Goin All Grain, Just built my mash tun

Just got done building my mash tun this evening. It's a 12 gallon igloo cube cooler. I used 1/2" PVC in the bottom to collect the wort. it took me like 2 hours cutting all the slots with a small hack saw by hand. It's gonna work good. might have about a quart of deadspace. i would post a picture, but i'm on dial up and would take like forever. I used a hose barb through the hole where the original drain was, gasket on the inside, a 3/4" to 1/2" conduit washer, then the threaded female to glue female pvc adapter for the collection circuit. i might incorporate a thermometer through the side. just gotta figure best way to seal around the probe.

Temp probe is not that important anyway. Just check the temp around 15 minutes. With 13 pounds of grains I usually use 173 degree water without preheating the cooler.

Cool. that's probably what i'm gonna do, have both, an infrared, and digital with probe. i really didn't want to put an unnecessary hole in the cooler. thanks.
now i just need to figure out what i want to brew first. i have lots of recipes, I'm thinking Black IPA

i actually only had about a cup of deadspace. i filled it with water to see how it would drain. not too bad. i can't wait to use it. maybe this weekend.