Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion - Page 19

uuurang · 10-13-2007, 05:24 PM

With a mash/lauter tun you extract the sugars from grain to collect a sweet liquid that would be equivalent to your LME/DME. Why would one do that...control, over a period of time cheaper, tastes better IMO.

**Kayos** · 10-13-2007, 09:25 PM

Let me break it down a little for you

Extract Brewing:

Liquid or Dry malt extract boiled for an hour with hops thrown in at time intervals for bitterness/flavor/aroma

Extract with specialty grains brewing:

Same as above with steeping of some specialty grains at 160 degrees before the boil starts

(see here for which grains can be steeped as opposed to mashed to work)

All Grain brewing:

Get grains such as this and hold them in a cooler with 154 degree water for an hour. Drain the water. Add some 168 degree water to rinse the grains. Drain the cooler. Do this until you have 6.5 gallons drained. Then boil as usual in your pot.

That is a down and dirty extract vs. AG profile. Basically, you are making your own malt extract--sort of--.
Some grains have to be mashed (held at 154 for an hour) to convert to sugars. Some only need to be steeped. Dextrin, for example, will add body and mouthfeel if steeped at a rate of about 25%. If mashed it will convert 100% of the sugars.

Kind of make sense?

Kevin Dean · 10-15-2007, 02:52 AM

I went to Home Depot this evening looking for the 10-gallon cooler both Home Depot locations in my city informed me that the 10-gallon has been removed from Home Depot inventory but "gladly" would direct me to the 5-gallon tanks.

So I went over to Lowe's (picked up a set of Torx drivers too... damn Motorola phones...) to grab one as well - surprise - they don't stock 10-gallons anymore.

It seems I'm going to go immediate gratification and use a rectangular cooler from Wally World.

uuurang · 10-15-2007, 02:56 PM

yup. finding a 10 gal. round cooler is tough. I had to special order one from my local Ace hardware. Only took 2 days to get it in. Also was pricey, $46.

98EXL · 10-18-2007, 01:02 PM

I scored yesterday, one of the Home Depots in Annapolis had 3 of the 10 gallon Igloos on clearance for $40.....end of season apparently. I picked one up, and cost me $67 out the door or $77, now I can't remember. They didn't have 5/8" SS fender washers, but I found some in a SS bolt kit, and that was like $4 instead of $0.38 per washer. I did also buy a 16" SS hose instead of a 12". Come to think of it...it was $77 but I did buy some other things as well.

EDIT: Original thought was I did this conversion and it was easy. Only area where I had issues was making everything tight....and I did use two 5/8" O-Rings...there was room for two, so I used two to make a better seal.

And funny story, I built this at my buddy's house (we built him a sweet garage) and when I took my MLT home, itt got strapped into the front seat. he he

Kevin Dean · 10-20-2007, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 98EXL

one of the Home Depots in Annapolis had 3 of the 10 gallon Igloos on clearance for $40.....end of season apparently.

If what the guys at both Home Depots in Frederick said was true, they're not on clearance for end of season, they're on clearance because they don't sell well enough to keep them stocked but they sell well enough to drop them on the floor and sell of what they've got. They were both sure that once Home Depot sold the 10-gallons they had, they'd not be restocking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uuurang

I had to special order one from my local Ace hardware.

I forgot about Ace Hardware.

There's not one in my city and I've not seen any around this area - I figured Ace was regional and not here. Fortunately there's one about 30 miles north of here and they DID have one of the 10 gallons in stock. I paid $46 for it but oh well.

Thanks for the tip!

98EXL · 10-22-2007, 12:16 PM

well let's see your new toy!

Kevin Dean · 10-22-2007, 04:26 PM

I've got it built.

I couldn't find stainless steel washers in 5/8" and I couldn't find brass in that size.

What I ended up doing was buying about 10 or 12 neoprene washers and cramming them in there to get it tight. It sealed well but can be twisted, oh well.

I am a bit backed up right now in terms of logging my brew activity but I plan on doing it this week, when I finish I'll post links and pictures to show off my new toy.

Kevin Dean · 11-07-2007, 03:30 AM

There's a crappy picture of it.

Note to all that follow:

Do not get a skimpy plastic braid. It doesn't work. It will be a nightmare.

I've found that computer cable ties work VERY well for this project.

Also, can a mod please add this thread to the "Project Locator" sticky?

miatawnt2b · 11-07-2007, 12:10 PM

Without looking I grabbed the toilet lines with the plastic braid. Being in a rush, I ended up using them anyhow. I removed teh inside tube which was pvc braided vinyl, and I cut 'V' notches in it with a pair of wire cutters down the entire length to make a sudo manifold. Then I slipped the plastic braid back over the tube and attached it with wire ties to my valve. Worked like a champ even up to 170*.

So I'm not sure what the problem is with the plastic braid... it worked great for me. Super simple to work with, kept the grain from the kettle, didn't get stuck and didn't melt.

-J