Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion

has anyone experimented with buying a longer SS braid and spiraling it on the floor of the cooler?

spenghali said:

has anyone experimented with buying a longer SS braid and spiraling it on the floor of the cooler?

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I doubt it would make much of a difference if you're batch sparging. Spiraling the braid and keeping it spiraled while stirring the mash seems like a lot of effort for no increase in efficiency. A better approach might be to purchase a t-shaped fitting in place of the barb and connecting both ends of a larger braid. Still, i doubt it will make a difference if you're batch sparging.

Ok I got it to work. I went and bought a rubber gasket/stopper at Lowes that fits perfectly inside the hole of the cooler. Then I used the stock stopper and butted it up against that inside and then followed the directions from there. I only used 1 washer on the outside as well. Hand tighten from there an no leaks so far. A pia but hopefully well worth it. Thanks for the help all.

Another question, does anyone know the inner (ID) and outer diameter (OD) of the o-ring they used? What about the washers? I guess the washers don't really matter as much as the o-ring size.

spenghali said:

Another question, does anyone know the inner (ID) and outer diameter (OD) of the o-ring they used? What about the washers? I guess the washers don't really matter as much as the o-ring size.

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I used a #12 o-ring. You'll have to purchase a pack of 10 or 12, most likely. For the washers, I went with this kit: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...0368321&AID=10368321&cj=true&locStoreNum=6206

There were three or four washers included that were the perfect size for the indentation on the front of the home depot coolers. I also used a few 5/8" flat washers on the outside to make sure everything was tight. Their outside diameter is a bit larger.

Well I spoke too soon again. I have a tiny, tiny leak; basically like a bead of moisture between the seal of the ball valve and the brass nipple. I watched it for about 45 mins and it didnt drip so not sure if I'm over thinking it or what. Gonna re-do the seal in the inside cooler again. But basically if I have any signs of a leak on the outside of the cooler it means that some of the beer/water, etc. will be leaking inside the shell of the cooler into the insulating foam which could cause mold, etc??.


I'm an idiot; I do not show a leak where the washers are so that means my seal on the inside is good; but rather the seal of the ball valve and the brass nipple so maybe another o-ring will work?? I also picked up a pack of garden hose washers that I thought would work but they stretch.

I some of my leaks were also cured by more Teflon tape on the threads. I'm used to PVC piping that seals a lot easier. These metal fittings required a good amount of tape and a really tight fit

Ok, did this with 2 home-depot 10g coolers, only difference was I had to use 1" close nipples instead of the 1 1/2 on the parts list. Could not get my parts to clamp down enough with the 1 1/2 nipple. I also recommend finding all lead free brass parts. A little expensive but worth it. All home depot fittings were lead free, some from the hardware store were not. Also I used the thickest o ring available, fit ok/pretty good but the thicker the better.

My SS washers should be at my local Fastenal on Monday and I play on my first AG next week. Ill post updates again when everything is completed. Thanks again for your awesome post Flyguy

Thanks so much for the excellent photos and detail. I hope to put one of these together next year... this is just the info I need.

Cheers,

Paul

Ok mine is working perfectly now. Added a 2nd O ring and that stopped the leake. I did a gallon all grain brew of fruity pebbel ale recipe I found. The cooler worked awesome and I love that is was essentially mess free. I'm gonna do a honey sage today. Thanks for the help!!

Okay I finally got all the pieces together and assembled as said here. I had to end up using two SS washers on the inside along with a #12 oring against the factory stopper. On the outside, I used two #12 orings and 4 SS washers as I had a leak prior using the normal set up. I have had about 8 gallons in it for the past 30 min with no leak since.

questions, I didnt really dry everything up on the inside after it leaked the first time...do you think it would be a good idea to disassemble and clean or should it be good as long as I sanitize well?

SauceBoss said:

questions, I didnt really dry everything up on the inside after it leaked the first time...do you think it would be a good idea to disassemble and clean or should it be good as long as I sanitize well?

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I would give everything a good cleaning just to get the "leftovers" from manufacturing off (metal filings, oila, etc). Since you are still before the boil when you use this you don't have to worry too much about sanitation. Doesn't hurt to keep things clean, though.

SauceBoss said:

questions, I didnt really dry everything up on the inside after it leaked the first time...do you think it would be a good idea to disassemble and clean or should it be good as long as I sanitize well?

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n8dagr8 said:

I would give everything a good cleaning just to get the "leftovers" from manufacturing off (metal filings, oila, etc). Since you are still before the boil when you use this you don't have to worry too much about sanitation. Doesn't hurt to keep things clean, though.

