ayrton
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I woke up with the kind of excited feeling that you can only get when you're going to go shopping for your first all-grain equipment. I drove to my friendly (read: smelly and dirty) neighborhood Wal-Mart, and after waiting at customer service for over an hour to return a broken portable DVD player, I went to the cooler section. Loads of the Coleman XTreme coolers, but they were all 52 quarts. In fact, they had no coolers that were smaller than 50 quarts. I went to the mall next and looked for one there, but no dice. Not wanting to go home without a cooler at all, I gave in and went back to Wal-Mart and grabbed a 52-quarter. It's a lil' big, but it should do the trick just fine. I also picked up a gas burner (my brew pot is en route from eBay) and an air pump for aerating.
As soon as I got in my car, I removed the plastic bulkhead and drain plug from the cooler. I had a list of the equipment I needed to get at Lowe's, one piece of which was a metal bulkhead with threading on both ends so I could attach a barb to each end, and on the inside of the cooler, attach some braided toilet hose cover. The guy at Lowe's had no idea what I was talking about when I described the bulkead, so I went out to my car and grabbed the issue of BYO that I had brought along, and showed him exactly what I wanted. Of course, Lowe's doesn't carry anything like that, so I was forced to go away with only my toilet hose. I could have picked up the ball valve and barbs, but what would be the point?
So now I have most of my AG stuff, but am missing several critical tiny components. I found several of the bulkheads online, buy they seem awfully pricey for such a simple piece of metal. Anyone come up with a clever way of skirting this issue?
As soon as I got in my car, I removed the plastic bulkhead and drain plug from the cooler. I had a list of the equipment I needed to get at Lowe's, one piece of which was a metal bulkhead with threading on both ends so I could attach a barb to each end, and on the inside of the cooler, attach some braided toilet hose cover. The guy at Lowe's had no idea what I was talking about when I described the bulkead, so I went out to my car and grabbed the issue of BYO that I had brought along, and showed him exactly what I wanted. Of course, Lowe's doesn't carry anything like that, so I was forced to go away with only my toilet hose. I could have picked up the ball valve and barbs, but what would be the point?
So now I have most of my AG stuff, but am missing several critical tiny components. I found several of the bulkheads online, buy they seem awfully pricey for such a simple piece of metal. Anyone come up with a clever way of skirting this issue?