Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion

[Picobrew]

I guess it must be the wrong season because I can't find one of these coolers anywhere locally in Portland,OR. I tried home depot, sports authority, joes sports, ace hardware, and fred meyer. Looking online, the best I can find is $49.99 from acehardware. Is this really the lowest price? I have all the other parts and I'm ready to go.

 

[caver95]

I guess it must be the wrong season because I can't find one of these coolers anywhere locally in Portland,OR. I tried home depot, sports authority, joes sports, ace hardware, and fred meyer. Looking online, the best I can find is $49.99 from acehardware. Is this really the lowest price? I have all the other parts and I'm ready to go.

I scored one off Craigs list last night for $20, posted a wanted ad. I got an Igloo cooler, I just converted it with a weldless bulkhead I made, its sitting now for 20 minutes @124 degrees without a leak, and Zero drop in temp . I will bend and cut some copper later for a total of about $45 in Ye Ol' Mash Tun....Next weekend I will make a hazed and Infused clone with it.

 

[Runyanka]

Just curious, but what is so important about the SS washer on the inside. The max temps that are reached in a MLT is around 185, and its only in there for an hour. After that it is cleaned and dried. I guess I am not really seeing the big deal. If someone could shed some light on this it would be much appreciated.

 

[FlyGuy]

Just curious, but what is so important about the SS washer on the inside. The max temps that are reached in a MLT is around 185, and its only in there for an hour. After that it is cleaned and dried. I guess I am not really seeing the big deal. If someone could shed some light on this it would be much appreciated.

Wort is somewhat acidic and will corrode most metals, putting them in your beer and potentially causing off flavours. Stainless, brass, or nylon washers are non-reactive, and are safe inside the mash tun.

Some people have done the build without the SS washer entirely. This can be done, but the fittings won't be as stable.

 

[jimba009]

Pico, ace was where i purchased mine. Everywhere else just treated me like a moron when i asked about them. (granted it was feb)

 

[BooneDocks]

Found a 10-gallon igloo at an estate sale. I printed your specs and pics and took them to Lowe's. I used 1/2-inch components as they seemed to fit better with the inner washer that came with the cooler. But your specs and pics were invaluable for picking out the parts and putting the whole thing together. Thank you very much for your post. I have mashed/sparged two batches now with no leaks at all!

 

[Picobrew]

Pico, ace was where i purchased mine. Everywhere else just treated me like a moron when i asked about them. (granted it was feb)

Thanks jimba. I have literally called and visited 15 hardware/sporting goods stores and nobody has them in stock. They all say maybe later in the season, but I need to go all grain damnit! I am looking now at ordering one from ace for $50 and having it shipped to my local store, this just seems pricy given I saw lots of people saying they spent $25-$40 bucks on the same thing, but online it is the cheapest price I can find Ace - Ace Tree: Outdoor Living: Coolers: Beverage Coolers: Rubbermaid® Water Cooler

 

[cytokine]

I found a square 48 Qt Coleman cooler at K-Mart for 19.95. Granted it's not round, but it is square...

They had a ton of them in stock and the same hardware will convert a square cooler and will do the same job.

 

[Picobrew]

I found a square 48 Qt Coleman cooler at K-Mart for 19.95. Granted it's not round, but it is square...

They had a ton of them in stock and the same hardware will convert a square cooler and will do the same job.

These don't have a spigot, right? Did you have to drill it/dremel it or something?

 

[Beernip]

Thanks jimba. I have literally called and visited 15 hardware/sporting goods stores and nobody has them in stock. They all say maybe later in the season, but I need to go all grain damnit! I am looking now at ordering one from ace for $50 and having it shipped to my local store, this just seems pricy given I saw lots of people saying they spent $25-$40 bucks on the same thing, but online it is the cheapest price I can find Ace - Ace Tree: Outdoor Living: Coolers: Beverage Coolers: Rubbermaid® Water Cooler

The home depot in Eugene had 2 - 10G left last week when I was there. $38.99. Long trip for a cooler though.

 

[Picobrew]

The home depot in Eugene had 2 - 10G left last week when I was there. $38.99. Long trip for a cooler though.

The 4 home depots up here I spoke with all said they wouldn't have them until later in "the season". Don't they know we want to brew all year??? Maybe the Eugene shop had some leftover from last year. Anyways I got my ace one queued up, $11 more but oh well. Looks like I will be able to AG this weekend if all goes well!

 

[cytokine]

These don't have a spigot, right? Did you have to drill it/dremel it or something?

The model I purchased had a removable drain plug unit that was threaded. I unscrewed it in the store to be sure and then bought the thing. No power tools required.

 

[BearNP]

Picobrew,

I just picked up at 10 gal Rubbermaid at the Home Depot on Hwy 26 off the Murray Blvd exit this Monday. Had a couple more there (at least 2 that I recall). They were outside in the back by the garden hoses and shovels.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Bryon

 

[Picobrew]

Picobrew,

I just picked up at 10 gal Rubbermaid at the Home Depot on Hwy 26 off the Murray Blvd exit this Monday. Had a couple more there (at least 2 that I recall). They were outside in the back by the garden hoses and shovels.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Bryon

I called them today and a guy walked around and told me they only had 5gal! haha. At this point, I have already had my local ace hardware special order one for me, and they help me a lot with advice, so I'm going to bite the bullet on how ever much HD would save me. Thanks for the tip tho!

-pico

 

[Chello]

I just picked up a 10 gal. Rubbermaid at Ace Hardware for $39.99 in store. They are still listed as $50 on their website. You may want to check your local stores to see if they have any instock already

 

[Thumper]

I just wanted to give a shout out to FlyGuy for posting this. I finished mine yesterday with a 5 gallon rubbermaid cooler. 24 hour leak check and not a drop of leakage!

Thank you!!!

 

[Talloak]

I've got almost all the necessary components to put this together, including a 10 gallon rubbermaid from my local Ace for $50. They had one in store.

Ordered 5 SS 5/8" fender washers from Fastenal. Should be here by Wednesday.

 

[Picobrew]

I just picked up a 10 gal. Rubbermaid at Ace Hardware for $39.99 in store. They are still listed as $50 on their website. You may want to check your local stores to see if they have any instock already

Finally got mine at ACE. Thanks for the instructions FlyGuy! It all worked out great. No hitches.

One tip I have for the 5/8" fender washers: I just took a couple 3/4" washers and put those around the nipple before using a couple 5/8" SS non-fender washers. This worked great and I didn't need any fender washers - much easier to find the normal ones in SS.

I also used zipties instead of the steel clamps - in part because the clamps didnt fit over the joints, and also to avoid the rust. I also used a notched vinyl tube inside of my 20" steel braid (bought the wrong one from HD first - the polymer). I made the notch holes quite big because at first I had poor flow. The flow is very very fast now.

Other than that, I used stock FlyGuy parts. I pickled the brass to get rid of a lead layer, just because I am paranoid, but this ended up ruining the ball valve (not sure why). I tried to pickle it three times and it just kept looking more leady. I bought a new ball valve and didn't pickle it. The other brass pieces ended up looking nice and buttery.

Did my first batch this weekend and it went swimmingly, except I need to work on my efficieny a bit.

 

[FlyGuy]

Wow -- lots of new MLT builds over the weekend! Congrats guys -- hope those first AG batches turn out awesome!

 

[chumprock]

I made mine a few weeks ago and managed to make two batches since then without fail.

Thanks for the great howto, Flyguy!

 

[gahrens]

Home depot has the 5 gals for $18 right by the Louis Joliet mall in IL.

 

[Pelikan11]

Looking for some help here. Bought the 5 Gal Rubbermaid today and i can not get the bulkhead secure at all. It seems like the nipple is too long because the barbs only screw down a turn or two before they are really tight. Should I just keep stacking tons of washers, or am i doing something wrong. I double checked the parts and they are exactly what is in the original pic.

 

[slimer]

Just keep stacking washers on the outside...

 

[leboeuf]

Or get a shorter nipple...

 

[Pelikan11]

I did both. Went back got the 3/8" hex nut middle nipple which is smaller. Got 4 more washers as well. Now with 3 on the front and 3 on the back i'm water tight.

 

[bgoats]

Know anywhere I can find the 5/8" stainless washers in Music City? Ace was a bust, so were the two big box boys. LHBS didn't have them, either.

 

[Boodlemania]

For those having issues with the stainless fender washers:

I bought 1/2" fender washers and used a uni-bit/step bit to open the holes to the proper size. Worked great. Clamped the washers one at a time in a vise and drilled slowly, so as not to burn up the bit on the stainless or warp the washer with too much pressure.

 

[Talloak]

I am getting one tear drop sized leak every 60 seconds. Is this acceptable? I may be able to tighten even more, feel like I could break something. The washers (2) on the inside don't conform well to the curved cooler.

I picked up some smaller 5/8" washers from Lowes, they are Zinc/Steel - whatever that means. Can I use them on the inside of the cooler to put more pressure on the rubber grommet/washer that came with the cooler?

Is everyone pickling their brass fittings? What does this even mean? Is it necessary?



Thanks

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

You shouldn't be getting any leaks at all, and any that you have now may get worse. The time to figure it out is not when you're in the middle of the mash . You can use zinc/steel but they will corrode over time and you don't really want that stuff in your beer. If you have a Fastenal in your area, replace those washers with stainless steel ones. If you can't find them at fastenal, check out Bargain Fittings or McMaster-Carr.

As far as pickling brass: not necessary unless you want to be super anal about it. I've had some brass ball valves on my system before and have noticed no tastes, blindness or death from not pickling the fittings.

 

[Runyanka]

I did my first AG today with this setup. Worked like charm!!!
A question though, did any of your coolers inner liners warp when putting in your strike or sparge water? I have a weird bubble on the inside of mine, I'm sure its nothing to worry about, just wondering if I'm the only one. There was alot of popping and groaning comming out of that thing. :rockin: