Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion

The easiest way to cut it is to put electrical tape on the ends, and snip it with tin snips....done and done

On a side not, my sweet-ass cooler got an upgrade this Christmas, a nice upgrade too:

Put mine together tonight and so far no leaks! Thanks to FlyGuy and everyone else here at homebrewtalk.com! This place is an invaluable resource! I actually tried both ways to cut the hose just to see which one was easier, although the dremel did a fantastically quick job and worked well, the snips and electrical tape did produce a cleaner cut for me.

Thanks again everyone for all your help!

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I don't own a pair of good snips. That's why it never occurred to me to do it that way. Regardless, glad things went well!!!!

chriso said:

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I don't own a pair of good snips. That's why it never occurred to me to do it that way. Regardless, glad things went well!!!!

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Don't be embarrassed, I bought mine tonight!

chriso said:

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I don't own a pair of good snips. That's why it never occurred to me to do it that way. Regardless, glad things went well!!!!

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Don't worry about it, I don't either....that's why I go to my buddy's house to do stuff....like weld my sculpture. Why do I need tools? He has all the great stuff, and he's so fun to hang out with...I swear we were separated at birth.

98EXL said:

Don't worry about it, I don't either....that's why I go to my buddy's house to do stuff....like weld my sculpture. Why do I need tools? He has all the great stuff, and he's so fun to hang out with...I swear we were separated at birth.

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You sound like a friend of mine...."Hey wanna put new shocks in my car this weekend???" At least he pays in beer.

FlyGuy said:

- Rubbermaid 10 gallon round beverage cooler - $34.99

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Where did you buy a Rubbermaid 10 gallon round cooler? For 34.99.

rj_hockey said:

Where did you buy a Rubbermaid 10 gallon round cooler? For 34.99.

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He's in Canadia.

Yep, winter sale here in Canada. Coolers are harder to find here in January than anything. They are probably even harder to sell. I actually spotted four of them at my local grocery store, of all places. The manager was sick of them in his store, so he sold them at half price. You have no idea how thrilled I was!

Honestly though, if you can't find the round coolers at a decent price, the tall rectangular coolers work just as well. Stirring in the corners might be a WEE bit more difficult, but other than that, they are cheaper and work great too. Just be sure to find a cooler brand and model that are 'tried and true' like the Gott/Rubbermaid round 10 gal beverage coolers.

Cheers!

Trodd said:

You sound like a friend of mine...."Hey wanna put new shocks in my car this weekend???" At least he pays in beer.

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oh yeah, I'm that guy, except it does go both ways.....

I seem to take his boxer pup out all the time, I guess that's what I get for being 'Uncle Smokey' to the puppy. It works out, we grill, smoke on the smoker, drink beer, and 'play' in the garage all the time...so much fun. We've even modded his garage, how else are you going to use your new 220v MIG welder?

Just got back from Lowe's with all the parts I needed EXCEPT for the stainless washer and O-ring. Luckily, I also have an order in to Grainger today, so I just added some 5/8 ID UHMWPE washers and 5/8 X 1/8 silicone O-rings to the list. I'm thinking that for the inside wwasher and seal, UHMWPE should work just fine, and be plenty inert in the mash. I'll post up results after I get back from my latest trip.

Once I'm confident I have my rig together, I might even have some spares available. No promises yet, though...

I found my 10 gallon cooler at Home Depot for 39.99. They are in the part of the store where you go outside and are inside like a green house.

They had 1 more and a bunch of 5 gallon jugs.

On that note, can't wait to build mine tonight

Update:

I went to Home Depot in Baltimore of 695 with the original list in hand.

Like the others before, I couldn't find washers that were the correct size so I modified it a bit. Except where noted below, the valve and adapters are the same as in the original post.




I substituted the 3 5/8" SS fender washers (my Home Depot doesn't carry these) for neoprene rubber fender washers. However they only had 1 remaining in 5/8" which I used for the outside and (2) 1/2" neoprene rubber washers for the inside.

I couldn't find the SS supply hose so I substituted this which I found on an end cap.



The package comes with (2) SS bags and tie wraps. I notched the tube and slipped one bag on and then the other over it.



I could not find any SS 5/8" washers so I substituted 16mm Steel washers.

To assemble it,

Screw the male adapter to the ball valve. Insert the 12mm washer and the 5/8" neoprene washer in between the hose barb adapter and the valve.





Insert it through the cooler and screw on the other adapter on the inside. Insert the tubing with the mesh over the adapter and voila.

Here is the final product undergoing extensive water testing.

Hasn't leaked a drop however and I can't wait to do my first AG tomorrow.

Hey! An OTter! Go see the Homebrewer's thread at the OT, Senorfartman!

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Just skipped work today to build a 10 gallon MLT:rockin: I have a very small leak, say a few drops every half an hour or so, which I can live with, I can't wait to try this sucker out. Saturday will be my first all grain!!!

farmbrewernw said:

Just skipped work today to build a 10 gallon MLT:rockin: I have a very small leak, say a few drops every half an hour or so, which I can live with, I can't wait to try this sucker out. Saturday will be my first all grain!!!

