10 gallon Rubbermaid Cooler

Hi everyone, today I picked up a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler from Home Depot, to be converted to a MLT. I was just curious about what bottoms people are using, or like the most, and how much grain you guys have been able to fit in them. I plan on doing 5gal batches, it is going to be a simple set-up, for now...

I use a stainless false bottom, there is no five gallon batch that you won't be able to mash with it.
http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

Yah you can mash over 20 lbs with a single infusion mash... so, I wouldnt worry. I too use a SS false bottom and a SS sparge arm to fly sparge... I also have through the wall thermometers to monitor my mash temps.

I have a 10 gal Igloo.
I built a stainless steel braided ring.

The way I understand it, is it depends on how you are going to use the MLT.

I do batch sparging and the braided works well for me.

I've been thinking about building a copper ring to see if I can get any better efficiency.

I plan to do batch sparging, for now anyways. I am still pretty new to brewing all together, so it should be the easiest way for me to jump into AG. I only have a 30qt pot, for now, and it has no spigot. Is it required to have one? Can I just siphon it? The pot is aluminum and I plan to upgrade, so I dont really want to bother with installing a weldless spigot.

Aluminum is great, it conducts heat alot more evenly and readily... just boil some water in it for a bit to passify it. Also, no spigot required, just syphon, you will find that you can mch more easily leave the cold break, hops and trub behind if you syphon off the top instead of draining off the bottom.

I have the cheap turkey fryer pot and my wort chiller fits in it. When it's cool, I just siphon it into the fermenter. Sometimes I just siphon until I can easily lift it and then pour it through a strainer/colander into the fermenter if I have lots of gunk. That also helps aerate it some.

See, if I poured, then I wouldnt lose that 1/2 gallon that I do in the gunk and trub at the bottom of my boil kettle... BUT, what are the advantages of getting all of that out prior to the ferment?

PS Lagering looks like it is a pain in the arse!

dollhousebrewery said:

I plan to do batch sparging, for now anyways. I am still pretty new to brewing all together, so it should be the easiest way for me to jump into AG. I only have a 30qt pot, for now, and it has no spigot. Is it required to have one? Can I just siphon it? The pot is aluminum and I plan to upgrade, so I dont really want to bother with installing a weldless spigot.

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The spigot make thinks a bit easier, but it certainly isn't essential.
I'd recommend a spigot if you use a CFC, but with an immersion chiller or ice water bath, siphoning can work just as well.
Like others have said, I don't see anything wrong with aluminum.

-a.

dollhousebrewery said:

Hi everyone, today I picked up a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler from Home Depot, to be converted to a MLT. I was just curious about what bottoms people are using, or like the most, and how much grain you guys have been able to fit in them. I plan on doing 5gal batches, it is going to be a simple set-up, for now...

Click to expand...

If you are going the simple route and batch sparging, just use a section of SS braid (see my signature for details). That 10 gallon MLT will hold about 25 lbs of grain -- more than enough for any 5 gallon brew. Hope it all works well!

I picked up the same cooler from Home Depot this past week Doll,

I'm not terribly handy, so I'm ordering a SS false bottom from Northern Brewer, and I ordered and received a weldless spigot from here, as per Cheesefood's recommendation (which was spot on!):

http://www.greatbargain.net/order/shop1.html

FlyGuy said:

If you are going the simple route and batch sparging, just use a section of SS braid

Click to expand...

I have a circular ss braid. I read in your DIY thread that fly sparging won't work well with a braid. Why not?

photogscott said:

I have a circular ss braid. I read in your DIY thread that fly sparging won't work well with a braid. Why not?

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If you are fly sparging, a well-designed manifold will ensure an even rinsing/draining of the mash. Otherwise, uneven flow or channelization will leave behind sugars in the grains. Palmer has thoroughly researched the effect of manifold design on lautering, and you can read about it here, although you will need to pick up the hardcopy book (third edition) to read about his discussion of SS braids.

For batch sparging, you don't rinse the grains to get the sugars out. You just dump in a batch of sparge water, let the sugars dissolve into it, then drain it out. So manifold design is much less important, hence the recommendation for a simple SS braid. The advantage of a SS braid in this situation is that filters the husk and grain material very well, and it is quick and easy to construct.

But SS sparge arms spinning rapidly are cool to look at.