The mash tun is a piece of equipment used by the “all grain” brewer. Put simply, it is a vessel, in which the milled, malted grain is placed with hot water to release the sugars necessary for fermentation.

The mash tun is one of the easiest, yet most confusing pieces of equipment to the new brewer. There are so many configurations, it would be impossible to nail down the “best” way to mash your grains. One person may say the round cooler, another may go the route of the 5 day Wally world special. The simple answer, is even more confusing.

Your mash tun is a direct reflection on how you brew… If you are a quick and easy bewrer, you most likely have a 5 or 6 gal round cooler with a false bottom. This is a great way to mash. You can buy the whole set up, no fuss no muss. However, it does however have some limitations.

Another option is the rectangle cooler or as I call ‘em, the 5 day’er. It is just another shape of the concept of the round cooler. It has the same benefits and limitations of the round cooler, with the added benefit of a greater capacity. To the naked eye, its benefits stop there. However, I would like to point out, with the larger surface area available to the “grain bed”, I think that sparging is more efficient in this type of setup than the round cooler. There by getting more sugars / alcohol out of your grain.

OK, here is where the metal meats the road. the cooler is fine for simple, fixed temperature mashing. You add hot water to reach a “strike” temperature, and let it sit for a prescribed amount of time. Then you sparge. That’s about it. It works really good too. Generally, you can achieve 70% to 75% “efficiency”. Scenario…10# grain, add 2.5 gal of 170*F water, your temp stabilizes at 154*F. you let that sit for 60 Min’s and sparge with 3.5 gal 170*F water for a yield of about 5.5 gal wort, boiled down to 5 gal, racked to the primary. Original Gravities around 1.052. Actual results may vary depending upon too many variables to mention.

Now, lets get really confused. I don’t use either. I mash in my brew pot. I have made an insulated cover that fits nicely around it. (my better half quilts so I had the raw materials). In reality, all you need to do is fashion a way to insulate the pot. (it doesn’t take much). Now, I don’t have a spigot, that would be nice, but it is just a regular 30 qt turkey fryer, Stainless steel. I step mash, bringing up my temps +/-…130*F, for 30 Min’s, to 155*F, for 6o Min’s. to 170*F,to complete conversion. All of my temps are a combination of hot water and direct heat. I even vary my temps to adjust the particular brew I want to achieve. This type of mashing is impossible to achieve with the cooler. I like the option of adding direct heat when necessary. When conversion is complete, I dump the whole mess into a “Lauder tun” (a cooler with a filter attached to the valve. (also serves as a hop back) this is where I sparge. I use the same big rectangle cooler mentioned earlier. ( 5 day ‘er) I generally reach 78% to 83% efficiency. Its a small increase for the amount of trouble, I am just particular that way. By the way, I started single temp mashing, and moved over to step mashing because I was bored just waiting around for conversion to finish. I just recdedicated my equipment.

Everyone has style, when it comes to their beer. Your method is simply a reflection of your style.