52 Qt Coleman Xtreme Mash Tun Build

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HH60gunner

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Well,

I just finished up my mash tun build tonight. Despite some of the write ups I tried to follow I ran into a few things that just didn't work and had to adjust. here's what I used.

- Coleman Xtreme 52 Qt Cooler x 1
- 1/2" ball valve
- 1/2" x 2" brass nipple x1 (another write-up suggests a 1/2" x 1.5" nipple which is just too short to work).

- 1/2" to 1/2" barbed fitting x1 (male)

- 1/2" to 1/2" barbed fitting x 1 (female)

- 3/4" stainless steel washers x 3

- Stainless Steel Hose Clamps.

- stainless steel braided faucet hose. (Both ends cut off), (you must remove the inner plastic hose as you'll only need the stainless steel part to filter the grains.)


The build was pretty simple. Here's the steps....

1. remove the plastic drain plug by twisting it counter clockwise.

2. When you pull it all out there should be a rubber seal on the inside portion.

3. Get rid of everything but the rubber seal you'll need this.

4. The stainless steel washers I had, had to be filed just a little bit to fit over the 1/2" nipple not sure why but I just had to. Also the only ones I could find were rather large and on the inside washer I had to grind it a bit to fit in there right because otherwise the outside of the washer hit the bottom and wouldn't go on all the way.

5. I put the rubber seal that came from the cooler onto the brass nipple just past the last thread. I put teflon tape on both sides then put the nipple with the rubber seal through the drainplug hole.

6. From here I put the grinded washer on the inside, followed by the barbed hose fitting.

7. On the other side I put my two washers, followed by my 1/2" ball valve.

8. I tightened down everything till it was nice and snug but not so tight that it would deform the rubber seal too much.

9. Attach stainless steel braided filter to your barbed fitting with a stainless steel hose clamp. On the other end I used a zip tie to clamp the other end of the filter shut.

9. I tested to ensure it was water tight and was done. Also I picked up some 1/2" vinyl hose to attach to the outside.


barbed fitting > ball valve > washers x2 > 1/2"x2" nipple > rubber seal> Washer> barbed hose fitting > grain filter (SS braided faucet line w/ plastic removed)



Cooler.jpg


MashTun.jpg


BallValve.jpg


Fitting2.jpg


Fitting1.jpg


Filter.jpg
 
How much did that end up costing you total?

$27.00 for the cooler
$ 5.50 for the faucet line / filter
$ 5.50 for the Ball Valve
$ 3.00 for the washers
$ 3.50 for the 1/2" x 2" nipple
$ 6.00 for the two barbed fittings
$ 0.50 for the hose clamp

So $51 plus tax. Which brings it out to 55.70 after arizona tax.
 
oh... Also I got a few feet of vinyl hose for the output end at something like 25 cents a foot.
 
Because completely tight the ball valve didn't thread on all the way to the cooler and there was a little bit of space that made it a bit wobbly. So I threw an extra washer in there to make it nice and tight.
 
Looks great. If I didn't know better, I would think it was mine. :)

Just a suggestion....

You may want to shorten your braid. Most will tell you that it should be only about 8" long. Longer braids have the potential to let some larger material pass through.

John
 
I noticed you are using brass/bronze ball valve. Is there any difference between that and a stainless steel one? Is one better than the other?
Thanks
 
I noticed you are using brass/bronze ball valve. Is there any difference between that and a stainless steel one? Is one better than the other?
Thanks

Stainless steel is better and more corrosion resistance, but the brass one is cheaper, and I figured I've seen many other people use it so it couldn't be all that bad. I may eventually upgrade to all stainless when my budget gets better :)
 
Thinking of building this this weekend and wondering--now that I've resurrected this thread--how the MLT actually worked. What can you report back, gunner?
 
Did you go with a fully threaded nipple, or a partially threaded nipple? I like the design and I'm planning on converting the same cooler this weekend. Thanks!
 
Suggestion: Replace that tiny 1/2" braid with a 3/4" water heater supply braid.

I have this same build but used the 1/2" braid. Have you noticed any increase in efficiency or anything significant from the 3/4" supply braid? If so I might switch mine out.
 
