.

 

I can squeeze out ten gallons of a 1.070 beer from my ten gal Rubbermaid cooler/keggle. I tend to do five gallons of anything much bigger than that and if I really, really want to do ten gallons, I'm not too proud to throw in some DME to make up the difference.

 

[quote="VikeMan, post: 1903995, member: 348498"size batches would you boil in your keggle? And what would be the highest OG? And what's your typical mash efficiency? IOW, it depends.[/quote]
I would be hoping for about 11 gallons of beer ( enough for two corny kegs). I have not yet put the system together, but rarely does my og need to be over 1.080

 

So, figure out (or guess) your mash efficiency and translate that into the amount of grain you would need for an 11 gallon batch. Then plug the numbers into the 'Can I Mash It' calculator about halfway down this page...
http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

By the way, I wouldn't try to squeeze 11 gallons of beer into two cornys.

 

thanks for the help. I wouldnt try to squeeze, I would just want to make sure the were close to.full as opposed.to having a ton of headspace.

With everyone selling only a ten gallon cooler mash tun, I have not seen many bigger options.

 

Just make sure you're not filling higher than the bottom of your CO2 dip tube. This will help prevent beer getting into your gas line.

Consider building your own tun from a rectangular cooler. Coleman XTremes are very nice. And rectangular coolers are available in a staggering array of volumes. (I use a 54 qt XTreme for everything nowadays.)

Edit: meant to add this, about head space in cornys... Extra headspace in a serving keg doesn't hurt anything, if you were thinking about oxidation (like in a secondary fermenter for example). As long as you purge the headspace, you're golden.

 

I use a coleman picnic cooler (rectangular with hinge lid, 48 qt I believe) for a mash tun and batch sparging. The manifold is a piece of flexible water tube (for sink or toilet) with the plastic/rubber coating removed. It's plenty big for 5-gallon batches.

I've had a problem with the liner delaminating and warping so the lid doesn't close tightly. It's water tight, just heat escapes quickly.