Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion

am looking at the DIY section and came across this - I'm assuming this is used for bottling beer? Or just easy dispensing?

bkvail said:

am looking at the DIY section and came across this - I'm assuming this is used for bottling beer? Or just easy dispensing?

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No.......it is the mash tun in all grain brewing....it's for converting the starch in grain to wort, through the adding of water to grain at a certain temp for a fixed amount of time.

phissionkorps said:

Without reading all 56 pages of this...where can I get SS 5/8" washers? I looked at Lowe's, which had every size BUT 5/8ths, and home depot, where they didn't have SS anything.
Not that it matters much, but I bought everything at Lowe's except the cooler ($18 - Walmart), and I'm pushing $58 right now.

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I bought a 1/2 inch SS washer at lowes and just drilled it out to 5/8. worked like a champ

At Lowes, there are some 3/4 SS washers ( next bin over from the 1/2).

If you combine these with an o-ring, it will work out just perfect. My oring was from a corny.

Aha! Success! Now to get some grain

Thanks FlyGuy for this. I just finished mine today. Cost me less than $20 for the whole thing since I had a 5 gallon rubbermaid at my parents house from my soccer playing days. Did a 5 gallon hot water test with it and it maybe leaked 3 drops throughout the whole hour and only lost 1.2 degrees F. I'm going to tighten it a little bit more or put another o-ring in hopes of having it leak free. I'm fine with only 3 drops over the course of an hour but I'm not sure if over time it would ruin the insulation in the cooler.

papabeach1 said:

that's what I am look for !!! thanks big time!! now we have today's 2 cent KEG!!

and I will do that one !! thank you!!

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Hes not making a keg hes making a mashtun. Thier two totally different things. You really need to read a book on homebrewing.

Fastenal's part number is 71225 and they are 1.60 a piece

I just ordered 5 of them but it will take 2 days for them to get from the IN warehouse to Missouri.

I've spent so much stinking money on little parts trying to make this thing work I might have been better off going the ebay route. Either way this time next week I should be mashing!

I got some supposedly all SS washers from Ace. I bought a few and will be putting one in a glass of water for a while to test if there's any corrosion. Should I up the acidity or should plain tap water be a good test?

TerryWendel said:

I got some supposedly all SS washers from Ace. I bought a few and will be putting one in a glass of water for a while to test if there's any corrosion. Should I up the acidity or should plain tap water be a good test?

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Put them in a glass of coke or pepsi. If that doesn't corrode them, you are golden.

Is it ok to put a rubber flat washer on the inside under a SS flat washer to give it a better seal? Or is the SS flat was enough?

jbodkin said:

Is it ok to put a rubber flat washer on the inside under a SS flat washer to give it a better seal? Or is the SS flat was enough?

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You can put a rubber washer under the SS one, and I plan on doing it. Do you have flat washers or fender washers? I found that the flat washer was too thick, and wouldn't conform to the inside of my tun (im using a 5, so it's a bit more concave than the 10's).

got my washers from fastenal today and hooked it all up. Didn't teflon tape it, and i'm losing about 1 drop every 5-10 minutes, and it's a very small drop. It looks like it's coming from one of the threaded connections so it should seal up perfectly when I teflon the threads. Either way it's done and my first all-grain ingredients are on their way (cream ale).

If it were me, I'd teflon tape it.

uuurang said:

Well, I hate to poo-poo this, but finding 5/8 ss washer is a tough call at stores in my area. The largest I've been able to find are 1/2 in ss washers. Home Despot, no dice, True Value hardware, nope, Ace hardware, nada. And as far as the metric goes nobody carries stainless metric washers. Asked at each one.

Would a steel washer be good enough? I can find regular steel washers in the 5/8 in. size no prob. Will they rust? Ahh, humbug, I'll just give it a try and see what happens.

Just sharing my experience.

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I don't know if this has been addressed or not, but after all day of running around looking for a 5/8's inch "Fender" washer which did not exist at any store. I settled for a 5/8's Stainless steel from Ace Hardware.

When I got it home, it appeared to be an exact copy of what was photographed in the parts list, and of course, it worked just fine.

I'm heading out to get my parts now for a Coleman Extreme rectangular job. If I need it - where have people sourced food-grade silicone?

Cheers!

TampaTim said:

I don't know if this has been addressed or not, but after all day of running around looking for a 5/8's inch "Fender" washer which did not exist at any store. I settled for a 5/8's Stainless steel from Ace Hardware.

When I got it home, it appeared to be an exact copy of what was photographed in the parts list, and of course, it worked just fine.

