DIY Hot Liquor Tank for $90 HomeDepot Style!

Hi I'm new to the forum and I thought I would start off by offering my DIY HLT Parts list from the HomeDepot so here it is.

1x 071691236337 Rubbermaid 10 Gal Water Cooler
2x “ACS” ¾ Cut Washers
1x 048643025547 3/8in. Vinal Tubing
1x 04805447406 3/8 x ½ Brass Adapter Barb
2x 075875126029 SS Hose Clamps
1x 013964582826 O-Ring 10/pk
1x 042805446836 ½ x 1 1/2in Brass nipple
1x 042805447017 ¾ x ½ Brass Hex bushing
1x 032888110328 1/2in Ball Valve
1x D4301-40 Pipe Joint tape

1. Take out faucet valve by unscrewing from inside of cooler, remove rubber grommet

2. Install ball valve assembly through cooler from outside in:

Ball valve, tapped nipple, washer

3. Finish assembly from the inside of cooler

O-ring, washer, brass hex bushing tighten firmly

4. Install 3/8in. Barb adapter using the tape, tighten, squeeze over tubing

5. Heat some water, take temp. and you are ready to sparge!:rockin:

Thanks for this.

I don't see a way of heating the water in the cooler (i.e. no heating element or the like), so I suppose the water would need to be heated somehow prior to putting into this cooler system, correct?

If you add a filtering system (false bottom, manifold, bazooka tube, braided hose) to the inside of this you would have a great MLT as well.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I think there's a little confusion here OP. I don't think this is a HLT. This is a mash lauter tun, and you can convert them for cheaper.

A hot liquor tank is a vessel that you heat the water in. It would seem kinda silly to me to store the water in a separate cooler when I need it in my mashtun immediately. Even with sparge water, I still wouldn't need a cooler, since 185F vs 193F (etc) is not a big deal when sparging.

For example, in a 3tier setup, you want a kettle up top (your HLT) heating the strike water, your mashtun in the middle, and your boil kettle at the bottom.

It has to be heated in the vessel to be considered a HLT? Interesting, seems like what I do currently for fly sparging. Heat the water in my kettle, dump it in the HLT and use it to fly sparge.

There are actually many folks who use a cooler as their HLT. They simply heat the water in their BK and pump it over to their HLT cooler so that their BK is free for collecting the runnings. It saves the expense of another metal pot, and if you're running electric then it saves the expense of another metal pot with electrical elements and such.

No no dont get me wrong, Im not saying you cant USE it as one, but as far as practical purposes, it would seem counterintuitive, unless you dont have another kettle.

stpug -- if you pumped it into another cooler to free up a kettle, then you'd need ANOTHER cooler to mash in. Either way, youre gonna have an extra vessel here. IMO, a kettle would serve me better than an extra cooler.



Edit: Going back, I can see how it'd be useful in a fly sparging setup. I use batch sparging so I take a 1gal pitcher and get water out of my extra SS kettle and pour it straight from the kettle into my MLT. Time isn't an issue there. I guess I can see where with a slow trickle method like fly sparging, you'd need the water on hand and at temp for a longer time.