60qt. Ice Cube Mash Tun Build - $cheap and simple

Kauai_Kahuna said:

Very nice, I also use that cooler. I just set up an elbow joint and attached it to my SS braid. Works very well for me.
Thanks for the post.

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Hi KK!

I'd love to see pics of that SS braid you're using as a manifold...any chance you'd be willing to post some? (Tried looking for pics in your profile already...)

Thanks OP for this write up! I'm thinking of making the switch to AG fairly soon so I'm soaking in as much info as I can find. Posts like these really get my DIY engine roaring to act rather than dream.

-Tripod

The Ice cube 60qt is awesome. I have a double loop of SS braid attached to Cpvc tee with a piece of 12ga copper wire inside to hold shape. Works well, but I need to pay attention to temperatures.
The question is draining. There is so much surface area on the SS braid that I can drain it very, very fast. Full flow. I am Lauter challenged.

Can I add the extra hot water, stir and drain (and recirc first bit)? Is stirring a bad thing here?

Raymond in Portsmouth NH

I just purchased two red Igloo Island Breeze 60 quart coolers from Walmart. Shopping for coolers the one thing that bothered me was the thinness and lack of insulation on the lids. I was very impressed with Igloo's new 2010 Island Breeze cooler. The lid on this cooler is just as thick and insulated as the rest of the cooler. I think this cooler has replaced Igloo's Ice Cube series. I also beleive that this cooler is worth looking into for anyone looking into purchasing a new cooler(s). Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Wow. Good timing. I am using mine more often now. The SS braid with valve ROCKS!

Now I have cooler envy....

just bought this cooler for my mash tun. I will be building it this weekend.

Cool. Very easy to put together. I've done 5 batches in this mash tun now and they have all come out great.

I am still having temperature issues with by icecube cooler. I mashed +12F from target due to not preheating cooler (ground grain into it.). Was good at 158 or so. Dropped to 145 in 30 minutes. I had blanket over lid, which was only warm part (and it was warm). Will try to insulate lid before laying out $$$$ on new cooler. I am getting low mash efficiency, per refractometer readings, so I KNOW its got to be mashtun or grain, which is fresh ground pale malt.
Raymond

You have to go in with the strike water first... HOT... let it cool in the cooler, then stir the grain in. It's not the cooler, it's the process.

I too am having temp issues with this setup. The exact same results as raymcgill this past Saturday. I pre heated with 170 degree water. Is that hot enough or should we be boiling are preheat water and what volume should we be using 1 gal pre heat or 2 or 3. Any help I am disappointed so far.

Yes, I used a Coleman Extreme cooler this week for making yogurt (mass of water to maintain temp for ~ 6 hours). It worked fantastic. The Blue IceCube will need work before I use it again. Its just SO perfect a setup (except the fatel flaw that it doesn't work). I hear the comment saying that the order of cooler entry matters... Water then grain will work vs. grain then water. I am having a hard time believing that, but willing to try it. Here's my hangup. I mashed in at the right temperature, water and grain together... At that point, it doesn't matter which was first, right? They are all at 155, well mixed. I am hoping that greatstuff (low expansion) in the lid will be the charm.

h2odenman said:

I too am having temp issues with this setup. The exact same results as raymcgill this past Saturday. I pre heated with 170 degree water. Is that hot enough or should we be boiling are preheat water and what volume should we be using 1 gal pre heat or 2 or 3. Any help I am disappointed so far.

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I highly recommend using the strike water itself as the preheat agent. You're already heating that water up. If you calculated strike temp, based solely on the grain temp, is about 166F (hypothetical), go into the cooler at about 175F. Close the lid, tilt the cooler towards each side a bit to warm up the walls and wait 5 minutes. Open it up, stir, take temp. If you're still warm, stir a bit. Dough in when you hit your temp. Now the cooler will not take any more heat.

Bobby,
Thanks for taking your time to explain. I plan on chasing both paths, your prewarm and additional insulation in lid. I will have to find some other place to grind my grain.

