I imagine that the answer is burried somewhere in the 268 prious thread pages. I would like to know which 10 gallon beverage cooler seems to make the best mash tun or are all of these about the same? Is Igloo better or worse than Rubbermaid? Is a push lid better or worse than a screw top lid?
I've heard that the yellow Igloo "industrial" coolers keep the best temps (I think I heard that from the Adventures in Homebrewing site, but I could be way off.
Example: http://www.desmoinesrental.com/product.php?productid=17668
Like this one? Is this a good price?
http://www.zorotools.com/g/Beverage Coolers and Accessories/00055135/
[...]Does anyone using an orange cooler have any comments on how well they hold temp over an entire mash?
fwiw, unless Rubbermaid has changed their cooler design, the 10 gallon model will use 1/2" fittings (because that's what I put on mine a few years ago).
No matter what you buy, pay close attention to exactly where the spigot is located. If it's off center relative to the "well" they poke through on the outside it means the hole was drilled off center, which could be a royal pita to work with (I've seen folks on HBT try to deal with that and it wasn't pretty if it worked at all - grinding odd shapes on fender washers, etc)...
Cheers!
I just completed this project. I really cranked down and added 2 SS washers on the inside to get it tight. I couldn't get it completely tight but it is tight enough.
I have a couple of questions. I scraped the inside plastic pretty bad with the tools, is this okay(contaminaiton)? When cranking down, I think the washers may have also dug into the inside plastic, you can visually see the plastic bending inward, will this pose a problem?
Scratches can harbor infection. But anything coming out of your mashtun is still going to be boiled, which will kill any infection. It is unlikely that anything will be nasty enough to wreck your beer. I would just make sure you surface clean it well, and maybe sanitize it every few batches, if you're worried.
I can't take my false bottom out of my cooler without scraping a little, but if I don't take my false bottom out, I can't make sure the grain husks are all cleaned out. I'm choosing to accept the small amount of scraping.
I read a lot of this thread and looked on craigslist for 10 gallon water coolers to no avail.
Purchased one for 45$ shipped from amazon. I got an orange Igloo.
I then went to Ace hardware and got a 1/2" ball valve, a 1 1/2" nipple, a 3/8" hose barb, one male, one female, and 4x 3/4" stainless steel washers.
I had to file/dremel out the washers a bit to fit.
I used some o-rings out of a large o ring kit I have. I pickled my 0.25% brass.
The first time it leaked as I used the original o ring that came with the factory fitting. Once I substituted my o ring it stopped leaking.
This is the finished mash tun.
However on the inside I did something different. I made a "manifold" out of a 5' piece of 3/8" copper. I bent it to fit and then used a dremel tool and cutoff wheel to cut a bunch of slits in the copper tubing, washed it out, crimped the end and attached it to my fitting.
This allowed me a 9$ weld free copper manifold. I put some cuts in the bottom as well as I figured that would help a bit to fight a stuck mash.
The 10 gal orange home depot branded rubbermaid I bought from Home Depot last November only took 3/8" fittings. You can maybe tell the difference among the Home Depot ones from the design of the spigot - the 10 gallon one with a black rubber push button was the 3/8" kind, while the 5 gallon orange ones with the push button the same as the rest of the spigot were 1/2".
I think the more expensive red rubbermaid 5 gallon coolers in that Home Depot had 3/8" spigots though. Best to look carefully at the cooler before buying the hardware (if in store, go and pick up one each of the 1/2" and 3/8" nipples first, and try them).
I built mine with a home depot cooler today. It used 3/8" as well. I couldn't imagine a 1/2" fitting in there. The 3/8 was very snug to fit in the rubber washer.
I was a little shocked at the sticker price of this project. I spent a lot more than I expected to get everything I needed.
Cooler - $44.99
Supply hose - $8.99
Ball valve - $7.99
everything else added up to about $10. All said an done, right around $75.
Washers and O-rings didn't come in singles. Had to get the box of 5. Home depot's crafty way of making you spend more i suppose.
Filled up with 10 gallons, not a drop. Hope it holds up to the heat!
You can buy Kewler Kit conversions that supply you with a pre-build bulkhead and faucet for converting a 10 gallon Rubbermaid beverage cooler into a mash & lauter tun. But off-the-shelf components from your local hardware store work just as well, and cost far less. I got all my parts at my local Home Depot for a fraction of the cost of a Kewler conversion kit, or other commercial products.
Parts List:
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 (sometimes hard to find, but try Fastenal or read this thread if you are stuck)
- 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” 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)
I have the parts for this but in 1/2". What size braid can be use with a 1/2" female barb fitting that goes inside. Can you force the barb fitting in the 1/2" x 20" hose or the diameter is too little? . Need some help please.
Thanks. It just seems to me that the 3/8" barb fitting is used a lot with the 1/2" ss braided hose; and there's no info on braid size when going with 1/2" fittings.
The 1/2" will work with the standard SS braid. You end up taking the pastic out of the braid and you can enlarge it to fit over the 1/2" barb fitting. It fits onto the barb with a SS worm clamp so no problems there.
In this case, size doesn't matter a whole lot.. he he
I just did this nice little project today. I'm wondering if anyone else noticed a little movement in the assembly. I tightened it as much as I felt comfortable doing and there is movement. I assume it is from the flex in the plastic.
Well, these are Canadian dollars, but here goes:
- Rubbermaid 10 gallon round beverage cooler - $34.99
- all stainless steel ¼ hose clamps x 2 - $0.66/ea
- brass square head plug (Watts A-737) - $1.09
- ½ x 12 (or larger) braided stainless steel supply hose - $4.99
- 3/8 female barb adapter (Watts A-298) - $1.72
- 5/8 stainless steel fender washer - $0.39
- 3/8 MIP x 1-1/2 brass nipple (Watts A-786) - $1.49
- 5/8 O-ring (preferably heat resistant, if you can find one) - $0.59
- 3 x 5/8 fender washers - $.29/ea
- 3/8 threaded ball valve - $6.89
- 3/8 male barb adapter (Watts A-294) - $1.89
Total cost: $56.23 CDN, which is about $8 USD.
No seriously, it would be about $46 US.
If you buy something similar from places like morebeer.com, it would be over $100. It took all of about 5 minutes to assemble everything (although I did do a few trips to Home Depot to find the parts to make it all work).
Has anyone tried this with the 75-quart cooler from Home Depot, or even a larger cooler than the 10-gallon? I want to make a cooler mash tun but I'd like to be able to do larger batches in the future. Even if you haven't done it, your opinions are welcome.
Questions:
1) Would you guys recommend a copper manifold rather than the supply hose for a rectangular, 75-qt cooler?
2) I'm assuming the fittings would be different on the larger cooler, so I'd have to play around with that...unless someone has tried and it has worked?
3) If I happen upon a cooler that doesn't have a spigot, would drilling the hole myself work, or do you think that might be more prone to leaks?
Thanks!
1) I opted for a CPVC manifold, but copper is fine. I think the main purpose for manifold vs. braid is sparge method. General consensus is if you're batch sparging, it really doesn't matter. If you're fly sparging, a properly designed manifold can get you more efficiency.
2) The fittings would only be bigger/smaller if the hole in your cooler is bigger/smaller than the one shown here. I personally converted my 48qt Ice Cube cooler with 1/2" fittings. Undo your current spout and see what size nipple fitting fits in there. Most homebrew fittings are 1/2" NPT, so that's why I went that route.
3) Drilling it yourself is fine, just make sure you have a good seal on the INSIDE of your cooler. Don't rely on a gasket or o-ring on the outer seal as you'll leak wort into your cooler and make a nasty mess. Bargain Fittings and BrewHardware both have a cooler conversion kit if you want to drill it yourself and want a bulkhead made specifically for that method.
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