mash tun size

Hi
Im all new to partial mash brewing. Im looking at making a mash tun out of a rubber maid water cooler . With this amount of grain in a recipe 2# 2-row 1/2# crystal,
1/2# cara pils. would a 1.65 gallon water cooler be to small. reason why i ask is thay only had two sizes 1.65 gal and 4.62 gal and a big price difference between the two..
Thanks Daza

Take a look at this thread if you haven't already.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8805
I found this cooler at Walmart. It was about $18.50. I think it would be a great size for partial mash brewing. You could easily mash up to five pounds of grain.
It is small enough that the grain bed would be deep enough to aid efficiency and it wouldn't take up much room when stored.

Daznz said:

Hi
Im all new to partial mash brewing. Im looking at making a mash tun out of a rubber maid water cooler . With this amount of grain in a recipe 2# 2-row 1/2# crystal,
1/2# cara pils. would a 1.65 gallon water cooler be to small. reason why i ask is thay only had two sizes 1.65 gal and 4.62 gal and a big price difference between the two..
Thanks Daza

Click to expand...

You are looking at a grist of 3 pounds. This require about 3/4 gallons of water for the mash and 1 1/2 gallons for the sparge. The smaller one might work but it may be close. You would do a batch sparge so you don't have to worry about having that much water in the cooler all at once. The other thing you want to consider is will the small cooler maintain a constant temp for one hour? With that small volume of mash it may not. If the cooler is reasonably priced it may be worth experimenting with. If you do let us know how it works.
I am going to experiment with the one I have as well. I will be out of town most of this week but I plan on playing when I get back.

If you can get away with the larger cooler and maintain a decent grainbed depth (really only important if you're using a manifold anyway) then you should go with the 5 gal cooler. When, not if, you decide to transition to all grain the 5 gal cooler will work for virtually all your 5 gal AG batches. Then, when you step up to larger batches you can use the 5 gal round cooler for a sparge tank.

But hey, I'm just planning ahead here. Like you, cost is a factor for me, but you can get a cooler for very cheap at walmart. Yes I hate them but I'll bite the bullet and shop there if it'll help my brewing.

In the end i got 7gal square cooler and im making a manifold for it so i hope i get enough grain depth with my small recipe. What would be a good grain depth
above the manifold? i am using extract in this recipe as well.
thanks Daza

Lost-
You said you can use a 5 gallon (round) cooler for AG batches...how much is too much for the 5 gal cooler? I am gathering my equipment togather so I can attempt my first AG batch so I was wondering how many #'s of grain can the 5 gal cooler hold efficiently?
Some recipes look like almost 10#'s of grain for just a 5 gal batch. Can the Gott style cooler hold this and do its magic properly? Or do I need to go buy a 10 gallon round cooler to make 5 gal AG batches?

Thanks!

cgcaudle said:

Lost-
You said you can use a 5 gallon (round) cooler for AG batches...how much is too much for the 5 gal cooler? I am gathering my equipment togather so I can attempt my first AG batch so I was wondering how many #'s of grain can the 5 gal cooler hold efficiently?
Some recipes look like almost 10#'s of grain for just a 5 gal batch. Can the Gott style cooler hold this and do its magic properly? Or do I need to go buy a 10 gallon round cooler to make 5 gal AG batches?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I can get about a max of 13-14# grain bill in my 5g cooler. 1.25 ratio although probably more towards 1.0 or 1.15 with this much grain. It's right to the top.

Oh nice...thanks desert. I got worried for a little bit there by reading the other posts.

Last Saturday at Homebrew Day I saw a few 10 Gal coolers, but they were 10 gal batches, not 5. Most were like Desertbrew described...right up to the top (with the 5 and 10 gal coolers incidently). There were a few people whos mash was not right up to the top but they were using 15.5 Gal kegs converted. Man I can't believe how much I learned by just walking around and talking to people and seeing what they were doing with their setups. Can't wait for the next event to come around.