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sanitizing your MT isn't a must because it's always infected with lacto but after every batch I just rinse, wipe, spray with starsan and drip dry! The problem would be if you store equipment inside that is used post boil!

Awesome! I actually rinse off all pieces prior to assembly as best I could to get any manufacturer oil and residue off so ill just sanitize it really well and let it drip dry then prior to my brew ill do it again. Thanks for the prompt feeback!

Ok, this is really bugging me.. I've for all the parts from the first post- exact part # etc. The 5/8 washers will not fit over the center (non threaded portion) of A-786 Brass Pipe Nipple. What is going on here?

brainfrz said:

Ok, this is really bugging me.. I've for all the parts from the first post- exact part # etc. The 5/8 washers will not fit over the center (non threaded portion) of A-786 Brass Pipe Nipple. What is going on here?

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I used a file to open the ID of the fender up to fit over the pipe nipple middle.

brainfrz said:

Ok, this is really bugging me.. I've for all the parts from the first post- exact part # etc. The 5/8 washers will not fit over the center (non threaded portion) of A-786 Brass Pipe Nipple. What is going on here?

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Same exact issue here. I've been trying to build this for the past few days, and I keep running into issues (the first being the washers not fitting over the nipple). Also, yesterday I was really struggling to get anything screwed onto the nipple more than 2-3 turns; ESPECIALLY with the teflon tape on. And the parts are all the right size, which makes it really frustrating.

Today I picked up some washers one size up (3/4"), which of course fit, but with too large of a gap between the washer and the nipple. So I tightened things down as far as possible, and the valve still rotates freely, and there's a slight leak. I even added an additional washer, and nothing seems to help. Shouldn't the valve lock down and not rotate around?

There's nothing to lock the bulkhead down. It's going to spin some.

It looks like I've purchased just flat washers.. I returned them but the nearest Menards that has the fender washer in 5/8 is a little out of the way.. I'll try stopping there this weekend. 5/16" x 1-5/8" Fender Washers - 1 pcs. at Menards

At second glance though, the ID is 5/16. Back to the drawing board.

Update- went to Home Depot this morning... Bought one of those "build-a-bolt" boxes as mentioned in a previous post. It was $3 and some change and came with 4 flat 5/8 stainless steel washers. I bought 2 of those boxes just in case I need a spare washer. I will test this out tonight.

Stopped at Ace by my work during lunch. They've got regular 5/8 steel fender washers (not stainless). Any reason to not use these on the outside of the mash tun?

brainfrz said:

Stopped at Ace by my work during lunch. They've got regular 5/8 steel fender washers (not stainless). Any reason to not use these on the outside of the mash tun?

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No reason to not use them for the outside.

I found everything at home depot, except some food grade high temp tubing. My lhbs has some silicon tubing, but that is really flimsy. My question is, has anyone used just the SS braid with success? It seems like even the braid would collapse under the mash weight. I say on page 7 or 8 of the thread that it was suggested to use only the braid, but has anyone actually done it yet? Thanks for any help.

Yep, most of us are using just the ss braid. I've not heard of anyone who had one collapse. Just do it and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The SS braid does really well, I've used this over a dozen times since I made it 6 months ago, and it still looks brand new.

Cool, thanks for all the help everyone. Should be ready to go in 2-3 days, depending on when my yeast is ready. Getting really excited for my first all grain.

+4 on the SS braid. I have done 2 batches and it works awesome. This whole set up is pretty cool actually and it cuts down on the mess. I do attach my siphon hose to the ball valve to transfer to my boiling pot. Works perfect!

So as I was holding the nut on the inside of the cooler and removing the spigot, the rubber seal came out. As I put it back in, i noticed that on the top I was able to push it in. Consequently as I completed all other steps, the seal was very loose and I could not turn on and off the ball valve without moving the entire bottom addition. I have been contemplating doing this for some months and always thought the first step might be difficult. Has anyone else had this problem? As I looked at the removed nut from the cooler, I noticed a piece of what appears to be sealant attached to the nut in the exact spot that I can push the rubber piece in, so that is what I attribute being the reason the seal is not tight. I just bought some heat resistant silicone sealant and am now waiting for the rubber to settle before attempting to attach ball-valve etc. However I am perturbed by this turn of events and as I anticipated this may be a problem I am hopeful someone has encountered this before and has some advice? As well, I think instead of saying to 'remove' the spigot out in the directions it would be more accurate to say the 'remove the spigot by slowly unscrewing it', because it does screw out. Thanks in advance.:rockin:

Tkelly32 said:

So as I was holding the nut on the inside of the cooler and removing the spigot, the rubber seal came out. As I put it back in, i noticed that on the top I was able to push it in. Consequently as I completed all other steps, the seal was very loose and I could not turn on and off the ball valve without moving the entire bottom addition. I have been contemplating doing this for some months and always thought the first step might be difficult. Has anyone else had this problem? As I looked at the removed nut from the cooler, I noticed a piece of what appears to be sealant attached to the nut in the exact spot that I can push the rubber piece in, so that is what I attribute being the reason the seal is not tight. I just bought some heat resistant silicone sealant and am now waiting for the rubber to settle before attempting to attach ball-valve etc. However I am perturbed by this turn of events and as I anticipated this may be a problem I am hopeful someone has encountered this before and has some advice? As well, I think instead of saying to 'remove' the spigot out in the directions it would be more accurate to say the 'remove the spigot by slowly unscrewing it', because it does screw out. Thanks in advance.:rockin:

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First off welcome to the forum
Second, what exactly is your problem? Just that the valve feels loose? I noticed that my factory gasket is larger on one side that the other. The smaller side will fit into the thru-hole, the larger side will sandwich up against the cooler wall. So I positioned the gasket so the larger side is facing the cooler wall and this worked well for me. However the valve still has a loose feel to it, though it doesn't leak a drop.

Hello all,

Brewed my first AG last weekend with the the 10-gal Rubbermaid and the 3/8 fittings mentioned at the start of the thread. Everything went fine with the 5/16 vinyl hose into the kettle.

My question (and pardon if this has been answered, I did search and found no solid answer) is if anyone has got the same 10-gallon cooler working with 1/2" fittings. I am soon upgrading to a Top Tier and wanting to go with the SS camlocks with 1/2" NPT all around (other than the females with hose barbs on the hoses) and wanted to make every connection possible the same 1/2" size.

I can't imagine the OD of a 1/2" diameter pipe nipple is too great to go through the standard hole on the cooler, though it raises questions about what to do with the "existing white gasket" that we save, or if that needs to be replaced with something larger.

Does anyone here have it piped with 1/2" and have an alternate parts list? Or can anyone provide a forum link if this has already been asked?

Thanks in advance!!!

eyedoctodd said:

Hello all,

Brewed my first AG last weekend with the the 10-gal Rubbermaid and the 3/8 fittings mentioned at the start of the thread. Everything went fine with the 5/16 vinyl hose into the kettle.

My question (and pardon if this has been answered, I did search and found no solid answer) is if anyone has got the same 10-gallon cooler working with 1/2" fittings. I am soon upgrading to a Top Tier and wanting to go with the SS camlocks with 1/2" NPT all around (other than the females with hose barbs on the hoses) and wanted to make every connection possible the same 1/2" size.

I can't imagine the OD of a 1/2" diameter pipe nipple is too great to go through the standard hole on the cooler, though it raises questions about what to do with the "existing white gasket" that we save, or if that needs to be replaced with something larger.

Does anyone here have it piped with 1/2" and have an alternate parts list? Or can anyone provide a forum link if this has already been asked?

Thanks in advance!!!

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I did mine with 1/2" ball valve and everything but when it came time for the SS mesh, I couldn't find anything the right size. I just used a smaller barbed fitting but left everything else the larger size.

Thanks n8dagr8 for your response.

In trying to figure out something for the inner gasket, I was looking at the Fastenal web site and while they don't have silicone gaskets, they have something called "gylon".

I looked it up and found this PDF about it: http://jameswalker.biz/system/pdf_docs/fichiers/42/original_James_Walker_Gylon_modified_PTFE_gasketing.pdf?1272627165

It says it's food safe, does not support bacterial growth, and safe for temps from -450F to +500F (my normal mash temp sits comfortably within this range ).

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience at all with this material, just wondering if it's got the flexibility to serve as an appropriate gasket in the mash tun to prevent leaks.

Thanks

I haven't used that material, but I used this silicon o-ring on the outside of my boil kettle upon which I attached a 1/2" ball valve. Works perfectly. It could be used inside your mash tun, outside, wherever you like. Silicone O-Ring 13/16" x 1 3/16"

eyedoctodd said:

Thanks n8dagr8 for your response.

In trying to figure out something for the inner gasket

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I reused the one that came with the cooler, if that's what you are referring to.

