NEW AG brewer with a 70qt Coleman Cooler MLT

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DeadDoc

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Just picked this up for $31.80 including tax(6%) @ Wal-Mart not online. Now I can do AG brewing for HUGE batches of beer. :ban: Does anyone have blueprints to a manifold for this sized cooler? If not I guess I can work off of other ones and just make it to proper size.

Also, what do you use to clean the inside? Just standard soap... or would B-Brite work?
 
Is that better than a manifold?

btw this is the cooler
0007650134424_215X215.jpg

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4807332
 
I vote for holes....1/8' or smaller. Either way....they face DOWN.

Also...don't solder all of the joints on your manifold. It's nice to be able to take it partially apart to clean it.
 
Oh man, that cooler looks sweet, I'll have to pick up one of those before I try to do 10 gallon batches. I discovered when I did my barleywine last weekend, at 1.5qt/lb and 16# of grain my cooler was full almost to the lid. :eek:
 
I bought that same cooler.
I didn't even unscrew the drain plug, I just put a 6 inch piece of I believe 3/8 inch copper tubing in through the drain plug.(whatever the diameter it was very snug) You could use food grade silicone if you want to seal it but I did not. I then ran a piece of stainless steel braid from plumbing tubing the length of the cooler and clamped it on to the copper tube. At the other end of the braid you can either roll it up a little and crimp it or clamp a large diameter bolt in the end of it. I then clamped about 6 inches of FDA aproved hosing to the copper tube piece on the outside of the cooler, then placed a ball valve that had barbed ends on both sides on to that. It works great no leaks, no cloggs. You could also connect a longer piece of hose on to that which was what I was originally planning to do, but my final setup didn't need it. Other than driving to the various hardware stores to find a small piece of copper tubing, (most sell 10 - 25 feet) was cheap as well. Also no soldering or welding.
 
No blueprints, but I snapped a few photos of my 1/2" copper manifold for the same cooler:

Assembled - I used a weldless fitting with a 1/2" NPT male to 1/2" copper to connect the manifold to the drain. Nothing is soldered, it's all dry fit.


The long legs are all the same length. My first version had a row of small holes (1/16") on each. That led to a really slow (batch) sparge, so I re-manufactured them with hacksaw slots. Much better.


To be continued . . .
 
. . . Continued

Two short pieces, two elbows, and a tee for one end,


One long piece and two elbows for the other. I mashed and bent this end so it goes over the weldless fitting and lets the manifold lie flat on the cooler bottom.


So far I love this rig, though it's only seen a couple of batches.
 
Same cooler, I used CPVC tho. Haven't "cooked" with it yet, but hot water tests are good. Mine shows slits up, face them down.. :mug

HPIM0962.JPG
 
Oh man, that cooler looks sweet, I'll have to pick up one of those before I try to do 10 gallon batches. I discovered when I did my barleywine last weekend, at 1.5qt/lb and 16# of grain my cooler was full almost to the lid. :eek:

Well with this being able to do 17.5 gallons should be able to help you out!

. . . Continued

Two short pieces, two elbows, and a tee for one end,


One long piece and two elbows for the other. I mashed and bent this end so it goes over the weldless fitting and lets the manifold lie flat on the cooler bottom.


So far I love this rig, though it's only seen a couple of batches.

I will probably do something similar to that.
 
Is it unheard of to use a SS braid for a rectangular cooler? I bought the same cooler as shown above and already bought the braid for it, although I could return it for some copper or cpvc.

Edit: I will be batch sparging
 
Is it unheard of to use a SS braid for a rectangular cooler? I bought the same cooler as shown above and already bought the braid for it, although I could return it for some copper or cpvc.

Edit: I will be batch sparging

Perfectly acceptable.
 
Now how do you do step mashing(proper term?) with a cooler? just drain.. heat up... then put back in for the time period stated? You obviously cant heat the entire container up to get to a higher temperature.
 
You can heat the first runnings and return them to the cooler, do double infusion mashes (dough in at 1 qt/lb and infuse to step to 1.5 qt/lb, max 20 degree jump), or do a decoction. The decoction is the trickiest, since it's hard to judge how much you need. I have used a combination of step infusing with using a heat stick to fine-tune the mash temp, and have done a decoction for mashout since the final rest temp isn't as critical.
 
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