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Check that you didn't OVER-tighten the connections -- that is the most common problem with small leaks. Good to hear that you found the plans helpful and that you are now in business for big AG batches!

Hey guys,

I've done four batches using this setup now, but I am getting terrible efficiency. Last night's batch, I tried mashing for longer (75 minutes), running a rolling pin over the bags of grain (crushed at the store), and splitting the sparge into two separate sparges with a 10 minute rest both times before lautering. This got me 62%, which is an upgrade over the mid to high 50s I had gotten before.

I'm really confused as to how pretty much everyone else in the world is getting solid efficiency out of this design and I am not. I have not measured the pH - I am using spring water, since I have had issues with chloramines in the tap water here in the past.

Details from last night's brew: 10.5 lbs grain, mashed in 3.3 gallons of 165 degree water to get me to 152 mash temp. 75 minute rest, mixed with brew spoon every 20 minutes or so. Temp did not drop more than a couple degrees during the mash. Sparged with 5.8 gallons of 170 degree water. Collected about 6.5 gallons of wort. Preboil Gravity was 1.037 (corrected for temperature.)

Any ideas?

kmudrick said:

Any ideas?

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This is a shot in the dark, but you mentioned that you don't adjust PH at all - try using Five Star's "PH 5.2 Mash Stabilizer" - you add it to your water, and it "locks" the PH at a mash-friendly level. Not necessary on some dark brews (stouts/porters) but a huge help on anything lighter (Pales especially).

I know it sounds goofy, but many people, myself included, see as much as 10% jumps in efficiency when using something to help the PH. I regularly get 62% without it and 72-77% with it.

Also you might want to look into a digital thermometer if you don't have one. Many people who report bad eff's are using analog glass thermometers, which aren't always right. Missing your strike or mash temp can lead to bad numbers.

G'luck with it!

chriso said:

This is a shot in the dark, but you mentioned that you don't adjust PH at all - try using Five Star's "PH 5.2 Mash Stabilizer" - you add it to your water, and it "locks" the PH at a mash-friendly level. Not necessary on some dark brews (stouts/porters) but a huge help on anything lighter (Pales especially).

I know it sounds goofy, but many people, myself included, see as much as 10% jumps in efficiency when using something to help the PH. I regularly get 62% without it and 72-77% with it.

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It is worth a shot I suppose. I'll pick some up for next time.

Also you might want to look into a digital thermometer if you don't have one. Many people who report bad eff's are using analog glass thermometers, which aren't always right. Missing your strike or mash temp can lead to bad numbers.

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Yeah, after my first AG batch I went out and go a digital thermometer - so these last 3 batches have been using that. I suppose it could be off already, but I suspect it is ok (and it seems to line up with the thermometer on my hydrometer.)

Thanks for the suggestions!

If I had to guess, I think you are probably getting a really bad crush at your LHBS. The fact that using a rolling pin on the grain helped seems to lend support to this idea.

If you are able, try running your grain through the mill twice at your LHBS. Do a small sample first to make sure it isn't crushing too fine on the second pass.

A nice thing with using a braid is that you can crush really fine, and the braid filters almost everything.

If you are going to get serious about all grain brewing, look at purchasing your own mill. Nobody ever regrets doing that. The cost isn't high (as cheap as $20 for a Corona-style mill), and even with the more expensive models, they pay for themself because you can buy unmilled grain in bulk at a huge savings.

FlyGuy said:

If I had to guess, I think you are probably getting a really bad crush at your LHBS. The fact that using a rolling pin on the grain helped seems to lend support to this idea.

If you are able, try running your grain through the mill twice at your LHBS. Do a small sample first to make sure it isn't crushing too fine on the second pass.

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Well, I suspected poor crushes in the past which is why I went over it again with a rolling pin. But of the 4 batches, the grains were all crushed at 3 separate LHBSs - I can't imagine all 3 of them are undercrushing. 2 of the batches involved a bulk of the grain (2 row pale) being pre-crushed (ie, they got through it so quick that it arrives in buckets/sacks precrushed)

A nice thing with using a braid is that you can crush really fine, and the braid filters almost everything.

If you are going to get serious about all grain brewing, look at purchasing your own mill. Nobody ever regrets doing that. The cost isn't high (as cheap as $20 for a Corona-style mill), and even with the more expensive models, they pay for themself because you can buy unmilled grain in bulk at a huge savings.

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Hmm. I've thought about doing that. I'm thinking of maybe getting the Barley Crusher mill that northernbrewer sells. What the hell, it's been almost 2 months since I spend money on homebrew equipment

Other thoughts: what amounts of water are you guys mashing and sparging with, using this setup? I've tried Denny Conn's method (getting half of your boil volume from the mash - factoring in grain absorpotion, and getting half from sparging), whereas this time I used (brew365's calculator , which ended up giving me more sparge water than mash water.

Hey kmudrick -- yeah, that's strange that NONE of your three LHBS crushes were good. Perhaps there is something else wrong.

