Cheap & Easy 10 Gallon Rubbermaid MLT Conversion

[dmob29]

If you have an Ace Hardware or a "Mom and Pop" shop near you check there. Both the Ace, and the "Mom and Pop" in my area had a large assortment of stainless hardware.

Agreed... There is a True Value Hardware down the street from me that has 2 rows of misc nuts/bolts/washers for pennies a piece.

 

[WheeledGoat]

I fixed this by getting 1 foot of 1/2" copper tubing, and a couple 45 degree elbows. Now I have the copper tubing equivalent of the SS braid...and works great so far! I think the copper parts ran me all of 5 bucks...1/16" drill bit was $2.39 for two bits.

I might like this idea better since I'm having a hard time finding stainless braid (they're all that nylon composite stuff now) and I'm reading posts about that clogging/compressing anyway...

Am I correctly gathering that to do this copper manifold thing, just drill 1/16" holes in the bottom of the tubing? Any guide/idea as to how many?? 1" apart? 5" apart?

Also, with this copper manifold thing, it doesn't look terribly convenient to remove... do you just blast it with water to dislodge the grains, mostly leaving it in place?

What an awesome thread!! Thanks to all for posting your projects & ideas!!!

EDIT: After finding a post about using PVC instead of copper, I'm even more intrigued! Any success with this method? Anyone... ?

 

[drunkatuw]

I might like this idea better since I'm having a hard time finding stainless braid (they're all that nylon composite stuff now) and I'm reading posts about that clogging/compressing anyway...

Am I correctly gathering that to do this copper manifold thing, just drill 1/16" holes in the bottom of the tubing? Any guide/idea as to how many?? 1" apart? 5" apart?

Also, with this copper manifold thing, it doesn't look terribly convenient to remove... do you just blast it with water to dislodge the grains, mostly leaving it in place?

What an awesome thread!! Thanks to all for posting your projects & ideas!!!

EDIT: After finding a post about using PVC instead of copper, I'm even more intrigued! Any success with this method? Anyone... ?

I've had pretty good success with my copper manifold. It's really easy to remove since I didn't solder any of the joints except for the U-shaped piece that attaches to the bulkhead.

My efficiency has gone down a little bit after switching to the manifold, but I think it's because it drains so much faster (it used to take me 20 min to batch sparge, now it takes 2-3 min), and I don't have to worry about stuck sparges like I did with the braid. So far I'm a happy camper and I wouldn't switch back.

I didn't drill holes in my manifold, instead I used a hacksaw to drill slots every 1/2" along the bottom of the manifold.

 

[WheeledGoat]

i assume you've got that ball valve, right? do ya think backing off on the drain rate so it didn't pour out so fast might help your efficiency? (how much eff did you lose, btw? 5%? 15%?)

again, thanks for posting!! i was at Ace last night eyeing up the copper parts. i'm down with the price!! now i wish i had looked at this before dropping 60 bones on an immersion chiller. i coulda made one, theoretically, for like $10 (assuming i could do it without kinking it). hmmmm.

 

[drunkatuw]

i assume you've got that ball valve, right? do ya think backing off on the drain rate so it didn't pour out so fast might help your efficiency? (how much eff did you lose, btw? 5%? 15%?)

again, thanks for posting!! i was at Ace last night eyeing up the copper parts. i'm down with the price!! now i wish i had looked at this before dropping 60 bones on an immersion chiller. i coulda made one, theoretically, for like $10 (assuming i could do it without kinking it). hmmmm.

I do have a ball valve attached, and my efficiency went from around 75% to 65%, draining slower might help, or perhaps just having some more patience and letting the sparge water sit for 10 min before draining would fix the problem. I'm also looking into getting either a paint stirrer or a mud mixer attachment for my drill to help still the mash more vigorously.

 

[IPA_33]

using this tutorial now. wish me luck!

 

[IPA_33]

nice simple build, using today for my "Hybrid IPA". Thanks so much for posting all this awesome info.

