building a 10 gallon cooler mash tun

[histo320]

Very nice.. Do you have anything inside the hose braid?

I do not have anything in the braid but it is pretty stiff and I am only using about 10-12 lbs of grain since it is only a 5 gal tun.

Is it common practice to put a reinforcement in the braid?

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

I here some people put a stainless spring in it
Mine went flat. I think it was because they kept the braid flat and rolled up for shipping

 

[Mojzis]

You don't need a spring, unless you order one and it comes rolled up

If you make one out of the ss braid from a home improvement store it will stand up. As long as you don't go and flatten it yourself. A ss spring couldn't hurt though.

 

[brew2enjoy]

Here's my PEX manifold. Works great

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Very nice

 

[histo320]

Here's my PEX manifold. Works great

Looks awesome, how much dead space do you have? How did you put holes in the pex? Are all of the holes on the bottom? I don't see any in the picture.

I will be getting a 10 gallon tun here in the near future and will possibly use this method for my manifold.

 

[brew2enjoy]

Looks awesome, how much dead space do you have? How did you put holes in the pex? Are all of the holes on the bottom? I don't see any in the picture.

I will be getting a 10 gallon tun here in the near future and will possibly use this method for my manifold.

I used a 1/16 drill bit and drilled holes on the bottom. Not much dead space at all, I haven't actually measured the exact amount though. Here's my thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/recent-diy-projects-s-s-mash-paddle-pex-manifold-384774/

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

First all grain batch came out awesome !! never looking back

 

[ilikeguns]

First all grain batch came out awesome !! never looking back

Nice! So how long was brew day? My first one was about 6+hrs! Getting it down now.. I'm looking into a bucket heater with a temp controller to preheat my tun and strike water. This way I can premeasure my strike water and just drop the bucket heater in a few hours ahead of time and let it go. When I get around to brewing, i can just dump my crushed grains in and start my mash timer.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

oh man it was almost 8 hours bc of the problems with the hose braid, and it took over a hour on my gas stove to get 6 gallons boiling.
going to order a bayou sq14 burner soon, to take brewing outside this summer. or i might try splitting the batch between two pots next time.

 

[ilikeguns]

I have an outdoor propane setup but I'm starting to take a closer look at electric brewing. The stove will take forever.. I've been down that route..

 

[lespaul23]

I use a $7 braid with a 3/8 plug in the "crimped" end to keep it down. I also ran a piece of tubing with holes drilled in it up inside the braid. I fly sparge with no problems. I have done grain bills as big as 18lbs in my 10gal cooler. Last mash came out at 86% efficiency. Couldnt be happier with anything else.

 

[Echoloc8]

I have an outdoor propane setup but I'm starting to take a closer look at electric brewing. The stove will take forever.. I've been down that route..

Let me second the bucket heater/heat stick suggestion. I use an electric range (2 eyes) plus the heat stick, and can get a 7 gal wort from mash temps to boiling in under 20 minutes if I cover the pot. Just watch for boilovers whenever covering heating wort!

-Rich

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

just ordered my bayou sq14 burner, should boil a lot faster now

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Change of plans, austin hombrew had free shipping over the weekend , so I ordered a 12" false bottom with my next all grain batch