grimstuff said:Mine warped on the first batch right after I poured the strike water in (~170 F). There were creaks and cracking sounds coming from the cooler, so I assume the inner liner was expanding and just started popping out with no where else to go. Now its a permanent feature of the cooler. But like i said, no problems whatsoever. If it lasts a few years, I'd say that's pretty good for a $40 investment. I can just pop out the valve and braid and start with a new cooler when the time comes.
Irish13 said:I'm glad to hear and see that I'm not the only one with a warped cool. Mine just happened today on my second mash with this set up. I hope I can get a few uses out of it before buying a new one.
I just built another one for about $50. My local Lowe's had the 10 gal Rubbermaid on clearance for $28. The braid and hardware ran about $20. I built my first one for a lot less. I found a 10 Igloo cooler at a garage sale that had a crack in it. I got if for a buck and fiberglassed the crack and added the hardware.
If you are patient and look for deals you can do this really cheaply.
I bought the 10 gallon Igloo cooler, instead of the Rubbermaid.
Do they both use the same parts listed here, or will I need different parts?
sarajevskopivo said:Hi all,
I am trying to create MLT from 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler. I cannot completely fasten the female brass adapter (Watts A-298) to the 3/8'' MIP brass nipple (Watts A-786)
I have a gap between these two. It looks similar to the FlyGuy's picture:
But on one of the last pictures he does not seem to have this gap anymore when he added external parts
How to screw this so I do not have that gap between A-298 and SS washer?
I assume that I do not just pull the whole thing outside because the flat part of Watts A-786 will be out of the cooler and I would be unable to secure it in place.
Thanks.
You will probably have to use multiple ss washers to make up the gap. If memory serves me I used something like 3-4 washers and it seals perfectly.
sarajevskopivo said:So I have to use 3-4 SS washers inside and 3-4 outside? Thanks a lot.
With my build, the initial washers that I bought didn't fit over the unthreaded part of the nipple. This caused the nipple to move forward and backward. I had to buy different washers that fit over they unthreaded portion of the nipple (slightly larger inside diameter). Both washers were sold as the same size, but the inside diameters varied. This allowed me to tighten everything properly with no leaks.
I don't completely understand your issue, but I thought this might help.
mattyb85 said:I'm not sure if I posted this in here before but I bought the weld-less bulkhead and 3 piece valve from brewhardware.com to make mine and didn't need any washers or use the original rubber washer. Works like a charm
If I understood you correctly, I have to get washers that will go over that flat/unthreaded part of the nipple?
bbriscoe said:So I built the mash tun with a 5 gallon cooler a couple years ago and now I need a bigger one. HD has them for $45. Does anyone have a 10 gal for cheaper?
Pretend you are an idiot, who attached the inner barb to the nipple before putting the washer on. How do you get the darn thing off? You can put a wrench around the barb, but the nipple has nothing on it to attach a wrench to.
I, of course, am a genius, and did not do this, it's all purely hypothetical.
It seems that most all grain recipes are written for a 3 stage enclosed tank system with hoses and pumps supplying the water transfer between the tanks. When using this mash tun methods, I seem to have a much greater temp loss from my HLT on the stove to mash tun - probably since I tranfer the water 1 quart at a time in a pyrex jar and pour it into the top of the cooler tun, then stir it up with the lid open.
If the recipe says to mash at 150, then online calculators say I need 163 degree water for 15 lbs grain. This gives me a mash much colder than 150. So has anyone figured out what the actual temp differential needs to be from the strike water to the mash?
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