 

[BullF-16]

Anyone have a problem with the braid constricting with the number of batches. I bought my braid from home depot, i thought it was stainless, didnt know at the time they also had a composite braid. I dont know which i have. The braid worked great for the first 6 batches. Yesterday on a batch of Edmund Fitzgerald porter i had a stuck sparge which required constantly reaching the mash and moving the braid around. I noticed it is nowhere the original dimensions but has constricted down in diameter a bit. Anyone else know of this problem and what is a good fix.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

I just did this conversion as well, and have a couple of pointers.
1. The only real stainless that I found was in some "flood proof" toilet lines.
2. I put a piece of 10gauge copper wire, spiraled around a pencil into the center to keep it from crushing.

Hope these help!
Larry

 

[Revvy]

Anyone have a problem with the braid constricting with the number of batches. I bought my braid from home depot, i thought it was stainless, didnt know at the time they also had a composite braid. I dont know which i have. The braid worked great for the first 6 batches. Yesterday on a batch of Edmund Fitzgerald porter i had a stuck sparge which required constantly reaching the mash and moving the braid around. I noticed it is nowhere the original dimensions but has constricted down in diameter a bit. Anyone else know of this problem and what is a good fix.

in this LOOOOONG thread, several of us have talked about putting a notched bit of hose back in the braid....in fact I just took the nylon core that I pulled out of it...drilled a bunch of holes in it all around it, boiled it for 15 minutes to dislodge all of the tiny bits of material left from the drilling, and put it back inside the braid....I've not had any problems yet...others have used the clear nylon tubing as well.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Here's the setup I'm using in the cooler MLT. It's just a copper pipe with small holes drilled in it. I used a couple 45 degree elbows to get the "manifold" to lie flat on the bottom. I didn't solder it, so I can take it apart and clean it easily.

I'm using a brass full port valve, which works nicely and was WAY cheaper than stainless. Speaking of SS, I need to upgrade my outside washer to SS...didin't think I needed to worry about it but it's looking ugly.

 

[eurc51]

This is great - I've been researching mash tuns and I think I know what to build now. Also, FYI...NorthernBrewer sells something very similar for over $200.

Just one question: did you consider more steel braided wire to cover more of the bottom surface. The J. Palmer book recomends a configuration that looks like cross-hairs at the bottom for collecting the wort.

Thanks,

E

 

[phissionkorps]

Without reading all 56 pages of this...where can I get SS 5/8" washers? I looked at Lowe's, which had every size BUT 5/8ths, and home depot, where they didn't have SS anything.
Not that it matters much, but I bought everything at Lowe's except the cooler ($18 - Walmart), and I'm pushing $58 right now.

 

[phissionkorps]

crap double post

 

[schneemann]

Without reading all 56 pages of this...where can I get SS 5/8" washers? I looked at Lowe's, which had every size BUT 5/8ths, and home depot, where they didn't have SS anything.
Not that it matters much, but I bought everything at Lowe's except the cooler ($18 - Walmart), and I'm pushing $58 right now.

Fastenal was the only place I could find SS washers at.

 

[phissionkorps]

Do you happen to know the part number? I searched but the only inner diameter size I can find says "0.692", which is 0.053 larger than 5/8". Is that the same size, or no? This is the one I'm talking about: 5/8 x 2 18-8 Stainless Steel Fender Washer | Fastenal

 

[clskinsfan]

Just wanted to let everyone know. I also had a hard time finding the 5/8 SS fender washer. Iwas able find a 3/4 SS washer though. So i tried it and it wrks great. No leaks and Tun is working great.

 

[Duckfoot]

Lowes seems to have a better selection of SS stuff the Home Gestapo (not to mention HD doesn't have 1/2" to 1/4" copper reducers... F-ers.....)... However I was talking with the rep that does the fasteners for Lowes and they were cutting back on the larger sized SS stuff....

 

[cgruelle]

Without reading all 56 pages of this...where can I get SS 5/8" washers? I looked at Lowe's, which had every size BUT 5/8ths, and home depot, where they didn't have SS anything.
Not that it matters much, but I bought everything at Lowe's except the cooler ($18 - Walmart), and I'm pushing $58 right now.