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It's been addressed adnaueseum several times in the thread, INCLUDING on the parts list in the first post is the link to fastenal website which links to the parts number. It doesn't matter whether or not they are fender or not, just that they are 5/8th and staineless...

GimmeAles said:

I'm heading out to get my parts now for a Coleman Extreme rectangular job. If I need it - where have people sourced food-grade silicone?

Cheers!

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I found food grade silicone from McMaster Carr. I have heard that some aquarium sealant is food grade.

I got some at Petco. The aquarium sealant is fine to use.

Revvy said:

It's been addressed adnaueseum several times in the thread, INCLUDING on the parts list in the first post is the link to fastenal website which links to the parts number. It doesn't matter whether or not they are fender or not, just that they are 5/8th and staineless...

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Sorry.

Got my parts list and instructions from the Wiki:

BrewWiki said:

Here are the parts you will need for the conversion (see picture, left to right):

* Rubbermaid 10 gallon round beverage cooler
* all stainless steel ¼” hose clamps x 2
* brass square head plug (Watts A-737)
* ½” x 12” (or larger) braided stainless steel supply hose
* 3/8” female barb adapter (Watts A-298)
* 5/8” stainless steel fender washer (Note:You can convert a 1/2" SS fender wash by widening the hole to 5/8" if you cannot find one)
* 3/8” MIP x 1-1/2” brass nipple (Watts A-786)
* seal from plastic spigot of cooler (shown below)
* Teflon tape (note: everything to the left of the tape in the picture above goes inside the cooler, and everything to the right goes outside)
* 5/8” Inner Diameter O-ring (preferably heat resistant, if you can find one)
* 3 x 5/8” fender washers
* 3/8” threaded ball valve
* 3/8” male barb adapter (Watts A-294)

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Got the two confused.

My bad.

So I just read through 40+ pages of this thread and it seems like the braid design went from very simple if you follow the directions, to that doesn't work , do it a different way than what the directions say.

What is the final verdict on the most effective way to clamp and setup this SS braid??

Also, am I summarizing correctly that you can substitute the SS 5/8" fender washers with any of the following:

-any SS 5/8" washer
-5/8" Rubber Washer
-5/8" Neoprene washer

Why are so many people having to use silicone??

Well, I don't think there is a final verdict. You have to see what works for you. Many people swear by a straight braid, while others have had better success with some tubing. I suggest trying a plain old braid first, and if that gives any problems, try adding tubing or a coiled copper wire inside.

The biggest thing is to AVOID PLASTIC BRAIDS. They look the same as SS and almost all the reports of failed braids are plastic braids that have collapsed.

SS washers are the preferred washer inside the cooler for stability. Fastenal or Ace Hardware are good places to look (Home Depot in Canada seems to carry them too).

Silicone is only used by those building from a cooler that lacks a factory rubber seal around the spigot (e.g., those using some rectangular coolers). Whenever possible, try to use the factor seal that came with the cooler.

So a flat 5/8" SS washer will or will not work for the inside? I see posts that say it will fit and posts that say it is too thick and you have to have the fender version.

Thanks for the great how-to post by the way.

I was at Home Depot yesterday and saw that they have very large diameter (looks to be 1") braided SS supply hoses for water heaters. 18-24" in length.
It seems to me that in the interest of larger surface area, it would be worth considering using these in a circle in the bottom of the MLT.

Has anyone else looked at these and if so, why have I not seen any posts about it?

After seeing a bunch of posts about the braids...clamping the ends, rust issues with the hose clamps, flow issues; I figured I would spend a few extra bucks(well, about 25) and just buy a 10" SS false bottom. Cheapest I found was at Midwest supply, $26 plus shipping. Just seems alot easier and probably more effecient this way too. Here is a link if anyone is interested.
10" SS False Bottom Mine is on its way!

So just for confirmation the Stainless Steel washer I need is 5/8" X 1 3/4"?

I just got a 10 gal igloo (round, orange) cooler for $30 at Hyvee (the local grocery chain). Would never have thought of looking there. It was normally 45, but marked down for the season.

Ted

mangine77 said:

So just for confirmation the Stainless Steel washer I need is 5/8" X 1 3/4"?

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As long as the inside diameter is 5/8" and the washer is wide enough to provide a stable 'backing' for the fittings going through the cooler wall, you are golden. Just make sure that you don't find a washer that is TOO wide because it might not fit between the bottom of the cooler and the hole through the cooler wall.

