Mash tun redesign

I put together a bulkhead fitting on my rectangular 48L coleman cooler as described by flyguy in his 10 gallon rubbermaid conversion thread. However the spigot hole is too high, causing the SS braid to sit 1.5-2" above the bottom of the cooler when slipped onto the interior barb adapter. Even if I tilt the cooler up, it still leaves mabey 1-3 L of dead space. Drilling a lower hole doesn't seem too appealing to me, any suggestions on how to remedy this problem?

You can just go with the tilt toward the end. Poor mans way of doing it.

jim_reaper1066 said:

I put together a bulkhead fitting on my rectangular 48L coleman cooler as described by flyguy in his 10 gallon rubbermaid conversion thread. However the spigot hole is too high, causing the SS braid to sit 1.5-2" above the bottom of the cooler when slipped onto the interior barb adapter. Even if I tilt the cooler up, it still leaves mabey 1-3 L of dead space. Drilling a lower hole doesn't seem too appealing to me, any suggestions on how to remedy this problem?

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I saw a post where someone (I think it might have been Bobby M) had a copper tube inside his braid - the tube was hard plumbed to the outlet and had a few holes in the bottom of the tube only. The tube was wrapped with some copper wire and the braid was put on over all that. The wire kept some space between the copper tube and the braid for better flow, and having the holes in the tube only right along the bottom side kept dead space very small. I don't remember what kind of MLT he had - might have been a keg, but the same idea should work in a cooler.

Why not use a compression fitting and some soft copper on the inside. Form it into an S and it will drop your braid against the bottom. I did it and it works great. I drilled some 5/8" soft copper all over and it runs inside my braid. I don't worry about it moving around as I stir also.

you can take a piece of copper tubing and attach anangle piece to it, then another angle piece and then another length of copper tube. Kind of so it hugs the bottom contour of your cooler. The copper tube should have a bunch of holes or slits cut into the bottom and then slide it into the SS braid. I never have a problem with space between the copper tube and the SS braid. Never had a stuck sparge and I have made some high weight grain recipes before. The copper helps to avoid a crushed braid as well as holds it in place on the bottom of your cooler to make sure you get every last drop

Ah, good ideas guys. So a little S shaped copper tube adapter from the brass barb end of the bulkhead to the SS braid so it lies flat on the floor? I had thought about something like this, but if the false bottom is sitting lower the the exit through the bulkhead would there not still be dead space in the vertical distance between the two? Or will the suction power of the wort traveling through the tubing into the boil kettle create enough suction to draw the wort in the mash tun up that small vertical distance.

jim_reaper1066 said:

Ah, good ideas guys. So a little S shaped copper tube adapter from the brass barb end of the bulkhead to the SS braid so it lies flat on the floor? I had thought about something like this, but if the false bottom is sitting lower the the exit through the bulkhead would there not still be dead space in the vertical distance between the two? Or will the suction power of the wort traveling through the tubing into the boil kettle create enough suction to draw the wort in the mash tun up that small vertical distance.

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The siphon action will pull the wort in the MLT up if you have a hose on the outlet going into the kettle and if all the tubing is air tight from the holes in the bottom of the tube in the MLT to the outlet of the tube in the kettle. To be absolutely sure no air gets in from the kettle end, leave the end of the hose in the kettle under the surface of the liquid during the time the liquid level in the MLT is down to or below the MLT ball valve. You may need to use a dipstick in the kettle to see when the wort stops rising to know you're finished.