Lowes Blue Igloo Water Cooler?

Bought one to hold sparge water. Put 168 degreeish water in it. When it came time to sparge opened it and there was an awful plastic smell. Used a bit to sparge before noticing it. Tasted a bit. Plastic! Anyone have this issue? Think I might stick to stainless even though the cooler would be super convenient.

 

Maybe just new cooler plastic smell/taste? Did you wash it out really well beforehand?

I use the blue igloos from Lowes for mash tuns and don't notice any plastic smells or flavors. I even take them as high as 170 when sparging.

Both are still going strong 1.5 years on.

 

Might have been new smell and/or taste. Probably could have washed it a bit better. But, something tells me that if it leeches (even when new) that it probably is not a good thing.

 

It's been found that room temperature sparge water does as well as 170 degree water except for a little more time to get to boil so why bother with the hot water?

 

Yeah, my buddy told me this. Guess I have a hard time believing him. Old habits die hard...Think I'll try it next time. I suppose the proof will be in the pudding.

 

Those coolers will do fine but they need to be cleaned very well before using. Just run hot water through it a couple of times and it'll be fine

 

You may have a plastic presence in this first brew. Wash it out well, probably fill it with hot water a couple of times. The smell and taste should go away. I have used a cooler mash tun for years, I never detect any plastic.

I would not worry too much about leaching. There are thousands of cooler HLTs and MTs in use.... But there are those who are terrified that they are getting poisoned by plastics. I am not one of them. Look in your fridge. How much plastic is in there? Granted most of those containers will not get hot, but....

 

Hopefully I don't end up with a plastic taste. I probably only used about 4 cups of that water.

Yeah, I will try to get rid of the plastic smell and taste and probably still try to use it.