Mash Tun Question

I have this cooler Coleman 52 Qt Xtreme Cooler - Model 6050A748 at Sears.com and I have Bazooka screen. My probably is the cooler is to thick for me to attach the valve to the bazooka screen. Does anyone know what part I could use to connect them? The bazooka screen threads just barley fit through the whole in the cooler so I am thinking I may need to cut the hole open a little and then re-seal it. Any advice would be great.

Bargain fittings sells a bulkhead for deeper/thick walled coolers.

Get a longer half inch brass or SS pipe nipple, and then friction fit it through the hole. A coupling on the inside and the valve on the out side along with some washers and some o-rings and your set. The friction fit part is a recommendation, I have always had issues with this point as a leak area. Just a tiny one, but a PITA none the less. S.

Ya I think that is what I am going to do and then if I need to seal the around the nipple I will.

I had the same cooler. HAD being the operative word. The soft plastic of the cooler does not stand up very well to constant heating and shrinking caused by hot and long mashes - I just had one pull apart where I had opened up the drain hole a little. Of course this was due to not only the heated plastic but also the fact that I was using a pump that caused a vacuum to form. It ripped the plastic basically rendering the cooler useless for brewing.

I would strongly advise only cutting the outside and don't cut the actual hole on the inside at all. Also, you should make sure to reuse the round plastic gasket that is on the inside of the cooler.

Cool thanks for the advice.