Well, I just read that most people are having a hard time with the rubbermaid coolers since they are warping...now I have to go buy another. Does this happen with everyone's rubbermaid?

Well I have only done one AG with my rubbermaids.... can't say I see any on mine. If it was that much of a serious problem I would not have seen so many on Homebrew day. Wouldn't worry too much about it. If you look through the gallery you will see many

How about it guys.... how many times you buy new ones because of warpage?

I just got a 5 gallon Igloo "industrial cooler" for an HLT

cgcaudle said:

Lost-
You said you can use a 5 gallon (round) cooler for AG batches...how much is too much for the 5 gal cooler? I am gathering my equipment togather so I can attempt my first AG batch so I was wondering how many #'s of grain can the 5 gal cooler hold efficiently?
Some recipes look like almost 10#'s of grain for just a 5 gal batch. Can the Gott style cooler hold this and do its magic properly? Or do I need to go buy a 10 gallon round cooler to make 5 gal AG batches?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Well, I see DesertBrew beat me too it.. yes, he's got it right. 10lbs will go in with ease.. 12lbs in pushing it and 13 is probably the limit. The round cooler I've been using for the mash and now for the HLT is a rubbermaid BTW.. I haven't had any problems with it yet but as you said, others are.

The new cooler I'm using for the mash/lauter tun is one of those "ice cube" coolers.. it's square and not rectangular so it effectively has a deeper grainbed for the same given volume because it's extra volume is from added height and not added width. It's a 48qt cooler (10.5 gal) but I expect to have a grainbed deep enough for a regular 5 gal batch (11-12lbs of grain). FYI, if you're using a manifold then a grainbed depth of 8" or more is what you want. I haven't used the thing yet (I was going to use it today) so I can't say how well it works for 5 gal batches. It's made by Igloo so hopefully it doesn't have any of the issues that the rubbermaid coolers seem to have.

Happy brewing.

Mine hasn't warped yet (Walfart rubbermaid 5g). And when I"m not using it, it resides in my shed which easily is at 115-120 during the day. Been used probably 20+ times. Then again, it was $18 so...

I have to HD a couple of times and I'm trying to picture what I would need to install a shut off valve etc.. in the 5 gallon Gott.

1. Do I drill though the current valve?

or

2. Remove the current valve and insert an new system?

Any thought's.....any good pictures I can be directed to?

Thanks..

jsteurer said:

I have to HD a couple of times and I'm trying to picture what I would need to install a shut off valve etc.. in the 5 gallon Gott.

1. Do I drill though the current valve?

or

2. Remove the current valve and insert an new system?

Any thought's.....any good pictures I can be directed to?

Thanks..

Click to expand...

Several who have found the correct parts can tell you a bit more of thier wisdom in this situation. I can only tell you obviously what I eventually did. DO NOT TAKE OUT THE DRILL! That was my first mistake and I had to buy another cooler... not bad considering it became a HWT. My second mistake was thinking I could find the parts to do this job easily. It was a frustrating esperience that took close to a month before finally saying F*CK IT and just buy the Kewler Kit. Wish I just did it from the start. All you do is take out the fitting from the cooler and put in the Kewler Kit. Thats about as easy as it gets. You will be brewing in 10 minutes! ... if that... as apposed to trying to find the parts..... your choice Take a look in my gallery and your find a lot of specific pictures I took of the assembly. I am not at all sure why this was such a challenge to find all the parts.... it really looks patheticly easy. In my case looks were decieving.

Whatever you do, first buy or build your false bottom or whatever you plan to put on the bottom of the cooler. Then take this with you when you buy your cooler to make sure it fits and all. I inicially bought Phil's bottom and an Igloo cooler(the one I eventually took a drill too and screwed it up). The Igloo cooler is wider at the top then it is on the bottom.... Phil's did not fit on the bottom. Again, just take whatever you plan to put in it and you wont have that problem. I was taking everything to places after that mistake so I knew things worked as apposed to bringing things home and finding out that it did not work... very frustrating experience. On the other hand I had a lot of fun explaining to people at places what I was doing

http://www.zymico.com/cooler/

just stick a drilled stopper in the hole (from the inside so it won't easily fall out) and run a piece of copper pipe through it. Attach a ball valve to the pipe using a compression fitting. Viola, you're set and all for less than what the zymico kit costs and that's not including the ball valve.

