Cooler Conversion

I see a lot of square (read: not upright rubbermaid) cooler conversions on this site, but almost all of them use a copper manifold. Has anyone had any success using a stripped stainless steel braid? would that cause too much funneling action over a square grainbed? I don't readily have the tools to cut, solder, and build the copper manifold at the time, so I want to take the easy way if it will create good results. Thanks

A stainless braid will work fine.

I use a SS braid with a rectangular cooler, but I'm also not fly sparging. Channelling isn't an issue for batch sparging. You batch sparging or fly?

Keep in mind, too, that if you DO want a manifold, you can use C-PVC (*not* regular PVC, that's not rated for mash temps). If you do use copper you don't really need to solder anything, just dry-fit. Cutting copper is NBD, just get a pipe cutter (a few bucks at the hardware store).

go stainless or go with copper, its your choice, either method will work and is cheap. The problem is where folks get convinced they have to insert something into the braid to keep it from collapsing. Keep it simple and just try it. Braid is like 4 bucks. If it dont work for you try the copper.

Can I just use one braid the length of the cooler, or should I create a circle (or rectangle) by splitting it before the exit spout? Does it make a difference?

theganda said:

Can I just use one braid the length of the cooler, or should I create a circle (or rectangle) by splitting it before the exit spout? Does it make a difference?

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If you plan to batch sparge, see this....

dennybrew

Denny said:

If you plan to batch sparge, see this....

dennybrew

Click to expand...

Denny is right on! I built my mash tun based on his instructions and it works fantastic, and it's inexpensive. There has to be 1000's, maybe millions, of these in use today. For an average beer (1.050 OG) I usually get around 75-80% Brewhouse efficiency. Cheers!!

I opted for a 5 gallon round cooler that uses a spigot much like the FlyGuy post that is on the Wiki. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

It seems that my stainless braid will leave a bit of deadspace at the bottom if I attach it directly to the barb inside the cooler. Would it make sense to add a couple of inches of hi-temp vinyl tubing to act as a dip tube to get some siphon effect from to bottom of the cooler, or should i just keep it simple and attach the braid directly to the hose barb?