Raymond in Portsmouth NH

I just grind mine into a home depot bucket. Even a cardboard box would work.

Here's my manifold... Used it twice now, leaves about a quart of wort on the bottom.





The "tee" where the outlet connects to the manifold is not soldered, and at the bulkhead fitting, so it's easy to remove for cleaning.

Looks good BigJason!

In response to Bobby_M, I also preheat my mash tun substantially hotter than required for strike. After a few minutes I'll stir up the water and check the temp to see how close it is to strike. I usually dough in at a couple of degrees hotter than calculated because i always lose a degree or two stirring everything up. I drape an old sleeping bag on top of the cooler for extra insulation. I haven't had any issues losing more than a couple degrees over an hour with this setup.

My recommendation for anyone having issues with this (or any setup) is to wrap a blanket around the mash tun. Once the mash sits for half an hour or an hour, feel around on the blanket for hot spots. If your mash temp is dropping, the heat has to go somewhere. Wherever your blanket it hot, there you are losing heat. After performing this test, i determined it would be prudent to add great stuff to the lid. Good luck.

So, I've been using this thing for a few months, and I love it! In my research prior to building, a lot of people were complaining about heat loss, but I haven't seen that AT ALL. To be fair, the lid is filled with Great Stuff, but when I'm mashing, I can't feel any heat coming from the sides of the cooler, or the top of the lid. My one hour mash this last weekend didn't lose a single degree. I needed 170F strike water, so I heated my water to 180F, and let it sit in the cooler for 15 minutes before dough-in, this preheated the cooler, and my mash sat at 158-159F the entire time.

Another reason I love this cooler, which was why I got it, was because the small footprint would allow for lower gravity 5 gallon batches, as well as high gravity 10 gallon batches. The grain bed is a little shallow on the low gravity 5 gallon batches, but still deep enough.

Dunno what I' doing wrong with this cooler, but the other day I experienced a 4 degree loss over 75 minutes.

I have insulated the lid, and even had thick blankets on top of it. It was a warm day, and I even have the burner in proximity of the cooler and it warmed up one of the exterior sides quite a bit (no danger of melting)

Now, most of the temp drop happened within the first 20 minutes, so perhaps I can adjust the temp by adding more hot water after 10-20 minutes?

Otherwise, I see no other solution than to strike with water that's consistently 2-4 degrees higher than my target temp, and chalk it up to evil brewing gods?


Thoughts or ideas anyone?

Thx,

-e

I have insulated my cube and will test it next Monday. I took pictures that you will find "entertaining".

I have one and i hate the fact that the outlet is above the bottom. So, I cut a hole on the bottom and the wall compresses when I tighten down the bulkhead causing it to leak slightly. When i did this i picked up 5% eff. So it's either have bad eff. or have my bulkhead leak. This morning I decided that i'm going to junk the ice cube and go with a rubbermaid round cooler.

@oldschool: The position of your outlet should make little to no difference in your efficiency, right? My outlet leaves very little in the cooler. If you have lowered your outlet, maybe some washers pressing on gaskets would work.

I don't know why seem to have issues with this type of cooler. I just started AG with this cooler and a copper manifold. Once I got my process dialed in, I've been getting 80%, only leave about 1 cup behind and only drop 1 degree over an hour (with foamed lid and blankets-just in case).

Ki-ri-n said:

I don't know why seem to have issues with this type of cooler. I just started AG with this cooler and a copper manifold. Once I got my process dialed in, I've been getting 80%, only leave about 1 cup behind and only drop 1 degree over an hour (with foamed lid and blankets-just in case).

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Hey Kirin,

Glad you're getting such a good result!

If you don't mind, could you describe how consistent your efficiency is, and perhaps describe in detail how you go about your mashing (pre-heat, water temp, blankets wrapped around, etc)

Thanks,

-e

Consistent hey? Well, I've only done 4 AG batches up to this point. All with the same cooler MLT described below. 1st batch was 49%, 2nd was 70% and the last two were both 80% The first two I know were attributed to my crush while I was dialing in my grain crusher. The last two batches were the exact same recipe.

I heat my strike water 10 degrees above the calculated temp (using Brewtarget). I fill the MLT and leave it sit for 10/15 min or so. I then vaulrauf (sp?) about a half gallon (to make sure I have heated water inside the whole manifold) and re-check my temp. If it's close to my calculated strike temp I'll dough in or add ice/re-heat the water until it's right on (so far it's been right on). After dough in, re-check temp again, yadda, yadda, yadda.

While mashing, I throw on two bath towels over the top. My cover is spray foamed too but i do it just because.

For sparging, I do a double batch sparge.

I think a lot of people's problems might be their manifold design, grain crush, ect. Not necessarily the cooler.

Bottom of Manifold w/ 3/32" drilled holes, all completely soldered. Pick up is in the MIDDLE and is spaced about 2" away from each cooler wall. When I solder the manifold, I did it on a piece of cement board and made fairly sloppy solder joints. This left little pads/feet of solder so the manifold is up by about the thickness of the copper elbows. That and the fact that the whole manifold is rigid (constantly lies right on the bottom of the cooler and won't move if I hit it while stirring), allows me to drain just about everything out of the MLT except for a cup or so.

Bottom of Manifold:


Inside MLT:


Valve:


Does that help?

Ki-ri-n said:

Consistent hey? Well, I've only done 4 AG batches up to this point. All with the same cooler MLT described below. 1st batch was 49%, 2nd was 70% and the last two were both 80% The first two I know were attributed to my crush while I was dialing in my grain crusher. The last two batches were the exact same recipe.

I heat my strike water 10 degrees above the calculated temp (using Brewtarget). I fill the MLT and leave it sit for 10/15 min or so. I then vaulrauf (sp?) about a half gallon (to make sure I have heated water inside the whole manifold) and re-check my temp. If it's close to my calculated strike temp I'll dough in or add ice/re-heat the water until it's right on (so far it's been right on). After dough in, re-check temp again, yadda, yadda, yadda.

While mashing, I throw on two bath towels over the top. My cover is spray foamed too but i do it just because.

(snip)

Does that help?

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Kirin, these are excellent tips, thanks so much for sharing. I had not thought of letting the water sit for 10-15 minutes, nor vorlaufing a bit of water to make sure my manifold (CPVC, slotted, resting on the elbows) is fully "filled".

I really appreciated the insight. I've been doing about 10 AG batches, and while the results have always been enjoyable, the process has at times been a little stressful and frustrating.

I'm brewing again tomorrow, and will certainly put your advice to work!



-e

aledawg said:

Kirin, these are excellent tips, thanks so much for sharing. I had not thought of letting the water sit for 10-15 minutes, nor vorlaufing a bit of water to make sure my manifold (CPVC, slotted, resting on the elbows) is fully "filled".

I really appreciated the insight. I've been doing about 10 AG batches, and while the results have always been enjoyable, the process has at times been a little stressful and frustrating.

I'm brewing again tomorrow, and will certainly put your advice to work!



-e

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Hi again!

Sorry for the late reply, but thought I'd share the results of my last brew session, as I followed Kirin's tips.

As before, I heated the strike water well above the target. Before the temp seemed to settle in close to the right temp, I stirred, let the water sit for a while, drained a little, and when it was "just right" I stirred in the grains.

I then employed two thermometers: One electronic with a short probe sticking in about 4 inches into the grain bed, and another, dial term with a long probe sticking almost into the bottom of the grain bed.

They were diverging, in both temp reading and direction. The upper level one (short probe) showed a temp going down, and being lower than my desired mash temp. The other one, stayed stable and was right on target.

I decided to trust the lower one "more than the other", thinking that the electronic one wasn't quite as good as the "mechanical", but here's also what happened: The temp stayed stable on both.

