Hercules Rockefeller
Well-Known Member
I'm working on making a cooler MLT (LHBS wants $120 for exactly the type described in the wiki for about $20), and I've got a couple of questions to throw out there.
1: I purchased all of the parts listed in the wiki article "making a partial mash mash tun", and it's all 3/8" parts. The trouble is, the hole in the cooler (5 gallon rubbermade) is 3/4" wide, and the indentaion around where the spigot would go is too narrow to accomodate the handle of the ball valve in the closed position. So I'm going to need a longer nipple and some nuts to hold it in place so the ball valve can be attached further out from the cooler. the question is, should I return all the stuff I got that's 3/8" and get a longer, 3/4" nipple, 3/4" ball valve, 3/4" MIP to 3/8 barb adapters, etc? or should I stick with the 3/8" stuff, buy a longer nipple just use some big washers to bridge the gap between the nipple and the hole in the cooler.
2: I wanted to get a 3 gal cooler as 2 gal is just barely big enough to mash 4 lbs, but I couldn't find one and picked up a 5 gal cooler instead. Will my grain bed be too shallow If I'm mashing 4-5 lbs of grain? or should I be ok with the 5 gal cooler. I kinda like the idea of having a 5 gal mash tun as It should give me the flexibility of doing some small AG batches in the future, but I plan on doing mostly partial mash for the foreseeable future, so if it's going to mess up my small mashes I'll keep looking for 3 gal.
thanks!
1: I purchased all of the parts listed in the wiki article "making a partial mash mash tun", and it's all 3/8" parts. The trouble is, the hole in the cooler (5 gallon rubbermade) is 3/4" wide, and the indentaion around where the spigot would go is too narrow to accomodate the handle of the ball valve in the closed position. So I'm going to need a longer nipple and some nuts to hold it in place so the ball valve can be attached further out from the cooler. the question is, should I return all the stuff I got that's 3/8" and get a longer, 3/4" nipple, 3/4" ball valve, 3/4" MIP to 3/8 barb adapters, etc? or should I stick with the 3/8" stuff, buy a longer nipple just use some big washers to bridge the gap between the nipple and the hole in the cooler.
2: I wanted to get a 3 gal cooler as 2 gal is just barely big enough to mash 4 lbs, but I couldn't find one and picked up a 5 gal cooler instead. Will my grain bed be too shallow If I'm mashing 4-5 lbs of grain? or should I be ok with the 5 gal cooler. I kinda like the idea of having a 5 gal mash tun as It should give me the flexibility of doing some small AG batches in the future, but I plan on doing mostly partial mash for the foreseeable future, so if it's going to mess up my small mashes I'll keep looking for 3 gal.
thanks!