I used this same cooler, but built manifold for it. I have a kettle screen that may work better once this is included in the EHERMS setup, not sure
 
I have this same build but used the 1/2" braid. Have you noticed any increase in efficiency or anything significant from the 3/4" supply braid? If so I might switch mine out.

I went straight to the 3/4" so I have no efficiency comparison with the 1/2", but what I realized just by looking at the two, is the 3/4" braid has a much thicker wire mesh. So increased strength was what I was looking for, I didn't want my braid to crush under 20-25lbs of grain in the mash.

Until my very last brewday I hadn't had any problems with a slow or stuck runoff. For whatever reason I had to keep blowing into the runoff hose to keep unclogging it. I have a feeling that the pump was pulling too hard with the thinner mash I was using. Plus I overshot my temps that day too, it was a mess of errors.

FWIW, lots went wrong that day though, my hydrometer broke when sampling my 3 runoff, I mean it cracked in the cylinder when I spun it. Not only could I not calculate my pre-boil with the 3 runoff numbers because I failed to get an accurate 3rd, but I couldn't tell what my OG was! Anyhow, the beer tastes great, but that's about all I can tell you about it.
 
I have the exact same cooler as the OP. My ball valve is connected via a short nipple, and on the inside of the MLT, I have a 1/2" SS coupler that I simply put the braid over, and secure with a SS clamp.

So, ball valve > nipple > coupler > braid (slips over the coupler) w/clamp. Of course there are washers and o-rings between, but you get the gist of it.

IMG_1179.jpg
 
Thanks for the details and photo. That braid does look like a beast! I assume you didn't have to coil something inside to help prevent crushing.....looks very clean. I'm off to Lowes to pick me up a water heater supply line!
 
marquette048 said:
Thanks for the details and photo. That braid does look like a beast! I assume you didn't have to coil something inside to help prevent crushing.....looks very clean. I'm off to Lowes to pick me up a water heater supply line!

I bought a 1/2" stainless compression spring from mcmaster carr and inserted it in the braid to give it strength. The only reason I did this is because I plan on pumping out of the mash tun and didn't want to collapse the braid.
 
I bought a 1/2" stainless compression spring from mcmaster carr and inserted it in the braid to give it strength. The only reason I did this is because I plan on pumping out of the mash tun and didn't want to collapse the braid.

Good idea...I'll look into one online. Thanks
 
i considered all that supply lines and ss coils etc. but just went with a kettle screen for $12. just seemed to obvious
 
I just went out and picked up all the pieces for this MLT. Went Stainless and took the advice from Schnitzengiggle and went with the 3/4" Water Heater Supply braid with the 1/2" stainless compression spring. Bargain Fittings had great prices on pretty much everything. Glad to pick up the materials (minus cooler, supply brain and compression spring) from a site sponsor.

Also picked up a step bit and 3 piece stainless steel ball valve for my kettle. Moving on from BIAB to help with the bigger beers.

Cheers for posting all the helpful info!
 
I picked up all the stuff to build this today. What is the most grain that can fit into this with strike water? Am I right in guessing this can handle 25lbs easily?

Mouse
 
I purchased one of these but when I took out the spigot assembly - I noticed the hole was on the bottom of the cooler and I am not able to put the coolers seal back into place when it is attached to the nipple. How were your holes drilled out?
 
CA_Mouse said:
Mine is on the short side, not on the bottom. Are you certain that you have the eXtreme Cooler?

Mouse

Yep. I went to store and got a new one. This one is much better and the rubber seal fits
 
Sorry to revive this old thread but some guy suggested in other thread to use a 3/4 ss braided hose from a water heater. I've seen one at Lowes and looks really thick; I don't have any experience with any braided hose since I'll try to build one of this coolers for batch sparging for the first time. Is the 3/4 too big or just go with the 1/2 inch?. which one will help with efficiency? The 3/4 is extremely solid the 1/2 inch is more flexible.

For those guys that maybe have use both?
 
Hi,

I'm still using the original one that I listed on the first post and haven't had any issues with it. On average I am getting about 70% efficiency. Sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more.


I'm lazy and it seems to make beer good enough for me so I've never changed anything out from the original parts list. :)
 
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