If you have a True Value (Ace) or a local Mom and Pop hardware store, try there. Places like that usually have a much better hardware selection than the big boxes.

 

[mattreba]

I would like to add a bit more detail around maximum mash volume for this setup. It was previously stated that 28 lbs @ 1qt/lb was the maximum that could be handled. I incorrectly assumed that at 25 lbs I could manage 1.2 qts/lb of strike water. Although it did barely fit in the tun I had no room for stirring so I had just the slightest overflow. If you are doing 25 lbs I'd recommend 1 lb/qt (6.25 gallons).

My second issue is handling the recommended sparge volumes. The calculator I used recommended 9 gallons of sparge water which I split into two 4.5 gallon batch sparges. unfortunately, after draining the bed I could only get about 4 gallons for each sparge. I ended up collecting 12.75 gallons for my 10.5 gallon batch and hit my gravity with a 60 minute boil. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what my final volume was at my converted keg fermentor as I have no graduated volume measurements.

Lastly, I'm concerned that if I lower my strike water ratio to 1 qt/lb I would not be able to hold enough sparge water in my 10 gallon converted cooler HLT. The calculator told me I'd need 10.5 gallons. I suppose I could fudge that to 10 gallons and split it into three batch sparges. So even if I could hold 28 lbs of grain I could not hold enough sparge water in my HLT to sparge at the recommdned rate. I'm interested in others experiences here...

 

[bkvail]

am looking at the DIY section and came across this - I'm assuming this is used for bottling beer? Or just easy dispensing?

 

[Revvy]

am looking at the DIY section and came across this - I'm assuming this is used for bottling beer? Or just easy dispensing?

No.......it is the mash tun in all grain brewing....it's for converting the starch in grain to wort, through the adding of water to grain at a certain temp for a fixed amount of time.

 

[BullF-16]

Without reading all 56 pages of this...where can I get SS 5/8" washers? I looked at Lowe's, which had every size BUT 5/8ths, and home depot, where they didn't have SS anything.
Not that it matters much, but I bought everything at Lowe's except the cooler ($18 - Walmart), and I'm pushing $58 right now.

I bought a 1/2 inch SS washer at lowes and just drilled it out to 5/8. worked like a champ

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

At Lowes, there are some 3/4 SS washers ( next bin over from the 1/2).

If you combine these with an o-ring, it will work out just perfect. My oring was from a corny.

 

[JerD]

Aha! Success! Now to get some grain

 

[cellardoor]

Thanks FlyGuy for this. I just finished mine today. Cost me less than $20 for the whole thing since I had a 5 gallon rubbermaid at my parents house from my soccer playing days. Did a 5 gallon hot water test with it and it maybe leaked 3 drops throughout the whole hour and only lost 1.2 degrees F. I'm going to tighten it a little bit more or put another o-ring in hopes of having it leak free. I'm fine with only 3 drops over the course of an hour but I'm not sure if over time it would ruin the insulation in the cooler.

 

[RevRon]

that's what I am look for !!! thanks big time!! now we have today's 2 cent KEG!!

and I will do that one !! thank you!!

Hes not making a keg hes making a mashtun. Thier two totally different things. You really need to read a book on homebrewing.

 

[Dloucks]

Fastenal's part number is 71225 and they are 1.60 a piece

I just ordered 5 of them but it will take 2 days for them to get from the IN warehouse to Missouri.

I've spent so much stinking money on little parts trying to make this thing work I might have been better off going the ebay route. Either way this time next week I should be mashing!

 

[TerryWendel]

I got some supposedly all SS washers from Ace. I bought a few and will be putting one in a glass of water for a while to test if there's any corrosion. Should I up the acidity or should plain tap water be a good test?

 

[FlyGuy]

I got some supposedly all SS washers from Ace. I bought a few and will be putting one in a glass of water for a while to test if there's any corrosion. Should I up the acidity or should plain tap water be a good test?

Put them in a glass of coke or pepsi. If that doesn't corrode them, you are golden.