what should my new mash tun be

[graybeerd]

Should I replace my 10 gal igloo cooler, or should I fit a 15 gal beer keg with a false bottom. I'm leaning toward the keg if that will give me more flexibility. I've used my current one for about 13 years and its starting to crack on the inside and look nasty.

[Bugeater]

If you are batch sparging, go with a 50-60 quart rectangular cooler. The shallower grain bed will make sparging easier. If you fly sparge (for some ungodly reason) go with the keg as fly sparging works better with the deeper grain bed.

Wayne

[spiderwrangler]

If you fly sparge (for some ungodly reason)

[graybeerd]

I have noticed that folks are down on fly sparging here. Just to be clear, that's when you keep the level of water above the grain bed until you collect the amount of wort you need. Batch, is when you empty and then refill the mash tun. If that is indeed what fly sparging is, that's pretty much all I've ever done. That's the way I was taught and have just stayed there. Why batch sparge? If I don't understand the definitions please help me out. I haven't grown much as a brewer for years, and that's why I'm here.

[spiderwrangler]

I have noticed that folks are down on fly sparging here.

Well, those of us that are may just be more vocal..

Here's my take on it, other's may agree or disagree.

Lots of guys want to fly sparge "<whiny voice>'cause that's how the pros do it, and it's more efficient!</whiny voice>", and then are puzzled when they get low efficiencies and tannic off flavors. In terms of the efficiency difference between batch and sparge, to my mind it isn't so much that fly will always be higher, but that fly has a higher POTENTIAL efficency, but also a bigger range. To put arbitrary numbers on it, fly can give you 50-90% efficiency, while batch will give you 65-75%. The reason for the range is that many of the people trying to do fly either don't understand what they are trying to do, or do not have equipment that is optimized to use that process. To fly successfully, you must have EVEN movement of the sparge water down through the grain bed. Any channeling and you will leave a bunch of sugars behind in one part of your bed, and over sparge grains in another part. This is where the low efficiency and tannins are coming from.
On the other hand, in batch, you are setting the grain bed, running it all off, adding sparge water in, mixing it up and running it all off. That's it. Because the sparge water is mixed in with the grains, it will all be at the same gravity, so there is no chance to over sparge, and channeling doesn't matter. Since the liquid is all at the same gravity, it is true that you will potentially be leaving more sugars behind, but at a small scale, that can be compensated for by adjusting grain bill, or sparge volume (if you REALLY want to get it all out, add enough to get a uniform 1.010). Simply put, batch is harder to fuck up, and to me the 'benefits' of doing fly are not as great as many people think, and certainly are not worth the hassle.
For anyone starting out, I recommend starting with batch (there may also be some considerations if they already have equipment designed/optimized for fly), and if they master the batch and WANT to eke a bit more efficiency out of their brew day, move to fly from there. If someone has plans on going pro, having a good understanding of fly sparging will be useful, as the efficiency does become important on a commercial scale.

My long $0.02

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

I have noticed that folks are down on fly sparging here.

Denny Conn calls it being pragmatic. I batch sparge because I'm lazy. I don't have sit for an hour over the kettle fiddling with the valve to regulate the flow rate. Instead, by the end of that hour spent sparging, I'm halfway through my boil. On a good day, I can finish everything in 5 hours.

[cornhole]

I'm a big fan of the picnic cooler for mash tun primarily for how well it is insulated and therefore holds the temp of the mash. Sometimes I don't get up to my mash in temp, at that point I draw off a gallon of wort, warm that up and put it back in the mash tun. With the highly modified malts these days, conversion goes pretty quickly, so hitting your mash in temp right away is a priority. Conversion could be done in as short as 15 minutes, so if you are tinkering around trying to get to your ideal mash temp, you're probably not getting what you expect from the process.

A lot of extra work needs to go into insulating a keg. Super special care is needed if you are going to heat the insulated keg with flame/propane/nat gas.

my 0.02 -ch

[Ozwald]

I vote a Blichmann 55 gallon BoilerMaker for a new mashtun I hear the 30 is nice too, but I'm still waiting for FedEx to show up with mine today

As for the batch vs fly discussion, I've done both but I only fly sparge now. They both have pros/cons & from my experience, neither is a bit better or easier than the other. I think it just comes down to how your system is set up & how you like to brew.