Cooler mash tun conversion question

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msa8967

mickaweapon
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I have been looking into buying a 70 quart Coleman Extreme 5 day cooler for conversion into a mash tun and I am wondering what would be the best type of system to have inside the cooler for drainage. Currently I use a ss water supply line braid with a brass t connector that attachs to the ball valve via a short pipe connector. I really like this system with my existing smaller mash tun where I get 75-80% efficiency.

However, this new cooler has a recessed drain gutter in the bottom of the cooler and I am not sure that a brass t connector would be able to fit in the recessed gutter. I have tried using a bazooka screen in the past but particle from my grain crush can easily flow through this single screen. (I would prefer to not mess with the spacing on the barely crusher.)

Thus, I thought about either wrapping some addition ss screen around the bazooka screen and securing this with hose clamps to help keep particles out or using a single brass connector inside the mash tun with a ss braid.

I really want to move into this larger size mash tun in order to do 10 gallon brews instead of 5 gallons with my 36 qt cooler.

Any ideas or recommendations?

Thanks.

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I've got the exact same cooler and use a 3/4" water heater SS braid. It attaches to a 1/2" hose barb at the cooler wall and then the open end is clamped around a 1/2" SS bolt. I've gotten efficiencies between 83% and 87% with this setup. Also, with this setup I end up with about 2.5 cups of deadspace.

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How long is your ss braid line? Did you have to use ss washer inside the tun at all? I was wondering if the diameter of the washer would be a problem with this recessed channel for drainage.

I plan on keeping my other mash tun so that I can run smaller size brews with it.

Thanks for the quick reply.
 
One other thing to consider with this cooler is that you need to use the "No-leak MLT" design when constructing it. This way you don't risk crushing the walls of the cooler when tightening down on the gasket.
 
How long is your ss braid line? Did you have to use ss washer inside the tun at all? I was wondering if the diameter of the washer would be a problem with this recessed channel for drainage.

I plan on keeping my other mash tun so that I can run smaller size brews with it.

Thanks for the quick reply.

It's 18" long. I used the SS washer in the MLT to provide compression for the gasket (reused the gasket that came with the cooler). Also used a SS washer on the outside to transmit the force to the PVC insert.

I don't know what the diameter of the washer was, but it was the standard washer that came with the kit from bargain fittings.
 
Thanks for posting the pictures and answering my questions. It looks like a very simple procedure. I'll try to find the no leak MLT design thread.

Thanks again for the picture. It will be different than what I currently use which is OK.
 
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