Some of the other parts, well, I'm pretty lucky in that I have what can only be described as a fighter jet surplus parts store.

I'll try to take inventory of what all I used and post pictures.

bottlebomber said:

First off welcome to the forum
Second, what exactly is your problem? Just that the valve feels loose? I noticed that my factory gasket is larger on one side that the other. The smaller side will fit into the thru-hole, the larger side will sandwich up against the cooler wall. So I positioned the gasket so the larger side is facing the cooler wall and this worked well for me. However the valve still has a loose feel to it, though it doesn't leak a drop.

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Cheers for the welcome brethren. :rockin:

The problem is that the rubber piece to the cooler keeps slipping out and it came out as I took the spigot out. I put water in it, and it leaked and also came apart when I attempted to open/close the ball valve. I may have had the rubber piece backwards (probably a little too eager to get mashing) however and am now waiting for the silicone seal to dry before I test it again. I can tell that it may have a loose feel like you are saying but still stay in place and not leak, thats all I am trying to achieve here but as it is it was falling apart and leaking like a sieve. I will keep you posted and let you know.

Tkelly32 said:

Cheers for the welcome brethren. :rockin:

The problem is that the rubber piece to the cooler keeps slipping out and it came out as I took the spigot out. I put water in it, and it leaked and also came apart when I attempted to open/close the ball valve. I may have had the rubber piece backwards (probably a little too eager to get mashing) however and am now waiting for the silicone seal to dry before I test it again. I can tell that it may have a loose feel like you are saying but still stay in place and not leak, thats all I am trying to achieve here but as it is it was falling apart and leaking like a sieve. I will keep you posted and let you know.

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It almost sounds like you don't have a washer on the inside of the cooler.

bottlebomber said:

It almost sounds like you don't have a washer on the inside of the cooler.

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Right, it did seem as if I did not, however I did. I have 3 outside, 1 inside. So I waited for the seal to dry and then went to work. Much to my shagrin it popped right back off. I was still determined so I analyzed the situation and realized I had the rubber piece right the first time and a seal wasn't necessary the way I was trying to do it. Both outside and inside as you say where the washers were, were flimsy. Thus I scoped out my extra o-rings (heat resistant of course) and started plugging them in, I now have two inside and two outside in the spaces where the washers were failing. Now the washers are working and everything seems a go. Much tighter fit, and I can turn the ball-valve on and off with ease. Its late so I will test if it leaks or not in the morning but I feel pretty condifent it will not. I will post pics if the mission is successful. Thanks for the input and help, now I am off to have a Hacker Pschorr and then hit the hay :rockin:

So I just did my 10 gal round orange rubbermaid that I have had as a cooler for >10 yrs. Have done a couple all grain bathces with the manual valve and got tired of having to hold it to sparge.

Anyway, I looked at the various components and found the ID of the 3/8" nipple is roughly the same size as the ID of the 1/2" valve , whereas a 3/8" valve (which is actually more expensive than the 1/2" ??) has a smaller ID and acts as a potential choke point, so I decided 1/2" fittings might end up being better long term, but I still wanted to use the 3/8" nipple to take advantage of using the existing gasket from the cooler. I use a large mesh bag that is as big as the cooler for a screen so did not go with the braid

Here's what I did starting on the inside toward outside:

Inside
Brass Pipe hex bushing 1/2" MIP x 3/8" FIP (Watts A-828) $3.46 Home Depot (If you can find a 3/8" pipe thread lock nut easily (I could not), you could sub this, or a coupler. The bushing, leaves me with 1/2" threaded connection if I want to add something inside later. )
5/8" stainless washer $0.90 at Eliots Hardware (Plano TX)
3/8" x 1.5" nipple (Watts A-786) $2.75 Home Depot
existing white gasket from cooler

Outside
5/8' O-ring ($0.76) Eliotts
standard rubber hose washer (Free, had on on hand)
3x5/8" Fender washers ($0.46 each) Eliotts
Pipe Hex Busing 1/2" MIP to 3/8" FIP (Watts A-828) $3.46 Home Depot
1/2' Brass Ball Valve $7.32 Home Depot
Hose Barb 1/2" Barb x 1/2"MIP (Watts A385) $2.31 Home Depot

Total cost (without the cooler that I already had): $22.34 plus tax

Leak testing as we speak with 8 gallons of water. So far so good

Well just finished mine now. I am currently leak testing it.

Thanks flyguy for the info, found everything at my local HD.

Now just gotta wait for Xmas to get the rest of my items so I can go AG