tre9er

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So I had a 22qt. cooler sitting around that we sometimes use for camping, a day at the lake, etc. It's really too small to bring much though, so I figured, why not make a mash-tun?!?

Like most/many people I ordered the bulkhead kit form bargainfittings.com, all very high quality stuff I might add. However my cooler didn't originally have a spigot, so there was no pre-existing rubber gasket, and the walls had a lot of flex between them.

I read, and I read, and I tried this and that...I coated the threads with ptfe tape, I assembled the parts every which way...it kept leaking (underneath the nipple between the cooler wall and nipple, which meant liquid in the insulation).

I saw where a few people had used baby bottle nipples for a gasket on the inner wall of the cooler. Finally last night I picked up a two pack. These are the smaller nipples, not the huge 3" jobbies.

Here is an illustration of where I cut the nipple and then a few pics of the assembly. I can happily report no leaks!
The little flange left by cutting the nipple this way actually seats it in the SS washer. I'm using 1/2" hardware, too, FYI.

The PVC goes between the two cooler walls. You make the outer wall hole slightly larger. It's a 1/2" PVC union, actually, but I'm told 3/4" PVC works too. So from outside to inside the assembly goes:
Ball valve, SS washer, PVC/Union,inner cooler wall, baby-bottle-nipple gasket, ss washer, locknut.

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bloodonblood

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That's a cool idea! Thanks for the info.

mrpeccator

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I've got nipple gaskets on HLT, MLT, and Keggle. No leaks, and they work extremely well. Plus it was so much cheaper to make my own than to buy a weldless fitting. But it did take some experimentation to get to the solid, no-leaking version.

tre9er

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Whoa, whoa...TMI, TMI!

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Biohazard

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sweet, 3rd and final kid is finally off bottles, I am re-purpose a few of these before I trash em.

tre9er

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Keep them indefinitely! They're 100% silicone and thus food-grade and high-temp (boiling+) safe!

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starsailor

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Awesome! I wish I had thought of this sooner. I've got a whole grocery bag full of baby bottle stuff that we just haven't gotten around to throwing out yet. Time to raid the nipples...

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FirstStateBrewer

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Now if you could just find some way to use that old breast pump for brewing, you'll be all set!

tre9er

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SUUPPPERRR Slow pump for single-tier system? Nah, probably get fried by the heat. Breastmilk slightly cooler than wort

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boswell

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Holy crap this is a good idea, not to mention throwing around 'breast' and 'nipple'.

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