New 2 Gallon Batch Mash Tun

I used a little Christmas money and put together a mash tun for some 1-2 gallon batches. The cooler is an Igloo Cube 14. Picked it up at Target for $17. Not bad. It holds three gallons which is perfect to brew some small test batches or just some smaller batches for fun.

I had the ball valve and made the copper manifold using John Palmer's spacing recommendations in How To Brew. I'm not the greatest at sweating pipes so don't give me too much grief.

Any feedback and/or tips from folks who do these smaller batches let me know. I've never done this before but assume its pretty straightforward. Thanks for looking.

I have been wanting to have some extra equipment for small batches, this could be fun. Your setup looks great it will be great to hear about the efficiency (not that it matters but for the perfectionist side).
What will you use as a fermenter?
thanx

I bought a three gallon glass carboy from my LHBS. I think that'll work great. As far as efficiency goes, I fly sparge so I'm assuming I'll have good efficiency. As long as I get 70%-75% I'll be happy.

I hate to revive an old thread but I wanted to update those who were looking or wondering about this setup. I brewed my first batch about 3weeks ago. Just got through kegging it. Anyway, my numbers were great. I did a two part batch sparge (half the sparge water poured in, let it sit...vorlauf and drain then repeat with the other half). BobbyM got me on this. Anyway, my overall efficiency was 88.8%. Pretty stinking good. No stuck mash or anything like that and the MLT held temp for the full 60 minutes. The one thing I wish was better was the amount of dead space. It's a little less than 1qt. A little high when you figure it's a four gallon MLT. A minor issue. Other than that I'm stoked.

hafmpty said:

I had the ball valve and made the copper manifold using John Palmer's spacing recommendations in How To Brew. I'm not the greatest at sweating pipes so don't give me too much grief.

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Did you drill the hole or did this cooler have a spigot? The Target and Igloo website don't show one?

I just bough a two gallon water cooler with a spout already on it and I do BIAB batches with it. works like a charm with my 3 gallon better bottle. water cooler was about the same price.

FastTalker said:

Did you drill the hole or did this cooler have a spigot? The Target and Igloo website don't show one?

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Yeah, I drilled the hole for it. Took a measurement inside from the top of the cooler lip to the bottom. Then figured my hole position from there. Worked well.