Many thanks to FlyGuy for this idea. Building one of these was a lot of fun, and I kind of did my own take on this, so I thought I'd post it here.
So, I have this ridiculous need to feel like I save money when I buy things, so I built one of these this weekend using a 48 qt cooler from academy that was 21.99, which saved me about $30 versus the 10 Gal water cooler.
After several trips to Ace, Home Depot and Lowes using the parts list and directions from flyguys' first post, I had it built, but it was leaking. Badly. I'm pretty sure it's because there's a size difference in the drain hole between the two coolers.
I was determined to build this thing though, so I headed back out to Home Depot and loaded up on extra rubber fender washers and plated fender washers. I got it all done by about 6:00 last night and mashed my first batch while tending to the steak and shrimp on the grill.
Here's what I ended up using (list bastardized from the original post):
- Igloo 48 Qt flat ice chest -
From academy
- all stainless steel ¼ hose clamps
- brass square head plug
- ½ x 18 (or larger) braided stainless steel supply hose
- 3/8 female barb adapter
- 5/8 Rubber Fender washer X 2
- 3/8 MIP x 1-1/2 brass nipple (Watts A-786)
- 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)
- 4-6 x 5/8 fender washers (I think I ended up using either 4 or 5 - spend the additional $0.66-$0.99 to have a few extras)
- 3/8 threaded ball valve
- 3/8 male barb adapter
Follow the original directions, subbing the 5/8 Rubber Fender washers for the Stainless steel fender washer on the inside, and for the o ring on the outside. You do not need to reuse the seal from the original drain plug. I plan on replacing the hose clamp with a plastic zip tie this week once I figure out where in the garage I hid them from myself.
Here's some pics of it in action last night. Didn't leak a drop and held 153* perfectly:
Spigot
Interior
Draining the Wort:
My very finely engineered solution to draining the wort into the pot:
Got batch 1 into the primary last night!