Sure, the zymico kit is the best way to go, but for those of us on a budget...

I tried that stopper drilled thing. I basically trashed the stopper. Might have been my bit, or the stopper at my hbs. I ended up coming up with the stuff in this pic.

desert-

So that threaded piece (top center) fits right through the 'spout hole' of your cooler? Did you have to drill your spout hol out any to fit that threaded piece thru?

Also, do you just dry fit the copper piece that goes from the 'T' fitting (at the top of your loop) to the copper piece that is on the top far right...or do you have to add something to help them stick together? Just doesn't seem like they would stay together inside the cooler without wiggling out somehow...

cgcaudle said:

desert-

So that threaded piece (top center) fits right through the 'spout hole' of your cooler? Did you have to drill your spout hol out any to fit that threaded piece thru?

Also, do you just dry fit the copper piece that goes from the 'T' fitting (at the top of your loop) to the copper piece that is on the top far right...or do you have to add something to help them stick together? Just doesn't seem like they would stay together inside the cooler without wiggling out somehow...

Click to expand...

Yes on the thread piece through the center. Threads for both external sides of the cooler. No drilling needed.

And yep, on the T on the manifold going to the piece on the far right which screws into the center threaded piece. None of this stuff is sweated and sticks together fine. I like the fact that I can remove the manifold; has never fallen off in the mash and is a snug fit to get it on. Come cleaning time I remove it and blast water through the manifold T to clean the slits cut (not shown). One thing though not shown. Save the gasket from the cooler and reuse it on the inside. I leaked without it. Take the cooler to the hardware store and get all the crap you need, making sure it assembles there. I ended up making at least 3 trips before I decided to take it with me . Me and the helpful Ace guy came up with this. You might be able to see I had to cut larger holes in the thin rubber gasket material.

Either way, as far as leaking goes, Dude suggested this teflon plumbers tape. You can get it from any hardware store. It worked great and was real easy to work with.

Remember, make whatever manifold or false bottom you want first and take it to get the cooler to make sure everything fits good. One thing I saw was that the holes drilled out in these coolers are not placed all in the same place. On one of the coolers, for instance, the false bottom fit inside perfectly, but the hole was too low. I did not have enough clearance to attach the fittings of the false bottom to the fittings going to the outside world. If you could figure out a way to get the Igloo Extream to work, get that one. Man it holds heat in great!!

i would go with as big of a cooler as i could. personally i like the 10 gallon gott coolers because the false bottoms fit nicely in them and a 3m 4100 polishing pad fits in em too. just make sure to put the donut hole in before the grain. i had it out here for picture purposes.



as far as the valve is concerned - if it's a push button type you can snip the retaining o ring off and the whole push button assembly comes out. then you can drill out the valve just slightly for a 1/4" pass through pipe



as far as how full you can get a 10 gallon one? heh


http://www.madawg.net/pix/dryrun_ag/tubing 012.jpg

I saw a 10 gal cooler selling for $70 last weekend. Was that a good price? Cost a lot more then the 5 gals....

i paid $50 or $60 at the depot if i remember correctly

they also have 5 gallon coolers for $24

http://tinyurl.com/frt5e

I saw at a Sportsmans Warehouse (think that's the name of it) a 10g for $45 I believe. If you have one in your locale....

www.sportsmanswarehouse.com or perhaps similar type of sportsman store if you have one near you. I was surprised to see it so cheap!

cgcaudle said:

Well, I just read that most people are having a hard time with the rubbermaid coolers since they are warping...now I have to go buy another. Does this happen with everyone's rubbermaid?

Click to expand...

I have a 3 month old 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler no problems yet.