Mash tun - brew kettle vs rubbermaid cooler

CornyKegs 728
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Rich_S

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Thoughts on this?

I guess the key advantages of using a stainless steel brew kettle as a mash tun and hot liquor tank are it's more durable and you can mount a thermometer in it and put the HLT on a burner to get exactly the temps you want. Cost is the downside, but given what some charge for a rubbermaid with the plumbing, the cost difference is only moderate.

Am I missing anything?
 
If you meant you can put the mash tun on a burner and get the exact temps you want.... I would be careful. Adding direct heat to a system manually can be harder than you think in terms of hitting a precise degree.

I started with a rubbermaid and have no regrets. It is very flexible and reasonably forgiving.

And I can purchase and plumb one for $50 to $60.
 
I used a pot in insulated box for many many batches because of the "I can put it on the heat and raise the mash temp if I need to" thought. It worked fine, but here is why I can't wait to build my 10 gallon round MLT (I just got the cooler....):

1. It is easier to control temp by adding boiling water.
2. (as mentioned) less heat loss to begin with)
3. I won't have to transfer to a second unit (sparge bucket) for lauter and sparge
4. I will have 1 less piece of large equipment to wash.
 
where in Jersey are you located?

I would suggest you visit a couple brew days and watch each system in action, then you can make an informed decision

if your in south jersey I know a few guys that use keggles and a few that use coolers

PM me if your interested
 
chefmike said:
If you meant you can put the mash tun on a burner and get the exact temps you want.... I would be careful. Adding direct heat to a system manually can be harder than you think in terms of hitting a precise degree.

I started with a rubbermaid and have no regrets. It is very flexible and reasonably forgiving.

And I can purchase and plumb one for $50 to $60.
Click to expand...

No, I meant putting the HLT on a burner, not the MT. Heat the water in the HLT to the exact temp you want and then lauter/sparge from there.
 
marcycaulkins said:
I used a pot in insulated box for many many batches because of the "I can put it on the heat and raise the mash temp if I need to" thought. It worked fine, but here is why I can't wait to build my 10 gallon round MLT (I just got the cooler....):

1. It is easier to control temp by adding boiling water.
2. (as mentioned) less heat loss to begin with)
3. I won't have to transfer to a second unit (sparge bucket) for lauter and sparge
4. I will have 1 less piece of large equipment to wash.
Click to expand...

What I was thinking of was getting two stainless brew kettles and using one as a hot liquor tank and one as a mash tun. The burner would go under the HLT. Both would have temp gauges and ball valves. Sorry if I wasn't clear.
 
I did a lot of research on this and the cheapest and most proven route was to buy a 62-qt Coleman Xtreme from Wal-Mart. I just got it delivered to the house today. I'm looking to do my conversion today. I'm heading up to the 'depot here soon as I stop reading the forum!
 
infection said:
where in Jersey are you located?

I would suggest you visit a couple brew days and watch each system in action, then you can make an informed decision

if your in south jersey I know a few guys that use keggles and a few that use coolers

PM me if your interested
Click to expand...

Sure, how do I find out about these brew days?

I was looking at keggles on eBay and they all seemed to be going for $200-$250, which is about the same as a stainless brew pot with plumbing.
 
justinakajuice said:
I did a lot of research on this and the cheapest and most proven route was to buy a 62-qt Coleman Xtreme from Wal-Mart. I just got it delivered to the house today. I'm looking to do my conversion today. I'm heading up to the 'depot here soon as I stop reading the forum!
Click to expand...

Wow, Amazon has them on sale today for half off - $49.

Is it harder to make a false bottom or manifold for a rectangular cooler?
 
BTW, sorry for all the questions, but I've done a couple of extract brews and am really wanting to move into all grain.
 
Rich_S said:
Sure, how do I find out about these brew days?

I was looking at keggles on eBay and they all seemed to be going for $200-$250, which is about the same as a stainless brew pot with plumbing.
Click to expand...

my club is in south jersey and we regularly invite people over for brew days, we also have a member that can make very reasonably priced welded keggles

if your up north Bobby can hook you up

again, where are you from?
 
infection said:
my club is in south jersey and we regularly invite people over for brew days

if your up north Bobby can hook you up

again, where are you from?
Click to expand...

Central NJ. Right off Exit 7 on the Tpk, over towards Ft Dix.
 
Cooler Pros:
Heat retention
Lightweight
usually has handles
For the round ones, there's stuff to buy if you don't want to craft to convert one. (buy the cooler at Home Depot if you go rubbermaid, for some reason they're about the cheapest, but you get a Home Depot logo, eh)
Less expensive

Cooler cons:
Plastic worries some people (most coolers are only food grade when not hot)
can't weld stuff on it
less durable than a keg
Can't take direct heat

Stainless pot pros:
Can weld stuff on it.
Durable as heck
Lots of widgets to convert one, especially kegs
Can take direct heat
Depending on how you set it up, can double as a spare boil kettle.

Stainless pot cons:
Heat loss
Expensive
some don't have handles
heavy (in my late 40's, that really is starting to be a consideration)

PS: I have and use both types, for different historical reasons
 
JohnMc said:
Cooler Pros:
Heat retention
Lightweight
usually has handles
For the round ones, there's stuff to buy if you don't want to craft to convert one. (buy the cooler at Home Depot if you go rubbermaid, for some reason they're about the cheapest, but you get a Home Depot logo, eh)
Less expensive

Cooler cons:
Plastic worries some people (most coolers are only food grade when not hot)
can't weld stuff on it
less durable than a keg
Can't take direct heat

Stainless pot pros:
Can weld stuff on it.
Durable as heck
Lots of widgets to convert one, especially kegs
Can take direct heat
Depending on how you set it up, can double as a spare boil kettle.

