J-Wood
Member
Good point.
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Here's what that looks like on my Home Depot receipt. I'd imagine if you hand this to an employee, it would make shopping a LOT easier. The washers were not sold individually, so I purchased them in the form of the "nuts and washers" kit, which contained four washers for $3.92.
So the above was the recommended set of goods from the original post. However, I found that even after adding 3 washers to the outside, the setup was still very loose, so I ended up going back to Home Depot and getting a different-sized nipple instead of continuing to stack washers. I shrank from the 1 1/2" to a (approximately) 1" (Watts LFA-785 instead of the suggested LFA-786).
View attachment 218822
With this setup, everything tightens up well with just one washer on each side, but with the downside that the valve arm doesn't quite go all the way to the closed position. It hits the side of the cooler before getting fully closed, but it does close sufficiently to stop flow, and it did not leak one drop for me. I'd definitely recommend this setup instead of the original suggestion. I'll probably go back to Home Depot soon in search of a short brass extension piece to extend the valve away from the cooler a bit further and allow it to fully close.
Would there be any advantage or disadvantage to using a rectangular cooler instead of a round cooler? I've found rectangular coolers for much cheaper than the round and they seem to be comparable in its construction and durability.
Were I to get a rectangular cooler, would I need any other parts than what is listed on this post? Would just the 12" bazooka screen work, or should I look into building a manifold?
What is this bazooka filter?
Can you post a pic?
I can not get the flex hose inside the braid to move by pushing it with needle nose. Anyone have some advice?
Getting ready to do my build with a 10 gallon igloo but I'm concerned about the hose getting crushed eventually. I was thinking of doing a plastic manifold. Has anyone done this and has any tips on shape or tubing size to use?
If you use copper conduit inside your ss braid you'll be fine, that's what I used. I had a problem with twisting the braid when I stirred the mash (with a paint stirer on my drill) so I just bought a small SS pork rack in the grilling section at Meijer and use that as a cage around my braid.
I put galvanized steel wire inside of mine wrapped kind of in a spiral like a notebook spiral. Have only had one stuck sparge but it fixed itself.
What is a pork rack?
I put galvanized steel wire inside of mine wrapped kind of in a spiral like a notebook spiral. Have only had one stuck sparge but it fixed itself.
I decided to try and build this but it seems that the new Home Depot coolers are a little different. The spigot assembly is 3/4 inch instead of the old style. Should I size up everything to a 3/4 inch size or is there a different solution?
Any way to use ½ inch ball valve? I have a lot of those already.
Has anybody seen any deals lately on 10 gallon Igloo water coolers. The cheapest that I have found is $50+tax at Lowe's. After adding the cost of a false bottom and all the fittings, it's just as cheap or cheaper to buy a pre-made mash tun from BREW International, Midwest Supplies, etc. What am I missing as it just seems that the cooler cost has gone up dramatically over the years.