MajorWoody said:

I was at Home Depot yesterday and saw that they have very large diameter (looks to be 1") braided SS supply hoses for water heaters. 18-24" in length.
It seems to me that in the interest of larger surface area, it would be worth considering using these in a circle in the bottom of the MLT.

Has anyone else looked at these and if so, why have I not seen any posts about it?

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I believe Bobby_M advocates the use of a water heater braid. They are definitely bigger and sturdier, and probably crush-proof.

Unless you are fly sparging, I wouldn't bother with a circular braid. A short, straight length of braid that spans the bottom of the MLT is actually preferable for batch sparging.

I am fly sparging.

Rick500 said:

Just a heads-up... I just returned from Home Depot where I picked up a Home Depot branded Rubbermaid 1610 10 gallon cooler for $39.97. Home Depot item #875-786.

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They mark these down to this price during the off season. In the summer they go back up.

Call all the stores near you and have them check stock by SKU. They can pull one and hold it for you at the service desk. Typically they shrink wrap them and put them high up in the racking outdoors on a pallet. It will be dirty but for $40, the price is right and it beats trying to find a bro deal on Craigslist.

I put one of these together. It was inexpensive,didn't leak, and, most amazingly, I was able to get it together with absolutely no problems. I am not very mechanically inclined or handy. With the descriptions, parts list, and pictures, it was a snap. Thank you Flyguy for the directions...simply awesome. Also, thank you everyone else who had useful comments, observations, and suggestions in this thread...I actually did read all of the pages before I bought the parts.

Hey, new here but I just built a new HL tank and MLT from 48 qt coolers that I picked up at Academy for $17 a piece. They do not have a drain which actually worked out well. I was able to control the placement and size of the hole so everything fit together nice and snug. Built a through-the-lid copper sparge arm and I am working on a copper manifold. I will post some pics as soon as it is finished.

Here is the info from Academy.

IGLOO ICE CUBE COOLER - 48-QT. $17.99
Item# 8653537

I'm not sure if anyone else said this already since it's a super-long thread, but I was able to find a 5/8" stainless steel washer at Home Depot in a little package called "Create-a-bolt". It comes with a couple bolts, nuts and washers, all stainless steel. It was like $3, but was totally worth it to avoid the frustration that some had to deal with in finding their washer.

Thanks a lot FlyGuy. This was an awesome walkthrough and parts list. I was able to find the parts in 15 minutes and assemble the whole thing in about 30. It looks works great and isn't leaking a single drop. Thanks again! You rock!

Brian

I built a nearly identical set up - but use a Phil's Phalse Bottom and Fly
Sparge Arm.

The parts list was very helpful - so I thank you for all the work you put
into this, FlyGuy.

When I built my first one (just a MT- nearly 8 yrs ago) I spent hours and
did lots of driving back and forth between hardware/ industrial supply
stores. I wish I had written everything down. Now I have a HLT & MLT 10
Gallon Cooler set up.

FYI - Home Depot sells the 10 gal. Rubbermaids for $37.00 US at some
stores and for $40.00 at the rest. They can order them for you if they
are out of stock (seasonal item) - but look up at the top of the shelves in
the Lawn/Gardening/Grill sections. They often plastic wrap them and stick
them u there!

For 5/8 Stainless Steel Washers

Visit Home | Fastenal
Click the "Locations" link at the top-center of the page (under the word
supplies) - type in your zip and visit them for your SS washers. about 4-6
dollars for a 10 pack. If not them mail order. You will pay a song at a
hobby shop and none of the big box stores routinely carry them (unless you
get lucky).

I think the term 'fender' washer may be more of a canadian thing. what it is , is a washer with an over sized outside diameter and gives better stability due to this size. i have noticed a lot of varience in this dimension from different manufacturers but as long as the O.D. is enough to support the valve assy. etc. it should be fine.

My wife picked up an old galvanized 10 gallon Igloo cooler. The outside is beat up, but it has a stainless steel liner that is in great shape. Now I'm batch sparging using a 48 quart rectangular Rubbermaid with a braided strand. Switching to this has that getto appeal to it. I’ve used it for cold drinks and ice lasts forever, so I’m guessing that it will hold temperature really well.

Any opinions, positive or negative, about converting this to an MLT?

SS on the inside, ugly on the outside... sounds like brewing material to me!!

Built mine yesterday right from the parts list and brewed a RIS. Worked great! I also used the "build a bolt" package at Home Depot for the SS washers. Only 4 in the package and I ended up needing a total of 5. Two trips.

Thanks for the write up! I'm so happy with my new mlt.

very nice...hitting up home depot tomorrow