Stainless pot cons:
Heat loss
Expensive
some don't have handles
heavy (in my late 40's, that really is starting to be a consideration)

PS: I have and use both types, for different historical reasons
Click to expand...

Good info.

I guess what I'm getting at is I really hate to buy something twice because I bought the lower end thing and then wanted to upgrade. If the SS pots are better than the coolers, I'd rather just get them from the start. If not then that's a different story.
 
Is it harder to make a false bottom or manifold for a rectangular cooler?
Click to expand...
It's not harder, but there's no prefab ones AFAIK. CPVC or copper slotted with a hacksaw or use a stainless hose braid, it's all good.
 
Not trying to go off topic from O.P.
Does the shape of the cooler help with controlling the temp? I have a old coleman rectangular 40qtr cooler... It is not an extreme cooler, but I pre-heat with boiling water for 30 minutes, dump the water and add the strike water. I have had real problems getting the temp consistent across the cooler (ie center 152, one corner 155, another 148). I stir the living S#I+ out of the grains, but I am always having the same issue.

Any idea's on this? Is this a problem? Is this common?
 
I guess what I'm getting at is I really hate to buy something twice because I bought the lower end thing and then wanted to upgrade. If the SS pots are better than the coolers, I'd rather just get them from the start. If not then that's a different story.
Click to expand...
Rich, there's really only better for you and how you approach and do things. Either one will work, it's really only size that may have you upgrading.
Myself, I just "downgraded" to a 5 gallon Rubbermaid, because a 15 gallon keg is a little big as a mash tun for 5 gallon 1.040-1.060 batches. I'm keeping all of it (that whole "most toys" thing).
I'd strongly suggest you follow infection's advice and see stuff in operation, that may help you decide what's for you or not.
 
I started with a 10 gallon igloo and switched to a stainless kettle with a false bottom and never looked back. I like being able to put heat to it if needed and its easy to do step mashes/mash outs. One thing I`ve found is a quality burner makes a huge difference. I have a Blichmann and I can turn it down super low while still having the flame distributed evenly across the bottom of the pot. This allows me to set the burner and keep my temps pretty much right where I want them with minimal fussing around with it. I don't seem to have big differences in mash temp in different areas like I did with my cooler, and steadily falling mash temps over 60 minutes are a thing of the past.
 
If you do it right, you should be able to hold a mash at a solid temp in a cooler for at least an hour. At most you'll lose 2F unless you're outside in windy 20F temps.

Maintaining a solid temp in an uninsulated metal tun is a nightmare unless you have a HERMS or RIMs and employ electronic control.

Will you ever need to step mash? If you have no idea then you probably don't. Even if you do, you can do it with infusions or decoctions and even then, it will probably be 1% of your brew sessions.

Convert a cooler and if in two years you want to mess around with a direct fire tun, you're out a whole $40.
 
although we all seem to wait the magic "hour" for conversion to occur, there are well documented sources that say conversion is usually complete within 15 minutes......so holding a mash temp within 1 degree for an hour really isn't required theoretically:drunk:
 
infection said:
although we all seem to wait the magic "hour" for conversion to occur, there are well documented sources that say conversion is usually complete within 15 minutes......so holding a mash temp within 1 degree for an hour really isn't required theoretically:drunk:
Click to expand...
When I do Fix's 50-60-70 deg C mash profile with my HERMS, the whole deal is about 45 minutes.

Convert a cooler and if in two years you want to mess around with a direct fire tun, you're out a whole $40.
Click to expand...
~$40 in cost is precisely why I'm not minding stepping down to a 5 gallon one for my "newly" reduced batch sizes.
 
I do a lot of step, decoction (and turbid) mashes, all with my 10 gallon Rubbermaid tun. It holds to within 1.5° over a 60 minute mash and 2° over 90. It's important when you're really trying to dry a beer out smashing low & slow. With BeerSmith infusions and decoctions are cake even with 4 or 5 temp raises. I've considered going rims or germs and getting a keg but I know I won't be improving my beer and will be spending money (that should be going toward more fermentation temp control gear). Nothing is easier to clean out than a round cooler, IMHO the SS kettle/keg upgrade is largely for show. ILLC probably add a 15 gallon cooler tun for giant beers and bigger 10 gallon batches.
 
The way I see it, a stainless MLT solves its own worst con - it loses heat more rapidly, but you can add it back easily.

You see so many posts on this forum about people whining and worrying about missing their mash temp. I NEVER miss it, because I can fix it.

If you're short on cash build a cooler set up, but I'll say that there are several decisions I made in homebrewing that set me off down one path and I was unwilling to spend the money for what I really wanted because I had something that already worked. "No regrets" is my motto these days when buying equipment.
 
Since space in my brewery isn't an issue I'm keeping the cooler and converting it into a herms tun. I'll have 3 burners: boil kettle, infusion/sparge kettle and heat exchanger/hlt kettle. That way it should make it possible to do several different batches during a brew day since all kettles could be used as boil kettles. The cooler can be used to infuse, decoct or step mash with the hlt supplying the heat exchange. Hopefully will give me heat stability and versatility in my garage brewery.
 
I just dropped the money on a Blichmann 15 gallon kettle with the sparge arm and false bottom. I plan on keeping my old round cooler as a HLT. I used it many times and there was always a leak or something pissing me off. Plus it will look cool as hell on my Blichmann Top Tier!
 
wilserbrewer said:
I have a collection of converted coolers taking up space, free to a good home. Nothing fancy, converted w/ a braid.

I work out that way, PM me if you would like a free "starter" MT.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer, but I ended up going with a round cooler false bottom MLT and HLT a few months back.
 

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