Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion

[lefty913]

So, why exactly is a zinc plated 5/8" washer bad? Aren't they made to be corrosion resistant? I guess I am confused on how off flavors get introduced.

 

[DizzyPants]

I just built this up and thx for the instructions.

For anyone in/around Seattle I didn't find the SS washer at West Marine but at Fisheries Supply by gasworks they had them and up to 3/4.

.43 cents.

Now waiting on my order from AHB and we can get this AG party started!!!

~Diz

 

[BroadStreetBrewery]

FYI, Home Depot has these coolers for $39.99. Saw a few in the store.

Hey just a question, why the O-ring? When I install it is sits inside the hole of the cooler and does not seem to help much.

 

[btprice2001]

I couldn't find this mentioned anywhere in the thread; what keeps it from leaking from the inside between the female barb adapter and the stainless steel washer? Does the original spigot seal get compressed against the brass nipple enough that it doesn't matter?

 

[FlyGuy]

The o-ring is optional. I found it just ensures a more secure fit of the brass fittings. Everything should work fine without it, though.

 

[surferdrew]

GREAT THREAD! Just finished building per your specs and wanted to say thanks FlyGuy! Ended up costing me $61 total (US). Cooler from Home Depot ($39) and parts ($22).

Tested it for leaks already and I'll be brewing my first all-grain batch this Tuesday with the new setup!

 

[Monty420th]

I have a question,

I was not able to find the 1/2" SS braid at the store here in Vegas, The only place that seems to sell them is a specialty store which I need an account to purchase from.

Home depot did have 3/8" SS braid and it came with a host of fittings for it. Can this be used on this design?

thanks

 

[gunner65]

The braid is a faucet supply line and home depot has them. They should be hanging in an assortment of lengths. You cut the ends off and remove the rubber hose from the inside. I would ask someone at HD where they are.

 

[dantodd]

Be careful some of the braided faucet/toilet supply lines are now plastic coated metal instead of stainless. Be sure to get the right one. They do look different but unless you see both it's easy to buy the wrong one. It doesn't do much for your efficiency!

 

[Monty420th]

not a problem, they were not the engineered polymer ones and they said only stainless steel on them.

I was able to find the real hose at Ace 1/2" which I couldn't find

also, I picked up some SS 16mm fender washers as well from them...will this work?

either way I will find out tonight

 

[bbbrew]

Monty,
Did you look where the hot water tanks are? Sometimes the larger sizes are put by the tanks themselves because of the larger attachments needed. The other assortments are usually for the sink and toilet connection.
Good Luck.
BB

 

[Monty420th]

Ended up finding what I need at Ace Hardware and put it all together last night

only thing is, I bought a 50Qt Coleman cooler and I had to cut down the size of the SS washer with a dremmel to make it fit...but tested it last night and no leaks...10 Gal AG coming tomorrow

thanks for the setup FlyGuy

 

[nootay]

well i have everything i need minus the washers. Including shipping a pack of 10 at fastneal is almost $18. what outside diameter does the washer need to be? my home depot has 5/8 SS flat washers, but not 5/8 SS fender washers. will the flat washers work for this?

 

[Monty420th]

the fender washers leave no doubt. I am glad I found those instead of hte regular washers...I have to dremmel the washer on one side to get it to fit but worked like a charm

 

[Revvy]

well i have everything i need minus the washers. Including shipping a pack of 10 at fastneal is almost $18. what outside diameter does the washer need to be? my home depot has 5/8 SS flat washers, but not 5/8 SS fender washers. will the flat washers work for this?

Flat or fender will work as long as they fit and are stainless. I've found that having a pack of 10 works out real well, they make great gifts for brewers starting out in ag. I gave a couple of them and a ss/toilet braid to one of my brew buddies from x-mas last year and he thought it was the coolest gift.

 

[nootay]

OK so i just bought 1/2 SS fender washers and got a buddy to drill them to 5/8. Got home, and they are too small. I bought Zinc 5/8 cut washers, they fit just fine, so i used these on the outside and skipped the washer on the inside. Got everything put together. It has 10 gals of water in it now and doesnt leak. Do i have to have the washer on the inside? the hose barb adapter is straight against the seal that came with the cooler.

2nd issue - I got home, cut the "stainless steel" braid, then realised it cut very easy. I believe is Poly and not SS. Will this work or will i need SS? Also how to i tell if my vinyl tubing is high temp? i told the guy at ace what i was doing and what temperatures i would be working with and he gave me some clear vinyl tubing. it was $0.49/ft.

 

[BendBrewer]

If it doesn't leak that I would say the internal washer isn't needed.

The poly one will NOT work. It needs to be SS and will say so on the package.

Skip the tubing. Use SS clamps or vinyl zip ties.

 

[nootay]

i thought the stainless steel clamps weren't made entirely of stainless steel and is why he switch to tubing? because of the rusting

 

[BendBrewer]

Yeah, I thought the same thing, but FlyGuy went back to suggesting the clamps after people were having trouble with the correct tubing. It's buried in this thread somewhere.

And regarding the high temp hose -- please re-read the thread. I no longer recommend using that AT ALL. More trouble than it is worth.

If you can get all stainless hose clamps, they still work the best. I have since switched back to them. But if you can find rigid, high temp tubing, that stuff works like a charm. I got mine at Rona (sort of like a Lowes up here in Canada).

You just have to make sure that the clamps are ALL SS. I found them at Fastenal.

Others are having no issues using the zip ties.

Enjoy your new toy!

 

[nootay]

ahh ok, i must have missed that. at one point i read this entire thread. Any type of zip ties in particular? i figured they would melt.

 

[BendBrewer]

Not sure as I use clamps. But nylon zip ties seem to be the answer. I am guessing the beefier the better.

All SS clamps aren't that hard to come by. The big box stores might not have them, but a plumbing store will. If you don't want to be bothered hunting for them, lots of people in this thread have used nylon zip ties with great success. Or you can use a compression fitting instead of the barb if you want something more secure.

 

[wort_up]

I have my mash tun pretty much built, except the marine store I went to only had 1/2" ss fender washers and I have no ability to cut them.

Anyone got an extra 5/8" ss washer they could send me? I would be happy to reimburse you for it. I'm real anxious to start my first AG batch so let me know! Thanks

 

[Monty420th]

I have my mash tun pretty much built, except the marine store I went to only had 1/2" ss fender washers and I have no ability to cut them.

Anyone got an extra 5/8" ss washer they could send me? I would be happy to reimburse you for it. I'm real anxious to start my first AG batch so let me know! Thanks

I don't know if you tried this or not but...have you looked at 6 or 7mm in metric?

I ended up using 7mm metric SS fender washer that I got from Ace Hardware. I have an extra one, but I am going to save it for a 2nd MLT

try the metric and Ace

 

[wort_up]

I hadn't tried that but actually BendBrewer is sending me a couple so I guess my problem is solved. Thanks anyway though!

 

[DoctorDuvel]

my buddy and i just made one of these last night - well, more like i bought the supplies and he assembled it in about 20 minutes...

many thanks, OP - fantastic DIY tutorial, and i saved a good chunk of money

it's finally time for all-grain!

 

[schreck]

ended up having to make two runs to Home Depot.. luckily neither trip was out of the way!

a warning: brasscraft connectors are not stainless steel, but some sort of polymer. made this mistake and didnt realize until i got home - its been said before, but home depot carries a few ss water heater connectors, but even cheaper is the faucet/toilet connector by watts/floodcraft (which is stainless steel). PITA to find (alteast at my location... everything is a mess!, but it should be there mixed in with those brasscraft lookalikes :cross:

Home depot only had 1/2" ball valves, so i opted to size up the brass pieces to 1/2", the outside barb is a 1/2 to 3/8" so i can use the std high temp pvc tubing (still have some leftover from my intitial order from austin homebrew. the 1/2" equip fits fine in the 5 gal "lowes" blue igloo cooler.

I also had the obvious trouble of not being able to find a ss fender washer, or any ss washer that would fit for the inside. I opted to forgo the ss washer. Instead i used the original rubber oring and plastic nut that secured the spigot to the cooler on the inside... this piece fits great, i also threw on the recommended o ring from the parts list. Bulkhead is snug and secure after tightening everything up. No leaks yet, but i still need to give it a full test. Il let you know the results.

The fender washers on the outside (i used 3) would not fit up against the outer wall of the cooler (flat part around spigot is slightly narrower than the washer's diameter. After putting 2 o rings on the 1/2" x 1 1/2" brass nipple and then putting the 3 washers on, it provides enough spacing for the washers. (i might swap these washers out for plates/rectagular metal pieces.

I also used nylon zip ties to secure the ss braid (because i had a big bag of them lying around) and to save $$ (home depot was pricey!)

p.s. Home depot has their orange 5 gallon rubbermaids in for ~$18.. (ymmv?)
I will follow up with some pictures.

 

[schreck]

Zip ties worked great! The setup i used (1/2" bulkhead w/o SS fender washer inside) had no problems whatsoever... everything went smoothly for my first real mash!

some pics, (inside pics to follow).

didnt drain all the wort from the sparge... i was doing partial mash and wanted to leave adequate space in the kettle. I went with the late extract method, throwing < 1/2 of the LME in @ begining of boil and then the 2nd half+ @ 15 minutes left in boil. Came out great and preserved the orangeish-light amber color of the saison i was brewing.

2oz tradition hops @ 60. (5 gal batch). GREEN BEER

THANKS AGAIN - cant wait to do some 3 gal AG big beers!

 

[nootay]

what type of clear tubing did you use? is it necessary to get high temp tubing for draining the wort?

 

[schreck]

its high temp "superflex" pvc tubing... 3/8 ID 1/2 OD.

The tubing that hombrew shops sell/B&M & online/ are usually high temp beverage lines. They are rated to 212*F. I wouldnt use vinyl tubing or anything that isnt rated for high temp due to leaching of chemicals and off flavors... especially since the wort is coming out at around 160 or so.

all of the online shops have em.. search tubing

 

[ndsgr]

Thanks flyguy! I built the bulkhead, but didn't have the original spigot seal (cooler was given to me by a brewer who upgraded to cube). I was looking around for something silicone and ended up using some tubing cut in half. I punched a hole using some copper tubing and a hammer. No leaks!