Where to get a deal on 10 gal coolers

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The Pol

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Anyone know? The best I have seen is $55 each, plus shipping. It would be nice to find a store that sold them locally!

The Pol
 
The Pol said:
Anyone know? The best I have seen is $55 each, plus shipping. It would be nice to find a store that sold them locally!

The Pol

Where are you located (country? state/province?)

If you're in the US, you can sometimes find them at Home Depot or Lowe's on sale for under $50.
 
Wow, I will do that this weekend when I get home
 
I live in Calgary, pop 1 Million+ Man, you guys have it lucky. I've been searching high and low for a round Gott cooler (Igloo, Rubbermaid) of any size, 3,5 7 or 10 gallons. Nobody has them in stock.

I'm going to horde coolers this summer when I see them on sale !
 
brewman ! said:
I live in Calgary, pop 1 Million+ Man, you guys have it lucky. I've been searching high and low for a round Gott cooler (Igloo, Rubbermaid) of any size, 3,5 7 or 10 gallons. Nobody has them in stock.

I'm going to horde coolers this summer when I see them on sale !

Darn -- wish I had known this earlier. I did exactly the same thing here in Calgary last month. Finally gave up after checking EVERYWHERE.

There were some good deals on eBay, though, for 5 gallong gott coolers. $6 plus shipping for used (surplus) coolers.
 
I was in my local home depot. The people said that we don't have them yet. I went over by gardening area. Looked around. The bright orange cooler really stood out.

They had a whole frickin' skid up on the top shelf. They were stretch wrapped. Most likely leftovers from last year.

I think they wanted $39 for them.

I bought me a 5 gallon rubbermaid for $19 at wal-mart. According to John Palmer it will do up to 12lbs. Which is ok with me. I have a 12 gal Igloo cube that can go into service if need be.

If you find any it will most likely be last years overstock
 
Ive always had a 5 gallon, but I need room for 12+lbs of grain AND multiple infusions... 5 gallons is just not enough room for that. I just sold my 5 gallon system.

The Pol
 
I'm just getting into AG so I starting out at the minimum requirement. I seriously considered wether I should get a 5 or 10 gallon. I got a 5'r, if I do something with a large grain bill I'll convert the 12'r that I have in basement.

My wal-mart has several of the 12 gal Igloo Cubes. I have heard that many have this and it works well. If you're hard pressed you might try that route.
 
Schlenkerla said:
I'm just getting into AG so I starting out at the minimum requirement. I seriously considered wether I should get a 5 or 10 gallon. I got a 5'r, if I do something with a large grain bill I'll convert the 12'r that I have in basement.

My wal-mart has several of the 12 gal Igloo Cubes. I have heard that many have this and it works well. If you're hard pressed you might try that route.

Spend the extra money up front instead of eventually owning two coolers.
 
Or you could just buy one 52 quart rectangular cooler from Wal-Mart for $15, batch sparge and cut an hour off your brew day.
 
seyahmit said:
Or you could just buy one 52 quart rectangular cooler from Wal-Mart for $15, batch sparge and cut an hour off your brew day.

You can batch sparge in a 10 gallon cooler.
 
To me it's still a no-brainer. I would go with the cheaper rectangular cooler. I haven't used the Gott style cooler, but doughing in and stirring the mash looks like a pain, especially in a 10 gallon batch.
 
I've looked at the mash tun situation quite a bit.

First of all, I am leaning towards coolers over SS vessels because of cost and heat loss. The center of the mash might stay toasty warm in a SS vessel, but if you want uniform temp, the vessel needs to be well insulated. For me, thats a cooler.

I'm leaning towards round (Gott style) coolers or Cubes over rectangular coolers because I fly sparge and thus I need some bed depth to avoid channeling.

I don't think dough in will be a problem.

I'm going to need several sizes of coolers. I'll be brewing 3,6,12 and 15 gallon batches when I'm all set up. I could be mashing anywhere from 4 to 30 pounds of grain. I think I'll be buying 3, 5 and 10 gallon Gotts as well as a larger Cube.
 
So if I plan on batch sparging, the rectangle coolers are where it's at? that's kind of nice as I already have one of those coolers, all I'd need is a manifold and a new bulkhead....that will save me some cash.


Dan
 
I like the versatility of the round, but that's just me. In the end, I don't think it matters a hill of beans what shape it is as long as it drains sufficiently.
 
In the end, I don't think it matters a hill of beans what shape it is as long as it drains sufficiently.

I think you can say that for batch sparging. I don't think you can say that for fly sparging.

Something else nobody is talking about is heat loss due to the cooler being too large.

The 36 quart (9 gallon) rect cooler I have in my gallery is too large for regular or light 5 gallon brews. 8 pounds x 1.33 Q/pound = 3.33 gallons or a little over 1/3 of the volume. The grain bed isn't deep enough to do a good job for fly sparging.

I emailed CSP about shipping the coolers to Calgary via US mail. Here is what they replied with:

3 gallon 18.50 parel post 16.60 economey money
5 gallon 21.15 18.20
10 gallon 25.75 20.20

air mail parcel post is 4-10 days. and economy is 4-6 weeks

Its fairly expensive to ship these things.
 
Cheesefood said:
I like the versatility of the round, but that's just me. In the end, I don't think it matters a hill of beans what shape it is as long as it drains sufficiently.

I read the shape matters. Too tall increases compaction of the grain bed. Too wide reduces the extract yield.

I think that having an overly large mash tun would have more heat loss due to the extra air space. The top not being in contact with insulation. Larger means it has more themal mass to absorb heat. Robbing it from the mash.

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD.html

This is John Palmers 2 cents on choosing a cooler.

I bought a 5 gallon because I'm goin to start doing partials w/o the grain bag and this is what he recommended.
 
After buying a couple 5 gallon coolers, I also came to the conclusion I should have gone with the 10. (I like big beers)

My local HD had the 10 gallon for 39.99 when I was there Thursday, but I was in my Miata and it would have been a tight fit. I went back Sunday and they were gone. The garden guy said they only had 4 and were closing them out for the season. When I have time, I'll try the other HD's a bit further away.

Ace and Target(?) have them for 50 with free delivery to their stores. You pickup at the store.

If anyone finds a better deal, shout out.
 
Prior to my cooler, I did the bucket in a bucket trick for sparging. With a big grain load, the bed was pretty deep. I've never had a stuck sparge. I think the key is the proper grind, the right temp and a well draining bottom and drain it rather slowly.

The real breweries have bed depths measured in feet ! Surely a 16" bed depth wouldn't be a problem for us homebrewers.

My theory is the deeper the bed, the better the extraction because each grain has more water going by it. I might be wrong though, I'm just postulating.
 
I Just got back from the Home Depot In Mount Prospect Illinois- Bought a 10 gal Rubbermaid cooler for $39. They had 1 left.
 
Cheesefood said:
Tell that to my wife.

If that will make you feel better!!!

For your benefit I'll tell her smaller is more energy efficient. :D

Does she fiddle with your petcock for slower extraction?
 
Thanks for the tip, Raceskier, on the Ace in store free delivery. This is The Pol's SWMBO, I ordered it for him...otherwise the cheapskate would never have gotten it and the research and bitchin' would have lasted a lifetime LOL...I hope this makes him happy.
 
I picked up my 10 gallon Gott at a local farm supply store. Paid $27 for it. Farmers and ranchers are cheap ***ed shoppers. They won't pay the high prices at the normal outlets the city folks shop at.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company
 
Been a farmer before, they simpy cannot afford the higher prices!:cross:
 
I'll confirm what The Pol and raceskier said about Ace hardware. I spent the better part of a day searching at 15+ different stores for a 10 gal gott cooler with no luck. Ended up calling a local Ace hardware store (wed) ordering one for pickup (fri). Price $47.
 
I picked up my 10 gallon Gott at a local farm supply store. Paid $27 for it. Farmers and ranchers are cheap ***ed shoppers. They won't pay the high prices at the normal outlets the city folks shop at.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

I wonder what farm/ranch store that was? In WI, the closest to a farm store we have is Blain's Farm and Fleet or Fleet/Farm (I think same family company but at some point the brothers just couldn't get along, so they split). I tried but no dice in the middle of winter.
 
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