I don't think the equipment is at fault since so many people have used this type of design (cooler + SS braid) successfully. Why don't you post some of the details of your method and recipes in the All Grain forum -- I am sure you will find some great help there. Also read through some past threads there on the topic -- this type of question comes up a lot.

To make a hot liquor tank would you just use all the same parts and leave out the SS braid?

jhbassgod said:

To make a hot liquor tank would you just use all the same parts and leave out the SS braid?

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Yes, you can certainly do that. But if you batch sparge, the ball valve may be overkill since you don't really need to regulate the flow of water precisely like you do in fly sparging.

Actually, what I did was just get one of those cheap $6 spigots that most homebrew shops sell for making bottling buckets. It screwed right in -- simple.

Hi,

I know this post has been up for a while, but hopefully someone reads this and can give me a little guidance. I'm about ready to make the jump from extract/partial grain home brews to full grain and found this post about building your own Mash Tun on the cheap. I'm really interested in putting one of these together, but...

One question, does the straight mesh hose work well, or do you lose something by not going with the circular tubing as I've seen recommended elsewhere?

Choose the form to suit your cooler and design. In a round cooler, the ideal shape is a circle divided into quadrants. ... When designing your manifold, keep in mind the need to provide full coverage of the grainbed while minimizing the total distance the wort has to travel to reach the drain.

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Hi Byron -- you only need to go with a fancy manifold like those if you intend to fly sparge. If you batch sparge (recommended) then the braid works better.

Fair enough, thanks for clarifying...

Thanks Flyguy for this great post, I purchased all the all the components except for the SS or rass washers yesterday at Home Depot, haven't had any luck finding those at any area hardware stores. I got the last ten gallon cooler in the store, after being told they were a seasonal item and looking through their selection that only had five gallon coolers, as I was checking out they had a lone ten gallon one on a shelf by the checkstands, and it was only $40! Score! As soon as I get some SS or brass washers I will be on to my first AG. Thanks for all the info.

I will probably try to make one of these within the next month or so... One last question, how do you clean out the braid in between brews? do you disconnect or just run water through?

Bryon said:

I will probably try to make one of these within the next month or so... One last question, how do you clean out the braid in between brews? do you disconnect or just run water through?

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I just rinse it really well. Unless there is a problem with the braid, all the grain stays inside the cooler, and none gets past the braid, so all you have to do is give it a really good rinse with hot water.

Bryon said:

I will probably try to make one of these within the next month or so... One last question, how do you clean out the braid in between brews? do you disconnect or just run water through?

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I fill the MLT with the first water out of my immersion chiller, so it's nice and warm, and then use that for most of the clean-up. The braid gets a good rinsing, and I wash any remaining spent grains out. That's it. As long as it's clean and not bad smelling, that's good enough for me.

I've been following this thread for a while and it's great! Pulled the trigger on my own system recently with a few variations: I went with a 5gal rubbermaid cooler ($15 at Walmart) and a false bottom (already had from a bucket set up for partial mash). I plan to fly sparge and this will allow me to do 5 gallon batches up to 1.060 -- should keep me busy for quite a while.

I did have a problem, though, and wonder if anyone else ran into the same. I put mine together and it leaked slightly -- tightened, played around with and still leaked. What I found was that the hole was not centered in the recess on the cooler so the outside washers didn't seat properly. I'm hoping a little work with the dremel will cure that. I also found bending the ss washer on the inside helped it sit tighter.

Thanks again!

I surprised that the whole parts list doesn't come up as "related items" when you add the Rubbermaid cooler to your shopping cart on acehardware.com

Anybody tried this with an Igloo 10G? Yellow with red lid.

well, I dove head first and bought one anyway. I've got it assembled and it is leaking about 1 drop every few minutes. I've read this whole thread, and now I can't even remember any suggestions for leak stopage. Don't want to use silicone. I don't think it's necessary. On the Igloo model, the hole where the spout was does not have a double wall. It's about an 1/8" thick. So, does it even matter if it leaks a little? It can't get into the "double wall" anyway, there isn't one. Still how do I stop the leak?

If I had to guess, I bet it is over-tightened. That is the #1 cause of slow leaks like that. Try taking it apart, re-sit the seals, and then tighten it up again but only until it is firmly snug. It's one of those 'Goldilocks' things -- you gotta get the tightness jussstttt right.

I'll give that a shot Flyguy, thanks for the help. Anybody that is interested, I got my 10G Igloo cooler at GFS (Gordon Food Services). It was 51$. I got all my parts for the MLT at Lowe's except for the 5/8" SS washer. They did not carry them. I found them at a Menard's. Only thing is, they are not Fender washers. I don't think this will make a difference. Also, you will need an extra outside washer for this setup.

I want to get into AG. Is a 10gal MLT like this one converted here for 10gal batches or 5 gal batches? Should I use a 5gal cooler if I am only going to do 5 gal batches?

You can use either size for 5 gal batches, but with a 5 gal cooler you won't be able to brew beers with an original gravity over 1.070. The 10 gal cooler gives you more flexibility, and even allows you to brew some 10 gal brews if desired. Most people will tell you not to get a 5 gal cooler because they are too restrictive.