Square or round cooler better for MLT?

Hello all,

I am about to build an MLT from a cooler. I was curious as to whether there is any advantage to using one shape over another or if it will make no difference. The tutorial for the round cooler on this site is wonderful, but it might be easier/cheaper for me to get a square, nonetheless easy/will not weight into the decision, only what is the better method.

thanks
RJ

Being a N00b, I would first say that it depends on if your batch or fly sparging. I went with a igloo 52qt? cube that may work either way but I'm still trying to figure what I'm doing and doing batch sparging so it does not really matter.
Stay tune for people who know what their talking about.

Being homebrewers, the better one is usually the cheaper one. Aside from that, the better one is the one that is more easily converted.

EDIT: read up on this thread for some excellent ideas: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23008

I use a square cooler the size and shape work well for me (60 qt ice cube) I have played with batch sparging but am a fly sparger. I use a SS braid manafold. here are some pics

+1 on whatever is cheapest. I bought a coleman 70qt extreme cooler and it works great. Its also suited for huge grain bills should I ever decide to do one. Got it for $30 at walmart.

If you are batch sparging, the shape of the cooler doesn't really matter much. I went with round coolers and like them for the following reasons (although I wouldn't hesitate to use a rectangular one in the future):
- round beverage coolers were designed for maintaining hot or cold temps (some rectangular ones are only designed for cold temps)
- when filled, the surface area of the exposed grainbed is relatively smaller in a tall, round cooler than a long, rectangular cooler, meaning less heat loss when you open the lid (and less chance of grainbed oxidation, if you subscribe to that obscure theory)
- stirring may be easier in a round cooler because there are no corners for grain to get 'stuck' in
- if you ever decide to switch to fly sparging, it is really easy to find commercial sparge arms or false bottoms that you can just plop into a round cooler
- tall, round beverage coolers fit a carboy or corny keg really well, making them good for other purposes, such as a lagerator or keg chiller
- my turkey fryer pot nests nicely inside my round cooler, and my chiller nests inside the pot, making for efficient storage

Note that none of these reasons above are really limiting -- they are only small advantages. Also note that there may be some advantages to rectangular coolers that I never mentioned (e.g., lower price is a BIG one).

The main reason I like my round 10 gallon cooler is that I get a deeper grain bed which makes for better filtering of the wort. As said, this probably isn't an issue for batch sparging.

I went with a rectangular cooler (80qt) because the round ones are to small. I do both batch and fly depending on how much time I have. If your manifold is built right it wont matter.

+1 on the round cylinders. I have a 5 and 10 gal Rubbermaid MLT and I get 80+% efficiency (batch sparging)and I can fly or batch sparge. The 5 gal only cost 20 bucks and the conversion stuff was another $15. Finally, I have used the 10 gallon as a corny keg cooler at parties and it did fine.

That said- I've never used anything else

Thanks for the tip. By the way, Home Depot seems to have a good price on those 10gal round coolers, 39.99. This was the best price I could find around town, just finished putting together my MLT and I am excited to begin, AG brewing.

RJ