In the end, I extracted exactly the amount of sweet I needed, at exactly the right gravity, boiled it down to exactly the right OG, and all was well.

The lesson learned for me was twofold:
a) Let the cooler warm up _very well_ before stirring in the grains. Follow Kirin's tips on how to do it

b) Don't trust an electronic only temp reading from the top of the grain bed. Use something that sits in the middle of it, and you'll get a true or truer reading

Thanks again Kirin, can't wait to do this again (This Belgian Wit just hit the keg, and it tastes great so far)

Best,

-e

anyone know a maximum amount of grains this setup will support? need to do a monster stout for the colorado winter. also i use this for 10 gal batches. thanks guys!!!

Can't wait to try this.

The largest batch I have brewed in this setup was 10 gallons of IPA using about 25 pounds of grain. I had plenty of room in the cooler left.

I've brewed 10 gallons of Pale Ale, a pumpkin ale, and a 5 gallon RIS that all were in the ~25# range. I wasn't able to mash as thin as I usually like but it's worked well for me. I was about an inch from the top for both the 10 gallon batches.

I've mashed around 33lbs successfully, but it got a little messy at times...

Thanks for the instructions and pictures, I got two of these coolers on clearance for $22 each. The parts needed for this conversion looked easy and inexpensive so I bought them yesterday. I think it cost me around $35 all together for one cooler. I decided to go with 3/32 size drill holes, they were easy by putting the pipe in my vise, drilling along the edge of the pipe where it met the metal of the vise, then drilling on the top of the tube to get decent spacing between the two rows of holes. Also, I wasn't entirely comfortable with the elbow sticking up so much from the output so I used a few more elbows to keep it out of harms way. I tried knocking it around with my mash paddle pretty hard without gluing any pieces and it feels like you'd have to stir like a maniac to get them to come apart. I used a coping saw to cut the tubes apart. I think I could have used just a single 5 foot section of cpvc. I tried draining all the water out and the water remaining was only 7/8th of a cup. I have not mashed with it.

samaepstein said:

anyone know a maximum amount of grains this setup will support? need to do a monster stout for the colorado winter. also i use this for 10 gal batches. thanks guys!!!

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I have only one batch for comparison so far in this cooler. It worked great with 38.5lbs of grain. The mash may have been a bit thick, but did not seem like it was much below 1qt/lb much if at all.

I actaully think I could have added a couple of more pounds. Ended up with 16 gallons (after boil) of 1.066 wort.

Does anyone know if you can buy extra washers from the cooler side that has a ridge that seats the rubber grommet? Mine cracked when tightened down, apparently i'm stronger than I thought I was.

I've had one of these coolers for years, but never thought it would be a good mash tun. This thread has convinced me that I don't need a new cooler after all, and that this Ice Cube will never hold canned beer on ice again.
Off to Lowes for some tubing tomorrow!

GrantH said:

Does anyone know if you can buy extra washers from the cooler side that has a ridge that seats the rubber grommet? Mine cracked when tightened down, apparently i'm stronger than I thought I was.

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I would try a 1/2" locknut like this one. or you could try a 1/2" bulkhead. Let us know what works.

can i ask where you bought these on clearance?

Erik53 said:

I would try a 1/2" locknut like this one. or you could try a 1/2" bulkhead. Let us know what works.

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ended up robbing a replacement off an old cooler my aunt had.

sportscrazed2 said:

can i ask where you bought these on clearance?

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I got mine at Menards in Lansing, MI.

After having used this manifold a few times, the connections are getting looser and I managed to disconnect the dip tube while stirring. I think I'll glue the zig-zaggy section together and to the T in the middle. Since the rest sits on the bottom I'm not so worried about it. I did have to use the cold water and hand inside a bag trick to piece it back together while my mash was in the cooler. That part is pretty easy at least.

bump!

I've been using this cooler for the last 4 years and I get 85% efficiency. Used 1/2" copper with a tee, 90 degree elbow, and threaded connector. Here are a couple of pics: