Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion

[bmoney9]

putting my 10g rubbermaid together this weekend...my home depot didnt have 3/8 inch ball valves..really???

 

[signpost]

I finally had a brew day with my new mash tun as well as my new kettle/burner/wort chiller combo.

I set the burner up in the garage (not attached) and had to haul a bunch of stuff back and forth.

AND, I accidentally added an ounce of 15.3% AA Calypso hops at 60 minutes instead of the intended 8.8% AA Cascade. So, it will be a bit more bitter than I intended, but it should still be good. I did a lot of late hopping and I plan on a healthy dry-hopping that should balance the extra bitterness fairly well.

The mash tun worked well. I did have a bit of a stuck sparge, but I figured out how to avoid that. I just needed to not open the valve all the way.

Overall it was a good, fun brew day in the snow.

 

[josh250]

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?

 

[Trippel-A]

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.

 

[josh250]

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.

Awesome, that makes sense. Ill make sure I keep it clean, and sanitize every so often.

Sounds like you have a bit of a Catch-22 with your false bottom. Guess you gotta go with the lesser of 2 evils.

Thanks Trippel-A!

 

[Remmy]

It's probably been covered in the other 270 pages of this thread. But make sure you get at least FIVE washers. I used six total. Three on the inside and three on the outside.

With three on the outside and one on the inside, I fought to tighten the fittings as much as possible (and finally did) but I still had a slow, slow leak beneath the ball valve.

 

[gonzoso]

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.

 

[garvinator70]

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.

Have you tried it ? Does it work?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[gonzoso]

I'll let you know in a few hours, brewing tonight!

 

[flywatt]

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!

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).

 

[Remmy]

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!

Better than the same MLT at the LHBS for $190.

 

[Josephbrew]

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.

 

[JonGrafto]

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

 

[Josephbrew]

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

Thanks a lot for your help . Will get going to finish the cooler.

 

[skogarr]

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.

 

[Trippel-A]

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.

The bulkheads in mine spin pretty freely, especially when hot water has been in there. Just not much friction to prevent it. But they don't leak.

 

[LJvermonster]

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).

So, I just went to home depot yesterday and made this with a T in the bucket, an extra 3/8 Female barb connector, and a 30" 1/2" braided flex pipe (more surface area to filter the mash). The total cost was $95 after tax. The cooler itself was $44 and all the fittings added up REAL quick. I am excited to use it however!

 

[levtbeas]

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!

 

[barrooze]

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.

 

[levtbeas]

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.

Awesome, thanks for the help. I think I'd do batch sparges, but would also like the option of both in the future. I'm going to start this project tomorrow probably. Thanks again!

 

[pdm1982]

I built this last year and it has worked great! But now, after several batches, my 1/2" stainless steel braid is almost as flat as a pancake and I'm getting extremely slow sparges (no stuck sparges thank god). I was kicking around the idea of replacing it with a 3/4" water heater supply braid. It's bigger and more rigid but I wasn't sure if I would then have to replace any of the barb fittings? Anyone ever play around with this adjustment?

 

[bigwigg]

I put galvanized wire in mine after I wrapped it around a screwdriver to make it like a notebook spiral. Haven't used it yet but feels like it won't collapse.

 

[pdm1982]

After work I bought the 3/4" stainless steel braid I was talking about, cut the ends, installed it on the existing barb, and plugged it with the existing plug. You can see in the picture how it's tapered quite a bit but the clamps seem pretty tight. It isn't coming off. For scale purposes I left the old braid in the bottom of the mash tun.

Anyone this this will work correctly? I'd hate to mash in only to find out that I've messed it up.

 

[pdm1982]

Here's a better picture.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Looks workable!

 

[levtbeas]

Finally had some time to test out my mash tun. I saw a post somewhere in here that suggested you buy 2 packages of that "create-a-bolt" thing. For those of you buying stuff from Home Depot, you only need 1. I followed everything else properly, but each "create-a-bolt" box comes with 4 SS washers. I put 3 on the inside and 1 on the outside. Didn't leak a drip! Thanks again for this awesome idea!

Edit: By "stuff from Home Depot," I mean the 10-gallon Home Depot cooler. They only had a Home Depot branded 10-gal cooler in the HD by me. For that cooler you only need one of those boxes.

 

[pdm1982]

Just brewed a KBS clone. The upgraded 3/4" water heater hose worked awesome! Had 14.5 lbs of grain on it and the flow rate was so fast. My sparge time flew by. Almost hit my OG but that was volume related. Mash/sparge went great. If your tube is crushed like mine was I'd say that the 3/4" water heater hose is a good option for this build.

 

[weekapaugh]

Sorry if this has been addressed but I couldn't find it. Is the inside rubber washer included with the cooler safe to use?

 

[msa8967]

Sorry if this has been addressed but I couldn't find it. Is the inside rubber washer included with the cooler safe to use?

yes...it is very safe to use.

 

[weekapaugh]

sounds good ... thx msa